Lesley Fitz-Simons, High Road’s Sheila, dies aged 51

LESLEY Fitz-Simons, known to soap fans as Sheila Ramsay from STV’s Take the High Road, has died of cancer at the age of 51.

The actress had battled breast cancer since 2009 and was re-admitted to hospital last week.

Elizabeth Partyka, deputy director of channels at STV, said: “We are sorry to hear of the passing of Lesley Fitz-Simons, who will be fondly remembered by the many fans of Take the High Road as the character, Sheila Ramsay, whom she played for 18 years.”

Iain Gordon, chief executive of the Pavilion theatre in Glasgow said: “Lesley was a real sincere performer and great fun on and off the stage. She was one of the Pavilion family.”

Gary Hollywood, who played her adopted son Dominic in the soap, said: “She really took me under her wing on High Road. I was only 14 at the time and she’d only been 14 when she started acting so she understood what it was like for me early in my career. We were very close.”

One of Fitz-Simons first TV successes was in 1978 when she played Clara in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

She was in five episodes of the BBC Scotland series The Camerons and House on the Hill.