The Street cheat with a big heart
Johnny Briggs Actor BORN SEPTEMBER 5, 1935 – DIED FEBRUARY 28, 2021, AGED 85
AS CORONATION Street’s wheeler-dealing cockney womaniser Mike Baldwin, Johnny Briggs excelled as a soap baddie who audiences couldn’t help but love. He signed up for a threemonth stint on the soap in 1976 to bed barmaid Bet Lynch but ended up staying for 30 years, becoming an underwear factory owner with an eye for the ladies.
Married four times on screen, Mike’s affair with Deirdre Barlow in 1983 was watched by 20 million at its peak. When Deirdre chose to stay with husband Ken, the public interest was so great Old Trafford’s scoreboard flashed “Ken and Deirdre reunited. Ken 1 Mike 0”.
Mike found love with his third wife, Alma Sedgewick (Amanda Barrie). They separated after he cheated but reunited, only for him to lose her to cancer.
Life often mirrored art for Briggs, with his own real-life affairs regularly ending up in the tabloids.
His soap run ended after Mike was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in a storyline that was praised for its sensitivity. Mike died of a heart attack in arch-enemy Ken’s arms.
Johnny Briggs was born in Battersea, London, the son of carpenter Ernest and mother Rose. He was evacuated to Surrey during the Second World War but later lived with his uncle in Cheshire, where he sang solo treble in a choir.
Aged 12, he was sent to the Italia Conti Academy, appearing alongside Anthony Newley and Nanette Newman. He became a boy soprano with the Italian Opera Company and performed in its productions of La Bohème, Tosca, Falstaff and Rigoletto.
He had small parts in Hue And Cry in 1947 and Oliver Twist in 1948 before appearing in Sauce Tartare with Audrey Hepburn.
He was promoted to spotlight operator at the Windmill Theatre, London, after starting as a stagehand and completed two years’ national service as a driving instructor and gunner in the Royal Tank Regiment. His screen roles grew in the 1950s and 1960s at a time when he drank with notorious hellraisers Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton and Richard Harris.
The 5ft 7in actor wore elevated shoes for his breakout role as DS Russell in drama No Hiding Place. He also starred in Carry On films, Sink The Bismarck!, Z Cars and The Avengers. In later life the avid golfer split his leisure time between Florida and Somerset.
He is survived by a son and daughter from his first marriage to Caroline Sinclair, and two sons and two daughters from his marriage to Christine Allsop.