Editing Doris Speed

{{Short description|English actress (1899–1994)}}{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| image              = 
| name               = Doris Speed<br><small>[[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]]</small>
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1899|2|3|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Chorlton-cum-Hardy|Chorlton]], [[Lancashire]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1994|11|16|1899|02|03|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Bury, Greater Manchester|Bury]], Greater Manchester, England
| years_active       = 1905–1988
| occupation         = Actress
| known_for          = Role of '''[[Annie Walker (Coronation Street)|Annie Walker]]''' in ''[[Coronation Street]]'' (1960–1983)
}}

'''Doris Speed''' (3 February 1899 – 16 November 1994) was an English actress, best known for her role as landlady of the [[Rovers Return Inn]], [[Annie Walker (Coronation Street)|Annie Walker]], on the British television soap opera ''[[Coronation Street]]''. Speed played this role from the programme's first episode in 1960 until her departure in 1983.

==Early life and career==
Speed was born in [[Chorlton-cum-Hardy|Chorlton]], [[Lancashire]] (later part of [[Manchester]]) on 3 February 1899.<ref name=":0">'Doris Speed; Obituary' (1994) ''[[The Times]]'' [London, England], 18 Nov, 21, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A115606920/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=3a69fba7 [accessed 20 Jan 2022].</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Index entry|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=eJjeCNKO%2BdLEKafThdOLkQ&scan=1|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS|accessdate=21 January 2022}}</ref> As a child, she toured with her parents George, a singer and Ada (née Worsley) Speed, an actress, moving to different schools almost every week.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-18|title=Obituary - Doris Speed|pages=31|work=The Daily Telegraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93073725/obituary-doris-speed/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> Her debut came to her at the age of three years old, as she toddled onstage in a [[nightdress]] to sing a song about a [[golliwog]]. Two years later, she made her acting debut as the velvet-suited infant Prince of Rome in a Victorian melodrama, called ''The Royal Divorce''.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Speed was later quoted as saying "Acting was all I ever wanted to do".<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-18|title=Obituary - Doris Speed|pages=31|work=The Daily Telegraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93073725/obituary-doris-speed/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref>

Speed took a course in shorthand and typing at a local technical college in 1915, and shortly after finishing it, took a job with [[Guinness]] in Manchester to support her parents' stage careers. She joined Guinness as a clerk, but over her 41 years working for the company, rose to become personal assistant to the regional manager.<ref name=":0">'Doris Speed; Obituary' (1994) ''[[The Times]]'' [London, England], 18 Nov, 21, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A115606920/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=3a69fba7 [accessed 20 Jan 2022].</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-18|title=Obituaries - Doris Speed|pages=16|work=The Independent|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93107990/obituaries-doris-speed/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> However, she was also an active member of the local amateur dramatics group, The Unnamed Society, who were well regarded, and she received good notices in [[The Guardian|''The Manchester Guardian'']] for her roles with the group from 1937 onwards. Appearing in The Unnamed Society's 1949 production of ''[[Hamlet]]'', the paper's reviewer noted that Speed "acted splendidly" playing the Queen.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1949-04-05|title=The Unnamed Society - "Hamlet"|pages=3|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93112609/the-unnamed-society-hamlet/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref>

She also worked with Chorlton Rep and other companies. On stage, she performed a number of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespearean]] parts, led the chorus of women in ''[[Murder in the Cathedral]]'', played Mrs Sullen in ''[[The Beaux' Stratagem]]'', the mother in [[The Lady's Not for Burning|''The Lady's Not For Burning'']] and in ''[[Amphitryon 38]]'' by [[Jean Giraudoux]], appeared as the Greek beauty [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-18|title=Obituaries - Doris Speed|pages=16|work=The Independent|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93107990/obituaries-doris-speed/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> 

Following the end of the [[World War II|Second World War]], Speed appeared in hundreds of radio plays, and subsequently went into television. In ITV's early days on air, she was in two [[ITV Granada|Granada Television]] series: ''[[Shadow Squad]]'', a 1950s police television series, in an episode written by [[Tony Warren]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-18|title=Obituary - Doris Speed|pages=31|work=The Daily Telegraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93073725/obituary-doris-speed/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> and a year later, in its spin-off, ''Skyport'', as the tea lady. Speed was in two television plays, ''The Myth Makers'' and ''Vital Statistics'', in addition to the 1959 [[Hammer Film Productions|Hammer Studios]] [[Stanley Baker]] vehicle ''[[Hell Is a City]]'', set in her native Manchester.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-18|title=Obituaries - Doris Speed|pages=16|work=The Independent|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93107990/obituaries-doris-speed/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref>

== ''Coronation Street'' ==
In 1960, while Speed was appearing in the BBC radio serial ''The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'' (based on [[Anne Brontë]]'s [[The Tenant of Wildfell Hall|novel]]) and appearing on stage in [[Bristol]], she was asked to audition for the role of [[Annie Walker (Coronation Street)|Annie Walker]] in [[Tony Warren]]'s new series, ''Coronation Street''. He had written the part specifically for her, having admired her as an actress when he was aged 12 in the late 1940s. The pair had already met, when she worked on the [[BBC]]'s ''[[Children's Hour]]'' radio programme.<ref name=":2">'Haughty queen of the Street: Obituary of Doris Speed' (1994) ''Guardian'' [London, England], 18 Nov, 21, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A170672533/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=df9bc88e [accessed 20 Jan 2022].</ref> However, Speed turned down two auditions for ''Coronation Street'', as "it seemed such a long way to travel" from Bristol. 57 actresses had already unsuccessfully auditioned for the role before Speed.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-18|title=Obituaries - Doris Speed|pages=16|work=The Independent|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93107990/obituaries-doris-speed/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref>

She was said to have based her performance on her Aunt Bessie, who led the Speed family in Christmas charades and had "a withering look". According to ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', "Annie Walker struck a chord in the national psyche, as the embodiment of the genteel social climber, an icon of the proud petit-bourgeois tidiness which was subject to such virulent cultural attack in the 1960s." Speed herself described the character as "always a silly vain woman".<ref name=":1" />

Speed was originally on a three-week contract, first appearing in the December 1960 opening episode.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-17|title=Street veteran Doris dies at 95|pages=222|work=Evening Standard|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93103731/street-veteran-doris-dies-at-95/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> However, she went on to appear in 1,746 episodes of ''Coronation Street'', and was one of only a handful of original cast members still appearing in the 1980s. In 1983, the ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' published a story revealing that Speed was 15 years older than she publicly claimed she was (though her birth certificate, which showed she was born in 1899 and not 1914 as she had always claimed, was not printed alongside the story).<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.corrie.net/profiles/actors/speed_doris.html | title=Doris Speed}}</ref> "It broke her spirit completely," a friend said, adding "she would never go back on the ''Street'' after that." Whilst filming, Speed collapsed, and was taken to hospital, suffering from stomach pains. At home, she said that she had every intention of returning to ''Coronation Street'' after she had recovered. However, her ill health meant she stayed at home; her hearing also declined, and she became reclusive.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-18|title=Obituary - Doris Speed|pages=31|work=The Daily Telegraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93073725/obituary-doris-speed/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> Speed's last broadcast appearance on ''Coronation Street'' was during the episode shown on 12 October 1983.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-18|title=Obituaries - Doris Speed|pages=16|work=The Independent|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93107990/obituaries-doris-speed/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref>

In 1985, her house was burgled while she was asleep. Following this, Speed went into hospital, and would never return to her home in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. She made her last appearance as Annie Walker during the 1988 [[ITV Telethon]], looking "frail but happy" behind the bar. Aged 91, Speed appeared on a 1990 television programme to mark thirty years of ''Coronation Street''. Helped on stage by the host, [[Cilla Black]], Speed was given a standing ovation from the ''Coronation Street'' cast present.<ref name=":1" />

Speed's final television appearance was an interview given with actor [[Ken Farrington]], who played her on-screen son [[Billy Walker (Coronation Street)|Billy]], in 1993.

In the fictional drama ''[[The Road to Coronation Street]]'' about the creation of the soap, broadcast by the BBC in 2010 as a tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of the first episode of ''Coronation Street'', Speed was portrayed by [[Celia Imrie]].

== Honours ==
Speed was awarded the [[Order of the British Empire (MBE)|MBE]] in 1977.<ref>{{Cite web|title=English actress Doris Speed who plays the character of Rovers Return...|url=https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/english-actress-doris-speed-who-plays-the-character-of-news-photo/530749091|access-date=2022-01-20|website=Getty Images|date=31 December 2014 |language=en-gb}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Two year later, Speed received a [[Pye Telecommunications|Pye]] Television Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television. She was also an honorary member of the Licensed Victuallers' Association.<ref name=":0">'Doris Speed; Obituary' (1994) ''[[The Times]]'' [London, England], 18 Nov, 21, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A115606920/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=3a69fba7 [accessed 20 Jan 2022].</ref><ref name=":2">'Haughty queen of the Street: Obituary of Doris Speed' (1994) ''Guardian'' [London, England], 18 Nov, 21, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A170672533/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=df9bc88e [accessed 20 Jan 2022].</ref>

==Personal life==
Speed never married.<ref name=":1" /> She lived in [[Southport]] for many years, until returning to Manchester to care for her mother after she became ill. Speed's mother Ada died in 1973, aged 95. Her father George had died in 1945, aged 76.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1945-10-12|title=Deaths|pages=8|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93073015/father-of-actress-doris-speed/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Index entry|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=B9BehrneMv3oaoxAj9OawA&scan=1|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS|accessdate=21 January 2022}}</ref>

The actress said that Annie Walker "stood for everything I'm not"; Speed disliked pubs, and lacked patience with her character's posturing. Her ''Coronation Street'' colleagues described her as "intellectual", "very politically minded" and "a keen socialist".<ref name=":0" /> In 1966, Speed, along with [[Pat Phoenix]] ([[Elsie Tanner]]) and [[Arthur Leslie]] (who played Speed's on-screen husband [[Jack Walker (Coronation Street)|Jack Walker]]), were guests of [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Harold Wilson]], his wife [[Mary Wilson, Baroness Wilson of Rievaulx|Mary]] and [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[James Callaghan]] at [[10 Downing Street]]. "This was to give our friends a send-off on their Australian tour, to wish them all the luck," Wilson commented.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1966-03-15|title='Coronation St.' cast meet Mr Wilson|pages=18|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93111483/coronation-st-cast-meet-mr-wilson/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref>

Recalled by her friend and co-star [[Betty Driver]] (who played [[Betty Williams (Coronation Street)|Betty Turpin]]), Speed was described as "a gentle lady, a quiet soul who lived with her mother. She didn't suffer fools but was generous and kind-hearted." Driver, who was also friends with [[Margot Bryant]] ([[Minnie Caldwell]]), noted that the pair "were at each other's throats all the time. Doris was staunch [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] and Margot was [[Conservative Party (UK)|Tory]]."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Driver|first=Betty|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/43785299|title=Betty : the autobiography|date=2000|publisher=Granada Media|others=Daran Little|isbn=0-233-99780-6|location=London|oclc=43785299}}</ref>

Upon her death, ''Coronation Street'' writer [[Leslie Duxbury]] wrote, "Annie Walker was not a lady to be trifled with and neither was Doris Speed," adding that the actress "looked at the world through a wry eye and expressed what she saw with a sharp wit." Duxbury wrote of her "Dorisisms", described as "often off-the-cuff cameos of her fellow thespians", which "were a common delight in Granadaland."<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-18|title=Obituaries - Doris Speed|pages=16|work=The Independent|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93107990/obituaries-doris-speed/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> 

When she was not recording or rehearsing, Speed played [[Contract bridge|bridge]] with other ''Coronation Street'' cast members, and did the [[crossword]] in ''[[The Guardian]]''. "She played bridge like a professional, and went through crosswords like a knife through butter," [[Jean Alexander]] ([[Hilda Ogden]]) recalled. Speed's hobbies at home were reading theatrical biographies and watching ''Coronation Street''. "I study Annie to make sure that no silly mannerisms creep in," the actress commented. "It's her I'm watching, not myself."<ref name=":1" /> Speed was said to have never forgotten the hardships of her childhood, and after a "lifetime of thrift", the success of ''Coronation Street'' enabled her to take holidays abroad. She also enjoyed travelling to the theatre in [[Stratford-upon-Avon]], as well as the [[Chichester Festival Theatre|Chichester]] and [[Pitlochry Festival Theatre|Pitlochry]] festivals.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-18|title=Obituaries - Doris Speed|pages=16|work=The Independent|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93107990/obituaries-doris-speed/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref>

== Death ==
After leaving ''Coronation Street'', Speed moved into the Highbank nursing home in [[Walshaw]], [[Bury, Greater Manchester|Bury]], where she lived until her death. She died during an afternoon nap on 16 November 1994, and was found by a member of staff who had gone to collect her afternoon tea tray. Speed was said to have fallen asleep reading the novel [[To Sir, With Love (novel)|''To Sir, With Love'']] by [[E. R. Braithwaite]], while a cigarette was still burning at her side. The owner of the nursing home said, "What was remarkable was that she got up and put on her best dress and make-up. It is something she never did, unless she was expecting a guest. Nobody was due to see her yesterday and I wonder if she knew what was going to happen."<ref name=":6" /><ref>'Actress dies; Doris Speed' (1994) ''Times'' [London, England], 18 Nov, 2, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A115607051/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=326ddf2d [accessed 20 Jan 2022].</ref><ref><nowiki>''Queen Annie' of Coronation Street dies at 95'</nowiki> (1994) ''Guardian'' [London, England], 18 Nov, 3, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A170672428/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=a897e25e [accessed 20 Jan 2022].</ref> Speed was 95, the same age at which her mother had died.<ref name=":2">'Haughty queen of the Street: Obituary of Doris Speed' (1994) ''Guardian'' [London, England], 18 Nov, 21, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A170672533/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=df9bc88e [accessed 20 Jan 2022].</ref>

Tributes were paid by her former colleagues. Granada Television said in a statement: "Because of Doris Speed's wonderful performance, the character of Annie Walker became one of the legends of ''Coronation Street'' and British TV. She maintained a close link with the programme and Granada." Speed had been due to attend a tribute to ''Coronation Street'' on 28 November at Manchester Town Hall.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-17|title=Street veteran Doris dies at 95|pages=222|work=Evening Standard|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93103731/street-veteran-doris-dies-at-95/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> Show creator Tony Warren said, "She was a superb actress and the most loyal of friends."<ref name=":6">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-18|title=First lady of the Rovers Return dies at 95|pages=3|work=The Daily Telegraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93103444/first-lady-of-the-rovers-return-dies-at/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> Her funeral took place on 23 November 1994 at the New Jerusalem Church in [[Kearsley]], [[Bolton]], and was attended by fellow ''Coronation Street'' stars, including [[Jean Alexander]], [[Betty Driver]], [[Julie Goodyear]] ([[Bet Lynch]]), [[Daphne Oxenford]] ([[List of Coronation Street characters (1960)|Esther Hayes]]) and [[Irene Sutcliffe]] ([[List of Coronation Street characters (1968)|Maggie Clegg]]). [[Bryan Mosley]], who had played [[Alf Roberts]] in the show, gave a Bible reading, and [[Kenneth Farrington]], who played her on-screen son [[Billy Walker (Coronation Street)|Billy Walker]], told the service: "She was admired by the whole world."<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|date=1994-11-24|title='Street' stars bid farewell to Annie Walker|pages=20|work=The Daily Telegraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93106482/street-stars-bid-farewell-to-annie/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> Speed was cremated in [[Blackley Cemetery|Blackley]], Manchester.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1994-11-23|title=Street weeps for Annie|pages=254|work=Evening Standard|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93103560/street-weeps-for-annie/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]'s tribute programme in the month of her death attracted an audience of 10.11m viewers, which was a higher figure than that week's episode of [[Blind Date (British game show)|''Blind Date'']], a flagship Saturday night game show on the same network.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1994-11-30|title=Yentob's lottery prize|pages=61|work=Evening Standard|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93106187/yentobs-lottery-prize/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> Speed left an estate worth £514,192 (equivalent to over £1m in 2022).<ref>'Actress's will; Doris Speed' (1995) ''Sunday Times'' [London, England], 02 Apr, 22, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A115586900/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=14b887ae [accessed 20 Jan 2022].</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1995-04-03|title=Recent Wills|pages=21|work=The Daily Telegraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93105578/recent-wills/|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref><ref>Measuring Worth - Purchase Power of the Pound https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ukcompare/relativevalue.php?use%5B%5D=CPI&use%5B%5D=WAGE&year_late=1995&typeamount=514192&amount=514192&year_source=1995&year_result=2022</ref>

==Legacy==
Speed is commemorated by two [[Blue plaque|plaques]] in her native [[Manchester]]: one outside [[Granada Studios]], where she filmed most of her work as [[Annie Walker (Coronation Street)|Annie Walker]], and another at 13 Sibson Road, [[Chorlton-cum-Hardy]], her home for many years.

<ref>{{cite web|url=http://openplaques.org/people/3764|title=Historical plaques about Doris Speed|publisher=openplaques.org|accessdate=7 August 2013}}</ref>

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Speed, Doris}}
[[Category:1899 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:Actresses from Manchester]]
[[Category:English child actresses]]
[[Category:English soap opera actresses]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) people]]
[[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]]