British Actors Archives - Page 82 of 137

Margaretta Scott

Margaretta Scott was born in 1912 in London. She made her film debut in 1934 in “The Private Life of Don Juan” which starred Douglas Fairbanks. Her other movies include “Peg of Old Drury”, “Things to Come”, “Fanny by Gaslight” in 1945, “A Woman Possessed” in 1958 and “Crescendo” in 1970. She was featured in the very popular television series “All Creatures Great and Small” as Mrs Pumphrey from 1978 until 1980. She died in 2005. Her daughter is the actress Susan Wooldridge.

Michael Coveney’s “Guardian” obituary:

Margaretta Scott, who has died aged 93, was often in her later years recognised by the public as Mrs Pumphrey in the television series All Creatures Great And Small. But her distinguished career spanned 70 years of theatre and film and, as the last surviving signatory of the document that established Equity, the British actors’ union, in 1934, she was highly regarded in her profession.She first appeared on stage at the age of 14 as Mercutio’s page in Romeo And Juliet, at the Strand Theatre, starring Jean Forbes Robertson and Robert Lorraine; she was Ophelia in 1931 to the Hamlets of Henry Ainley and Godfrey Tearle. She worked with Tyrone Guthrie and Alec Guinness at the Old Vic, and with Bernard Shaw on the premiere of Androcles And The Lion in 1934. She was the first woman to appear in Shakespeare on television (as Portia) and was Gertrude to Peter O’Toole’s first Hamlet at the Bristol Old Vic in 1958.

Renowned for her poise, beauty, dark auburn hair and rich golden voice, Scott was busy in films and television throughout her career and was tireless in her support of charity organisations, including the Actors Charitable Trust. She enjoyed motoring and chess, but her real hobbies were her life and her family, although she was a widow for almost 50 years.

Her last stage appearances revealed that the romantic lead had grown into a grand dame. In 1985, she returned to the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park (where she had played Viola and Miranda in the 1930s) as Madame Desmortes in Jean Anouilh’s Ring Round The Moon, “a selfish old aristocrat in a wheelchair,” wrote BA Young in the Financial Times, “to whom Margaretta Scott gives all the breeding in France, and a little over”. In Harold Brighouse’s Hobson’s Choice at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 1995, in a cast led by Leo McKern, Nichola McAuliffe and Graham Turner, her imperious, splendidly articulated Mrs Hepworth had an impeccable sense of middle-class authority in the Salford shoe shop.

She was the daughter of Bertha Eugene and the music critic Hugh Arthur Scott. She was born in London and educated at the Convent of the Holy Child in Cavendish Square and RADA, where she shared a scholarship with Celia Johnson and was awarded the Kendal prize. After a repertory season in Hull, her West End career began in The Lilies Of The Field at the Criterion in 1929.

She soon became known for Shakespeare, notably in Regent’s Park and then as Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost at the Old Vic in 1936, directed by Guthrie. The cast included Guinness, Rachel Kempson, Ernest Milton and Alec Clunes. During the war, she did two seasons at Stratford-on-Avon, as Juliet, Viola, Portia, Lady Macbeth and Rosalind, and she toured with Ensa, the services entertainment organisation, in North Africa and Italy.

She married the composer John Wooldridge, a pupil of Sibelius and contemporary and friend of William Walton; he spent the war in Bomber Command. His promising career ended in a fatal car accident at the age of 39 in 1958. By then, Scott’s film work was almost complete and she concentrated on the stage and her busy London life, in an area bounded by Fitzroy Square, Molyneux Street (in the years of her marriage) and Marble Arch.

Her screen debut was an uncredited appearance in Alexander Korda’s The Private Life Of Don Juan (1934) starring Douglas Fairbanks and Merle Oberon; but she came into her own in Korda’s imaginative production of HG Wells’s Things To Come (1936), with Raymond Massey and Ralph Richardson. Other screen roles followed: as Judith Bentley in Carol Reed’s The Girl In The News (1940); Marcia Royd in Anthony Asquith’s attractive comedy Quiet Wedding (1940); and Alicia in Asquith’s stylish melodrama Fanny By Gaslight (1944). In this period, the British cinema was rich in acting talent – James Mason, Michael Redgrave and Peggy Ashcroft; Scott was part of this elite and continued in it to the 1960s.

Back in the West End, she appeared with Anthony Quayle in William Douglas Home’s The Right Honourable Gentleman (1963), and with Celia Johnson and Ralph Richardson in Angela Huth’s The Understanding (1982). She became a specialist in Oscar Wilde, appearing in London and on tour in the four major comedies. Her television work in the 1970s included leading roles in The Duchess Of Duke Street and Upstairs Downstairs.

She is survived by her daughter, the actor Susan Wooldridge, and her son, the director, Hugh Wooldridge.

· Margaretta Scott, actor, born February 13 1912; died April 15 2005

The above “Guardian” obituary can also be accessed online here.

Kenneth Farrington was born in 1936. He came to fame for his role as Billy Walker of the Rovers Return in “Coronation Street”. He also starred in “Emmerdale”. His films include “One Way Pendulum” in 1964 and “Robbery” with Stanley Baker in 1967.

“Corriepedia”:

(born 18th April, 1936) is a British actor who had a regular role on Coronation Streetbetween 1961 and 1984 as Billy Walker, the only son of Rovers Return Inn licensees Jack and Annie Walker. His other credits include The Avengers, Redcap, Danger UXB and Family Affairs, although Ken may be more familiar to recent soap opera viewers as the ruthless businessman Tom King in ITV soap Emmerdale, who was killed off in the programme in December 2006.

Farrington was born and brought up in Peckham, London and won a scholarship to Alleyn’s school in Dulwich where he was encouraged in acting by English teacher Michael Croft. After leaving school he joined the National Youth Theatre and RADA. After the interruption of his national service he worked at the Duchess Theatre and the Old Vic before resuming his training at RADA. Until 1981 he was married to Patricia Heneghan who appeared in Coronation Street as Marian Lund in 1961.

Tania Mallet was one of the top models in Britain in the 1960’s. She was born in 1941 in Blackpool. She only made one major films but is remembered fondely for her role as Tilly Masterson, sister of Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) in the best James Bond of all “Goldfinger” in 1964 opposite Sean Connery. Ms Mallet died in 2019 aged 77.

IMDB entry:

Tania Mallet was born in the seaside resort of Blackpool, England. She took a course at Lucy Clayton’s School Of Modelling, and started working as a model at just 16 years old.

In 1963 she was considered for the role of the lead Bond girl in From Russia with Love(1963) , but she didn’t get it. However, the following year she was cast in the next Bond film, Goldfinger (1964) , playing the ill-fated, Tilly Masterson. She agreed to appear in “Goldfinger” as an experiment. She was earning £2,000 a week as a model, and after much bargaining managed to secure only £150 a week as her fee for the film. She claimed that she could not afford to continue working as an actress, because she was earning more as a model.

Tania had mixed feelings about her time on “Goldfinger”. Filming was fun, but in her personal life her long-time boyfriend had died at the same time. She took a couple of other tiny roles in smaller films, including Michael Winner‘s The Girl-Getters (1964) but had no desire to pursue a career as an actress. She is married to her second husband. She continues to attend Bond events and autographs her photographs at these events.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Ramstep

The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.

‘’The Times” obituary in 2019.

Standing against the dramatic backdrop of the Furka Pass, high in the Swiss Alps, Tania Mallet looked so prim and proper in her white blouse and sensible skirt that she might have passed muster as Julie Andrews’s understudy in The Sound of Music.

The wholesome image was only marred by the telescopic rifle in her right hand, for her mission as Tilly Masterson in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger was murderous.

One of three Bond girls in the film, Mallet was cast as the avenging sister of Jill Masterson (played by Shirley Eaton), aide-de-camp to the film’s eponymous villain who, after being seduced by Sean Connery’s Bond, is painted gold as a punishment for betraying her boss and dies from “skin suffocation”.

After tracking Goldfinger down to Switzerland, Tilly fails to kill her prey and meets her own grisly end, courtesy of an accurate throw of Oddjob’s hat with sharpened steel rim.

After this flirtation with Hollywood stardom she returned to the better-paid job of modelling for glossy fashion magazines such as Vogue and Harpers & Queen. The decision to walk away from a film career was entirely her own. At the time she was earning up to £1,000 a week as a model.

“The money was dreadful,” she said of her brief time as a Bond girl. “Originally I was offered £50 per week, which I managed to push up to £150. But even so I earned more than that in a day modelling, so the six months I was retained to work on Goldfinger were a real sacrifice.”

She was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, in 1941. Her father, Henry Mallet, was a successful car salesman. Olga (née Mironoff), her Russian mother, was a chorus girl whose father had been a colonel in the Imperial Russian Army. He was in Britain to negotiate an arms deal when the Russian Revolution broke out and he and his family were stranded and unable to return home.

The story grew more colourful after Tania’s parents divorced and her mother married George Dawson, the controversial property magnate who served a prison sentence for fraud. Her mother’s brother, Vasily Mironoff, was the father of Helen Mirren, making them first cousins. Mirren wrote in her autobiography that her “impossibly beautiful and kind” cousin had “survived this extraordinary upbringing and came out miraculously a loyal and generous person”, who supported her mother financially and paid for her brothers’ education.

After attending schools in England and France, at 16 she enrolled at a modelling school, the Lucie Clayton Charm Academy, where friends and contemporaries included Jean Shrimpton, Celia Hammond and Sandra Howard, the wife of Michael Howard, the former Conservative Party leader. By the late Fifties she had become one of the London fashion scene’s hottest properties, appearing on magazine covers photographed by everyone from Cecil Beaton to David Bailey.

Sean Gallagher was born in 1965 in Luton. In 2006 he starred as Paul Connor in “Coronation Street”. His other roles include Chip in “Doctor Who” with David Tennant and Mal Faith in TV’s “Rock Rivals”. His films include “Jock of the Bushveld” in 1992 and “Offending Angels” in 2000.

IMDB entry:

Sean Gallagher was born in 1967 in Kent, England as Sean Campbell Gallagher. He is an actor, known for Coronation Street (1960), Jock: A True Tale of Friendship (1994) andMaking a Killing (2002).

Of Irish and Danish ancestry

He is a skilled horseman and croupier.

Attended St Edmunds School in Canterbury.

Is a passionate anti-drugs campaigner. Is a member of Release.

Trained at the English and American Drama School, where he learnt to master several accents. Real accent is South London.

Was raised in rural Kent, initially trained as a groom and horseman.

Sheila Sim was born in 1922 in Liverpool. Her films include the brilliant Powell & Pressburger “A Canterbury Tale” in 1944, “The Guinea Pig” in 1948 opposite her husband Richard Attenborough and “West of Zanzibar” opposite Anthony Steel. She is the sister of the actor Gerard Sim.

IMDB entry:

Sheila Sim was born on June 5, 1922 in Liverpool, England as Sheila Beryl Grant Sim. She is an actress, known for A Canterbury Tale (1944), Pandora and the Flying Dutchman(1951) and The Night My Number Came Up (1955). She has been married to Richard Attenborough since January 22, 1945. They have three children. She died in 2016.

“Guardian” obituary:

When Agatha Christie’s murder mystery play The Mousetrap opened in London in 1952, the actor Sheila Sim, who has died aged 93, had doubts about its ability to last for six months. But the fact that she could wait until just before its 50th anniversary before publicly confessing those doubts, at a lunch at the Savoy hotel with 300 other actors who had appeared in the play, showed them to be unfounded. By then it had long passed its 20,000th performance, and it is still going strong, as the world’s longest initial run of a play.

Through starring as Mollie Ralston, owner of the snowed-in Monkswell Manor, Sim set the seal on her growing reputation as an actor. Her husband, Richard Attenborough, co-starred in the play as Detective Sergeant Trotter, who arrives on a pair of skis, and the couple took a 10% profit share. This continued to serve them very well, Attenborough eventually selling it only when trying to keep the production of his 1982 film Gandhi afloat.

Sim had made her film debut in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s memorable A Canterbury Tale (1944), a modern propaganda adaptation of the Chaucer story, in which a treacherous wartime magistrate is brought to book by a land girl, a British army sergeant and an American serviceman. She drew on her own experience for the role of the land girl, having volunteered in 1940 to work for the Women’s Land Army at harvest time, when she was posted to a farm near Hereford.

In 1945 she played a leading role in an RKO film, Great Day, about a village thrown into turmoil by an impending visit from Eleanor Roosevelt, and had a part in Journey Together, a wartime training drama made by the RAF Film Unit. Attenborough was also in the cast, and they were married at the start of the year. Sim made her television debut in 1946 in a series of plays, and was also in demand for radio work.

She appeared in the film The Guinea Pig (1948, known in the US as The Outsider), in which Attenborough played the central character, a working-class boy at a private school, and she was signed up by J Arthur Rank, then the major if not always the most imaginative of British film producers.

Sim and Attenborough also worked together in Dancing With Crime (1947) and The Magic Box (1951). She had a prominent part in the wild fantasy Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), starring Ava Gardner as a nightclub singer and James Mason as a drifter in a Spanish fishing village. It was shown in a BFI season celebrating the cinematographer Jack Cardiff in 2010.

Born in Liverpool and later educated at Croydon high school, Sim started work in a bank, but soon came to the conclusion that the routine was not for her. Instead she spent two years training as an actor at Rada in London, where she met her future husband. Her first stage appearance, in 1942, was at the Intimate theatre, Palmers Green, in Ivor Novello’s Fresh Fields. She remained with the theatre’s repertory company for six months, then went to the small but fashionable Q theatre at the end of Kew Bridge for another six months, after which she toured with Noël Coward’s This Happy Breed and the drama Landslide. She was in Landslide at the Westminster theatre in London in 1943, and played the lead in the domestic comedy To Dorothy a Son.

At the time of her marriage to Attenborough, he had just come out of the RAF as a sergeant air gunner/cameraman. A honeymoon seemed out of the question until some generous cheques arrived as wedding presents. They went to Bournemouth, which – like most of Britain in that very cold winter – was covered in snow. Sim’s parents then provided them with two rooms in their flat until their fortunes improved and they could afford a house in Chelsea, which they renovated themselves.

Sim said from the first that if they had children, she would put family before career, and she did so to look after their three children, Michael, Jane and Charlotte: her final film credit was The Night My Number Came Up (1955). From 1956, the family lived comfortably in Richmond upon Thames, south-west London.

In 1968, Sim was sworn in as a magistrate in Surbiton, joining the Richmond bench. She was also an enthusiastic member of the Richmond Society, the amenity group that contributed to the thinking behind the restoration and redevelopment of the banks of the Thames at Richmond.

In 2004, her daughter Jane and granddaughter Lucy were killed by the Pacific tsunami while on holiday in Thailand. Richard, who in 1993 was made a life peer, died in 2014. Sheila is survived by Michael and Charlotte.

The above “Guardian” obituary can also be accessed online here.

Ambrosine Phillpots was born in 1912 in London. She made her film debut in 1946 in “This Man Is Mine”. She was a wonderful character actress and was particularily effective as the icy mother of Heather Sears in “Room At the Top” in 1959. She died in 1980.

IMDB entry:

Ambrosine Phillpotts was born on September 13, 1912 in London, England as Ambrosine Marie Phillpotts. She was an actress, known for Room at the Top (1959), Hadleigh (1969) and Expresso Bongo (1959). She died on October 12, 1980 in London.

Dark-haired British character actress, from the stage. Played Lady Macbeth at age nineteen. On screen, typically played dominant, belligerent or upper-crust roles.

Carmen Du Sautoy was born in 1950 in London. The “Praying Mantis” on television in 1983 with Cherie Lunghi was one of her best known roles. Her movies include the James Bond “The Man With the Golden Gun” in 1974 and “Bert Rigby, You’re A Fool”.

Du Sautoy was born in London. She has played a wide variety of roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre, in London’s West End, and in New York, Tokyo, Sydney, Madrid, Berlin and in many other major theatres worldwide. She may be best-known to film audiences for her role as the belly-dancing Lebanese temptress Saida in the 1974James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun.^[1]

She has also appeared in such films and television serials as Lost Empires, Poor Little Rich Girl, La Ronde, The Citadel, The Orchid House, A Dance to the Music of Time,Chessgame, Midsomer Murders, Hammer House of Horror, Absolutely Fabulous, and The South Bank Show

Barbara Windsor was born in 1937 in Shoreditch, London. She made her film debut in “The Belles of St Trinian’s” in 1954. In 1963 she starred as the lead in Joan Littlewood’s “Sparrow Cant Sing”. She became a stalwart cast member of the Carry On serres with “Carry On Spying” in 1964. Her other famous role was as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC series “Eastenders”.

IMDB entry:

Barbara Windsor got a glimpse of theatrical life at an early age when her grandmother took her backstage at a theatre and she decided that was what she wanted to do. She attended several professional schools before making her stage debut at age 12. At 15 she got a job in the chorus line of a London musical and stayed with the show for the next two years, although she took some minor roles in films during that time. She did become well known in the London theatrical scene, but it was the series of “Carry On” comedies that made her a star. Although she appeared in only nine films in the long-running series (she left because she thought they were getting too risqué), she made such an impression as the basically goodhearted but dizzy sexpot that many of the series’ fans believe she was in many more than she actually was. She almost didn’t get the part originally, as she and series regular Kenneth Williams took an instant dislike to each other, but that was soon overcome and they became lifelong friends.

After she left the series she continued her stage and film work, and became a regular in a long-running British soap opera, EastEnders (1985) as the matriarch of “The Queen Vic” – “Peggy Mitchell”.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: frankfob2@yahoo.com

The above IMDB entrycan also be accessed online here.

Judi Dench, although an acclaimed stage performer for many years, she not achieve major recognition on film until she was in middle age. She was born in 1934 in York. She made her stage debut with the Old Vic in 1957. She made her film debut in 1964 in “The Third Secret” with Stephen Boyd. She made sporadic film appearances throughout the remainder of the sixties and early seventies. In 1985 she begain making regular film appearances in increasingly larger roles. These movies include “Wetherby” with Vanessa Redgrave, “A Room With A View” with Maggie Smith and “84 Charing Cross Road” with Anthony Hopkins. In 1995 she began her regular appearances in the James Bond series as M in “GoldenEye” with Pierce Brosnan. She won an Oscar for “Shakespeare in Love”. Recent movies include “Nine” and “Jane Eyre” and”Philomena”.

TCM Overview:

A distinguished talent widely recognized as one of Great Britain’s greatest modern actresses, Dame Judi Dench spent much of her career concentrating on stage and television in her native England. From her early years with the Old Vic Theater Company in London, Dench proved a commanding stage performer in both classic drama and musical comedy, and at the same time, was known by non-theatergoers for starring roles on the British comedy series “As Time Goes By” (BBC, 1992-2005) and “A Fine Romance” (1981-84). It was not until Dench hit her fifties that she began finding film roles that enabled international audiences the opportunity to appreciate her commanding gifts. Dench was one of the most frequently nominated actresses in Academy Award history, earning a statue for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in “Shakespeare in Love” (1998) and nominations for a wide range of screen performances in “Chocolat” (2000), “Iris” (2001) and “Notes on a Scandal” (2006). A national treasure, Dench was honored by the British government with the title of Dame Commander of the British Army, and her homeland recognized her outstanding contributions to British Theater with a Laurence Olivier Award – officially proving that Dame Judi Dench was what critics had claimed for years: the modern, female equivalent of Sir Laurence Olivier, both onscreen and under the bright glare of the footlights.

The daughter of Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor, and Eleanora Olave, a native of Dublin, Dench was born on Dec. 9, 1934 and raised as a Quaker in York, North Riding of Yorkshire. She made her acting debut in the city’s cycle of mystery plays, in which both her father and older brother Jeffrey also appeared. After graduating from London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, she made an auspicious debut with the Old Vic Theatre Company as Ophelia in “Hamlet” in 1957. The following year, Dench made a Broadway appearance with the Old Vic and remained with the troupe until 1961, excelling in such roles as Hermia in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1960) and Isabella in “Measure for Measure” (1962). Throughout the 1960s, she made one strong stage characterization after another, but only in rare instances appeared on film. She was memorable as a young wife in the little-seen “Four in the Morning” (1965) and was majestic as Titania in Peter Hall’s filming of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1968).

As Sally Bowles in the 1968 London staging of “Cabaret,” Dench delivered what many felt was the definitive interpretation of the role. She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1969, spending much of the next two decades amassing an impressive body of work and earning numerous accolades. After notable roles as Lady Macbeth (opposite Ian McKellen) in “Macbeth” (1977-78) and Lady Bracknell in “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1982), Dench’s screen presence increased. She held a starring turn on the television series “A Fine Romance,” starring opposite her husband Michael Williams, and on the big screen in David Hare’s provocative “Wetherby” (1985), in which she and Ian Holm played a married couple who become caught up in the personal turmoil of their friend (Vanessa Redgrave). In further film outings, she demonstrated her range with diverse portrayals of a flighty romance novelist in “A Room with a View” (1986), and Anthony Hopkins’ jealous wife in “84 Charing Cross Road” (1987).

Dench returned to the stage to play Cleopatra in “Antony and Cleopatra” (1987-88), and followed up with a pair of film roles as a materialistic mother in “A Handful of Dust” (1988) and the lusty Mistress Quickly in Kenneth Branagh’s “Henry V” (1989). She was back on stage the same year as Ranyevskaya in “The Cherry Orchard” (1989-1990). The solidly booked actress showed no signs of slowing with each advancing year, taking on a starring role on the long running British television comedy “As Time G s By” in 1992. In her most mainstream role to date, she was cast as M, the superior of James Bond (Pierce Brosnan), in “GoldenEye” (1995), which unveiled a revamped version of the franchise that successfully brought the international spy into modern times. In 1996, Dench became the first actress to win two Olivier Awards in the same year; for the play “Absolute Hell” and for her musical turn as Desiree in “A Little Night Music.” In 1997, she earned raves as an aging actress in David Hare’s acclaimed “Amy’s View” and reprised M alongside Brosnan in “Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997).

Remarkably, in a career that spanned some 40 years, Dench had never played the lead in a film until she was cast as the widowed Queen Victoria who embarks on a questionable relationship with her Scottish manservant (Billy Connolly) in the John Madden-directed “(Her Majesty) Mrs. Brown” (1997). The film was originally intended as a made-for-British-TV movie, with the role of the monarch earmarked for Elizabeth Taylor. When Taylor fell ill, Dench was cast and it was released theatrically. Her performance earned the actress some of the best reviews of her career to that point, including a richly deserved Best Actress Academy Award nomination. As a follow-up, director Madden cast her as another venerable British monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, in “Shakespeare in Love” (1998). Although Dench only appeared in a handful of scenes totaling approximately eight minutes, she made such a strong impression as the Virgin Queen that she was awarded that year’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

The newly minted Oscar winner took on the title stage role of “Filumena” (1998) and reprised M in the Bond offering “The World Is Not Enough” (1999). Now recognized internationally, Dench returned to the New York stage for the first time in close to four decades, reprising her triumphant portrayal of a famous actress clashing ideologically with her daughter in “Amy’s View,” for which she earned a Tony Award. Her run was briefly interrupted when she returned to England to care for her longtime husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer. At that time, she was also seen on the big screen as an eccentric artist living as an expatriate in 1930s Italy in “Tea with Mussolini” (1999). The following year, Dench headlined the HBO original “The Last of the Blonde Bombshells,” earning a Golden Globe award for playing a feisty widow reflecting on her life as a saxophone player in a WWII-era swing band. The actress agreed to provide the narration for the affecting Holocaust documentary “Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport” (2000) before gracing screens again in the pivotal role of a crusty villager who welcomes free-spirited Juliette Binoche in Lasse Hallstrom’s “Chocolat” (2000). The latter netted Dench yet another Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress.

Following her husband’s death in January 2001, the widowed Dench turned in two rich, very different screen performances. Hallstrom cast her as a Canadian woman who assists her nephew (Kevin Spacey) on a journey of self-discovery in the film adaptation of the bestselling novel “The Shipping News” (2001). Dench then undertook the demanding role of British novelist Iris Murdoch in the biopic “Iris” (2001), based on the memoirs of Murdoch’s husband John Bayley. The actress rose to the challenge of playing a vibrant, intelligent woman who gradually succumbs to the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. As with all her work, Dench offered an impeccable and deeply moving performance that the members of the Academy recognized with a Best Actress nomination. She was back in period clothing for her follow-up, portraying the indomitable Lady Bracknell in a remake of Oscar Wilde’s classic play “The Importance of Being Earnest” (2002). Also in 2002, Dench returned as M in the James Bond action feature “Die Another Day,” starring Brosnan and Halle Berry.

Once finished with a brief sabbatical from onscreen roles, during which she lent her voice to the animated feature “Home on the Range” (2004) and several James Bond video games, Dench made a welcome return to the big screen in 2004 in the unlikely vehicle “The Chronicles of Riddick,” director David Twohy’s sci-fi/action sequel to his cult hit “Pitch Black.” Dench played Aereon, an ethereal Elemental who helps Riddick (Vin Diesel) learn the secrets of his origin. She essayed an appropriately imperious Lady Catherine de Bourg in 2005’s “Pride and Prejudice,” director J Wright’s lively adaptation of the Jane Austen classic starring Keira Knightley. That same year, the busy actress also headlined director Stephen Frears’ “Mrs. Henderson Presents,” starring as Laura Henderson, a widow who becomes a partner in Britain’s Windmill Theater during World War II and, in attempts to provide a spark for her downtrodden nation, hopes to allow her actresses to perform in the nude. For her performance, she earned award nominations from SAG, the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards – all for Best Actress.

Dench revived M for a fifth time in “Casino Royale” (2006), her first outing opposite Daniel Craig, successor to the iconic role after Pierce Brosnan left the franchise in 2002. Though she missed working with Brosnan, she heaped praise upon the new keeper of the flame, telling The Evening Standard how “frighteningly good” Craig was in the role. For her part, Dench maintained her usually blunt and stiff-upper-lipped performance as the head of MI6, sending him on a mission to Montenegro in order to join a high-stakes poker game with Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), banker to the world’s terrorist organizations in what many critics called one of the best films in the series. Dench made a startlingly decisive departure in her next project, “Notes on a Scandal” (2006), where she essayed a treacherous school teacher who habitually stalks younger women in a desperate attempt to find love. Once again, she accrued award nominations from the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.

Dench returned to television the following year in the 1840s-set drama series “Cranford” (BBC, 2007), earning an Emmy nomination for her performance as a financially strapped spinster in a remote village about to be thrust into the modern age with the impending arrival of the railroad. And, not surprisingly, given the actress’ loyalty and lack of vanity in regards to size of part, she returned to the Bond fold as M for the second Daniel Craig outing, “Quantum of Solace” (2008). While basking in the international success of the latest Bond installment, Dench received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie for her performance in “Cranford.” She reprised her role for the miniseries sequel, “Return to Cranford” (PBS, 2010), and received similar honors, earning another Golden Globe nomination in December 2010. Back on the big screen, she portrayed British actress Sybil Thorndike in “My Weekend with Marilyn” (2011) and was the mother of J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) in Clint Eastwood’s uneven biopic “J. Edgar” (2011). After reprising M for the last time opposite Daniel Craig’s James Bond in “Skyfall” (2012), Dench was part of an excellent ensemble cast in John Madden’s winning comedy “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (2012), which focused on a group of British pensioners retiring at a lesser-than-advertised hotel in India. Dench’s performance as a newly widowed housewife forced to sell off her home to cover her dead husband’s debts was singled out for praise and earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. Dench’s next starring role came in the drama “Philomena” (2013), the true-life tale of an elderly Irish woman’s search for the son she had been forced to give up for adoption a half-century before. The film was directed by Stephen Frears and co-written by Steve Coogan, who co-starred opposite Dench as an investigative journalist.

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.