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Christine Hargreaves
English actress (1939–1984) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Christine Hargreaves (22 March 1939 – 9 August 1984)[a] was an English actress. She was known for her role of Christine Hardman in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (1960–1963).
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Early life
Christine Hargreaves was born in Salford, Greater Manchester, England on 22 March 1939,[1] as the third child to John 'Jack' Hargreaves,[2][3] a wholesale grocer and provision merchants traveller, and his second wife,[4] Jessie (née Walter),[5][6][7][8] a domestic worker. She had three siblings; Ann Knowles (née Hargreaves),[9][10] Robert Christopher Hargreaves, and Ian W Hargreaves. She also had two half-siblings, Dorothy Hubbard (née Hargreaves) and Sergeant John Alfred Hargreaves,[11] from her father's first marriage[12] to Phyllis (née Barlow),[13][14] who died during the birth of her half-brother, John, in 1923, at the age of 23; John was killed in action in Heiteren, Haut-Rhin, France, in 1944, aged 20, during the Second World War.[15][16]
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Career
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Hargreaves trained in acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She graduated with her Honours Diploma in 1958.[17] She went on to tour as an understudy with The Old Vic.[18][19]
Hargreaves made her television debut with the role of Christine Hardman in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street. She was one of the first actors to read for Tony Warren's new script 'Florizel Street' (later renamed Coronation Street). She played the character in the dry runs, before the show was even commissioned for broadcast, alongside Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner) and Doris Speed (Annie Walker), among others.[20][21] She appeared in the first ever episode, which was broadcast on 9 December 1960.[22] As a result of the Equity actors strike, she was unable to have her contract renewed and ended up leaving the show in December 1961, as did many other other cast members of the time. She briefly returned and left the serial in episode 267, which was broadcast on 3 July 1963.[23]
Hargreaves made her film debut with the role of Linda Rich in the second feature comedy film Strictly for the Birds. The film was directed by Vernon Sewell and released on 29 March 1964.[24] She portrayed Kath in the drama film The Reckoning (1970).[25] She portrayed Doreen in the drama film The Hireling (1973).[26] She portrayed Mrs. Butterworth in It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet, the 1976 sequel to the 1975 film All Creatures Great and Small.[27] She portrayed Ticket Lady in the comedy horror film An American Werewolf in London (1981).[28] She portrayed Pink's Mother in the live-action/animated musical surrealist drama film Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982).[29]
Hargreaves portrayed Dawn on the seventh episode in the second series of the ITV sitcom Pardon the Expression, made by Granada Television. The episode, "Big Hotel", was broadcast on 21 February 1966. The series was one of four spin-offs from Coronation Street.[30]
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Personal life
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Hargreaves "secretly" married Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann, a German artist and musician, at Hampstead Register Office in London on 29 November 1965.[31][32][33] They split their time between their home, 65 Pepys Road, Wimbledon, London, and their cottage, 115 Heath Street, Hampstead.[34] As they travelled to West Berlin often to visit her in-laws, she decided to learn how to speak the German language. She took lessons for several weeks, but failed to picked up her husband's mother tongue. Speaking on this, she said: "The trouble is my husband is absolutely no help at all. He doesn't like speaking German, and he won't use anything but English at home."[35] She became close friends with the rock band The Beatles and their manager Brian Epstein.[36][37][38] She was partially close friends with some of the band members partners, including Cynthia Powell, Maureen Cox, Pattie Boyd, Yoko Ono, Linda Eastman, May Pang, and Olivia Arias. The couple separated in 1971, after five years of marriage. While not legally separated, her estranged husband moved out of their home to live at George Harrison's Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.[39] During their marriage, she was known as Christine Voorman.
In January 1975, Hargreaves gave birth to her only child, a daughter, Rosie Weeks Hargreaves.[40] Speculation arouse as to whether her daughter had been fathered by her husband, whom, at the time, she had been separated from for over three years, as birth records show her daughter was first registered under the name of Christine Voormann.[41] A single mother, she raised her daughter on Social Security for a year.[42]
Death
Hargreaves died "peacefully" at University College Hospital in Fitzrovia, London, on 9 August 1984,[a] following a brain operation. She was 45.[43][44][45] Her death was registered in Camden.[46] Her death was announced to the public three days later, on 12 August 1984.[47]
Hargreaves' funeral service and committal took place at Peel Green Crematorium in Eccles on 16 August 1984.[48] Only a handful of her family and friends were in attendance.[49] The cast of Coronation Street sent a wreath.[50]
On 26 September 1984, an inquest was told that she died from a spontaneous brain haemorrhage. They also heard how her nine-year-old daughter had found her mother unconscious. A verdict of natural causes were recorded by the St Pancras Coroner, Dr. Douglas Chambers, having been told she had undergone surgery for a brain haemorrhage three years prior to her death. Her sister, Ann Knowles, told the coroner that her sister had periodically suffered from fits.[51][52][53][54]
Hargreaves' probate was opened in Oxford on 16 November 1984, totalling £56,296.[55]
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Filmography
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Posthumous releases
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Notes
References
External links
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