Bill Kenwright, who played Gordon in Coronation Street, has died age 78 after an illness.
From the cobbles to the director's box
Kenwright started his career as an actor and landed his breakthrough role in ITV soap opera Coronation Street in 1968 as Gordon Clegg, the son of long-serving Rovers Return barmaid Betty.
Kenwright arrived in Manchester with the intention of starting university - but instead made a late decision to audition for a role on the cobbles. He was cast as Gordon, the birth son of Betty Williams who was raised by his aunt Maggie and her husband Les.
Kenwright also began putting on plays in order to give himself roles and discovered he had an aptitude for pulling the strings behind the scenes.
He found big success by staging new productions of two musicals - Willy Russell's Blood Brothers and Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - and making them long-running touring hits.
He has also staged productions of The Shawshank Redemption, The Exorcist, Cabaret, Evita, Saturday Night Fever and The Sound of Music.
Among his current shows, Sir Ian McKellen is starring in Frank and Percy in London, while Twelve Angry Men, Calendar Girls The Musical, Heathers The Musical and Blood Brothers are all on tour.
Dame Judi Dench, Woody Harrelson, Billie Piper, Rob Lowe and Felicity Kendal have also starred in his productions.
Glenda Young
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