37 Facts About Wendy Richard

Wendy Richard played Joyce Harker in The Newcomers from 1967 to 1969.

Wendy Richard reprised the role in the sequel series Grace and Favour in 1992 and 1993.

Wendy Richard was awarded an MBE in 2000 and in 2007, she was awarded the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' at the British Soap Awards for her role in EastEnders.

Wendy Richard was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996; the disease returned in 2002 and again in 2008; this time it had spread throughout her body.

Wendy Richard made a documentary detailing the last few months of her life before her death in February 2009.

Wendy Richard Emerton, an only child, was born on 20 July 1943 in Middlesbrough.

Wendy Richard enjoyed several family holidays to Jersey and Blackpool before attending the local school, St George's Hanover Square Primary, but her education was interrupted when her family moved again, this time to the Valentine Hotel at Gants Hill, Essex.

Wendy Richard was enrolled at The Royal Masonic School for Girls in Rickmansworth after her father's death, as Henry had been a Freemason, and help with fees was provided by the organisation.

Wendy Richard found the school excessively strict and her art mistress called her paintings and drawings "affected, rather like herself".

Wendy Richard dreamed of becoming a TV continuity girl or film star from a young age and, after leaving school at 15, helped to pay her way through the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London by working in the fashion department at the Fortnum and Mason department store.

Wendy Richard briefly worked at Fenwicks but was sacked after two days for telling a customer a coat did not suit her after the customer asked her for her opinion.

Wendy Richard's injuries were so severe that her friend phoned Richard's mother from the hospital thinking she was dead; she had to have thirty-three stitches in her head.

Wendy Richard made her television debut in November 1961 when she appeared alongside Mandy Rice-Davies with Sammy Davis, Jr.

Wendy Richard then appeared in series such as Danger Man, No Hiding Place, Hugh and I and The Contact with John Hurt.

Wendy Richard had a small role as a nurse in Doctor in Clover.

Wendy Richard first became familiar to television audiences in 1967 playing teenage supermarket till girl Joyce Harker, a regular character, in The Newcomers until the show's end in 1969.

Wendy Richard appeared in two Carry On films, playing small roles in Carry On Matron and Carry On Girls.

On 10 July 2006, the BBC announced that Wendy Richard had decided to leave the series after more than 20 years.

In 2007, Wendy Richard was awarded a British Soap Award for 'Special Achievement' for her role in EastEnders.

Wendy Richard appeared regularly on the BBC Radio programme Just a Minute from 1989 until 1994.

Wendy Richard returned for the programme's television iteration in 1999 and for further appearances on radio in 2002 and 2003.

Wendy Richard was interviewed on Channel 4 Racing in August 1993, when she was a spectator at Sandown races.

Wendy Richard mentioned she had backed a horse called "Time of Grace" because of its name-association with Grace Brothers.

In 2000, Wendy Richard was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

In late 2006, Wendy Richard was seen as a guest presenter on the BBC's City Hospital series and on 31 March 2007, she presented the documentary A Tribute to John Inman, for BBC2.

Wendy Richard gave interviews for the first time in many years, making appearances on The Paul O'Grady Show, Big Brother's Little Brother, Loose Women, Parkinson, and the Biography Channel special Gloria's Greats with Gloria Hunniford, amongst others.

Wendy Richard had commented: "The part is like an older version of Miss Brahms".

In September 2007, it was announced that Wendy Richard was to join the second series of ITV1's sitcom Benidorm playing a "loud-mouthed, rude" character who used a wheelchair; her episode aired in April 2008.

In January 2008, adverts for The Post Office featuring Wendy Richard began to be shown.

Wendy Richard later lived with John Burns, a painter and decorator 20 years her junior, in the Marylebone area of London.

Wendy Richard was particularly supportive of Margaret Thatcher and her policies.

Wendy Richard had surgery and was given the all-clear, but experienced a recurrence of the disease in 2002.

Wendy Richard's cancer went into remission after years of treatment and she was given a clean bill of health in 2005.

Wendy Richard later said she left because of stress and that she had been stress-free since leaving the show.

Wendy Richard kept in touch with co-stars Bill Treacher, Natalie Cassidy, Todd Carty, and James Alexandrou.

Wendy Richard made a half-hour programme, Wendy Richard: To Tell You the Truth, documenting the last three months of her life, which was broadcast on BBC One on 19 March 2009.

Wendy Richard's body was later cremated at a private service at Golders Green Crematorium.