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Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

18

Gender

Female

Birthday

1948-10-02

Day of Death

2019-04-07 (71 years old)

Place of Birth

London, England, UK

Also Known As

Sandy Ratcliff

Biography

Born on October 2, 1950 in London, England, Sandy Ratcliff originally worked as a model and was touted by photographer Lord Snowden as 'The Face of the 70s' before she turned her attention to acting. She took the lead role in Ken Loach's 1971 film Family Life, and later appeared in the 1979 film Radio On, but she was best known for being one of the original cast members in the BBC soap EastEnders. As Sue Osman, Ratcliff appeared in the very first episode in 1985 and played the part of the cafe owner until 1989 when she was sacked due to her addiction to heroin. Ill health and personal problems dogged Ratcliff ever since she left the soap, including battling cancer and hitting the headlines for providing a false alibi for her boyfriend Michael Shorey, who was subsequently sentenced to two life sentences for the murder of two women. At some stage, Ratcliff retrained as a counsellor but had retired by 2010. In her final years she lived in sheltered accommodation and it was here that her body was found on the morning of 7th April, 2019. She was 70 years old.

Known For

Acting

Radio On

1979

Radio On

as

Kathy

Family Life

1971

Family Life

as

Janice Baildon

Hussy

1980

Hussy

as

Olympia

Cork and Bottle

1977

Cork and Bottle

as

Lana Cork

A Box of Swan

1990

A Box of Swan

as

Patricia

Doll’s Eye

1983

Doll’s Eye

as

Maggie

Play Things

1976

Play Things

as

Alice

The Workshop

1982

The Workshop

as

Mimi

The Sweeney

The Sweeney

as

Liz Jenner

Minder

Minder

as

Barbara

EastEnders

EastEnders

as

Sue Osman

Danger UXB

Danger UXB

as

Rosalyn

Production

Crew

Directing