Manchester Celebrities
Television, Film, Media & Broadcasting (8)

Pat Pheonix

(1924-1986)
Born to a poor, working-class family in Manchester on 26th November 1924, Patricia Frederica Pilkington was better known by her professional name - Pat Pheonix, and by the character with which she played in "Coronation Street" from 1960 to 1984 - "Elsie Tanner".

Her acting career began in 1939, when, at the age of 15, she appeared in a radio play, which was followed in 1940 by appearances in BBC radio's "Children's Hour".

For a short time she did office secretarial work, but her first love had always been in performing and she joined the Manchester Theatre Arts Company to spend the next 18 years touring Northern England with the repertory company. She went on to join Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in the early 1950s.

Her real break came in 1960 when she was offered the part of Elsie Tanner in Granada Television's proposed new serial "Coronation Street" - a strong female role which she occupied 23 years.

After quitting Coronation Street she appeared in various chat shows and worked for Breakfast Television for a short time.

She also played the lead role in a little remembered television situation comedy entitled "Constant Hot Water". She also wrote two biographies "All My Burning Bridges" in 1974, and "Love, Curiosity, Freckles and Doubt " in 1983.

Gravely ill at the Alexandra Hospital in Cheadle, she married her long-standing fiancé and ex-lover, Anthony Booth (father of Cherie Booth, the wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair), a short time before she finally died of lung cancer on September 1986.

She had been married three times - to Peter Marsh, to fellow "Street" star Alan Browning, and finally to Tony Booth.

Her funeral was held on 17th September at the Holy Name Church in Oxford Road was accompanied by a Dixieland jazz band playing "When the Saints go Marchin' in", and was attended by thousands of adoring fans.

Melanie Sykes

(Born 1970)
Melanie Sykes was born on the 7th August 1970 in Bottom Mossley, Manchester. She attended Ashton Sixth Form College from 1986-1988 where she gained A-Level Certificates in Sociology and Religious Studies.

At the age of 19, she migrated to London to sign on in a modelling agency, which resulted in various short appearances in television commercials, including Falmer Jeans, Pearl Drops Toothpaste, and perhaps her best-known advertisement for Boddingtons Beer (the so-called and one-time "Cream of Manchester").

On the strength of her instant fame resulting from the Boddingtons advert Melanie soon moved to TV presenting, appearing in Sky Television's "Real TV UK" and "Hit List UK" on MTV.

Later, she worked on "The Big Breakfast" and "The Bigger Breakfast" on Channel 4; she also did stand-in presenting with Terry Wogan and live link-ups from the Oscar presentation ceremony in Los Angeles.

In 2003-2004, Melanie began co-hosting a lunchtime television magazine programme with singer/comedian Des O'Connor, entitled the "Today with Des & Mel " and is the presenter of the Television Quiz Show "The Vault".

Ronald Fraser

(1930-1997)
Born in Ashton-under-Lyne on the 11th April 1930, Ronald Fraser was a staple character actor who regularly appeared in British films of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Though usually in rather seedy or scruffy characterisations, his tousled red hair, broken nose and freckled face made him a distinctive character actor who made his mark specialising in pompous and self-effacing film roles.

lthough very little is known of his early life, Fraser did serve in the army and was ADC to the Governor of Cyprus. He had worked extensively on the stage before developing a career in films. He is generally considered to have been at his professional best in the mid-1960s, when he briefly appeared in leading roles.

His films included the cowardly Sergeant Watson in "The Flight of the Pheonix" in which he accompanied Richard Attenborough, Hardy Kruger and James Stewart. Other films of note included "The Sundowners" in 1960 (with Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr), "In Search of the Castaways" in 1962, "The VIPs" in 1963 (with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton), "The Whisperers" in 1966, "Fathom" in 1967, "The Killing of Sister George" in 1968 (with Beryl Reid and Susan George), "The Wild Geese" in 1978 (again with Burton and Roger Moore), "The Trail of the Pink Panther" in1982, "Scandal" in 1989, "Let Him Have It" in 1991 and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" in 1993 - this was to be his final film.

He also appeared regularly in major TV series, including "The Misfits" in 1970, "Pennies from Heaven" in 1978, "Spooner's Patch" in 1979, "Fortunes of War" in 1987, "Life Without George" and "Heavy Weather" in 1995.

Fraser's television movies included "Man in the Zoo" in 1975, "Pygmalion" in 1981, and "The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders" in 1996. He also made brief guest appearances in "Dr. Who", "Danger Man" and "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles."

He died on the 13th March 1997.

Kieran Prenderville

(Birthdate unknown)
Kieran Prenderville was born in Manchester and attended Cardinal Langley RC High School in Middleton, Rochdale. He has had an extensive career in television, as a presenter and a reporter in science, news and sport. He came to the attention of the public when he was one of a team of yourng co-presenters backing Esther Rantzen in the BBC Television's popular weekend show "That's Life" in the late 1970s. He was also part of the "Tomorrow's World" team for a time.

Yet he is probably best known for his work in popular drama with hits such as "Badger", "Roughnecks" and "Ballykissangel".

His recent drama, made for BBC 1 Television, "Care" claimed the Prix Italia 2001 in Bologna - its eleventh award in a year - it had already won the Cologne International Film festival gold for best single drama and the BAFTA for best single drama. Earlier in September 2001, the production had also won IBC Nombre D'Or single drama award at the IBC Production Festival in Amsterdam.

Vivien Merchant

Vivien Merchant as a young woman

(1929-1982)
Born Ada Thompson in Manchester, Vivien Merchant was a leading actress and television star who came into the limelight in the mid-1950s as a leading light of the British stage and film industry.

She made her first appearance on stage at the Peterborough Repertory Theatre at the age of 14 as an orphan in their staging of "Jane Eyre".

From 1956 through to 1980, she was married to playwright Harold Pinter; she starred or was co-starred in several of his plays, notably as Ruth in "The Homecoming".

She went on to make her first film appearance in "Alfie" in 1966, winning an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA Award for her portrayal of Lily, the bored housewife whose fling with Michael Caine.

One of Merchant's most memorable film appearances was as a dizzy gourmet-cook wife in Alfred Hitchcock's "Frenzy" in 1972. Vivien Merchant gave up acting in 1980 after she and Pinter divorced. She died in 1982.

Other memorable films in which she acted include "Accident", directed by Joseph Losey in 1967, with Dirk Bogarde, Michael Yorke and Stanley Baker as co-stars.

In 1971 she appeared in Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood, in 1973 "The Man in the Iron Mask" and "The Offence" co-starring Sean Connery.

Peter Kay

(Born 1973)
Peter Kay was born in Bolton on 2nd July 1973. The star of the Channel 4 television series "Phoenix Nights" and "That Peter Kay Thing" maintains that stand-up comedy is his first love.

Appearing as if from nowhere, in 1997 Kay won City Life's Comedian of the year competition in Manchester and in 1998, following his sell-out Edinburgh Fringe Festival show his he was nominated for the Perrier award.

He then went on to win awards for Top Stand Up and Top TV Comedy.

Also in 1998 he appeared in "The Services", a one-off Channel 4 special.

In 2000 the six part Channel 4 series "That Peter Kay Thing" won him the best new TV comedy at the British Comedy Awards.

Recently he has done a series of television adverts for John Smith's beer and in the autumn of 2002 he returned to Channel 4 with a new six part series of "Phoenix Nights" and did a sell out 17 night stand at the Lowry in Salford!

In 2002 took to the road with his live stand up shows with performances at almost 50 UK venues.

Peter Kay has established himself as a leading stand-up comedian on the national stage.

He regularly performs to large live audiences at major venues throughout the United Kingdom.

Hovis Presley

(1960-2005)
Hovis Presley, a much-loved local poet and stand-up comedian was born Richard Henry McFarlane in Bolton in 1960. From earliest times he figured large in his school revues. By his late 20s he had emerged onto the North-West comedy scene, first coming to regional attention at the Buzz Club, a venue which was to see emerging talents such as Steve Coogan, Caroline Ahearne and Dave Spikey.

He also appeared on television in the BBC3 poetry show "Whine Gums" and Channel 4's stand-up comedy show "Gas". He also was frequently to be heard on local and national radio.

Hovis had a somewhat dishevelled, shabby demeanour and an apparent unawareness of his own comic persona which belied the genius of his outrageous use of pun and witty use of language and irony. He made several appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Despite public accolades, Hovis Presley was a shy, retiring man who avoided all forms of celebrity, which he found odius and distasteful. He suffered from stage fright, despite his on-stage successes, and once went missing so that shows had to be cancelled. A police search eventually found him - too nervous and scared to perform. Thus he increasingly sought to appear in smaller, more intimate gigs, mixing poetry, comedy and music.

He worked a great deal, for no charge, for charities and was an avid fan of Bolton Wanderers. He also taught drama classes at the University of Salford.
His poems were typically of a dry, northern satire, self-effacement and matter-of-factness, much employed by his friend, the Salford poet, John Cooper Clarke. A collection of his work, "Poetic Off-Licence", was published in 1993 and re-issued in 1997 as "Poetic Off-Licence Holiday Annual", to critical acclaim.

He died in 2005 at the tender age of 44 years.