Yorkshire based actress Lynne Perrie was the sister of well-known comic Duggie Brown. She took up show-business when one of the acts at her husband's uncle's club let him down and she stepped in to entertain them instead. She gave up her factory work to become a full-time cabaret artist in 1956.
Throughout the Sixties, billed as 'Little Miss Dynamite', Perrie toured the British Isles, as well as Canada, Australia, Germany, Paris and the United States, working in variety, clubs and concerts. Her big break came in 1964 when she appeared on the television variety show Stars and Garters, and became a regular support act for The Beatles.
She turned to acting when film director Ken Loach spotted her in a club, and cast her as Mrs. Casper in his award-winning movie Kes in 1969. She suddenly found herself in demand, and appeared in a string of television plays throughout the Seventies, including the pivotal role of a shop steward in the single BBC factory drama Leeds United, the children's serials Follyfoot and The Intruder, and the Yorkshire TV comedy series Queenie's Castle, in which she co-starred with Diana Dors.
Perrie first appeared in Coronation Street in 1971, on a semi-regular basis, but the producers were impressed enough with her characterisation of factory worker Ivy Tilsley to offer her a more substantial role seven years later. Perrie remained with the soap opera until 1994, and the following year Ivy was killed off-screen.
After leaving Coronation Street, Perrie wrote her best-selling autobiography Secrets of the Street, and for the next three years, largely concentrated on her cabaret career. She retained a regular television presence by appearing on all types of chat shows, and was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary. She also released the video Lynne Perrie's Alternative Workout, and found herself in big demand as an after-dinner speaker.
Lynne Perrie passed away at the age of 74 in 2006, following a stroke. She had spent her final years living quietly with her husband in their modest Yorkshire home and, battling serious health problems, worked as a celebrity bingo caller in Blackpool.
