Tributes to a true star of stage and screen

ACTOR Roy Barraclough, who died yesterday at 81

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TRIBUTES have been pouring in for former Coronation Street star Roy Barraclough, who has died at the age of 81 following a short illness.

A star on the stage and screen, Barraclough was best known for his role as Alec Gilroy in the ITV soap and he enjoyed a long association with Oldham.

He appeared as a talent agent in Corrie in the early 1970s before becoming a regular face on the cobbles from 1986 until 1992 and returning again in 1996 for two years.

As Gilroy, he was best known for his stormy marriage to Bet Lynch, played by Julie Goodyear.

His other TV work includes roles in Casualty, Last Of The Summer Wine and Last Tango In Halifax.

Last year, Barraclough appeared in the BBC's one-off tribute to Are You Being Served? as Mr Grainger.

In 2006, Barraclough was awarded the MBE for services to drama and his charity work.

His philanthropic efforts included more than 20 years as a patron of Willow Wood Hospice in Ashton.

He died at the hospice following his illness.

Barraclough kicked off his career as a comedian and pianist at a holiday camp on the Isle of Wight, before joining the Huddersfield Repertory Company.

In 1964, during his years with Oldham's Coliseum Theatre company, he made his first Corrie appearance as a tour guide, returning later to sell Stan Ogden his window cleaning round and then again as a bed salesman.

The late 1960s saw him take on a range of new TV roles and marked the beginning of his work with comedian Les Dawson, who died in 1993.

Barraclough stepped in to fill the shoes of Dawson's previous partner - who had been put off by his attitude to rehearsing - and the pair went on to create some of the nation's favourite sketches, including gossipy housewives Cissie and Ada.

Following Barraclough's death, Dawson's daughter Charlotte posted a tribute on Twitter: "Omg I'm devastated... at least you get to be reunited with my daddy."

Even after securing his permanent stint on Corrie, he refused to part with his passion for theatre, insisting on taking time every year to appear on stage.

According to his spokesman, it was his continuous need to be written in and out of the show that led writers to give Alec Gilroy a second job as an acts promoter on cruise ships.

Barraclough's final departure from the soap over the Christmas of 1998 saw Gilroy embark on a new life with granddaughter Vicky Arden.

Barraclough's long-standing role was honoured with awards from the Royal Television Society, but his love of the theatre kept taking him back and he enjoyed great success whenever he temporarily left TV behind.

His collaboration with Oldham playwright Jimmie Chinn in 1998 - the year he finally left Corrie for good - provided one of the actor's biggest personal hits and an acting award when he starred triumphantly in one-man tragi-comedy "A Different Way Home" at the Coliseum.

In 2003 he relived his early days an an amateur actor by appearing in a national tour of Sandy Wilson's light-hearted musical "The Boy Friend" as an ageing Lord.

Away from the theatre and TV, Roy was a home-loving, quiet man who enjoyed supporting worthy causes.

Willow Wood Hospice chairman Pat McCloskey. said: "We are very saddened by the news."