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Betty Driver is a Actor British born on 20 may 1920 at Leicester (United-kingdom)
Elizabeth Mary "Betty" Driver, MBE (20 May 1920 – 15 October 2011) was an English actress and singer, best known for her role as Betty Williams (previously Betty Turpin) on the British soap opera, Coronation Street from 1969 to 2011, appearing in more than 2,800 episodes. She had previously appeared as Mrs Edgley in Coronation Street spin-off Pardon the Expression (1965–1966) opposite Arthur Lowe. Her early career focussed on her as a singer, appearing in musical films such as Boots! Boots! in 1934, opposite George Formby and Penny Paradise in 1938, directed by Carol Reed. She was made an MBE in the 2000 New Year Honours.
Driver stated that she was bitter about the path chosen for herself and her sister: "I never wanted to be in the theatre and we really resented missing out on our childhood. Birthdays and Christmases were ignored and we never saw a pay-cheque. My pushy mother stuck to us like a wart and we were rarely out of her sight." Her mother died of lung cancer in 1956 after a long illness.
In December 1953 in London, she married South African singer Wally Peterson, something Driver claimed she did out of "defiance" to her domineering mother who she has said "always felt Wally was only interested in my bank account". Peterson had appeared as part of a double-act on The Betty Driver Show in 1949, where they met and fell in love. Driver reluctantly agreed to marry him. She commented, "Before the wedding, he had started to change the way I looked and sang. Up to this point, I'd always worn glamorous gowns. Wally said that look was too dated. He wanted me in short knee-length wide skirts, which I loathed. I went along with it because I loved him. Wally said my act was corny and old fashioned. I became very cowed and did as he said, as I had with Mother. We toured with this new look and singing style, but audiences were lukewarm". Driver became pregnant to Wally but miscarried. Doctors then discovered she had fibroids in the womb and insisted on a hysterectomy. The couple looked into adoption, but were turned down.
Lew Levisohn, the husband of Driver's good friend Winifred Atwell, once told Driver that he had punched Peterson after discovering an affair Peterson was having. Driver said to Lew, "Good". Driver and her husband moved to South Africa but she returned a few months later, penniless, ending the marriage after seven years because of her husband's various infidelities. Her sister had to send her money to return to the United Kingdom.
Driver lived with and cared for her sister Freda until Freda's death in December 2008. She was godmother to James Roache, the son of Bill Roache, who plays Ken Barlow in Coronation Street.
Despite Driver's character being well known for her Lancashire hotpot, in real life she was a vegetarian who seldom cooked, describing herself as a poor cook.
Death
On 11 May 2011, Driver was rushed to hospital, suffering from pneumonia. She died on 15 October, aged 91, after around six weeks in hospital.
Source : Wikidata
Betty Driver
Birth name Elizabeth Mary Driver
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 20 may 1920 at Leicester (United-kingdom)
Death 15 october 2011 (at 91 years)
Awards Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 20 may 1920 at Leicester (United-kingdom)
Death 15 october 2011 (at 91 years)
Awards Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
Biography
Driver said she fell in love several times in her teenage years, but each relationship was ruined by her mother, who wanted to keep her daughter single so as not to lose her free "meal ticket". All the earnings Driver made before she turned 21 and was in charge of her own finances were squandered by her parents.Driver stated that she was bitter about the path chosen for herself and her sister: "I never wanted to be in the theatre and we really resented missing out on our childhood. Birthdays and Christmases were ignored and we never saw a pay-cheque. My pushy mother stuck to us like a wart and we were rarely out of her sight." Her mother died of lung cancer in 1956 after a long illness.
In December 1953 in London, she married South African singer Wally Peterson, something Driver claimed she did out of "defiance" to her domineering mother who she has said "always felt Wally was only interested in my bank account". Peterson had appeared as part of a double-act on The Betty Driver Show in 1949, where they met and fell in love. Driver reluctantly agreed to marry him. She commented, "Before the wedding, he had started to change the way I looked and sang. Up to this point, I'd always worn glamorous gowns. Wally said that look was too dated. He wanted me in short knee-length wide skirts, which I loathed. I went along with it because I loved him. Wally said my act was corny and old fashioned. I became very cowed and did as he said, as I had with Mother. We toured with this new look and singing style, but audiences were lukewarm". Driver became pregnant to Wally but miscarried. Doctors then discovered she had fibroids in the womb and insisted on a hysterectomy. The couple looked into adoption, but were turned down.
Lew Levisohn, the husband of Driver's good friend Winifred Atwell, once told Driver that he had punched Peterson after discovering an affair Peterson was having. Driver said to Lew, "Good". Driver and her husband moved to South Africa but she returned a few months later, penniless, ending the marriage after seven years because of her husband's various infidelities. Her sister had to send her money to return to the United Kingdom.
Driver lived with and cared for her sister Freda until Freda's death in December 2008. She was godmother to James Roache, the son of Bill Roache, who plays Ken Barlow in Coronation Street.
Despite Driver's character being well known for her Lancashire hotpot, in real life she was a vegetarian who seldom cooked, describing herself as a poor cook.
Death
On 11 May 2011, Driver was rushed to hospital, suffering from pneumonia. She died on 15 October, aged 91, after around six weeks in hospital.
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Filmography of Betty Driver (4 films)
Actress
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Facing the Music (1941)
Directed by Maclean Rogers
Genres Comedy, Musical
Actors Betty Driver, Chili Bouchier, Wally Patch, Gus McNaughton, Ruby Miller, Eliot Makeham
Roles Mary Matthews
An incompetent man struggles to hold down a series of jobs.
Let's Be Famous (1939)
, 1h23Directed by Walter Forde
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy, Musical
Themes Musical films
Actors Betty Driver, Sonnie Hale, Basil Radford, Patrick Barr, Milton Rosmer, Garry Marsh
Roles Betty Pinbright
Rating55%
Penny Paradise (1938)
, 1h12Directed by Carol Reed
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors Edmund Gwenn, Betty Driver, Maire O'Neill, Syd Crossley, Jack Livesey, Frederick Burtwell
Roles Betty Higgins
Rating62%
The film is set in Liverpool, where tugboat captain Joe Higgins (Edmund Gwenn), believing he has won a fortune on the football pools, resigns from his job and throws a party in a local public house where family and friends – some of whom have an eye on a share of the winnings – gather to celebrate his good luck. Higgins pays court to the widow Clegg (Maire O'Neill) who he has been wooing, while his daughter Betty (Betty Driver) is targeted by a chancer who sniffs money. The party grinds to a halt with the arrival of the hapless Pat (Jimmy O'Dea), Higgins' Irish first mate on the tugboat, who is forced to admit that he forgot to post the winning pools coupon. There now seems no reason for celebration, but Higgins is mollified when his former employer offers him the captaincy of the best tugboat on the River Mersey, a position to which he had long aspired.
