Celia Imrie Biography

Celia Diana Savile Imrie (born 15 July 1952) is an Olivier award-winning English actress across film, television and theatre.

Imrie"?s film roles include Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Calendar Girls (2003) and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012). She has been described as "one of the most successful British actresses of recent decades".

Early life

Imrie was born in 1952 in Guildford, Surrey, the fourth of five children of Diana Elizabeth Blois (ne Cator) and David Andrew Imrie, a radiologist. Her father was from Glasgow, Scotland.

Imrie was educated at Guildford High School, an independent school for girls in her hometown of Guildford, followed by the Guildford School of Acting.

Career

Imrie's varied career spans films, television and radio drama, and the theatre. Her film credits include Nanny McPhee, Hilary and Jackie (playing Iris du Pr) and the 1997 film of The Borrowers where she played Homily Clock. Other films include Bridget Jones's Diary, Calendar Girls, Highlander and, as Fighter Pilot Bravo 5, in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. In 2007 Imrie appeared in St Trinian's.

Television series to feature Imrie include The Nightmare Man, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Casualty, Absolutely Fabulous, The Darling Buds of May and Upstairs, Downstairs.

In the 2000 miniseries of Gormenghast, she played Lady Gertrude. She also appeared in the 2005 BBC television drama Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle, playing the part of a teacher taking an unruly party of pupils on a daytrip to Salisbury Cathedral. She starred in the BBC sitcom, After You've Gone (2007-08), alongside Nicholas Lyndhurst and in the ITV1 drama Kingdom (2007-09), with Stephen Fry. Her part in After You've Gone has, whilst being critically acclaimed, been described as "criminally squandered".

In 2013, she guest starred in the BBC's Doctor Who where she played the villainous Miss Kizlet in The Bells of Saint John.

In 2005, she received very positive reviews for her US stage debut in Unsuspecting Susan. In 2009, Imrie appeared in Plague Over England in the West End, a play about Sir John Gielgud, and received positive reviews for her performance, That same year, she appeared in the world premiere of Robin Soans' Mixed Up North, directed by Max Stafford-Clark. In 2010, she appeared alongside Robin Soans in a production of Sheridan's The Rivals.

Her radio work includes parts in BBC Radio 4's No Commitments and Bleak Expectations. In early 2007, she narrated the book Arabella, broadcast over two weeks as the Book at Bedtime.

In May 2016, she made her US television debut in the DC action-adventure series Legends of Tomorrow. Since September 2016 she has starred as Phyllis in the FX series Better Things.

Work with Victoria Wood

Imrie is perhaps best known for her frequent collaborations with Victoria Wood, with whom she appeared in TV programmes such as the sitcom Dinnerladies and sketch show Victoria Wood As Seen On TV. It was on the latter show in 1985 that she first played the part of Miss Babs, owner of Acorn Antiques, a parody of the low-budget British soap opera Crossroads.

These sketches became such a British institution that the show was turned into a the West End musical in 2005 starring most of the original cast. Imrie won an Olivier Award in 2006 for her performance. The character has curly blonde hair, and is known for her frequent parodic flirtations with the customers, and her interactions with the housekeeper Mrs Overall (portrayed by Julie Walters).

Ancestry

Imrie was featured in the BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? in October 2012 and discovered that an ancestor on her mother's side was William, Lord Russell, a Whig parliamentarian executed for treason in 1683, after being found guilty of conspiring against King Charles II. William, Lord Russell's grandmother was Lady Frances Howard, who was the central figure in a scandal during the reign of King James I involving the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. Celia Imrie is also a 13th-generation descendant of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, suspected illegitimate child of Henry VIII.

Personal life

Imrie lives in London and in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. She has a son, Angus Imrie, with the actor Benjamin Whitrow. Angus appears as her on-screen son in Kingdom and has acted in other productions and is studying drama and performance at the University of Warwick.

When Imrie was fourteen, she was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital suffering from anorexia nervosa. Under the care of controversial psychiatrist William Sargant, she was given electroshock and large doses of the anti-psychotic drug Largactil. Imrie has written that Sargant still features in her nightmares.

Imrie was the guest on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 on 13 February 2011. On 18 October 2013, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Winchester.

Awards

• (1992) The Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Sea
• (2006) The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in Acorn Antiques:The Musical!

Filmography

Film

• 1973: Assassin
• 1974: House of Whipcord
• 1978: Death on the Nile
• 1983: The Wicked Lady
• 1986: Highlander
• 1991: The Harmfulness of Tobacco
• 1992: Blue Black Permanent
• 1994: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
• 1995: A Midwinter's Tale
• 1997: The Borrowers
• 1998: Hiccup
• 1998: Hilary and Jackie
• 1999: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
• 2001: Bridget Jones's Diary
• 2001: Lucky Break
• 2001: Revelation
• 2002: Thunderpants
• 2002: Heartlands
• 2003: Calendar Girls
• 2004: Out of Bounds
• 2004: Wimbledon
• 2004: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
• 2005: Wah-Wah
• 2005: Nanny McPhee
• 2005: Imagine Me & You
• 2007: St Trinian's
• 2009: St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold
• 2010: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
• 2012: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• 2014: The Love Punch
• 2014: What We Did on Our Holiday
• 2014: Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?
• 2015: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• 2015: Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism
• 2016: Year by the Sea
• 2016: Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
• 2016: Bridget Jones's Baby
• 2017: A Cure for Wellness
• 2017: Finding Your Feet
• 2018: Malevolent

Television

• 1974: Upstairs, Downstairs: "If You Were the Only Girl in the World"
• 1974: Upstairs, Downstairs: "Missing Believed Killed"
• 1979: To the Manor Born: "A Touch of Class"
• 1980: Shoestring: The "Dangerous Game"
• 1980: To the Manor Born: "Vive Le Sport"
• 1981: The Nightmare Man
• 1981: 81 Take 2
• 1982: Cloud Howe
• 1983: Bergerac
• 1985-1987: Victoria Wood as Seen on TV
• 1988: Taggart: "Root of Evil"
• 1988: The New Statesman: "Alan B'Stard Closes Down the BBC"
• 1989: The New Statesman: "May the Best Man Win"
• 1989: Murder by Moonlight
• 1989: Victoria Wood: "We'd Quite Like to Apologise"
• 1989: Victoria Wood: "Val De Ree (Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha)"
• 1989: Victoria Wood: "Staying In"
• 1990: The World of Eddie Weary
• 1990: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
• 1990: Old Flames
• 1990: 102 Boulevard Haussman
• 1991: Lovejoy: "The Italian Venus"
• 1991: The Darling Buds of May: "When the Green Woods Laugh (Parts 1 & 2)"
• 1991: All Good Things
• 1991: Stay Lucky: "The Food of Love"
• 1992: Victoria Wood's All Day Breakfast
• 1992: Van der Valk: "Still Waters"
• 1993: Bonjour la Classe: "Red Card"
• 1993: The Riff Raff Element
• 1993: A Question of Guilt
• 1994: A Dark Adapted Eye
• 1994: Pat and Margaret
• 1994: The Return of the Native
• 1995: Absolutely Fabulous: "Jealous"
• 1995: Casualty: "Learning Curve"
• 1996: Blackhearts In Battersea
• 1996: The Writing on the Wall
• 1997: The Canterville Ghost
• 1997: Into the Blue
• 1997: Hospital!
• 1997: Wokenwell
• 1997: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
• 1997: Mr. White Goes to Westminster
• 1998: Duck Patrol: "River Rage"
• 1998-2000: Dinnerladies
• 1999: Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
• 1999: Hilltop Hospital (voice)
• 1999: A Christmas Carol
• 2000: Gormenghast
• 2000: Dalziel and Pascoe: "Above the Law"
• 2000: Victoria Wood With All The Trimmings
• 2001: Love in a Cold Climate
• 2001: Baddiel's Syndrome: "Inventions Now"
• 2001: Midsomer Murders: "Dark Autumn"
• 2001: Absolutely Fabulous: "Menopause"
• 2001: Randall & Hopkirk: "Revenge of the Bog People"
• 2001: Station Jim
• 2002: Heartbeat: "The Shoot"
• 2002: The Gathering Storm
• 2002: Sparkhouse
• 2002: A Is for Acid
• 2002: Doctor Zhivago
• 2002: Daniel Deronda
• 2003: The Planman
• 2003: Still Game: "Wummin'"
• 2004: Jonathan Creek: "Gorgons Wood"
• 2004: Doc Martin: "Going Bodmin"
• 2004: Agatha Christie's Marple: "4.50 From Paddington"
• 2005: Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle
• 2006: Agatha Christie's Poirot: "Taken at the Flood"
• 2006: The Lavender List
• 2006: Where the Heart Is: "Walk of Faith"
• 2007-2008: After You've Gone
• 2007-2009: Kingdom
• 2009: Cranford: "Christmas Special"
• 2010: The Road to Coronation Street (as Doris Speed)
• 2011: The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff
• 2012: Hacks
• 2012: Titanic
• 2012: Lewis: The Soul of Genius
• 2013: Doctor Who: "The Bells of Saint John"
• 2013: Love and Marriage
• 2014: Blandings
• 2014: Our Zoo
• 2015: Vicious
• 2016: Legends of Tomorrow
• 2016-present: Better Things
• 2018: Patrick Melrose
• 2018: Hang Ups

Theatre

Source:

• 1976: Now Here's a Funny Thing
• 1976: Sherlock Holmes
• 1976: The Adventures of Alice
• 1977: Henry V
• 1977: Love's Labour's Lost
• 1977: The Boyfriend
• 1978: As You Like It
• 1978: Cabaret
• 1978: Macbeth
• 1978: 'Tis Pity She's a Whore
• 1979: The Good Humoured Ladies
• 1979: Pygmalion
• 1980: Seduced
• 1981: Heaven and Hell
• 1981: A Waste of Time
• 1982: Puntila and Matti, Master and Servant
• 1982: Puss in Boots
• 1982: Philosophy of the Boudoir
• 1982: The Screens
• 1983: Arms and the Man
• 1983: Custom of the Country
• 1983: The Merchant of Venice
• 1983: Sirocco
• 1983: Webster
• 1984: Alfie
• 1984: The Merchant of Venice
• 1984: When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout
• 1985: Particular Friendships
• 1985: The Philanthropist
• 1986: Last Waltz
• 1987: School For Wives
• 1987: Yerma
• 1988: Doctor Angelus
• 1988: The Madwoman of Chaillot
• 1990: In Pursuit of the English
• 1990: Hangover Square
• 1990: No One Sees the Video
• 1991: The Sea
• 1995: The Hothouse
• 1996: Habeas Corpus
• 1997: Dona Rosita the Spinster
• 1998: The School for Scandal
• 2003: The Way of the World
• 2003: Unsuspecting Susan
• 2005: Acorn Antiques The Musical!
• 2005: Unsuspecting Susan
• 2009: Plague Over England
• 2009: Mixed Up North
• 2010: The Rivals
• 2010: Polar Bears
• 2010: Hay Fever
• 2011: Drama at Inish
• 2011-2012: Noises Off
• 2016: King Lear

Ancestors

Books

• The Happy Hoofer (2011), Hodder & Stoughton,
• Not Quite Nice (2015), Bloomsbury Publishing,
• Nice Work (If You Can Get It) (2016), Bloomsbury Publishing,
• Sail Away (2018), Bloomsbury Publishing