Jack Howarth (actor)

Jack Howarth MBE, (Born John Aubrey Conway Howarth; 19 February 1896 – 31 March 1984) was a British actor best known for his role as Albert Tatlock in Coronation Street between 1960 and 1984.

Early life
Born at 96 Mitchell Street, Rochdale, Lancashire, Howarth was the son of comedian Bert Howarth, and went to school with the singer and actress Gracie Fields.

As a child he sold theatre programmes at the Theatre Royal, Rochdale and in 1908 at the age of twelve he began playing juvenile roles on stage.

He married Sarah E Murgatroyd at St Mary and St Peter Parish Church, Hull, Yorkshire, in 1929. They were married until his death 55 years later. They had a son, John junior (born 1930), and a daughter, Anne (born 1939).

Career
Howarth ran a small cinema after the outbreak of World War I, having been a member of the Lancashire Fusiliers during that war. Howarth also ran his own theatre in Colwyn Bay, taking most of the male roles himself, due to the lack of men available to play the parts.

Howarth toured the country in theatre performances where he met and married his wife Betty in Hull in July 1929. He made over a hundred television appearances in all after 1947, having run a theatre in Wales from 1935 onwards. He also appeared in a number of films including The Man in the White Suit (1951) and Hobson's Choice (1954).

Coronation Street
Howarth made his Coronation Street debut in the first episode in December 1960 and appeared in over 1,700 episodes until his final appearance on 25 January 1984. He hadn't been written out, but was having a spell of time away and was due to return to the set in late April 1984. He never got the chance to do so. Jack Howarth died in Llandudno General Hospital from a liver complaint on the evening of 31 March 1984, aged 88, with his wife and son John at his bedside. He was cremated six days later at Colwyn Bay.

Howarth was made an MBE in 1983 for his charity work - especially for supporting the disabled and children with general learning difficulties.

Coronation Street bosses made the decision to kill off Albert Tatlock soon after Howarth's real-life death, and it was revealed that Tatlock had died in the episode that was aired on 14 May 1984.