Penelope Wilton
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Penelope Wilton (born June 3, 1946 in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, UK) is a British actress.
A niece of the actor Bill Travers and the actress Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant. She had a successful stage career before breaking into television and her West End debut was opposite Sir Ralph Richardson. Her television career began in 1972, playing Vivie Warren in Mrs. Warren's Profession opposite Robert Powell. Despite several major TV roles, including two of the BBC Television Shakespeare productions (as Desdemona in Othello and Regan in King Lear), she did not become a household name until she appeared with Richard Briers in the 1984 sitcom, Ever Decreasing Circles.
From 1975 to 1984, she was married to the actor, Daniel Massey, who following their divorce, married her sister Lindy. From 1991 to 2001 she was married to Ian Holm, and they appeared together as Pod and Homily in the BBC's 1993 adaptation of The Borrowers. Her film appearances include Cry Freedom (1987), Iris (2001), Calendar Girls (2003) and Shaun of the Dead (2004).
As of October 2004, she is currently filming a role in the new film version of Pride and Prejudice, and recently completed a guest role in the BBC's revival series of the popular science-fiction programme Doctor Who. This guest role was written especially for her by the programme's chief writer and executive producer Russell T. Davies, with whom she had previously worked on Bob and Rose (ITV, 2001).
She has twice won the London Critics Circle Theatre Award, in 1981 for her performance in Much Ado About Nothing, and in 1993 for The Deep Blue Sea. In 2001 she was nominated for the London Evening Standard Theatre Award for her performance in The Little Foxes at the Donmar Warehouse. In 2004 she was awarded the Order of the British Empire for her services to drama.
Filmography
- Pride & Prejudice (2005)... Mrs. Gardiner
- Falling (2005) (TV)... Daisy Langrish
- Shaun of the Dead (2004)... Barbara
- Calendar Girls (2003)... Ruth Reynoldson
- Lucky Jim (2003) (TV)... Celia Welch
- Iris (2001)... Janet Stone
- Victoria & Albert (2001) (TV)... Princess Mary Louise Victoria
- Bob & Rose (2001) (TV series)... Monica Gossage
- The Whistle-Blower (2001) (TV)... Heather Graham
- Rockaby (2000) (TV)
- Wives and Daughters (1999) (mini series)... Mrs. Hamley
- Tom's Midnight Garden (1999)... Aunt Melbourne
- Gooseberries Don't Dance (1999)
- Alice Through the Looking Glass (1998) (TV)... White Queen
- This Could Be the Last Time (1998)... Marjorie
- Talking Heads 2 (1998) (mini series)... Rosemary
- Carrington (1995)... Lady Ottoline Morrell
- The Deep Blue Sea (1994) (TV)... Hester Collyer
- The Return of the Borrowers (1993) (TV)... Homily
- The Secret Rapture (1993)... Marion French
- The Borrowers (1992)... Homily
- Screaming (1992) (TV series)... Beatrice
- Blame It on the Bellboy (1992)... Patricia Fulford
- Cry Freedom (1987)... Wendy Woods
- The Monocled Mutineer (1986) (TV series)... Lady Angela
- Clockwise (1986)... Pat Garden
- Ever Decreasing Circles (1984) (TV series)... Anne Bryce
- Laughterhouse (1984)... Alice Singleton
- King Lear (1982) (TV)... Regan
- The Tale of Beatrix Potter (1982) (TV)... Beatrix Potter
- Country (1981) (TV)... Virginia Carlion
- Othello (1981) (TV)... Desdemona
- The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)... Sonia
- The Norman Conquests: Round and Round the Garden (1978) (TV)... Annie
- The Norman Conquests: Living Together (1978) (TV)... Annie
- The Norman Conquests: Table Manners (1978) (TV)... Annie
- Joseph Andrews (1977)... Mrs. Wilson
- Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd (1976) (TV)
- King Lear (1975) (TV)... Regan
- The Song of Songs (1973) (TV)... Lilli Czepanek
- Mrs. Warren's Profession (1972) (TV)... Vivie
- An Affair of Honour (1972) (TV)