Maggie Jones (actress)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Maggie Jones | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | June 21, 1934  London, England |
Maggie Jones (born 21 June 1934 in London) is an English actress. She currently plays Blanche Hunt in the British soap opera Coronation Street, a role which she first portrayed in 1974 and has played regularly since the late 1990s.
[edit] Career
Jones graduated from the esteemed drama school RADA and performed in numerous plays including Pride and Prejudice and The Women on the West End stage. Her first television role came in 1961 when she appeared in one episode of Coronation Street as a policewoman. Several years later, she made another guest appearance as a shoplifter. However, it was in 1974 that she appeared for the first time as Blanche Hunt, the mother of Deirdre. The role had originally been played by actress Patricia Cutts, who committed suicide after appearing in only two episodes. Jones, who had previously auditioned for the role, accepted an offer to take over the part at short notice as storylines had already been written for Blanche, and she remained a regular cast member until 1976. She re-appeared in the show briefly when Blanche's grandchild Tracy was born in 1977, when Deirdre's marriage to Ray Langton collapsed in 1978 and when Deirdre married Ken Barlow in 1981.
Throughout the 1980s, Jones was a regular face on British television, appearing in several shows over the years, including The Barchester Chronicles, The Beiderbecke Affair, Sharon and Elsie, We'll Think Of Something, The Nesbitts Are Coming and Lovely Couple, alongside Pauline Quirke.
After guest appearances in shows such as Dalziel and Pascoe, Goodnight Sweetheart, Heartbeat and Peak Practice in the 1990s, Jones reprised the role of Blanche Hunt in Coronation Street in 1996. She became a regular cast member again in 1999 and has been in the show since. Blanche's trademark withering one-liners and no-nonsense attitude have made her a firm favourite of fans of the long-running show and, in 2005 and 2008 Jones won a British Soap Award for Best Comedy Performance in a British Soap.
She also appeared in the video to the Mike and the Mechanics song The Living Years
She married Joe Stransford in 1971 and was widowed on 1 January 1999.
On 18 April 2008, Jones fell, hurting her knee and shoulder at the Manchester hotel she stays in whilst filming Coronation Street. In order to recover from the accident, Jones didn't film any scenes in the two weeks after the accident.
In May 2008, Jones won the title of 'Best Comedy Performance' at the British Soap Awards.
