Josephine Caroline Gertrude Mary Faith Harber, better known as Lynne Carol, was a Welsh born actress, primarily in TV series and telemovies, she was best known for playing busybody Martha Longhurst in the soap operaCoronation Street from the second episode in 1960 until the character was killed off in 1964.
Biography
Early life
A descendant of six generations of actors, Lynne Carol was born in Monmouthshire, south eastWales, where her actor parents Charles Harber and Mina Harber were touring in a stage play. Carol started her own acting career at age three. Before landing the part of Martha Longhurst, Carol worked in the provincial theatre for many years.
Career
Carol, although only 46 years old at the time played Martha Longhurst as a waspish beldam many years her senior, who first appeared in December 1960; with Ena Sharples, played by Violet Carson and Minnie Caldwell, played by Margot Bryant she made up the formidable trio that held court in the snug of local public house, the Rovers Return. The verbal interplay between the three epitomised the serial's North of England humanity and yielded some of the 'richest moments' in the programme. The renown of Martha Longhurst became such that Carol's unpublicised visit to the Ideal Home Exhibition caused a near riot. She was advised to leave the premises for her own safety. Her fan-base even included such international stars as the actor Laurence Olivier and the poet John Betjeman. After only three years in the series, the character of Martha Longhurst was axed by a new producer, who assumed that Carol would be likely to find other acting jobs. Carol was deeply shocked to read in the newspaper that the days of her character were now numbered Martha died quietly of a heart attack in the snug of the public house in May 1964. The subsequent burial took place in the ManchesterGeneral Cemetery where a special grave had been prepared. Carol remained bitter about Martha's death, and believed to the end that a terrible mistake had been made, as her character was so popular. Viewers responded by complaining in their thousands and, later, the writers acknowledged that they had made a mistake. Carol later appeared in the short-lived BBC serial The Newcomers, alongside Alan Browning, who later appeared in Coronation Street as Alan Howard. She also appeared in the 1979 filmYanks starring Richard Gere.
Personal life
Carol married Bert Palmer, a character actor from Yorkshire, who appeared in two episodes of Coronation Street and the pilot episode of its first spin-off, Pardon the Expression, and they made their home in Blackpool. Her husband died in 1980. Lynne Carol died in 1990, the day after her 76th birthday she had three children, two sons named Michael, Robert and a daughter Jan none of whom followed their parents into acting. Her brother James Allan Hulme Mackinnon was also a stage actor.
