Gwen Taylor (born "Gwendoline M. Allsop" on 19th February 1939 in Derby) appeared on Coronation Street between September 2011 and March 2012 as Anne Foster, mother of businessman Frank Foster.
Initially working in the banking sector, she expressed an interest in amateur dramatics and went on to train at the East 15 School of Acting in London.
Best known for her roles as Amy Pearce in Duty Free, Rita Simcock in A Bit of a Do, Barbara Liversidge in Barbara, Peggy Armstrong in Heartbeat, and most recently, Vi Highway in Eastenders, her other television credits include roles in Kate, Murder Must Advertise, John Halifax, Gentleman, Crown Court, The Nearly Man, Rutland Weekend Television, Middlemen, Sounding Brass, Play for Today, The Sharp End, Screaming, Conjugal Rites, A Perfect State, Holby City, Pilgrims Rest, Doctors, Tracy Ullman's Show and Trollied.
Film roles include Life of Brian, Richard's Things, The Lady in the Van, Small Town Killers, Another Mother's Son, Pylon and The Croft.
On stage, she appeared in productions of Spring and Port Wine, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Hollow Crown, What Every Woman Knows, Come Blow Your Horn and The Knack for the Derby Playhouse. Other works include Happy as a Sandbag, She Stoops to Conquer, Mutual Consent, The Philanderer, Night and Day, Harvest, Skirmishes, Ripen Our Darkness, Top Girls, Trumpets and Raspberries, The Maintenance Man, Spookhouse, Light Up the Sky (for Bill Kenwright), The Guardsman, The Mother Tongue, Time of My Life, Hamlet, Love, The Glass Menagerie, Heritage, Lettice and Lovage, Prick Up Your Ears, Night Must Fall, The Lady Vanishes and The Croft.
