( CNN ) Anne Kirkbride , who played Deirdre Barlow for more than 40 years on the long-running UK soap opera `` Coronation Street , '' has died . She was 60 . The death was confirmed in a post on the website for ITV , the UK network that airs the show . `` There are no words to describe the sense of grief we feel at Anne 's passing , '' executive producer Kieran Roberts said in the post . `` We know only too acutely how much Anne meant to the millions of people who watched her create the legendary character of Deirdre Barlow . '' Kirkbride first showed up on `` Coronation Street , '' the world 's longest-running soap opera , in 1972 as a teenager with a handful of lines . Within a few years , she had entered into a short-lived marriage with one character and then a romance and marriage with another , Ken Barlow ( William Roache , who 'd been on the show since its inception in 1960 ) . The latter proved to be as big in Britain as the Luke-and-Laura storyline on `` General Hospital '' in the United States . According to the Guardian , at one point , the scoreboard at a Manchester United game informed a stadium full of fans that `` Deirdre and Ken united again ! '' The raspy-voiced character -- Kirkbride had a long smoking habit -- was Kirkbride 's main claim to fame , though she started in the theater and was first noticed in another program , a 1972 filmed play called `` Another Sunday and Sweet F.A . '' Intensely private , she once told the Guardian 's Anthony Hayward that she was perfectly happy with staying true to `` Coronation Street . '' `` I just enjoy having something to do that 's good , something that 's interesting and gives me a lot of scope , '' she said . `` I would n't be here if I wanted to perform Shakespeare . '' Kirkbride was a survivor of non-Hodgkin lymphoma -- she lost her hair and acted in a wig for a time -- and talked about her depression in a 2012 documentary , `` Deirdre & Me : 40 Years on Coronation Street . '' She was also an accomplished painter . She is survived by her husband , actor David Beckett . People we 've lost in 2015 .
Kirkbride was mainstay of long-running Britain soap `` Coronation Street '' Anne Kirkbride played Kirkbride for 40 Years .