Melanie Clark Pullen (2 July 1975 – 29 March 2022) was an Irish actress, film producer and writer.

Career

Born and raised in Ireland, Clark Pullen attended

Newpark Comprehensive School Newpark Comprehensive School () is a mixed, Church of Ireland, state comprehensive secondary school in Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland which was established in 1972 after the Department of Education purchased Avoca & Kingstown School, whic ...

and then studied drama at

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. Shortly after graduating, in June 1997, she was cast in her most notable role as

Mary Flaherty Mary Flaherty may refer to: * Mary Flaherty (baseball) (1926–2000), All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player *Mary Flaherty (politician) (born 1953), former Irish Fine Gael Party politician, TD 1981–1997 *May O'Flaherty (1904� ...

in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

soap opera ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

''. Playing the long-lost relative of

Pauline Fowler Pauline Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders''. She was played by actress Wendy Richard between the first episode on 19 February 1985 and 25 December 2006. Pauline was created by scriptwriter Tony Holland an ...

(

Wendy Richard Wendy Richard (born Wendy Emerton; 20 July 1943 – 26 February 2009) was an English actress, best known for her television roles as Miss Shirley Brahms on the BBC sitcom ''Are You Being Served?'' from 1972 to 1985, and Pauline Fowler on the ...

), Clark Pullen remained in the role for 18 months until her departure in early 1999. After Albert Square, she appeared in

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

's big-budget costume drama ''

Lady Audley's Secret ''Lady Audley's Secret'' is a sensation novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon published on 1 October 1862. It was Braddon's most successful and well-known novel. Critic John Sutherland (author), John Sutherland (1989) described the work as "the most ...

'', starred in '' Catherine Cookson's A Dinner of Herbs'' and featured alongside Sir Richard Attenborough and

Jenny Agutter Jennifer Ann Agutter (born 20 December 1952) is an English actress. She began her career as a child actress in 1964, appearing in '' East of Sudan'', '' Star!'', and two adaptations of '' The Railway Children'': the BBC's 1968 television seri ...

in the remake of the classic ''

The Railway Children ''The Railway Children'' is a children's book by E. Nesbit, Edith Nesbit, originally serialised in ''The London Magazine'' during 1905 and published in book form in the same year. It has been adapted for the screen several times, of which the ...

'', all in 2000. Other credits include ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'' (2000), ''

The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse ''The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse'' is a 2005 disaster horror comedy film based on the British television series ''The League of Gentlemen''. It is directed by Steve Bendelack at his directorial debut and written by the series' cast alon ...

'' (2005) and '' The Clinic'' (2006). On stage, Clark Pullen starred as Mariane in ''

Tartuffe ''Tartuffe, or The Impostor, or The Hypocrite'' (; , ), first performed in 1664, is a theatrical comedy (or more specifically, a farce) by Molière. The characters of Tartuffe, Elmire, and Orgon are considered among the greatest classical theat ...

'' at the Lyttelton Theatre in 2002; appeared as Perdita in

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...

'' in the 2001 production at the National Theatre; and co-wrote and starred in ''Missing Stars'' at the

Finborough Theatre The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London (part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world p ...

in 2001. In 2006, Clark Pullen wrote, directed and produced the short film ''Marion agus an Banphrionsa'' (''Marion and the Princess''), for which she won the Gradam Gael Linn award for the Best Short in the Irish Language at the 51st Cork Film Festival."Awards Archive: 51st Cork Film Festival"
'' CorkFilmFest.org'' (2006); retrieved 20 August 2009. She also produced another short, ''Sounds Good'' (2004), which was written by her partner, Simon Maxwell. Clark Pullen appeared as Lisa Bacchus playing the wife of Policeman Sergeant John Bacchus in the BBC drama, ''

Inspector George Gently ''Inspector George Gently'' (also known as ''George Gently'' for the pilot and first series) is a British crime drama television series produced by Company Pictures for BBC One, set in the 1960s and loosely based on some of the Inspector Gently ...

''.

Personal life

Clark Pullen was married to the writer Simon Maxwell. After leaving ''EastEnders'' she admitted to suffering from

panic attack Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and Comfort, discomfort that may include palpitations, otherwise defined as a Tachycardia, rapid, Arrhythmia, irregular Heart rate, heartbeat, Hyperhidrosis, sweating, chest pain or discomfort, s ...

s and depression as she struggled to cope with the instant fame she received from being in such a high-profile show. In a bid to help others cope with depression she teamed up with another writer, Aoife Maguire, to create ''Missing Stars'', a play that was staged in 2001 in which she also starred. The purpose of the play was to show sufferers of depression that help is available. Having initially been diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

in January 2019, one year later, she was given the all clear by doctors. She died from a

brain tumour A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...

on 29 March 2022, at the age of 46. It is unclear if the cancer which claimed her life was related to the one with which she had originally been diagnosed. She was survived by her husband, three children, and her sister.

References and notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark Pullen, Melanie 1975 births 2022 deaths Irish soap opera actresses Irish stage actresses Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish television actresses People from Bray, County Wicklow Deaths from brain tumor Place of death missing Actresses from County Wicklow People educated at Newpark Comprehensive School