Betty Driver
Betty Driver | |
---|---|
![]() Driver in 2001 | |
Born | Elizabeth Mary Driver 20 May 1920 Leicester, Leicestershire, England |
Died | 15 October 2011 Cheadle, Greater Manchester, England | (aged 91)
Occupation(s) | Actress, singer |
Years active | 1928–2011 |
Known for | Role of Betty Williams in Coronation Street (1969–2011) |
Spouse |
Wally Petersen
(m. 1952; div. 1970) |
Elizabeth Mary Driver,
Early life
Betty Driver was born in 1920 at the Prebend Nursing Home,
The family moved to
Driver described her parents as absent of affection, stating that they never celebrated birthdays and rarely gave her toys and gifts. Though she maintained her father never beat them, their mother "more often lashed out".[4] Driver's mother had never wanted children, and developed an interest in her daughter only when she discovered she had a talent for singing. When she was aged seven, the Drivers went to see a production called the Quaintesques, a group of men dressed as women, when the star, Billy Manders, asked the audience to join in with a chorus. Driver's singing stood out so much that Manders asked her to come forward and sing with him. From then on, Driver's mother began taking her to talent contests in Manchester, and she won them all. She commented, "I imitated hits by Gracie Fields such as 'Sing As We Go', and 'The Biggest Aspidistra in the World', corny little numbers that I detested but mother adored ... I think she was a frustrated performer herself and she was determined that my sister Freda and I were going to fulfil all her dreams."[4]
Career
At the age of eight, Driver began performing professionally, forced by her mother to appear with Terence Byron Repertory Theatre Company.
At 16, she was in a
Driver continued in variety, opening in the Coventry Hippodrome and sharing the bill with the Andrews family - father Ted, mother Barbara and Julie. She made regular trips to Bristol to sing on a radio show called Ack Ack Beer Beer and made her final film in 1941, Facing the Music.[4]
In the 1940s, she became a singer with
Driver travelled to Australia, where she performed her own show, and her career also took her to Cyprus, Malta and the
In 1964, she auditioned for the role of Hilda Ogden in the television series Coronation Street (the role went instead to Jean Alexander, for the casting directors wanted an actress of slighter build).[5] Driver was cast later, alongside Arthur Lowe, in the series Pardon the Expression, a spin-off of Coronation Street. She described Lowe as "such a difficult man to work with"; after a much-publicised injury (she damaged her back after the script called for her to throw Lowe), she retired and began running a pub, the Cock Hotel in Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire, with her sister Freda.[5][9]
In 1969, she was persuaded to come out of retirement to play police officer's wife
She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1976, when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.[citation needed]
In 1994, she was the subject of BBC Radio 2's The Betty Driver Story. It was researched and scripted by Stephen Bourne who interviewed Betty and her sister Freda for the programme. Other interviewees included William Roache and Julie Goodyear. It was presented by Cilla Black.
Driver wrote a memoir on her years in radio and television, titled Betty, which was published in 2000. In an interview on the
In August 2008, it was announced that Driver was one of several Coronation Street stars who faced large salary cuts. She was reportedly admitted to hospital with a chest infection in April 2010.
On 23 January 2011, she was the castaway on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.
Personal life
Driver said she fell in love several times in her teenage years, but each relationship was ruined by her mother, who wanted to keep her daughter single so as not to lose her free "meal ticket". All the earnings Driver made before she turned 21 and was in charge of her own finances were squandered by her parents.[4]
Driver stated that she was bitter about the path chosen for herself and her sister: "I never wanted to be in the theatre and we really resented missing out on our childhood. Birthdays and Christmases were ignored and we never saw a pay-cheque. My pushy mother stuck to us like a wart and we were rarely out of her sight."[5] Her mother died of lung cancer in 1956 after a long illness.[7]
In December 1952, at Burnt Oak Registry Office in London,[14][15] she married South African singer Wally Petersen, something Driver claimed she did out of "defiance" of her domineering mother, who she has said "always felt Wally was only interested in my bank account".[7] Petersen had appeared as part of a double-act on The Betty Driver Show in 1949, where they met and fell in love. Driver reluctantly agreed to marry him. She commented, "Before the wedding, he had started to change the way I looked and sang. Up to this point, I'd always worn glamorous gowns. Wally said that look was too dated. He wanted me in short knee-length wide skirts, which I loathed. I went along with it because I loved him. Wally said my act was corny and old-fashioned. I became very cowed and did as he said, as I had with Mother. We toured with this new look and singing style, but audiences were lukewarm".[7]
Driver became pregnant with Petersen's child, but suffered a miscarriage. Doctors then discovered she had fibroids in her womb and insisted on a hysterectomy.[7] The couple considered adoption, but were turned down.[7] They lived in Finchley, Middlesex, where Vera Lynn was a neighbour and acquaintance of Driver's.[14][16] The couple later moved to St Albans in Hertfordshire.[14]
Lew Levisohn, the husband of Driver's good friend Winifred Atwell, once told Driver that he had punched Petersen after discovering an affair Petersen was having. Driver responded by saying "Good".[17] Driver and her husband moved to South Africa, but she returned a few months later, penniless, ending the marriage after seven years because of her husband's various infidelities. She was in such a bad financial state that her sister had to send her money to allow her to return home to the United Kingdom.[5]
Although the couple separated after six years, in October 1959, they were legally married until 1970.[14][18] On 11 March 1970, Driver was awarded a decree nisi in an undefeated suit at Salford Divorce Court. She alleged desertion against her husband, and he was ordered by the judge to pay the costs of the suit.[19]
Following the breakup of her marriage, Driver lived with and cared for her sister Freda until Freda's death in December 2008. The sisters lived in Mellor, Cheshire, before moving to Hale Barns in Greater Manchester. They latterly lived in nearby Bowdon.[14][20]
Betty was godmother to
Despite Driver's character being well known for her
Death
Driver died on 15 October 2011, aged 91, after over a month in hospital.[23]
Filmography
- Boots! Boots! (1934)
- Penny Paradise (1938)
- Let's Be Famous (1939)
- Facing the Music (1941)
- Rooftop Rendezvous (1949–1950)
- The Betty Driver Show (6 episodes, 1952)
- Television Christmas Party (1952)
- Pardon the Expression (31 episodes, 1965–66)
- Love on the Dole (1967)
- Coronation Street (1969–2011) – Betty Williams (2,732 episodes)
References
- ^ "BBC News - Coronation Street actress Betty Driver dies, aged 91 from kidney failure". BBC. 15 October 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ISBN 978-1-4456-1698-8.
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "The Betty Driver Story". Sunday Mirror. 25 June 2000. Archived from the original on 23 April 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Natalie Anglesey (25 July 2006). "Betty's journey from hotch-potch to hotpot | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ "Boots New Version". georgeformby.co.uk.
- ^ a b c d e f "Wally had a different girl every day ... But I couldn't leave him. | Sunday Mirror | Find Articles at BNET". Archived from the original on 23 April 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
- ^ "Betty Driver". The Telegraph. 16 October 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ "Betty Driver: Manchester's oldest barmaid celebrates her 90th birthday - Profiles - People - The Independent". The Independent. 14 May 2010.
- ^ Sackville. "Betty Turpin's Hot Pot Recipe - Food.com - 52682". Food.com. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ "Corrie's Betty Driver 'in hospital' - Coronation Street News - Soaps". Digital Spy. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ "Corrie's Driver announces plans to retire - Coronation Street News - Soaps". Digital Spy. 9 May 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ "Corrie legend Betty Driver: If I retire I'll be dead in six months.. working so hard keeps me young". Daily Mirror. 29 September 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-233-99780-3.
- ^ General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 5e; Page: 820
- ^ London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Electoral Registers
- ^ "Desert Island Discs". BBC Radio 4. 23 January 2011.
- ^ Hayward, Anthony (23 October 2011). "Betty Driver: Much loved actress who was a star of Coronation Street". The Independent. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- ^ "Decree for Betty". Liverpool Echo. 11 March 1970. p. 1. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ UK, Electoral Registers, 2003-2010 [database on-line].
- ^ Tracy McVeigh (15 October 2011). "Betty Driver of Coronation Street dies at the age of 91 | Television & radio | The Observer". The Observer. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ "Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Betty Driver". BBC. 23 January 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ Gavan Reilly (15 October 2011). "Beloved Corrie actress Betty Driver dies at 91". Thejournal.ie. Retrieved 11 December 2011.