William Roache: Meet Actor Who Holds Record for Playing the Same TV Role for the Longest Time
- William Roache was recently celebrated by Guinness World Records as the longest-serving TV soap actor
- He achieved the impressive milestone for playing the same role on Coronation Street for about 60 years
- Roache had earlier disclosed through an interview that he did not want to take the role when he was picked for the show
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Legendary actor William Roache is officially the longest-serving TV soap actor in the world.
Source: Facebook
Roache achieved the feat for playing the same role in a show for the longest time in TV history. According to Guinness World Records, William Roache, who plays the seemingly ever-youthful Ken Barlow in the show Coronation Street was lauded for his role in the aforementioned TV show.
The actor, who played Ken Barlow in the Granada Television soap opera Coronation Street, has been on the show ever since the first episode.
Stuff.co.nz reported that Coronation Street's first episode was aired on December 9, 1960. The revered actor most recently appeared in Coronation Street episode 9,850 on August 16, 2019.
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The appearance gave him a run of 58 years 250 days, making him the longest-serving soap star on the longest-running soap opera on TV.
Guinness World Records
Roache's efforts were noted by Guinness World Records, which handed him an official certificate just recently.Following the announcement by Guinness World Records, many TV fans took to social media to celebrate him as a great actor.
Briefly News understands Roache initially turned down the role when he was first approached about it 60 years ago.
Speaking during a recent interview, Roache disclosed that he went for the audition but did not really want the job.
“I went to the audition at Granada Television in Manchester but I didn’t particularly want the job. I had just had the lead in a television play and I was living in a flat in London and waiting for the play to go out, which was a big break for me." Roache said.
Roache noted that his agent told him he had been picked for the role and he said he did not want to take part.
However, he later agreed to give it a try after his agent talked and persuaded him.
“When my agent said, ‘They want you, Bill’, I told him I didn’t want to do it. Fortunately, he persuaded me that it was only going to run for 11 weeks and that in one of those weeks I would be on television Monday and Friday in Coronation Street and mid-week in the play and it would be a great ‘shop window’ for me.'' he added.
Igor Vovkovinskiy: Tallest man in the US at 2.3m dies aged 38 from heart disease
Igor Vovkovinskiy made an entry into the Guinness Book of Records in 2010 for being the tallest living person in America. Vovkovinskiy, who stood at 7 feet, 8.33 inches tall (2 metres, 34.5 centimetres) died aged 38 from heart disease at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, CNN reports.
News of his demise was shared on Facebook by his mother Svetlana Vovkovinska, who works as an ICU nurse at the medical facility.
She added that Vovkovinskiy's brother Oleh, wife Alla and children were with him to the very last minute.
"Igor was glad to see them, and although it was difficult for him to speak, he tried to joke about his nephew Andriy, whether he had learned the Ukrainian language in a month in Ukraine," she wrote.
Source: Briefly News
