Photo credit: Matthew Fearn/PA Wire Victoria Wood (left) Julie Walters and Celia Imrie (right) in a sketch from Acorn Antiques Photo credit: BBC/PA Wire Victoria Wood (left) and Julie Walters, Photo credit: Peter Jordan/PA Wire File photo dated 02/12/04 of Victoria Wood, who has died aged 62 after a short battle with cancer, her publicist has said.
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Comedian, actress, writer and singer Victoria Wood has died.
Victoria’s official Twitter account wrote to her 13,800 followers, ‘We are devastated to confirm that our very special Victoria has sadly lost her short battle with cancer.
Born in Prestwich, Lancashire in 1953, Wood first appeared on our screens in 1974 when she won the talent show New Faces, while studying drama at Birmingham University.
She went on to star in her own comedy series, Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV.
She then wrote, produced and starred in “Dinnerladies” in 1998, a sitcom about staff working in a fictional canteen factory in Manchester, for which she nabbed a number of awards including Best New TV Comedy in 1998.
Wood’s close friend and writing partner Julie Walters also paid tribute to her loss as describing her loss as “incalculable”.
The comedian, who toured England for many years as a talented comic, has won a total of five Bafta awards and was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2008.
Dinnerladies star Victoria Wood, who had been suffering from cancer, died yesterday at the age of 62.
“She brought people from all walks of life together and made them laugh and cry”.
She performed at Scarborough’s Spa in 1994 as one of the many fundraising events organised for the £5.2m conversion of the former Odeon cinema into the Stephen Joseph Theatre. She leaves behind two children from her marriage to magician Geoffrey Durham, from whom she split in 2002.
He tweeted: “Victoria Wood was a national treasure loved by millions”.
But she said ‘No, no darling it’s absolutely fine don’t worry. She was straight with you and told you what she wanted, but she was always really nice about it and good to work with.
Wood’s long-term manager and friend, Phil McIntyre, said her passing would leave an “unfillable void” in the lives of her family and friends.
Famous for comedy writing and comedy song writing, Victoria Wood’s classic comedy songs are well known to all.
“It was her northern roots which she drew on as inspiration and I think the fact that an ordinary northern girl like her can use her talent to such great effect in a fabulous career is a real inspiration for our pupils”.
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“A super person and a super and unique talent. We will miss her deeply”.
