Death
A 60-a-day smoker, Phoenix was found to have lung cancer in March 1986 after collapsing at home. Following her diagnosis she continued to work, hiding her illness from most people, including long term partner Antony Booth. In the summer of 1986 her condition deteriorated, forcing her to undergo more extensive treatment and confirming mild speculation in the press that she had health problems. It later leaked out that she had just weeks to live and had been given the Last Rites. On her deathbed she married Booth in Stockport, on 10 September 1986, attracting wide-scale media attention. Eight days later she died in her sleep, aged 62.
At her request, her funeral service at the Holy Name Church in Manchester featured a large brass band; according to Coronation Street histories written by show historian Daran Little, she wished the event that marked her death to be as lively as her life. Tony Blair and Phoenix's stepdaughter Cherie Blair were among the mourners.
Since her death, Phoenix has been portrayed by Denise Black, Sue Johnston and Jessie Wallace in various dramas depicting her life.
Read more about this topic: Pat Phoenix
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Fatigue dulls the pain, but awakes enticing thoughts of death. So! that is the way in which you are tempted to overcome your loneliness—by making the ultimate escape from life..—No! It may be that death is to be your ultimate gift to life: it must not be an act of treachery against it.”
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“On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend’s life also, in our own, to the world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Perhaps it is nothingness which is real and our dream which is non-existent, but then we feel think that these musical phrases, and the notions related to the dream, are nothing too. We will die, but our hostages are the divine captives who will follow our chance. And death with them is somewhat less bitter, less inglorious, perhaps less probable.”
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