"I am in shock. I feel as though I have lost a family member," said Coro fan Moya Gleave, who said she had watched the show since it first aired in 1960.
The British-born woman said she had never missed an episode of the soap opera, including the 1439 episodes that Deirdre has appeared in (excluding those not yet aired in New Zealand).
"In fact when I came to New Zealand in 1973, it was three years behind and I had to watch three years again on a piddly 12 inch black and white telly," Mrs Gleave said.
She's had a Coro-themed dress-up party, at which she served the famous Rover's Return dish Betty's Hotpot, and once won a trip to the show's set in Manchester, after she and a friend dressed up as characters Hilda Ogden and Bette Lynch.
Another Kiwi fan, Paula Gilberd said she was "shocked and saddened" by the actress' death.
"I know that she has battled health issues, but 60 years old is so young. I'm still trying to come to terms with it."
Napier woman Rebecca Field said she'd miss Deirdre's distinctive husky voice. "I can only remember her always being there. All the other characters come and go, but she's been a real stalwart."
Actor William Roache, who played Kirkbride's on-screen husband Ken Barlow, said: "I feel Anne's loss so personally having worked closely with her for over 40 years."
Liz Dawn, who played Vera Duckworth on Coronation Street for 34 years, said Kirkbride's death was like the heart of the show had been ripped out.
"She was so well loved by the cast and crew and by the millions of viewers who watched it."
In September it was revealed that Kirkbride was to take a three-month break, but the star was expected to make a return this month.
Yet in recent days there was speculation that she was considering quitting the role she took on in 1973 that had made her famous.
Kirkbride, who was born in Oldham in 1954, battled cancer in 1993, when she was forced to temporarily leave the soap after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. She returned just a year later.
A source told the Sun newspaper that Kirkbride had suffered the disease again. But an ITV spokesman said the actress' family would not be commenting on her cause of death.
Kirkbride is survived by her husband, actor David Bekett, who played Deirdre's on-screen boyfriend Dave Barton, as well as her brother John and his family.
-Mail Online
Star aware of toll Street takes
Anne Kirkbride as the one and only Deirdre Rachid
I loved Deirdre Barlow. The big glasses. The perm. It was 1989 and I was a dedicated follower of her fashion. And a secret admirer of her ability to pull the blokes. Not Ken so much. But that Samir, and Dev - well, phwaor.
So when I visited those famous cobbles in 2007 Deirdre was the one I wanted to meet. I stood in the knicker factory, pulled a pint behind the Rovers bar and was starstruck as I interviewed several actors. But Deirdre was elusive.
So when I got the chance to interview Anne Kirkbride and Bill Roache by phone in 2010 to mark the show's 50th anniversary I was beyond excited. It was oddly deflating. Roache was loud and effusive. Kirkbride seemed listless and going through the motions.
There were signs even she was tiring of it and she had no desire to see out her days on the Street. "I've seen a lot of people getting on in life come through this show and seen what it does to them."
She didn't want that to be her. Yesterday, she got her wish.
Miriyana Alexander is editor of the Herald on Sunday.
