Julie's father walked out on the family soon after Julie's birth, Julie took stepfather Bill Goodyear's name. Most famous as Bet Lynch, barmaid landlady of Coronation Street (1960), her stepfather was a publican, and she served behind his bar, The Bay House in Haywood, to raise money for her modelling career dream. After her first failed marriage modelling career took off and led to various bit parts and six-week appearance in Coronation Street as Bet Lynch. During this time she was advised by Patricia Phoenix to get some formal acting training, and so she joined The Oldham Repertory Company. This also lead to a lifelong friendship with Phoenix, which ended only with the latter's death. Following a variety of straight and comic parts on stage and TV she rejoined Coronation Street in a regular role. In 1973 she married company secretary Tony Rudman but the marriage didn't last much longer than the wedding reception and was soon annulled. In 1979 during a routine check up Julie discovered she had cervical cancer and had two operations. In 1985 Julie married airline executive Richard Skrob but because they lived so far apart the marriage ended within two years. Julie formed a charity to finance a smear testing centre in Manchester. She was found not guilty of charge of fraud concerning the charity, and continued to raise money. The Julie Goodyear Laboratory now operates at The Christie Hospital, Manchester. In 1987, Julie left the series for a while to nurse her mother who was dying of terminal cancer. She quit Coronation Street (1960) in October 1995, returning only for a couple of guest appearances.