Geoff Hinsliffe played Tilsley's last screen husband Don Brennan

Perrie, who played the factory worker in the top-rated ITV1 soap from 1971 until 1994, died on Friday night after suffering a stroke.

Street co-star Liz Dawn, who plays Vera Duckworth, said Perrie was "always full of life and great fun to work with".

A Granada Television spokeswoman said Perrie's character would be "remembered for years to come".

A statement released on behalf of Perrie's brother, actor Duggie Brown, said she died with her husband and son at her bedside.

The statement said: "Derek and Stephen were with her and she died peacefully."

Born in Rotherham in 1931, Perrie was best known for the role of "Poison Ivy" Tilsley. She made her debut in 1971, but Ivy did not become a regular fixture on the Street until the late 1970s.

Her character was renowned for interfering, either in the factory politics of Mike Baldwin's business or in the personal lives of her son Brian Tilsley and his wife Gail.

'Great fun'

Ivy Tilsley also had a sharp tongue and staunch Roman Catholic beliefs.

A Granada Television spokeswoman said: "Lynne played one of the wonderful characters on the Street who will be remembered for years to come.

"Our sympathy goes to her family at this sad time."

Perrie's character also formed a formidable double act with her work colleague Vera Duckworth, played by Liz Dawn.

Dawn said she was "very saddened" at her former co-star's death.

Lynne Perrie joins Jean Alexander and other Coronation Street stars on the set on the soap in 1985 Enlarge Image

She said: "Me and Lynne go way back. Even before Coronation Street we worked together on the club circuit.

"She was always full of life and great fun to work with. My sympathy goes to her family at this time."

Actor Johnny Briggs, who bows out as Mike Baldwin next month, said Perrie was "well loved and will be sorely missed".

He said: "She was one of the most generous people I have ever met.

"She would give a tramp £10 rather than walk past them in the street."

The strong-willed Ivy married taxi-driver Don Brennan in June 1988, before leaving the Street to live on a religious retreat.

Her character died off-screen a year after Perrie left the show in 1994.

Perrie later published a book on her time in the soap, entitled Secrets of the Street.

Her other roles included the mother of the lead character in Loach's film Kes, about a young Yorkshire boy whose imagination is gripped by a kestrel.