- Born
- Died
- Birth namePatricia Manfield
- Nicknames
- Pat
- Pat Phoenix
- Patricia Pilkington
- Pat Pilkington
- Patricia Marsh
- Patricia Booth
- Pat Booth
- Patricia Browning
- Pat Browning
- Pat Marsh
- Height5′ 6″ (1.68 m)
- Bold, brassy and larger than life, Pat Phoenix was television's favourite scarlet woman. For nearly 25 years, she dominated the soap opera Coronation Street (1960) in the role of Elsie Tanner and sent shivers down the spines of Britain's menfolk twice a week. With her cleavage displayed in low-cut tops, she was known as "the working man's Raquel Welch" and was once dubbed, by the then UK Prime Minister James Callaghan, "the sexiest woman on TV".
Phoenix's life very much mirrored that of the character she played. Tough and determined, she came from a working-class family in Manchester, but fought her way to the top. Married three times, she was blunt, outspoken and a notorious chain-smoker; but like Elsie Tanner, she had a heart of gold and inspired affection in everybody. She desperately wanted to be an actress but her first job was as a filing clerk. She broke into repertory theatre and worked throughout the north of England with a variety of companies. "I played everything" she said. "When I was 22, I played 90-year-old women. I was brought up in the theatre and I made my own way. I was in the theatre for many years before I was in television. The stage is most exhilarating. You know when an audience loves you".
After working with the Joan Littlewood Theatre Workshop in London in the early 1950s, she found herself out of work and nearly gave up acting. Success came in 1960 when, at the age of 36, she was cast as Elsie Tanner in Granada TV's new soap Coronation Street (1960). With the rise of interest in northern-based 1960s films such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), the earthy characters and gritty settings of Coronation Street (1960) were a hit.
Created and written by Tony Warren, the role of the headstrong Elsie was a classic and transported Phoenix to international fame. Viewers followed "the Street" in such huge numbers that when she married US Army Sergeant Steve Tanner in 1967, over 20 million viewers tuned in to the programme. "I was one of the first anti-heroines" said Phoenix, "not particularly good looking and no better than I should be. The character of Elsie had overtones of me in it, and overtones of my mother".
Phoenix played Elsie for over 23 years, but shocked producers and audiences when she decided in 1983 to quit Coronation Street (1960) for good. She still remained on television in series such as Constant Hot Water (1986) and as an agony aunt for an early morning magazine programme. Her final television role was as a bedridden actress in Unnatural Causes (1986). She numbered Laurence Olivier among her many admirers and fans. Characteristically, she summed up her own talent saying by "I don't know what the word "star" means. I only know I am a working actress".- IMDb Mini Biography By: Patrick Newley/Robert Sieger - She was educated at Fallowfield Central School in Manchester. She started her career in a radio play in 1939, the radio's Children's Hour in 1940 and on stage in Manchester Arts Theatre Company in Suddenly Last Summer, The Miracle Worker, The L-Shaped Room and My Cousin Rachel. She was in the television serial Coronation Street from the first episode, but at one point took a three-year break.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tonyman 5
- SpousesAnthony Booth(September 10, 1986 - September 17, 1986) (her death)Alan Browning(December 23, 1972 - September 7, 1979) (his death)Peter Marsh(1953 - 1961) (divorced)
- Flaming red hair
- Married actor Anthony Booth in hospital one week before she died of cancer.
- Born Patricia Frederica Manfield at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester to Anna Maria Josephine (née Noonan), originally of County Galway, Ireland, and Thomas Manfield. Phoenix claimed she had been born in County Galway but later stated she had merely been agreeing with something her mother had already told the press.
- She was reportedly under consideration for the main lead female role in the film Room at the Top (1958) but Simone Signoret was cast instead.
- At the time of her death she was lined up for the role of a high - powered glamorous businesswoman in a new soap opera called The Legacy which had american production interests and might have launched her on an American career.
- Her final appearance in Coronation Street (1960) was on 4 January 1984 when, according to the storyline, she was going to start a new life with her old flame Bill Gregory and helping him run his bar in Portugal.
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