Christopher Quinten (born Christopher Bell; 12 July 1957) is a British
actor, best known for his role as Brian Tilsley on Coronation Street,
which he played from 1978 to 1989.Quinten started his career as a
dancer in West End productions, including the Victoria Palace with
Cilla Black and Jimmy Tarbuck. He turned to acting and had his first
role in the 1978 film International Velvet, starring Tatum O'Neal.
This appearance led to small parts in television series including
Quatermass and Hazell, and was also noticed by the Coronation Street
casting offices, who gave Ivy Tilsley, the oft-seen Baldwin's worker,
a son. Quinten was then signed to the programme, for which he worked
for over a decade. His pairing with Gail Potter (played by Helen
Worth) proved very popular for the serial in the 1980s.In 1989,
Quinten told the casting office that he was going to move to the
United States to marry his then-fiancée, American talk show host
Leeza Gibbons. The couple had met in 1988 in New Zealand while
appearing on a Telethon, and Quinten had been hoping to stay in
Coronation Street as a part-time character, but the producers rejected
his offer to stay on part-time, and at the end of 1988 the decision
was made to kill the character off. His final episode was aired on 15
February 1989, when Brian Tilsley was stabbed to death by a gang of
teenagers outside a nightclub.Once settled in the United States,
Quinten and Gibbons worked together on the film RoboCop 2 (in which he
played a reporter), and had one daughter, Lexi Quinten. The couple
divorced in 1991. Quinten married Paula Holmes in 1992, but they later
separated.
actor, best known for his role as Brian Tilsley on Coronation Street,
which he played from 1978 to 1989.Quinten started his career as a
dancer in West End productions, including the Victoria Palace with
Cilla Black and Jimmy Tarbuck. He turned to acting and had his first
role in the 1978 film International Velvet, starring Tatum O'Neal.
This appearance led to small parts in television series including
Quatermass and Hazell, and was also noticed by the Coronation Street
casting offices, who gave Ivy Tilsley, the oft-seen Baldwin's worker,
a son. Quinten was then signed to the programme, for which he worked
for over a decade. His pairing with Gail Potter (played by Helen
Worth) proved very popular for the serial in the 1980s.In 1989,
Quinten told the casting office that he was going to move to the
United States to marry his then-fiancée, American talk show host
Leeza Gibbons. The couple had met in 1988 in New Zealand while
appearing on a Telethon, and Quinten had been hoping to stay in
Coronation Street as a part-time character, but the producers rejected
his offer to stay on part-time, and at the end of 1988 the decision
was made to kill the character off. His final episode was aired on 15
February 1989, when Brian Tilsley was stabbed to death by a gang of
teenagers outside a nightclub.Once settled in the United States,
Quinten and Gibbons worked together on the film RoboCop 2 (in which he
played a reporter), and had one daughter, Lexi Quinten. The couple
divorced in 1991. Quinten married Paula Holmes in 1992, but they later
separated.
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