Felicity Kendal
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Felicity Kendal (born in Olton, Warwickshire on September 25, 1946) is a British actress. She is the younger sister of the late Jennifer Kendal and the daughter of Geoffrey Kendal, an English actor who made his living leading a repertory company on tours of India after the Second World War. They performed Shakespeare to audiences consisting mostly of schoolchildren.
Felicity made her stage debut in these productions, and at the age of nineteen, starred in the film, Shakespeare Wallah (1965), loosely based on her family's real-life experience. On her return to Britain, she found that her film appearance was not a passport to success, and her struggle to build an acting career was long and difficult, partly because of her unusual upbringing. In 1975, she got her big break with the sitcom, The Good Life, which made her a household name. She was particularly popular with male viewers, and was voted "Rear of the Year" for her appearances wearing wellington boots. This compliment was later reiterated, in the distant future, in an episode of Red Dwarf.
After series ended, she starred in several other BBC sitcoms, none of which acheived the success of The Good Life. Despite this, she maintained her popularity.
Kendal's stage career blossomed during the 1980s and 1990s. Her relationship with playwright Tom Stoppard was both personal and professional. She starred in the first productions of many of his plays; in 1991 Stoppard left his wife to start a relationship with Kendal.
Her most recent work is the murder mystery, Rosemary & Thyme, where she plays a gardener, Rosemary Boxer, who, together with fellow friend and ex-policewoman Laura Thyme (Pam Ferris), solve mysteries near their work.