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Elizabeth DawnMBE
Dawn as Vera Duckworth
Born	Sylvia Butterfield Error: Need valid birth date: year, month, day Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1974–2015
Television	Coronation Street
Spouse(s)	Walter Bradley (1957–59) Donald Ibbetson (1965–)
Children	Graham (b. 1958) Dawn (b. 1965) Ann-Marie (b. 1966) Julie (b. 1968)
Awards	British Soap Award for Best Onscreen Partnership 2001 Coronation Street (with William Tarmey) British Soap Award for Lifetime Achievement 2008 Coronation Street

Sylvia Butterfield MBE (8 November 1939 – 24 September 2017), known professionally as Elizabeth Dawn or Liz Dawn, was an English actress, best known for her role as Vera Duckworth in the long-running British soap opera, Coronation Street. First starting on the serial in 1974, she had a recurring role as a factory worker until her husband, Jack, (played by Bill Tarmey) first appeared in 1979. She played the character of Vera for 34 years. For her role in the soap she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 British Soap Awards. She was made an MBE in the 2000 Queens Birthday Honours.

Career

Born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, Dawn started her show business career as a nightclub singer. By the late 1960s Dawn had ventured into acting, often taking small parts in television programmes as well as advertisements. One commercial for Cadbury's cookies proved very popular and helped her gain notice. During the 1970s, she appeared in a variety of programmes including All Creatures Great and Small and Colin Welland's play Leeds United, as well as an early appearance in Crown Court as a non-speaking background artist.

Dawn first appeared in Coronation Street 1974. She had a recurring role as a factory worker until her husband, Jack, (played by Bill Tarmey) first appeared in 1979.

In mid-2004, Dawn was diagnosed with the incurable lung disease emphysema. On 22 July 2007, Granada Television (makers of Coronation Street) announced that Dawn was to be written out – at her own request – before Christmas, because of further complications with emphysema.

Her final appearance came in the episode screened on 18 January 2008, when Vera Duckworth died in her sleep, thus ending 34 years of the popular, iconic character. Bill Tarmey, who played on screen husband Jack Duckworth, continued to be a part of the cast of Coronation Street. Dawn stated that the hardest thing about leaving Corrie was saying good-bye to Tarmey, with whom she was best friends. On 8 November 2010 she made a brief one-off return to the soap for the final scenes of her on-screen husband, Jack, who died in the same chair as Vera. Dawn appeared as Vera's spirit, who had come to take Jack on his final journey and the pair enjoyed one final dance together.

Dawn won the Special Achievement Award at the 2008 British Soap Awards for her decades-long portrayal of her iconic character. She died in September 2017.

Charity work

In May 2009, Dawn agreed to become the "Celebrity Ambassador" of the British Lung Foundation. She also worked to raise awareness of COPD, of which she was a sufferer. In June 2009 she spearheaded the campaign "Breathe Easy Week", where members of the Breathe Easy network (patient groups associated with the British Lung Foundation) raise awareness of the work of the BLF.

Filmography

References

1. ^ Bill Tarmey (14 October 2010). Jack Duckworth and Me: My Life on the Street and Other Adventures. Simon and Schuster. pp. 64–. ISBN 978-0-85720-241-3.
2. Kay, Graeme (1991). Life in the Street. Boxtree Limited. p. 58. ISBN 1-85283-161-8. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
3. BBC News – Corrie star battles lung disease. Retrieved 10 May 2007.
4. Soaps – News – Dawn struggles to leave Corrie co-star – Digital Spy
5. The Press Association, 10 November 2010: Marsh: I shed tear over Jack scenes
6. "Coronation Street star Liz Dawn dies". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
7. "Series 1, Episode 2". Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. 14 January 2001. ITV1. Repeated 22 August 2016 on Challenge.
8. "Series 1, Episode 6". Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. 11 February 2016. ITV. Repeated 24 August 2016 on Challenge TV.
9. Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. 11 March 2001. ITV.
10. "Lily Savage's Blankety Blank". 27 May 2001. ITV. {{cite episode}}: Missing or empty |series= (help)

External links

• Liz Dawn at IMDb
• Profile of Elizabeth Dawn at corrie.net
• Profile at Mirror.co.uk
• Vera Duckworth: My Story at amazon.co.uk

• 1939 births
• Living people
• 20th-century English actresses
• 21st-century English actresses
• Actresses from Leeds
• English soap opera actresses
• English television actresses
• Members of the Order of the British Empire
• English Roman Catholics
• Labour Party (UK) people
• Nightclub performers