Anne Dyson (4th January 1909 - 10th February 1996) played Leonard Swindley's sister Hilda Barnett on Coronation Street in March 1964 and Mrs Claxton in July 1965, then appeared regularly as short-term resident Effie Spicer from June 1968 to March 1969.
She was born in Manchester and started her career with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop when it was based in that city where she spent four years. After that she was in repertory at the Manchester Library Theatre, the Liverpool Playhouse and the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. Small television parts followed including an appearance in The Stories of D.H. Lawrence for Granada Television. She left Coronation Street earlier than planned when she was offered a chance to achieve a personal ambition of joining the Royal Shakespeare Company. Granada agreed to release her from her year-long contract early and her first parts for the company were as Mistress Quickly in the trilogy of Henry IV and Henry V plays in the summer of 1969. Upon leaving the Street she said, "Working on Coronation Street has been a wonderful experience. The friendship and warmth of everybody involved in the programme is something unique and I shall never forget it. I don't think I would have left for anything less than an offer from Stratford."
Her other credits after the Street included I, Claudius, Emmerdale Farm, Juliet Bravo and Casualty. She died at Denville Hall, the actors' retirement home.