Elsie Tanner

Elsie Gregory (also Grimshaw, Howard and Tanner) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera "Coronation Street", played by Pat Phoenix from the series' inception in 1960 to 1973, and again from 1976 until 1984. Elsie Tanner was one of the original core characters on "Coronation Street" and appeared in the first episode. She is considered to be an icon in soap history and regarded as one of the greatest ever characters to appear in "Coronation Street". 
Her final appearance came in January 1984, when Elsie emigrated to Portugal. Phoenix decided to quit the series in 1983 to pursue other projects. Phoenix appeared as Elsie in 1,607 episodes over a duration of 23 years.