Julie Goodyear
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Julie Goodyear, MBE (born 29 March 1942) is an English television actress.
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[edit] Biography
She was born Julie Kemp in Heywood, near Rochdale, in Lancashire, England.
Her private life - multiple marriages, scandals, accusations of lesbianism - have made her off-screen life as colourful and as seemingly tragic as her on-screen life. Famously, a cartoon appeared in the British newspaper the Daily Mail, which had the director of Coronation Street ripping up the script and saying "Forget the script - just keep talking about your private life." She was accused - and exonorated - of attempting to defraud her own cancer charity by fixing a prize draw. It seemed that for a time, in the 1970's, Julie's life was as complicated and as fraught as Bet Lynch's.
She was awarded the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1996, via inclusion in the New Year's Honours List.
Her autobiography entitled Just Julie was released on November 3rd 2006 . In it she talks about her relationships with men and women [1]
[edit] Coronation Street
Among her other roles, she is most famous for her role of barmaid-turned-proprietor Bet Lynch on the British soap opera Coronation Street. She started playing the role for a brief time in 1966, but left when senior cast member Patricia Phoenix advised her to get some more training. It was at that time she joined Oldham Repertory Theatre.
Goodyear returned in 1970 and played, arguably, the Rovers' most famous barmaid until retiring in 1995. In the 1970s, her character was known for shocking manageress Annie Walker by wearing provocative clothing, but by the 1980s her character became synonymous with outrageous leopard prints and a bleached-blonde beehive hairdo. Since her retirement from the Street, she has returned for brief periods in 1999, 2002 and 2003.
Along with Annie Walker, Betty Turpin and Fred Gee, Julie provided comic gold behind the bar of the Rovers Return. It was a perfect set-up, and was very much loved by the audience. Julie proved over the years that she could deliver the goods when it came to dramatic scenes as well as the comedic; the scenes were she contemplates suicide when she learns of the tragic death of the illegitimate son she never knew are heartbreaking to watch, even 30 years on. "The only decent thing a bloke ever gave me...and now even that's been taken away from me..." she sobbed. Powerful stuff.
She quit "Coronation Street" in 1995 just after winning the "Lifetime Achievement Award" for her role as Bet Lynch in the first ever National Television Awards. She returned to the Street in 1999 for two weeks to star in a special week of episodes that her character Bet Lynch was to be a part of.
She made a brief but unsuccessful comeback to the show in the 2002; her comeback was set to put Coronation Street back on top of the ratings, as at the time it was being routinely beaten in the ratings by rival BBC soap Eastenders. The writers had planned to keep her character in the show permantly, just like it was before she left, but the pressure of rehearsals and recording schedules led to accusations of ill-discipline and unprofessionalism. Amid reports of ill-health, she was written out after just a few episodes.
Yet again though, Bet Lynch returned to the show one last time for another special two weeks of episodes in 2003 - but this time she didn't set foot on the cobbles of Coronation Street; the whole storyline that she was involved in was set in Blackpool, where her character got involved in Bet's good friend Liz McDonald's problems, when Liz's husband Jim escapes from prision.
[edit] Career after the Street
In 2004 she won the first series of the Living TV reality TV show, I'm Famous and Frightened!.
In 2005, she was one of the celebrities taking part in the popular ITV1 reality TV series, Celebrity Fit Club, alongside friend Ken Morley. She was originally made team captain but quit the role after six weeks, the role was taken over by Aldo Zilli. She lost 1 stone 10 pounds, and her team won the show. She shocked everyone at the final weigh-in by announcing that in 1979/80 she was given a year to live, having being diagnosed with cervical cancer, of which she was to make a full recovery. Grateful to the Christie Hospital in Manchester, yet appalled by the primitive conditions the doctors had to work in, she started a charity which culminated in the formation of the Julie Goodyear Cancer Screening Centre.
On December 13th on Wednesday 2005 Julie appeared on Paul O'Grady's chat show.
