Anne Kirkbride (21 June 1954 – 19 January 2015) was an English actress. She was best known for playing Deirdre Barlow in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street, which she played from 1972 to 2014.
On 19 January 2015, Kirkbride died of breast cancer in a Manchester hospital. She was 60 years old. Before she died, Kirkbride was planning to go back to Coronation Street, but never had the chance to do so.