Earlier today I had the great pleasure of chatting with the Queen of the Nile herself, the wonderful Amanda Barrie. It was quite a surreal moment to have Amanda ring me up at home for a chat but it was absolutely joyous. Amanda is best known for appearing in two Carry On films, for her twenty year stint as Alma in Coronation Street and more recent appearances in series like Bad Girls and The Real Marigold Hotel. As well as finding out more about all this, I also wanted to ask Amanda about some her earlier work as a leading lady on the West End stage.
Here's how I got on...
I wanted to ask about your time working as a dancer with Barbara Windsor and Danny La Rue. What are your memories of that time?
That was back in the 1950s, we did cabaret together! Bryan Blackburn produced a lot of those shows and there was an incredibly high standard with lots of good people. That was how a lot of people like Barbara and Una Stubbs got started and we all went on to do revues in the theatre. Of course the revues don’t happen any more which is a shame.
The cabaret
shows were always late at night and people would come and have dinner and
sometimes stay up all night and have breakfast! I remember one night staying up
talking to Judy Garland’s husband all about race horses. Sometimes I look back
and can’t believe it all actually happened.
You appeared in the revue On The
Brighter Side with Stanley Baxter and Betty Marsden. What were they like to
work with?
I’d known
Stanley even before we did the revue. I did a panto up in Glasgow at the
Theatre Royal on Hope Street and he was Buttons! He is a great man and very
talented. On The Brighter Side had a great cast – people like Pip Hinton, David
Kernan, Ronnie Barker, Una Stubbs. Wonderful.
I remember
while we were doing the pantomime in Glasgow I ended up in a Police Station! In
those days the dancers weren’t listed on the theatre posters and I was caught
adding my name to one of them! I was dragged down to the station and made to
rub it off!
Six of One saw you work with the
great Richard Wattis and Dora Bryan. Were they happy times?
I’ve never
laughed so much! It lasted a full year and I think it’s probably the happiest
show I have ever been involved in. We once laughed so much that they actually
had to bring the curtain down! I was dressed as a daffodil, Dora was a primrose
and then Richard Wattis came on a bluebell! We just couldn’t stop laughing and
they both ran off and left me on my own! Richard was great and I still miss
him. And Dora was such a talented woman.
You worked for Stephen Frears in one
of the Plays For Today on the BBC. I read that your history as a Carry On actor
caused him to think hard on whether to cast you?
Yes that’s
absolutely true! The play was Early Struggles with Tom Conti. People had
suggested to Stephen that he should see me for the part and he called me and walked
round and round and said he’d have to go and think about it overnight as he’d
never cast a Carry On actor before! He did subsequently cast me and the play
was very good, it was much more serious than some of the other work I was doing
at the time and it was good for me. And it’s great to say I’ve worked for
Stephen Frears.
I think you starred in two West End
runs with the wonderful Paul Eddington. What was he like to work with?
Yes I did
two years in the West End with Paul. We did Donkeys’ Years by Michael Frayn and
then Absurd Person Singular. I played his wife, he was a good actor and it was
such a privilege to work with him. We had the best time and the work we did was
equally written and very shared. He was a good friend as well as a colleague and
such a nice man. A great loss.
You appeared in a revival of Oh Kay!
In 1974. How important a role was that for you?
It meant a
lot to me personally as I have always been a massive fan of Gertrude Lawrence. Guy
Bolton who had written it – he met me and took a lot of convincing to let me go
on and do it. I had to prove to him that I was such a fan of hers, that she was
my heroine and that it meant so much to me. Once he understood he let me do it.
P.G Wodehouse, who co-wrote the book with Bolton, sent me a letter while I was
playing in Oh Kay! and he signed it “Plum” which was what he always called
himself. I treasured that letter.
My comedy heroine is Joan Sims. Are
you a fan of her work?
Oh yes, she
was such a good actress. She was so underrated but she had the ability to do
anything. Joan was a fine actress. She could have gone and worked at the
National Theatre.
I think she was quite insecure,
despite all her talent.
Yes a lot
of actors are – they have a love/hate relationship with acting and the insecurities
and lack of confidence can plague them.
I understand you got on very well
with both Sid James and Charles Hawtrey while you were making Carry On Cleo?
I loved
Sid! Again, we just laughed all the time when we worked together. He was great
to work with as was Charles. Charles Hawtrey kept bringing me in bits of food
as he always worried I wasn’t eating enough. I was rushing around filming Cleo
in the day and performing in She Loves Me in the West End at night so I didn’t
have a lot of time. He kept bringing me in pieces of haddock for my dinner but
I never got around to eating it! I think Cleo actually stands up pretty well as
a film in its own right, even after all these years. It’s got a brilliant
script and we had all the sets and costumes from Cleopatra so it looks like a
big budget film. I saw some of it when it was on television last weekend and I
thought it stood up well.
You went off to the Bristol Old Vic
after making Cleo. Would you have liked to have made more Carry Ons?
You’ve done
your homework! Yes by that stage I’d done quite a few bits and pieces for the
people who made the Carry Ons and I’d done other films like them…
You made a Doctor film (Doctor in
Distress) and films like A Pair of Briefs…
A Pair of
Briefs! All the classics…Operation Bullshine! Yes I could probably have done
more Carry Ons as I was becoming known to them and I think they wanted me to
come back but in those days the Carry Ons weren’t thought of as anything
special. You couldn’t do them and be seen as a serious actor. So my agent
packed me off to the Bristol Old Vic to do proper acting and it was probably a
good thing.
Your first Coronation Street scenes
were with Pat Phoenix as the legendary Elsie Tanner. How was that?
Terrifying!
Even though I’d worked in films and television and been a leading lady in the
West End I just couldn’t get over the fact that I was acting opposite “Elsie
Tanner”! I think the characters in Coronation Street are so strong that after a
while the actor and the character merged into one and that’s how it was with
her. She had played her so long by that point, she just was Elsie.
The other
one I loved was Doris Speed who played Annie Walker. I had such admiration for
her, she was a lesson on how to deliver those speeches and her timing was
wonderful. She would go down the corridor next to me and ask me if she had odd
coloured socks on! She was lovely.
I loved your rapport with Sue
Nicholls who plays Audrey. What was she like to work with?
I
absolutely love Sue, she’s a great actress and a lovely person to be with. We
had such fun and I remember we always wanted to do more comedy between Alma and
Audrey but it didn’t work out like that which is a shame. She was with me all
the time when Alma was dying towards the end, we worked together a lot at that
time. I always laugh when they repeat that episode of Alma going as Audrey
wasn’t there, she was late and when she finally gets there Alma’s gone and all
you can see is the tip of my nose as I’m lying there! I loved working with Sue and Helen Worth who
plays Gail. Barbara Knox (Rita) and Eileen Derbyshire (Emily) were also lovely
and great to work with. I still think Barbara could have been one of our
biggest music stars, she’s so talented.
One of my all-time favourites was
Jill Summers who played Phyllis Pearce. What was she like to work with?
I’ll always
remember coming on set with Jill and she’d recently been quite unwell. All of a
sudden she grabbed my arm and said “Amanda! I’m going! I think I’m going!” I
asked her where and she said she thought she was dying! I said she couldn’t die
as we had a scene to do and I wouldn’t let her go in the chair! Oh, I thought
I’d never work again after that! And the director Brian Mills didn’t know
anything about what was going on at the time! She was something else!
At this point Amanda does an uncanny
impersonation of the gravel-voiced Jill Summers which takes me some time to get
over!
Jill was a
great actress though, very real. She had quite a history, she’d been a stand up
comic and done all sorts of work, she was very experienced. She was quite well
to do, I don’t think she needed to work but she loved it. She used to come up
to my dressing room and pester me to come down because we could get a free meal
at the local French restaurant! She was a real character.
I went to
see her in hospital a few days before she died. Her last words in hospital
before she did die were typical. The nurse had asked if she wanted a drop of
brandy and she said no. Then she was offered a cup of tea and she said no. Finally
the nurse offered her some water. Jill replied “It gets better, doesn’t it”.
I remember a scene you did with Jill
in the café. She was talking about getting older and how she’d once been young
and gorgeous and how nowadays she looked in the mirror and didn’t recognise
herself.
Yes I
remember doing that scene! She was wonderful. I’d forgotten how much I’d worked
with her in it, but it all tends to merge together because there was so much.
Do you keep in touch with people
from Coronation Street?
Mainly
Helen Worth and Sue Nicholls because I knew them best while I was in the show.
Helen came to my wedding. I invited Sue but she was busy working. I keep up
with what they are doing and make sure they are all still in it. They do such a
good job.
Finally, what’s coming up next for
you?
Well The
Real Marigold Hotel is going out at the moment. It was a great show to do and
I’m still in touch with everyone who was on it with me. I rescued a stray dog
while I was in India. You’ll see Poppy in the last episode. I couldn’t bring
her home with me but we got her checked out and treated and rehomed.
I recently
received an Icon Award for outstanding achievement from Attitude Magazine. Paul
O’Grady presented me with it and I was so proud! When I wrote about my private
life in my autobiography I didn’t know what people would think but I needed to
do it. It was so hard while I was in Coronation Street because the press were
always after a story and it made it very difficult. But look how things have
changed even in the past decade.
Will you be back in Benidorm?
Yes I’m in
an episode of the new series, as Psychic Sue again. It was good to be back and working with Sherrie Hewson again. I’ve also been to Tel Aviv to do
the most outrageous series for a new online channel called Black Pearl. There
are twenty short television episodes and some of the material was outrageous! I
ended up in bed with a drag queen, he’s a big star over there and it was quite
a big deal! I’ve also filmed a series called Bus Pass Bandits which was me and
Henry Blofeld in Soho! That was a hoot and he’s become another good friend.
And you’ve been causing controversy
on morning television!
Yes, I didn’t realise saying “shit-hot” was a swear word! And anyway I was shit-hot on that Segway!
Yes, I didn’t realise saying “shit-hot” was a swear word! And anyway I was shit-hot on that Segway!
I
had an absolute ball talking with Amanda. She has long been one of my
heroines and she was just as funny, entertaining and delightful as I'd
hoped she would be. I'd like to thank her very much for giving me a ring
on a wet Monday in February - it brightened up my day. And i'll be
holding her to the offer of a drink or two in Covent Garden!
You can follow me on Twitter @GraemeN82
You can follow me on Twitter @GraemeN82
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