Jill Summers
Winona Kent
This, sadly, is from the PA Newscentre's site.
http://www.pa.press.net/news/105701.html
STREET STAR JILL SUMMERS DIES
Actress Jill Summers, who played battleaxe Phyllis Pearce in
Coronation Street, died early today after a long illness. She
was aged 86.
Miss Summers had been ill since last September, when she
was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack.
A Coronation Street spokeswoman said Miss Summers died in
her sleep at Oaklands Hospital, Manchester, from kidney
failure at about 2am.
--
Nona Kent
wk...@direct.ca
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Tholian
It was reported on Radio 1 that Jill Summers who played the character
of Phyllis Pearce in the long running Soap Opera Coronation Street,
died last night in hospital.
Rest In Peace Jill.
It isn;t over til the Spice Girls sing
"Slam your body down and wind it all around
Slam your body down and zigga zig Ahhhhhhhhh !"
Wannabe - The Spice Girls.
David Lewis
I heard on the radio today the sad news that Jill has died at the age of
85.
---
Marie Lewis
jennifer sprake
This is probably not the right place to do this ,but I send Jill
Summers' family my deepest sympathy.She certainly never gave up on
Percy-he too is going to miss her.She was a fine actress who made me
smile many,many times.Goodbye for now Jill and God bless.
Dianne Fishman
On teletext last night was the sad news that Jill Summers had passed
away quietly in hospital. The official cause of death was kidney
failure. She was 86. In today's paper was an article about her and a
tribute from Bill Waddington (Percy Sugden). Apparently her gruff
voice came from damaging her vocal cords while trying to hit a high
note when she worked in a music hall act. She had worked in review
with Bill W. years before they worked together on CS.
A wonderful actress, sorely missed.
Could someone e-mail Granada and express our sorrow?
Di
"Sorry I'm late. Me handle came off." Roy Cropper
Winona Kent
This is from today's issue of The Sunday Times:
Coronation Street mourns Phyllis
THE CAST of Coronation Street united in mourning last
night for Jill Summers, the actress who played Phyllis
Pearce, the man-hunting battleaxe, in the television soap
for 14 years, writes Sebastian Hamilton.
Summers, who had been ill after suffering a heart attack
last year, died in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Bill Waddington, who plays Percy Sugden, said the cast
was saddened. "She was wonderful to work with, she
was an excellent actress, and a lovely lady, we will all
miss her," he said.
Phyllis, with her immaculate blue rinse, had become
famous for her abiding ambition as Coronation Street's
oldest man-eater to make Sugden fall in love with her. He
never encouraged her but Phyllis never lost hope.
Amanda Barrie, who plays Alma Baldwin, owner of the
cafe where Phyllis worked, said: "I've missed her since
she was out of the show due to illness. She was a great
lady, and a real pro, and she made me laugh. We all
loved her."
Summers's health had been deteriorating since 1993
when she collapsed soon after Michael Aspel, presenter
of This Is Your Life, appeared from behind a potted
plant to spring his red book on her.
She first appeared as Phyllis Pearce in 1982, expecting
the part to last two weeks. Instead she became an
institution. She once said: "I loved it. Phyllis grew on
me and grew up as a character."
Winona Kent
This is from today's Sunday Telegraph:
Street's Phyllis dies at 86
By Chris Oliver Wilson
JILL Summers, believed to be the world's oldest soap
opera regular, died yesterday aged 86.
Miss Summers, who played battleaxe Phyllis Pearce in
Coronation Street,was known to millions for her
purple-rinse hair and gravelly voice. Her
amorous, but always thwarted, pursuit of Percy Sugden,
the grumpy war veteran, was the show's longest-running
storyline.
Bill Waddington, who plays Percy, yesterday led the
cast in tributes to Miss Summers who died of kidney
failure in a Manchester hospital after a
long illness. He said: "Jill was wonderful to work
with, an excellent actress and a lovely lady. We'll all
miss her."
Miss Summers had also starred in her own ITV comedy
show, Summers' Here, and dramas This Year, Next Year
and Castle Haven before taking up the role of Phyllis
in Coronation Street in 1982. Her 80-year-long
career started when she sang on a music-hall stage in
1916, aged six.
But her childhood was mostly unhappy. Her parents,
singer Marie Santoi and tightrope walker Alf Rozelle,
toured constantly leaving her with foster
parents. One couple beat her and made her steal,
another offered her to a workhouse.
Miss Summers embarked on a hugely successful career as
a music-hall singer and comedienne, billed at one time,
"The Pin-up Girl of British Railways". Her gravelly
voice was the result of singing on stage while she
had a throat infection. She was married for 35 years
to surgeon Clifford Simpson-Smith, who died in 1984.
Her adopted son Stewart survives her.
Les Taylor or Rita Perry
David Lewis <da...@nodanw.demon.co.uk> wrote in article
<Dvyb5FAm...@nodanw.demon.co.uk>...
Not to sound crass, but are there any plans afoot to have Phyllis die in
CS and have Des mourn his former cleaning lady? I think that I would only
be appropriate that the writers do make some mention of her passing, even
if they are at present on a "clean sweep" campaign of the show.
Rita Gatineau, Quebec