THE Grand Dame of Leigh theatre has died aged 83.

For Dorothy Kane, who thrilled thousands of children and inspired hundreds more to tread the boards, the final curtain came down peacefully in Leigh Infirmary, surrounded by her family on Monday last week.

As Dorothy Galvin, she was loved and respected as a teacher at St Joseph's RC Primary School, as a repertory actress with immense talent and flair and as a director with an astute eye for comedy and catastrophe.

Dorothy was steeped in the world of amdram, following her parents into the stage footlights.

At first she seemed destined for stage stardom. She was in repertory theatre at Oldham, sharing her time with the then unknown actress Dora Bryan.

In 1996, when Dorothy was directing her final play for St Joseph's Players, Dora sent her old pal a letter of good wishes for Good Old Summertime.

She wrote: "I wish you all good luck and good wishes. I remember getting a very good notice for a play I did with you. It was called Nine Til Six. It said I spoke clearly."

But stage-struck Dorothy turned her back on fame and fortune for a simple home and family life and a career as a schoolmistress in her home parish of St Joseph's.

She returned to her love of theatre with St Joseph's Players, taking the reins when in 1947 she wrote, directed and played the lead role in Dick Whittington, the first of 48 pantomimes she produced for the company.

Dorothy had bid farewell to her role as principal actress in the 1950s but she was already directing a number of plays each year. As time developed, her annual output was a pantomime, three plays (two in tandem) and, through the Sixties and Seventies, the company's successful involvement in drama festivals throughout the North West.

A company spokesman said: "St Joseph's Players have lost their dearest friend. This week a darkness has descended on the beacon of live theatre in Leigh."