Today we wish the actor Johnny Briggs a very happy birthday! Johnny, best known as wheeler dealer Cockney factory boss Mike Baldwin in Coronation Street, turns 83 today.
Johnny Briggs is best known for his thirty year stint in the Manchester soap, starring as Mike between 1976 and 2006. During that time his character was probably most associated with his ongoing feud with Ken Barlow and his many, many wives! One of his longest running on-screen relationships was with the actress Amanda Barrie, who played Alma Sedgewick for over twenty years. Of course Amanda also starred in Carry On Cabby and Cleo amongst countless other things.
And Johnny himself is not without Carry On links. He first appeared in the series in 1968 in the small role of a soldier who is shot in the sporran in the climatic moments of Carry On Up The Khyber. Following another brief role in the film of Bless This House in 1972, Briggs returned for two further Carry Ons - as a painter in Carry On Behind and finally as Captain Melly's driver in Carry On England in 1976, the same year he started in Corrie. Johnny also played Norman in the Carry On Laughing episode 'The Case of the Coughing Parrot' in 1975 for ATV.
Johnny's other film roles include a medical student in Doctor in Distress (1963 - which also featured Amanda Barrie); The Leather Boys; the Norman Wisdom films A Stitch in Time and The Bulldog Breed (which also saw a certain William Roache play a small role). Briggs was also in Cosh Boy; HMS Defiant and the Morecambe and Wise film The Intelligence Men. On the small screen Johnny has popped up in everything from Crossroads, The Saint and No Hiding Place to Holby City and Miss Marple.
Whatever Johnny is up to today, I hope he has a very happy birthday!
And you can read more about Johnny Briggs here.
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