Soapworld
Former EastEnders actress Melanie Clark Pullen dies aged 46
She played Mary Flaherty in the soap.
Actress Melanie Clark Pullen has died at the age of 46.
The former EastEnders star was diagnosed with a brain tumour in June 2021 after previously battling breast cancer.
I was only given the all clear from cancer 18 months ago and it’s a cruel blow to think that I will now be starting into some kind of treatment again and that this time it will be long term and a permanent fixture of my life,” she wrote on her website
She died on March 29th and leaves behind her husband Simon and their three children.
The Irish star was best known for her role as Pauline Fowler’s (Wendy Richard) niece Mary in the BBC soap in the late 1990s.
In 1997, Pauline took a troubled Mary under her wing after travelling to Ireland to track down her long-lost sister Maggie.
Mary enjoyed a romance with Matthew Rose in the EastEnders storylines
Catherine Cookson’s A Dinner of Herbs
The storylines saw Mary take a romantic interest in Joe Wicks (Paul Nicholls), much to the chagrin of his girlfriend Sarah Hills (Daniela Denby-Ashe). The Queen Vic barmaid later got together with Matthew Rose (Joe Absolom).
Following her departure from the soap in 1999, where her character relocated to Scotland to reside with her father, Clark Pullen disclosed experiencing panic attacks and depression as a result of the challenges brought on by fame. She joined forces with writer Aoife Maguire on a play, Missing Stars, that communicated to sufferers of depression that help is available.
There were other theatre roles including Mariane in Tartuffe at the Lyttelton Theatre in 2002 and as Perdita in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale at the National Theatre in 2001. Her other TV work included an ITV adaptation of Catherine Cookson’s A Dinner Full of Herbs, RTE One’s The Clinic and BBC One’s Inspector George Gently.
Melanie Clark Pullen as Mary in EastEnders with Mark Fowler played by Todd Carty
