Bill Tarmey

Bill Tarmey b. 4 April 1941 – d. 9 November 2012 was an English actor, singer and author, best known for playing Jack Duckworth in the soap opera Coronation Street. First appearing in the role in November 1979, he played it continuously from 1981 to 2010. In 1968, Tarmey gave up his job in the building industry to work as a nightclub entertainer singer with his band Take Ten. In order to supplement his income, he took on work as an extra on shows such as Coronation Street, amongst others. Despite suffering a serious heart attack in 1976 and a stroke in 1977, he was eventually offered the role of Jack Duckworth, a character who would go on to become an institution in British soap operas. He underwent quintuple bypass surgery in 1987, and had a pacemaker fitted after suffering a second heart attack in 2002, which was used as a storyline in Coronation Street to explain his absence. Tarmey was an extra in the Granada TV adaptation of King Lear (1983) which starred Laurence Olivier in the title role. He was an accomplished singer and released several albums. Three of them - A Gift of Love (1993), Time for Love (1994) and After Hours (1996) - appeared in the UK Albums Chart. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1992 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel on the set of Coronation Street.