This page uses content from the Penelope Wilton biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Penelope Wilton OBE (born June 3, 1946 in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England) is a British actress.

Biography

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 situation comedy, 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 Sir 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).

In 2005, Wilton guest-starred as Harriet Jones, MP for two episodes 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). The character of Jones returned in The Christmas Invasion, the Doctor Who 2005 Christmas special.

In 2005 she also appeared in a new film adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and in Woody Allen's film Match Point.

Awards and recognition

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 given the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to drama.

Filmography

Cinema

• Joseph Andrews (1977) — Mrs. Wilson
• The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) — Sonia
• Clockwise (1986) — Pat Garden
• Cry Freedom (1987) — Wendy Woods
• Blame It on the Bellboy (1992) — Patricia Fulford
• The Secret Rapture (1993) — Marion French
• Carrington (1995) — Lady Ottoline Morrell
• This Could Be the Last Time (1998) — Marjorie
• Gooseberries Don't Dance (1999)
• Tom's Midnight Garden (1999) — Aunt Melbourne
• Iris (2001) — Janet Stone
• Calendar Girls (2003) — Ruth Reynoldson
• Shaun of the Dead (2004) — Barbara
• Pride and Prejudice (2005) — Mrs. Gardiner
• Match Point (2005) — Eleanor Hewett

Television

• An Affair of Honour (1972)
• Mrs. Warren's Profession (1972) — Vivie
• The Song of Songs (1973) — Lilli Czepanek
• King Lear (1975) — Regan
• Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd (1976)
• The Norman Conquests: Table Manners (1978) — Annie
• The Norman Conquests: Living Together (1978) — Annie
• The Norman Conquests: Round and Round the Garden (1978) — Annie
• Othello (1981) — Desdemona
• Country (1981) — Virginia Carlion
• The Tale of Beatrix Potter (1982) — Beatrix Potter
• King Lear (1982) — Regan
• Laughterhouse (1984) — Alice Singleton
• Ever Decreasing Circles (1984) — Anne Bryce
• The Monocled Mutineer (1986) — Lady Angela
• Screaming (1992) — Beatrice
• The Borrowers (1992) — Homily
• The Return of the Borrowers (1993) — Homily
• The Deep Blue Sea (1994) — Hester Collyer
• Talking Heads 2 (1998) — Rosemary
• Alice Through the Looking Glass (1998) — White Queen
• Wives and Daughters (1999) — Mrs. Hamley
• Rockaby (2000)
• Victoria & Albert (2001) — Princess Mary Louise Victoria
• The Whistle-Blower (2001) — Heather Graham
• Bob and Rose (2001) — Monica Gossage
• Lucky Jim (2003) — Celia Welch
• Falling (2005) — Daisy Langrish
• Doctor Who (2005) — Harriet Jones

External links

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the biographical information on this page under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.