Judy Parfitt

Judy Parfitt (born 7 November 1935) is a BAFTA-nominated English theatre, film and television actress who began her career on stage in 1954.

Life and work

Parfitt was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, the daughter of Catherine Josephine (née Caulton) and Lawrence Hamilton Parfitt.^[1] As a teenager, she attended Notre Dame High School for Girls in Sheffield.

In 1987, she played the mother of Clive Durham for Merchant Ivory's Maurice. In 1995, she portrayed Kathy Bates' former, domineering employer in Dolores Claiborne, who is dying in present-time, but is seen as a vibrant, glowing woman in flashback sequences. Two of her most notable past roles are Mildred Layton in The Jewel in the Crown (1984), and Lady Catherine de Bourgh in 1980's TV serial version of Pride and Prejudice. She has appeared in some American films and television shows, most notably as the mother of Dr Elizabeth Corday (played by Alex Kingston) on several episodes of ER.

Family

She is the widow of actor Tony Steedman (died 2001); they had one son, David.

Films and TV

• Hide and Seek (1963) - Chauffeur
• The Odd Man (TV series) Portrait of Caroline (1963) - Lisa Kapp
• Public Eye (TV series) But the Joneses Never Get Letters (1965) - Marion Hordern
• A Man Called Harry Brent (1965 TV series) - Jacqueline Dawson
• Undermind (TV series) The New Dimensions (1965) - Marion Gordon
• Common Ground (1965 TV film)
• Out of the Unknown (TV series) Time in Advance (1965) - Marie
• The Wednesday Play (TV series) Tomorrow, Just You Wait (1965) - Dorothy Gorbet
• Information Received (1962) - June Clifford
• The Whole Truth... (1964) - Mrs. Palmer
• Z Cars (TV series) But the Crying... (1965) - Christine Haines
• David Copperfield (1966 TV series) - Rosa Dartle
• The Man in Roon 17 (TV series) First Steal Six Eggs (1966) - Yvonne
• The Saint (TV series) The Persistent Patriots (1967) - Anne Liskard
• Adam Adamant Lives! (TV series) Black Echo (1967) - Ireyna
• Angel Pavement (1967 TV film) - Lilian Matfield
• A Woman Named Julie (1963) - Julie Gordon
• You Just Walk Away (1965) - Nancy Wills
• Dixon of Dock Green (TV series) The Attack (1968) - Mary Dewar
• Bullseye (1962) - Miss Ellis
• The White Elephant (1964) - Brenda Paterson
• Escape in Time (1967) - Vesta
• The Avengers (TV series) Whoever Shot Poor George Oblique Stroke XR40? (1968) - Loris
• Journey to the Unknown (TV series) Do Me a Favour, Kill Me (1969) - Faith Wheeler
• Hamlet (1969) - Gertrude
• Villette (1970 TV series) - Lucy Snowe
• The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970) - Jenny Bannerman
• Shadows of Fear (TV series) The Death Watcher (1971) - Emmy Erikson
• The Edwardians (1972 TV mini-series) - E. Nesbit
• Thirty-Minute Theatre (TV series) The Argument (1972)
• Play for Today (TV series) Edward G: Like the Filmstar (1973)
• The Protectors (TV series) Lena (1973) - Lena Haydon
• Alice Through the Looking Glass (1974 TV film) - Red Queen
• Shoulder to Shoulder (1974 TV mini-series) - Lady Constance Lytton
• Galileo (1975) - Angelica Sarti
• Crown Court (TV series) (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982 TV series) - Pauline Fanshaw (1975); Mrs Gillian Forrest Q.C.
• The Unborn (1976 TV film)
• BBC2 Playhouse (TV series) The Mind Beyond: Stones (1976) - Anne Reeve
• Rumpole of the Bailey (TV series) Rumpole and the Honourable Member (1978) - Anna Aspen
• Secret Orchards (1979 TV movie) - Muriel Perry
• Malice Aforethought (1979 TV movie) - Julia Bickleigh
• Death of a Princess (1980 TV movie) - Elsa Gruber
• Pride and Predjudice (1980 BBC TV mini-series) - Lady Catherine de Bourgh
• A Tale of Two Cities (1980 TV mini-series) - Madame Defarge
• Yes Minister (1981 TV series) - Betty Oldham, MP
• The Jewel in the Crown (1984 TV miniseries) - Mildred Layton
• Champions (1984) - Dr. Merrow
• The Chain (1984) - Deidre
• Bon Voyage (1985 TV film) - Lola Widmeyer
• Deceptions (1985 TV film)
• Covenant (1985 TV film) - Renata Beck
• Mr Pye (1986 TV mini-series) - Miss Dredger
• The Charmer (1987 TV serial) - Alison Warren
• Maurice (1987) - Mrs. Durham
• The Charmings (TV series) - Queen Lillian White
• Dark Obsession (1989) - Lady Crewne
• Act of Will (1989 TV movie) - Alicia Drummond
• Murder, She Wrote (TV series) From Russia... with Blood (1989) - Peggy Brooks
• Getting It Right (1989) - Lady Stella Munday
• The Gravy Train (1990 TV mini-series) - Hilda Spearpoint
• King Ralph (1991) - Queen Katherine
• The Gravy Train Goes East (1991 TV mini-series) - Hilda Spearpoint
• Midnight's Child (1992 TV film)
• The Blackheath Poisonings (1992 TV film) - Harriet Collard
• Eye of the Storm (1993 TV mini-series) - Martha
• Silent Cries (1993) - Beryl Stacton
• Medics (TV series) Episode #3.5 (1993) - Elizabeth Hoyt
• The Alleyn Mysteries (TV series) The Nursing Home Murder (1993) - Lady O'Callaghan
• The Return of the Borrowers (1993 TV film) - Mrs. Platter
• The Lifeboat (1994 TV series) - Lady Myers Lloyd
• Loving (1995 TV film) - Mrs. Tennant
• Dolores Claiborne (1995) - Vera Donovan
• Heavy Weather (1995 TV film) - Lady Constance Keeble
• Element of Doubt (1996) - Genevieve
• Goodbye My Love (1996)
• September (1996 TV movie) - Verena
• Holding the Baby (1997 TV series) Episode #1.7 - Margaret
• Wilde (1997) - Lady Mount-Temple
• The Ruby Ring (1997 TV film) - Mrs. Puxley
• Berkeley Square (1998 TV mini-series) - Lady Harmonsworth
• Ever After (1998) - Queen Marie
• Midsomer Murders (1999 TV series) Death's Shadow' - Angela Wentworth
• Falling Through (2000) - Ambassador
• The Hunt (2001 TV movie)
• Murder in Mind (TV series) Mercy (2001) - Margaret Collins
• ER - Isabelle Corday (2002)
• Hearts of Gold (2003 TV film) - Isobel John
• Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) - Maria Thins
• Agatha Christie's Poirot - Death on the Nile (2004) - Miss Van Schuyler
• The Long Firm (2004 TV serial) - Lady Ruth Thursby
• The Aryan Couple (2004) - Rachel Krauzenberg
• Asylum (2005) - Brenda Raphael
• Funland (2005 TV series) (2005) - Mercy Woolf
• Heartbeat (2008 TV series) - Lady Veronique
• Dean Spanley (2008) - Mrs Brimley
• Little Dorrit (2008, TV serial) - Mrs Clennam
• Midsomer Murders (2008) - Caroline Halsey
• Jonathan Creek: The Grinning Man (2009) - Constance Gessler

References

External links

• Judy Parfitt at the Internet Movie Database