Lynda Bellingham's Biography

Who was Lynda Bellingham?

Lynda Bellingham was born on 31 May 1948 in Montreal, Canada, but was brought up in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.

In the late 1960s she studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Since 2007, she has been a regular panellist on ITV's popular daytime show Loose Women.

Lynda's big acting break came in 1972 when she landed a year-long role in the ITV soap General Hospital.

Between the years of 1983 and 1999, Lynda appeared as the 'Oxo Mum' in the famous TV commercials for Oxo.

In 1988 Lynda Bellingham began one of her most popular roles: Helen Herriot in All Creatures Great And Small. She has also appeared in Midsomer Murders, New Tricks, Z Cars, The Sweeney, At Home with the Braithwaites, Waking the Dead, Faith in the Future, Second Thoughts, Doctor Who, The Bill and Holby City.

Lynda's theatre credits include Sugar Mummies, Marry Me You Idiot, Vincent River, Losing Louis and playing Chris Harper, the lead role in Calendar Girls.

The Daily Mail reported how Lynda Bellingham, who divorced Greg Smith and Nunzio Peluso, married Michael Pattemore in 2008.

They married on Lynda Bellingham's 60th birthday on May 31 2008.

Lynda Bellingham had been on the receiving end of physical and mental abuse from her second husband Peluso and turned to alcohol. She told The Telegraph:

"I would sit in the kitchen, drunk at 10am, often with girlfriends in similar situations."

She subsequently quit drinking after what she told The Sunday Times was "a road-to-Damascus moment".

In 2007, Lynda Bellingham told Roger Foss of What's on Stage:

"I guess that when you get into your fifties you just have to keep reinventing yourself as an actor. They kind of don't know what to do with you. Thankfully, Judi Dench and Helen Mirren have shown the world that there is acting life after 50, although equally there still aren't all that many strong parts for women parts on television today, which is why doing theatre is so important to me."

In 2009 Lynda Bellingham partnered Darren Bennett in Strictly Come Dancing.

Lynda and Darren were the fourth couple voted off.

On 31 December 2013, Lynda Bellingham was appointed an OBE for her charity work. Earlier in the year, she had been diagnosed with cancer.

On 19 October 2014, Lynda Bellingham died after battling bowel cancer.

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