Eileen Pollock death: Star who played Lilo Lill in sitcom Bread dies aged 73

Belfast star is remembered as ‘truly a powerhouse of an actor, with huge generosity and spirit’

Ronald Forfar and Eileen Pollock in Bread (BBC)

Eileen Pollock, the actor best known for playing Lilo Lill in the Eighties sitcom Bread, has died at the age of 73.

Her death was confirmed by her family, who said she died peacefully in her London home on 19 December.  

“Your beauty, laughter and loving eyes gave joy to all,” her family said.

The Belfast star played the mistress of Freddie Boswell (Ronald Forfar) in the hit comedy about a large Liverpudlian family, from 1986 to 1991.

Her other notable roles include Angela's Ashes, Four Days in July and the Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman FILM Far and Away.

Her agents said she was “truly a powerhouse of an actor, with huge generosity and spirit”.  

When Pollock auditioned for Bread, she convinced the producers her character should be Irish, rather than Scouse as they had initially intended.

“The reason I said that was because I had been trying out my Liverpool accent on the taxi driver on the way to the audition and he asked me which part of Australia I came from,” she once said. “I thought then that I'd be better off sticking to what I knew.”

Joking about being recognised in public for the part, she said: “People will always remember me as Lilo Lill and it's wonderful. I like it when someone says in a supermarket, ‘You know who you remind me of, don't take offence, that tart from Bread.’”

Actor Dan Gordon, who was Pollock’s co-star in the play Women on the Verge of HRT, told The Irish News: “We used to call her 'Polly's People' because she picked up all the waifs and strays along the way and would never see them stuck.

“She'd meet someone in the town when we were on tour and say, 'They're down on their luck,' and would bring them to see the show and buy them a drink afterwards.

“She was great fun and the one thing I remember is that I never saw her angry. I never once seen her cross with anyone. She was an extraordinary woman, a beautiful person.”