BBC News, Monday, June 7, 1999

Published at 10:24 GMT 11:24 UK

Neighbours star Haddy dies

Veteran Australian actress Anne Haddy - the longest serving cast member of the hit soap Neighbours - has died aged 68.

She died on Sunday in a Melbourne hospital two years after she left the show in which she played grandmother Helen Daniels for 12 years.

Haddy had been suffering from failing health for many years. She suffered a heart attack in 1979 and had further heart operations in 1982 and 1983. She also had a hip replacement in 1996 followed by kidney problems.

"The network was very saddened to hear of the loss," said a spokeswoman for the Ten Network, which broadcasts Neighbours in Australia.

"Anne had been out of the show for a couple of years, but she would still come in to answer her fan mail from overseas."

She was forced to leave the show, seen in the UK on BBC One, in 1997 because of her kidney problems.

Her screen character died watching a video of the wedding of her grandson Scott Robinson to Charlene Mitchell, played by Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue.

Originally from Quorn, South Australia, Haddy made her acting debut on ABC Radio in Adelaide in 1948.

Before joining Neighbours, she played other roles on Australian television, appearing in soaps such as Prisoner Cell Block H, Homicide, The Restless Years and Sons and Daughters.

Haddy is survived by her actor husband James Condon, six children, and five grandchildren.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/newsid_362000/362967.stm