Keith Duffy has revealed Anne Kirkbride embraced him as a cast member on Coronation Street when many other stars didn’t.
The Corrie legend who played Deirdre Barlow on the long running soap passed away yesterday, aged 60.
The Boyzone singer admitted Anne was one of the first actors on the set who welcomed him when he joined the famous series.
He said: “She embraced me from the moment I arrived in Manchester and that wouldn’t have been the case with everybody.”
Embraced: Keith revealed Anne welcomed him to Corrie when many others didn’t | VIPIRELAND.COM
He added: “They don’t like anybody coming on board who are not as dedicated as they are and I was but I had to prove it. There were people who were sceptical over whether I was actually that dedicated or not.
“There was actors there that felt ‘Who does this guy think he is? He was in a boy band and now he thinks he can waltz into Coronation Street and be an actor’ and they didn’t realise that acting was my passion” he told Marty Morrissey on RTE Radio 1.
The Dublin native also admitted Anne was nothing like her character Deirdre, who she portrayed for over 40 years.
Full of life: Keith spoke to Marty Morrissey about his friend Annie | RTE
He revealed: “Annie was a character, she was full of beans, she was mad as a box of frogs. She was nothing like Deirdre Barlow at all.”
“When she was in the green room, she was the life and soul of the green room. She’d always have you laughing, she was crazy, but in a good way.”
“She had a heart the size of Manchester. If you speak to anybody from the cast or crew of Corrie, they’ll tell you she was a stand-up character. We’ll miss her dearly.”
