Amanda Barrie (real name Shirley Anne Broadbent) was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Cheshire, in 1935. Coming from a theatrical background (her grandfather owned a theatre), she was named after the popular child actress Shirley Temple.
Shirley had ballet lessons when she was three and also won a talent contest. So keen was she on ballet that she was later expelled from school for playing truant to attend dancing lesso
Amanda made her TV debut in 1962 with Donald Churchill in Bulldog Breed and later was a hostess on Double Your Money with Hughie Green.
debut in 1961 in Babes In The Wood. This was the start of many stage productions that included Hobson's Choice, Private Lives and Little By Little.
Barrie and made her West End
Amanda Barrie was kept busy with a variety of roles throughout the 70s including the musical Stepping Out, and other theatre productions like The Beggar's Opera, Blithe Spirit, and Shakespeare
After several film parts, including Rona in Doctor in Distress (1963), Amanda was cast as Anthea, a female taxi driver in Carry On Cabby (1963). in
lessons! She went on to study drama at the Cone-Ripman School (now called the Arts Educational Schools) in London.
In 1951, she danced at the Windsor Club with Danny La Rue and Barbara Windsor. It was in 1958 that Shirley changed her name to Amanda
In 1981, Amanda Barrie landed her famous TV role as Alma Sedgewick
Another substantial TV role followed in 2003 when she played Bev Tull, a drug-addicted prisoner in 41 episodes of ITV's Bad Girls. Her character was closely linked with Phyllida Oswyn (played by Stephanie Beacham) and the two were known as 'the Costa Cons'.
Amanda Barrie married the theatre director Robin Hunter in 1967, the year they appeared together in the pantomime Aladdin at the Palace Theatre in Watford. They separated on friendly terms in the 1980s and eventually divorced in 2004.
Her best-selling autobiography It's Not A Rehearsal was published in 2003 and because she had always kept her personal life very private, many pe
Amanda Barrie lives in London and lists her interests as collecting antiques, horse riding and 'occasional gambling'!
Barrie was 71 when she starred in the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk in 2006 at the Medway Theatre in Canterbury. She followed this in 2007 with Cinderella at Stevenage.
I met Amanda Barrie in March 2008 at the NEC in Birmingham. She was very colourful, very friendly and interested in my Carry On poster which she signed for me. I told her that it was an original poster which I bought from Pinewood Studios where the Carry On films were made. She also signed my Carry On book and personalised a photo to me.
The following year, she was given the title role in Carry On Cleo, regarded by many as the best of the Carry On films in terms if its very witty dialogue. Carry On Cleo used
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. She even danced on the Morecambe and Wise Show.
Amanda Barrie as Anthea in Carry On Cabby
A 50p postage stamp from 2008
Julie Hesmondhalgh & Amanda Barrie in
Coronation Street
Coronation Street. Initially it was a tiny part that was for about two weeks, but her character kept reappearing from time to time. Alma became a regular cast member in 1989
in the long-running British 'soap'
until Amanda Barrie decided to leave the programme in 2001.
people were surprised about some of her revelations, including her bi-sexuality and the fact that she is dyslexic.
Bad Girls
Stephanie Beacham & Amanda Barrie in
Amanda Barrie personalised this photo for me
Amanda signing my Carry On poster
Amanda Barrie
As Bev Tull in Bad Girls
used the same sets at Pinewood Studios (along with some of the costumes) that were constructed for the Hollywood production of Cleopatra which starred Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. In fact Amanda Barrie just plays a comic version of El
Elizabeth Taylor's Queen of the Nile! Such was the stinginess of the Carry On productions at that time, that Amanda Barrie was paid just £550 for her work on the film which took 6 weeks to make during the summer of 1964.
Amanda Barrie in Carry On Cleo
Amanda Barrie & Sid James in Carry On Cleo
Amanda Barrie in Carry On Cleo
Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams and
Amanda Barrie & Kenneth Connor in
Carry On Cabby
Amanda Barrie in 1965
Amanda Barrie in 1969
Amanda Barrie and Donald Churchill
in Bulldog Breed
Amanda Barrie
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