Kitty McGeever
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Catherine Jane Mitchell (15 October 1966 – 16 August 2015), known professionally as Kitty McGeever, was an English actress and comedian. She was the first blind actress to be cast in a British soap opera, playing the fictional character Lizzie Lakely in ''
Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...
'' from April 2009 to March 2013.


Life and career

Born in
Bramley, Leeds Bramley is a district in west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is part of the City of Leeds electoral ward of Bramley and Stanningley, which had a population of 21,334 at the 2011 census. The area is an old industrial area with much 19th  ...
, McGeever grew up in Liversedge and
Farsley Farsley is a village in the City of Leeds, Leeds district, in West Yorkshire, England, west of Leeds city centre and east of Bradford near Pudsey. Before 1974, Farsley was part of the Municipal Borough of Pudsey, Borough of Pudsey. Before 193 ...
,
West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
. She changed her name from Catherine Mitchell to Kitty McGeever as there was already an actress named Catherine Mitchell. She trained at
RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central Lond ...
and was diagnosed as
diabetic Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...
at the age of 19. McGeever became pregnant in 2001, but developed
pre-eclampsia Pre-eclampsia is a multi-system disorder specific to pregnancy, characterized by the new onset of hypertension, high blood pressure and often a significant amount of proteinuria, protein in the urine or by the new onset of high blood pressure a ...
. Her son Felix was born two months early; he spent some time in a special care baby unit. At the age of four months, he suddenly became very ill, having problems with his heart and lungs. During her son's illness, McGeever also became ill due to the stress—her kidneys stopped working, she had heart trouble and
diabetic retinopathy Diabetic retinopathy (also known as diabetic eye disease) is a medical condition in which damage occurs to the retina due to diabetes. It is a leading cause of blindness in developed countries and one of the lead causes of sight loss in the wor ...
caused her to begin to lose her sight. Laser treatment was ineffective; five months later she was blind at the age of 32. Her son Felix died in January 2003, aged fifteen months. She was given a kidney transplant in a successful 12-hour operation. Following her recovery, she contacted her agent in 2008 and suggested that she was ready to begin performing again and would consider television. She was spotted by production staff from the soap ''
Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...
'' when she was appearing in a one-woman stage show where she talked about her life as a blind woman. They approached her with a view to creating an authentic blind character for ''Emmerdale'', to be played by McGeever, who would also develop the part. She first appeared as former criminal Lizzie Lakely in ''Emmerdale'' on 28 April 2009, at the age of 42; Lakely was the first permanent blind character in a British soap. She was given her scripts as sound recordings and had two
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
-sponsored assistants to guide her around the studios; they also guided her through the sets during rehearsals and ensured continuity between recordings. On 5 January 2010, McGeever appeared on the
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
programme '' In Touch'', when she talked to Peter White about losing her sight. She revealed that she had a number of gadgets to assist her, including a CD storage system where audible labels can be recorded, a colour detector to assist with choosing a coordinating outfit and a pair of long-armed oven gloves. In February 2013, it was reported that McGeever had been hospitalised and awaiting a heart transplant. Her sister, ''
Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...
'' scriptwriter Caroline Mitchell, denied her sister was awaiting a heart transplant, but stated that she was on the transplant register.


Death

McGeever died on 16 August 2015, aged 48. It was confirmed that she had been waiting for a kidney transplant and had asked for her organs to be donated to help others. Her final movie was Eugene McGing's 2016 horror movie '' The Unfolding''.


References


External links

*
Lizzie Lakely/Kitty McGeever profile
holysoap.five.tv {{DEFAULTSORT:McGeever, Kitty 1966 births 2015 deaths Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Actresses from Huddersfield English blind people English soap opera actresses English women comedians People from Bramley, Leeds Actresses from Leeds People from Liversedge Comedians from Leeds