| If you've lived in Britain or have had access to British television, you've likely seen (or heard) Wendy Richard in one form or another.
She is mainly known for key roles on television programmes Are You Being Served? and EastEnders. However, her presence is rampant in radio, on the stage, and in cinema as well.
Wendy Richard was born Wendy Emerton to parents Henry and Beatrice Emerton in Middlesbrough, County Cleveland, England on 20 July 1943. "I changed my stage name for the sole reason it was short and neat," she writes in her autobiography.
She began her primary education at Royal Masonic School in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, also known as the Rickmansworth Masonic School for Girls.
She studied the performing arts at the Italia Conti Stage Academy, also known as the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, London.
Earliest on Ms. Richard's resume is Come Outside, a duet performed with popular British singer Mike Sarne, in 1962. The song hit the British pop charts in May of that year and reaching No. 1. It remained on the charts for 19 weeks.
According to a 09 May 1998 article in The Daily Telegraph, Wendy was working as a secretary for music/movie producer Robert Stigwood.
"From her desk, Wendy started lobbing sardonic comments in her native Cockney. Stigwood had the notion of including them on the record, making it a duet."
Wendy tells in her autobiography that the opportunity came about in a "much more routine fashion," but she did have to write her own lines for the song; they were all spoken word, but a great example of her trademark cheeky voice and Cockney accent.
In 1963, Wendy and hairdresser Diane (or Diana) Berry recorded the song We Had A Dream, with the flipside Keep 'Em Looking Around. It failed to chart; it was "a bit of fun -- and that's all."
She re-recorded Come Outside in 1986 with Are You Being Served? co-star, singer/actor Mike Berry. The flipside was Berry's Give It A Try.
Wendy's movie career started out in the early 1960s with bit parts in films such as Doctor in Clover (1965) and Gumshoe (1971; she adopts a Londoner accent in this role). She appeared in two movies out of the 31-film Carry On series as well: Carry On, Matron (1972, #23) and Carry On, Girls (1973, #25).
The early role that had the most potential for Ms. Richard was a role that ended up on the cutting room floor: She had a part in the Beatles' movie Help!, released in 1965.
Movie appearances:
- Doctor in Clover (1965) as an unnamed nurse
- No Blade of Grass (1970) as Clara Pirrie, based on the 1956 book
- On the Buses (1971), credited as Wendy Richards
- Gumshoe (1971), as Londoner secretary Anne Scott
- Carry On, Matron (1972), as Miss Willing, aka 'Mother With Baby'
- Bless This House (1972), as Carol, based on the sitcom
- Carry On, Girls (1973), as pageant contestant Ida Downs
- Are You Being Served?: The Movie (1977), as her beloved character Miss Brahms, based on the programme
Wendy Richard's true claim to fame is on the television screen. Predictably, her tenure on the telly started out much like her movie roles, playing bit parts and guest roles on shows such as her 1960 "dramatic television debut" in Dixon of Dock Green, her only prior appearance having been a special with Sammy Davis Jr. In 1965, she made a guest appearance on the second episode of spy thriller Danger Man.
Ms. Richard's first truly significant television appearance was on the comedy Are You Being Served?, displaying her squeaky trademark voice and Cockney attitude as the young Miss Shirley Brahms, the fictitious department store Grace Brothers' sales girl, junior to Mrs. Slocombe. She starred in the show through its entire run, from 1972 to 1985.
She came back as Miss Brahms for the short-lived 1990 spinoff Grace and Favour.
Starting in 1985, Wendy took the role of recurring original character, Walford mother Pauline Fowler on the cultural staple and soap opera EastEnders; she remains on the show to present day.
Other television appearances include:
Ms. Richard has a dog that she named Miss Shirley Brahms, appropriately, after her character on Are You Being Served?. She battled breast cancer after being diagnosed in February of 1996.
"Whatever ails you in life, you must never give in to it. You must be positive, and you'll be more likely to overcome"
Wendy began work on her autobiography, Wendy Richard...no "S": My Life Story, in 1998, and released it in September of 2001.
On 28 November 2000, she had the honor of receiving an MBE from Queen Elizabeth.
What Wendy Richard did for a living before her acting career took off:
- Secretary
- Model
- Department store sales girl (!!!)
What she wanted to be:
An archaeologist...
Contact:
Wendy Richard
c/o BBC Elstree Centre
Clarendon Road
Borehamwood
Hertfordshire WD6 IJF
United Kingdom
shirleybrahms@hotmail.com
http://pages.prodigy.net/glc/wrhp/html/
http://www.wendyrichard.com
http://www.cancerpoint.org/rtarticle.htm
http://www.xcelco.on.ca/~walford/wendyrichard/comeout.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/characters/pauline_f_biog.shtml
And, of course: http://www.imdb.com | 
