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~ WHO'S WHO ~

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Elizabeth (Betty) Driver

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Born in Leicester, May 20th 1920, Betty Driver has been a Coronation Street regular since 1969 playing the part of the Rover�s Return stalwart Betty Williams (formerly Betty Turpin).

Betty Driver moved to Manchester when she was two.She was pushed into a life on the boards by a star-struck mother and turned professional at the age of 11; at 14, she both landed her first film role and trod the London boards.

Betty appeared in George Formby's Boots Boots in which she had a few lines of dialogue and a big production number in which she sang and tap danced with Formby. Sadly, these scenes ended up being cut from the film on the orders of Formby's domineering wife, Bessie who also danced in the film and did not want to be upstaged by a sweet child.

Later that year she was spotted while performing in a revue at the Prince Of Wales Theatre by Archie Pitt (former husband of Gracie Fields) and his brother Bert Aza. They quickly signed her up and Bert became her agent and put her in a leading role in the hit show Mr Tower of London. Film director Basil Dean, after seeing her in Jimmy Hunters Brighton Follies, cast her in the 1938 film Penny Paradise.This was followed by Let's Be Famous and Facing The Music.

During WWII she teamed up with bandleader Henry Hall and sang in his radio show Henry Hall's Guest Night on and off for seven years. She also had her own show A Date With Betty.In the 1930's and 40's, Betty became a major recording artist with hit songs including The Sailor With The Navy Blue Eyes, Macnamara's Band, Pick The Petals Of A Daisy, Jubilee Baby and September In The Rain.

At the age of 32, she married South African singer Wally Peterson. After a while they returned to South Africa but Betty returned a few months later, ending the marriage after seven years. She appeared on stage in The Lovebirds, Pillar to Post and What A Racket (with Arthur Askey) and appeared on television with James Bolam in Love On The Dole and as the canteen manageress in the first of two Coronation Street spin-off series Pardon The Expression in which Arthur Lowe recreated the role of Arthur Swindley. While throwing him in one episode she dislocated her hip and injured her back. At this point she decided to retire from show business.

Betty, with her sister Freda and their father, took over The Cock Hotel in Whaley Bridge (Derbyshire) and later the Devonshire Arms in Cheshire. In 1969, Coronation Street producer HV Kershaw asked her to take the role of Betty in the show. (She had auditioned for the part of Hilda Ogden five years earlier but they had wanted someone thinner).� Today, Betty lives with sister Freda near Altrincham with their boxer dogs, Totti and Polly, and their cat Abby.

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The foregoing is courtesy of the corrie.net website.�

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For more information on Betty, her character, and Coronation Street in general,�

go to the Coronation Street Fans Website at:

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�[corrie.net]