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WOMAN'S OWN, 18 June 1990

'Marrying Paul Just Felt So Right'

EastEnders star Wendy Richard put two unhappy marriages behind her when she said 'I do' to fiancé Paul Glorney.  Until then, she had resigned herself to living life alone.  But now the actress has not only found Mr. Right but a ready made family, too.

Day after day, Wendy Richard pulls on some old clothes, puts on a glum face and turns herself into one of the most fed-up and washed-out characters on the box.  Poor old Pauline Fowler -- if it's not something going on in the Square, it's one of the kids, or Arthur, or Pete . . .

No wonder Wendy looked forward to a rare day off, when she could take a rest from Pauline's troubles and wear that new outfit she'd bought -- a Frank Usher cream suit with matching court shoes, set off by a blue butterfly necklace.  She'd also had her hair pinned up and dressed with delicate strands of Gypsophila.  After all, it was special occasion -- March 17, St. Patrick's Day.  There was a wedding to go to . . . . . .

But if they were walking on air all weekend, both bumped down to ground on the Monday morning when they went off to work, Paul to his job as carpet fitter and Wendy back to Albert Square's Pauline Fowler and her old clothes.

"They were very pleased with me because I knew my lines," she recalls, laughing.  "But it would have been nice to have been able to go away on honeymoon."

. . . . . .

"It's just a job really," says the actress, who first found major television success as Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served?  But it's as Pauline Fowler that Wendy has become one of Britain's most famous stars, and she just re-signed for 12 months in EastEnders with an option for another 12.

"I think Pauline is the best part in EastEnders, quite honestly," says Wendy.  "She has sympathy and a lot of warmth.  I feel so sorry for her -- she's had a miserable life in some respects but she's got great kids, and Arthur, when he has got a job, is a hardworking husband."

But Pauline is such a depressing part to play.  "Well, it was when Arthur was having his breakdown.  You'd go home and think how sad it was that day.  But things are getting lighter now and that's very exciting.  EastEnders will be number one again, I know," says Wendy, conscious of the ratings competition with other soaps.  "It's a jolly good show and I'm very proud to be in it."

The cast members closest to Wendy and Paul were all invited to the wedding -- June Brown, Letitia Dean, Sue Tully and Gretchen Franklin, as well as Anna Wing and Michael Cashman, who have left.

But it was proud Peter Dean (Pauline's brother, Pete Beale in the show) who gave Wendy away, because, since the death of her mother nearly 20 years ago, and her father's suicide when she was just 11, Wendy has had no family.

But the wedding day wasn't a time for feeling sad about it.  "I've been on my own for so many years, you just get used to it.  It was nice that Peter gave me away.  We're close friends with him and his wife, Jean, and I do appreciate my friends very much indeed.  In that respect I'm very lucky and a very rich person."

And Wendy has certainly needed her friends in the past.  After two unhappy marriages, she's known what it's like to be emotionally, and physically, battered, and once even contemplated suicide.  But now she's philosophical about the past.

"I don't think back," says Wendy.  "You should never look over your shoulder.  And if you've had a rough time it makes you appreciate meeting someone who really is very good and very kind.

. . . . . .

So what annoys Paul about Wendy?  "When she gets back from work and she won't leave it alone.  Normally, if she's had a little trouble, she'll get it off her chest and that's it, but when she harps on for too long, I have to tell her, 'You've had your say, now bury it and relax'."

"And I snore," says Wendy.

"Yes, she snores."

Sport and snoring aside, it's a happy home, says Wendy, lots of laughter, "mostly at my expense.  You know how you can tell as soon as you walk into a house whether it's a home or a place where someone just stay," she says.  "Well, ours has a nice, happy atmosphere, even if it's like a madhouse, with bird feathers all over the place."

The blame lies with Henry, a little cockatiel.

"It was Paul's idea that we get a pet bird, but who's the one who cleans out the cage?  Me," she says, laughing.  "And when the poor little bird flies around, sometimes Paul shouts at it, 'If you're not careful I'll make you into a sandwich', but all Henry wants is a fuss.

"If anybody could see us through the window, walking around with a little bird on our heads!"

At the back of the flat, there's a little patio which Paul enjoys working on.  "We're going to do it all in red, white and blue this year," says Wendy.  "That's me being patriotic.  He'd rather green, white and gold, but I'm not having it."

When it comes to working inside the flat, Paul, of course, laid all the carpets.  "He's brilliant at anything below the skirting-board," says Wendy, "but he's not so hot on making the bed."

It sounds a warm and down-to-earth home life, and one that Wendy never envisaged, fearing she'd never ever meet Mr. Right.

"I'd resigned myself to being on my own," she says.  "In fact, I was going to get a dog, but I couldn't get permission to take it to work.  And with the hours I do it wouldn't have been fair to leave it on its own.  So I ended up with Paul and a little dickie bird!"

And from the look on Wendy Richard's face, it seems like a very happy ending.

Victoria Freedman