Doris Speed

Doris Speed, MBE (3 February 1899 – 16 November 1994) was an English actress, best known for her role as landlady of the Rovers Return Inn Annie Walker in the ITV soap opera "Coronation Street", a role she played from the from the programme's first episode in December 1960 until Speed retired from the role 23 years and 1,724 episodes later in October 1983. Annie proved to be one of the show's most popular characters and Speed received more fan mail than any other cast member at the time. For her service, Speed was later declared a "national treasure" by the media and received an MBE in 1977.