Celia Imrie

Celia Diana Savile Imrie (born 15 July 1952) is an Olivier Award-winning English actress. In a career starting in the early 1970s, Imrie has played Marianne Bellshade in Bergerac, Philippa Moorcroft in Dinnerladies, Miss Babs in Acorn Antiques, Diana Neal in After You've Gone and Gloria Millington in Kingdom. She has been described as "one of the most successful British actresses of recent decades".^[1]

Career

Imrie trained at the Guildford School of Acting. Her films include Nanny McPhee, Hilary and Jackie (playing Iris du Pré) 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 2004, Imrie played Doctor Imogen Reed in the schoolgirl thriller, Out of Bounds.

Other series to feature Imrie include The Nightmare Man, Bergerac, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Absolutely Fabulous, The Darling Buds of May and Upstairs, Downstairs. In the 2000 miniseries of Gormenghast, she played Lady Gertrude. She also had a guest appearance in an episode of the Scottish TV sitcom Still Game in 2003, where she played a home help called Mrs Begg. 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.

In 2005, she received very positive reviews for her US stage debut in Unsuspecting Susan.^[2][3]

Her radio work includes parts in BBC Radio 4's No Commitments, Adventures of a Black Bag, and Bleak Expectations. In early 2007, she narrated the book Arabella, broadcast over two weeks as the Book at Bedtime. She is currently starring in the BBC sitcom, After You've Gone, alongside Nicholas Lyndhurst and in the ITV1 drama Kingdom, with Stephen Fry. Her part in the former has, whilst being critically acclaimed, been described as "criminally squandered".^[4]

Her most recent film appearance is St Trinian's in 2007 as the Matron, alongside Stephen Fry, Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Russell Brand and Mischa Barton.

Imrie recently appeared in Plague Over England on the West End, a play about John Gielgud, and received positive reviews for her performance,^[5] Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph calling her performance "delicious" and "touchingly sympathetic". This autumn, she will appear in the world premiere of Robin Soans' Mixed Up North, directed by Max Stafford-Clark.^[6]

Victoria Wood & Miss Babs

Celia Imrie as Miss Babs in Acorn Antiques:The Musical!.

Imrie is perhaps best known for her frequent collaborations with Victoria Wood, with whom she has 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 infamous 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 West End musical in 2005 starring most of the original cast (see the picture on the right). Imrie won an Olivier Award for her performance.^[7] The character has curly blonde hair, and is known for her frequent parodic flirtations with the customers, and her abuse of the housekeeper Mrs Overall (portrayed by Julie Walters).

Personal life

Imrie, fourth of five children, was born in Guildford, Surrey, the daughter of Diana and David, a radiologist from Glasgow, Scotland.^[8] By actor Benjamin Whitrow, she has a son, Angus, who appears as her on-screen son in Kingdom. She lives in London and in Cowes (in the Isle of Wight).^[9]

Awards

• (1992) The Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Sea^[10]
• (2006) The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in Acorn Antiques:The Musical!^[11]

Real life quotes

• Whilst filming Kingdom:"I've got a gorgeous place in Swaffham [in Norfolk] with a beautiful garden and I really love the market there. I also love Wells and Holkham. I love walking on the pathway from Wells Quay to the beach. Wells is naturally beautiful and has the candy floss as well. It is a marvellous mix."^[12]

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre^[13]

References

External links

• Celia Imrie at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• Celia Imrie Wins Olivier Award
• Interview with Celia Imrie
• Celia Imrie talks about Star Wars
• Celia Imrie Article with The Daily Telegraph
• Photograph of Celia as Marianne Bellshade in 1982 in Bergerac
• Celia Imrie opens a fête in Norfolk.^{[dead link]}