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"Coronation Street&amp;#039;s Bill Tarmey, who passed away earlier today (November 9), has been praised by his former castmates Alan Halsall and Liz Dawn. Dawn played Vera Duckworth, the wife of Tarmey&amp;#039;s Jack, on the soap, while Halsall&amp;#039;s Tyrone Dobbs came to be like a son to Tarmey&amp;#039;s character.  This Is Jersey quotes Dawn as saying: &amp;quot;Bill was part of my family. When you work with someone for so long, as we did, it becomes more than just work. &amp;quot;Our families were close and I am devastated for [wife] Ali and his family. I am totally bereft. He will always be remembered by everyone he came into contact with because he was such a kind and generous man. You couldn&amp;#039;t wish to meet a more lovely man and a true gentleman. He was a gentle giant and I will miss him so much.&amp;quot;  Halsall told ITV Granada: &amp;quot;He was very close to me... I worked with him here for many years. &amp;quot;He was a wonderful man. On-screen, people knew him as Jack and loved him as Jack, and, you know, the people who knew him off-screen loved him just as much as Bill.&amp;quot; &amp;gt; Bill Tarmey 1941 - 2012: Obituary for &amp;#039;Coronation Street&amp;#039;s Jack Duckworth &amp;gt; Corrie&amp;#039;s Bill Tarmey 1941-2012: Jack Duckworth&amp;#039;s finest moments He went on: &amp;quot;In every way he was the true gent... I was young when I first started [and] he put his arm round me and guided me at the age of 16... and that was a mark of the man... He would literally do anything for anybody.&amp;quot; Describing Tarmey&amp;#039;s significance for Corrie, Halsall added: &amp;quot;For someone of my generation, Bill as Jack and [Liz as] Vera was Mr and Mrs Coronation Street to me, and, yeah, every storyline that I remember seems to have something to do with Jack and Vera, so, yeah, I loved him as his character but as a man I love him a lot more.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/coronation-street/news/a437163/coronation-street-star-bill-tarmey-praised-by-alan-halsall-liz-dawn/>