She was in the first episode of Emmerdale, worked with greats such as Morecambe and Wise and most recently played a dead body for David Jason.

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She might not have gained showbiz mega-stardom but in all her years as an actress, producer and teacher she's appeared in hundreds of roles on stage and screen. Indeed, her life as an extra has turned up some remarkable parts.

She played opposite Peter Sellers in Return of the Pink Panther as a hotel receptionist, had a part in The Water Babies starring James Mason and Bernard Cribbins and also appeared in 1970s apocalyptic thriller No Blade of Grass.

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But its her seemingly endless TV roles that will ring more bells. Over the years she has appeared in many well-known series, including Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Cold Feet, Heartbeat, A Bit of A Do, Casualty, Coronation Street, Last of the Summer Wine, Emmerdale, Boone, Brookside, the list goes on.

She's also advertised everything from fax machines and hotels to carpets and soap powder. For years she worked on the Bold adverts.

Between all that, she's trodden the boards in countless stage productions, tackling everything from serious drama to panto.

She has also produced on stage and radio and taught acting. All of which means she has the kind of behind-the-scenes anecdotes gossip magazines die for.

The 84-year-old, who lives in Headingley, officially retired several years ago but said she has never been busier.

She said: "I have been doing this since I was 16. I officially retired eight years ago and I haven't stopped since."

Born in Dublin, Ireland, she arrived in Leeds when she was just five – her father, Arthur Ward, was a travelling shoe seller.

It was an amateur dramatic competition at her local church that set her on her career path and led to her winning a year's tuition at Leeds College of Music and Drama.

She said: "I always wanted to be an actress. Either that or a teacher and I ended up doing both. After college, I went to be assistant stage manager at The Court Players in Leeds. I remember when I first started they sent me out for pigeon milk and, being gullible, I went."

The great grandmother-of-one took a break from acting and directing to bring up her son, Christopher, who also has a son, and for a while went into teaching. She even helped a young Peter O'Toole cure his lisp.

She said: "He came to live with me for a while. I'd seen him at a YMCA drama group and I gave him a bit of a roasting. He was a reporter for the YEP at the time but wanted to do acting. We got someone in to help him over his lisp.

"I remember he got a casting call in London, went down on the train, slept in hay barn, got stinking drunk and lost the part but then walked into RADA and demanded an audition and the rest is history.

"I have worked with David Jason several times. I was in every series of Open All Hours in some way. I've played the Queen for him in Diamond Geezer and a dead body in Albert's Memorial, which has yet to air.

"I remember playing a patient on a series called Cardiac Arrest in Glasgow. I started to feel ill as I was laid on the bed, so I got up and started to feel better but every time I got back on I'd feel ill again. Then I discovered that all the generators for the set were under my bed.

"I've done all kinds of roles. I was at the funeral in the first episode of Emmerdale, I was understudy to Thora Hird. People used to say it was difficult to tell us apart when I had makeup on.

"I remember playing a character with Thora in a series she did called Hallelujah in which I walloped a man with my handbag. We had to do the scene three times.

"Then I got a part on Boone, starring Michael Elfick and the man I had walloped was there again. He took one look at me and said, 'I hope you've left your handbag at home.'"

She's also worked with Alan Bennett, Diana Dors, Norman Wisdom and during a stint as a producer at Radio Leeds, recalled: "I used to pretend to strip off when John Helm read the news to distract him and sometimes I caught him off guard."

These days she is still working and is asked to various speaking events and recitals.

She added: "The crunch came early last year when I did five auditions in one week – London, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester and Leeds. I got one job out of it but decided I was too old. I now do Emmerdale and Coronation Street as an extra about once a month.

"I like theatre better than films. I can remember once playing the White Bear in The Tinderbox at The Civic in Leeds and at the end I had to tell all the children that the prince and princess had gone to sleep and that they had to tip-toe out of the theatre with their fingers on their lisp and they did it. It was the most wonderful and humbling feeling. It meant they had believed in my character."