Thelma Barlow

Thelma Barlow (née Pigott; born 19 June 1929) is an English television actress and writer, most famous for her roles as Mavis Wilton in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street and as Dolly Bellfield in the sitcom Dinnerladies.

Early life

Thelma Barlow was born in Middlesbrough, North Riding of Yorkshire in 1929, the younger of two daughters. Her father Tommy, a cabinet maker, died of pneumonia five weeks before her birth, so Barlow was brought up by her mother Margaret. During her childhood, the family moved to Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, and Thelma Barlow left school at 15 and went to Huddersfield Technical College to study shorthand and typing. Her first job, as a secretary, she held for eight years and at the same time belonged to an amateur dramatics group. Barlow decided to take up acting professionally and joined the Joan Littlewood Theatre Group. During the 1950s, she did rep in Liverpool, Nottingham and Birmingham. In 1960, Barlow joined the West of England Theatre Company followed by the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company. In Bristol, she ran a boarding house for fellow actors. In 1956 she married set designer Graham Barlow, and they had two children, Clive and James. They later divorced in 1983.