Quick Facts
Biography
Elizabeth Maud "Maudie" Edwards (16 October 1906 – 24 March 1991) was a Welsh actress, comedian and singer, now best remembered for playing Elsie Lappin and speaking the first line of dialogue in the first two episodes of Coronation Street.
Career
Born in Neath, Glamorgan, Wales, Edwards had a talent for comedy and formed her own repertory company, The Maudie Edwards Players, who performed in the Palace Theatre, Swansea. In films of the 1940s, she provided a singing voice for stars such as Diana Dors and Margaret Lockwood. She made her first screen appearance in 1936 and her last in 1972. In 1950, she appeared on stage with Frank Sinatra at the London Palladium. She played Elsie Lappin in the first two episodes of British soap opera Coronation Street in 1960 and was the first performer to speak during the first scene in the show's history: "Now the next thing you've got to do is to get a signwriter in - that thing above the door'll have to be changed."
She died in London in 1991.
Filmography
- The Flying Doctor (1936)
- My Learned Friend (1943)
- The Shipbuilders (1943)
- I'll Be Your Sweetheart (1945)
- Query (1945)
- Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945)
- Walking on Air (1946)
- School for Randle (1949)
- Girdle of Gold (1952)
- Take a Powder (1953)
- The Strange World of Planet X (TV series 1956)
- The Errol Flynn Theatre (TV series 1956)
- Life at Stake (1957)
- The Ugly Duckling (1959)
- Coronation Street (TV series 1960)
- The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (TV series 1961)
- The Clue of the New Pin (1961)
- Only Two Can Play (1962)
- Dixon of Dock Green (TV series 1962)
- Band of Thieves (1963)
- Under Milk Wood (1972)
- Burke & Hare (1972)