Biography

Wendy Richard

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Overview

Born
July 20, 1943 · Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, UK
Died
February 26, 2009 · Marylebone, London, England, UK (breast cancer)
Birth name
Wendy Emerton
Height
5′ 6″ (1.68 m)

Mini bio

Wendy Richard, was born in Middlesborough to Henry and Beatrice Emmerton who moved to London when she was five, operating The Shepherds Tavern in Mayfair. Her father comitted suicide due to depression when she was eleven. She was educated at St. Georges School in Mount Street, Mayfair, London, and at a boarding school. While still in her teens, she became a shop assistant at Fortum and Masons, but was fired on her second day for not selling anything. She then joined the Italia Conti stage school at sixteen, but refused elocution lessons as she didn't want to do voice exercises. Her first big break came when she did voice on the Mike Sarne record 'Come Outside', which went to number one in the 1962 charts. All she got out of it was £ 15. David Croft then cast her in the comedy series Hugh and I and nurtured her career, resulting in appearances in such series as The Likely Lads, Newcomers, Up Pompeii, Dads Army and Eastenders. She had a part in the Beatles film Help, but her scene was cut, but survived in the comedy Bless This House. The day after her mother's funeral, she married music publisher Leonard Black in May 1972. The union only lasted five months. Afraid of being on her own, she then married advertising executive Will Thorpe, but their relationship became turbulent and developed into violent abuse, resulting in a divorce in 1984. Her 3rd marriage was to Paul Glorney, a carpet fitter, but they divorced in 1994. In February 1996, she met John Burns, a painter and decorator. They lived together before marrying in October 2008. In 1996, she had discovered a lump on her breast which turned out to be cancerous, but she was given the all clear after an operation. There was a recurrence of it in 2002 and after further treatment she was again given a clean bill of health, until, in 2008, when a check up revealed that she had cancerous cells in her breast which had spread through her body. She made a half hour television Programme 'Wendy Richard: To Tell You the Truth', documenting the last few months of her life, which was broadcast in March 2009.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5

Family

Spouses

Trademarks

Her Cockney accent

Trivia

She and her co-stars from the series Are You Being Served? (1972) were all great friends and she remained very close with John Inman, Mollie Sugden, and Trevor Bannister.
She left school when she was 15, and genuinely worked as a junior in the fashions department of Fortnum and Mason, an upscale Piccadilly store.
She appeared in The Beatles' movie Help! (1965), but her scene ended up on the cutting room floor. She appears in a feature on the DVD release of "Help!" discussing the scene, frequently as a voice-over while stills from the scene are shown.
Her marriage to Len Black lasted just 4 months; following their separation Wendy attempted suicide. She credited her role in Are You Being Served? (1972) in helping her to move on.
Owned a very extensive collection of ornamental frogs. She started her collection upon buying a frog statue she thought resembled her Are You Being Served? (1972) co-star Arthur Brough. She maintained that her collection exceeds 1,000 frogs.

Quotes

On receiving her M.B.E., Wendy said "This means a lot to me because I'm a royalist and one for tradition - I would hate to see our traditions disappear...I can't very well wear an MBE medal on Pauline's Overall."
John Inman never ever said Mr Humphries was gay. He was just a young man who was very, very good to his mother.
[on "No Blade of Grass," the film adaptation of "Death of Grass"] I can say I successfully closed down Borehamwood Studios. It came from a brilliant book, but Cornel Wilde, God rest his soul, I don't think he did it justice when it came to the screenplay. He seemed to go over the top and get some bits of egg on his face.