Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes
reading at an event for the charity Sense, 2006
Born	18 May 1941 (1941-05-18) (age 68) Oxford, England
Occupation	Actor

Miriam Margolyes OBE (born 18 May 1941) is an English actress and voice artist.

Margolyes earliest roles were in theatre and after several supporting roles in film and television she won a BAFTA Award for her role in The Age of Innocence (1993).

Life and career

Early life

Margolyes was born in Oxford, England, the daughter of Ruth (née Walters), a real estate investor, and Joseph Margolyes, a physician.^[1] She grew up in a Jewish family,^[2] a descendant of immigrants from Belarus. She attended the local Oxford High School and later Newnham College, Cambridge. There, she began acting in her 20s, and also appeared in productions of the comedy troup, Cambridge Footlights.

Acting career

Margolyes first gained recognition for her work as a voice artist. She recorded a soft-porn audio called Sexy Sonia: Leaves from my Schoolgirl Notebook. She performed most of the supporting female characters in the dubbed Japanese action TV series, Monkey. She also worked with the theatre company Gay Sweatshop.

Margolyes' first major role in a film was as Elephant Ethel in Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977). She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Flora Finching in the 1988 movie Little Dorrit. On American television, she headlined the short-lived 1992 CBS sitcom Frannie's Turn. In 1993 she won a Best Supporting Actress, BAFTA for her role as Mrs Mingott, the only comic relief in Martin Scorsese's The Age Of Innocence.

Margolyes then began to be noticed by a much younger audience when she starred as Aunt Sponge in James And The Giant Peach; she also provided the voice of the Glow Worm in the same movie. Around this time, she voiced the female rabbit character in the animated commercials for Cadbury's Caramel bars and provided the voice of Fly the dog in the animated film Babe. She played Professor Sprout in Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets in 2002.

In 2004 Margolyes appeared with Geoffrey Rush and Charlize Theron in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and with Annette Bening, Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon in Being Julia. She also played as Dorcas the housekeeper in Ladies in Lavender with Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. Her television performances include a guest role in ITV mystery drama Marple (2004) and the BBC comedy Jam and Jerusalem (2006), alongside Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French and Joanna Lumley.

In the 1980s she made appearances in Blackadder opposite Rowan Atkinson: these roles include the Spanish Infanta in The Black Adder, Lady Whiteadder in Blackadder II and Queen Victoria in Blackadder's Christmas Carol.

She was one of the original cast of the London production of the musical Wicked in 2006, playing Madame Morrible opposite Idina Menzel, a role she also played on Broadway in 2008.

Margolyes will reprise her role as Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2010.

In 2009 she appeared in a new production of Endgame by Samuel Beckett at the Duchess Theatre in London's West End.

Other work

Margolyes is a supporter of Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association, and was the host at the first ever Sense Creative Writing Awards, held at the Dickens Museum in London in December 2006, where she read a number of works written by talented deafblind people.

Personal life

Margolyes is openly gay and has been with her partner for 40 years. She described herself as "gay" rather than as lesbian and mentioned her relationships with women several times when she appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in September 2008.^[3] She took time out of her career to look after her ill mother, and spent a quarter of a million pounds on full time care for her father.^{[citation needed]} She is a campaigner for a respite care charity, Crossroads.^[4][5] She also supports Sense, a charity for deafblind people.^[6]

She appeared on the British Television show University Challenge in 1963, whilst at Cambridge University. As part of a BBC documentary University Challenge: The Story so Far she claimed that during her appearance, she swore live on air after getting a question wrong.^[7][8]

She has stated her intention to become an Australian citizen.^[4]

Filmography

Notes

• The Thief and the Cobbler (1995) - the voice of the Maiden from Mombassa (original version only; the character was never heard at all in the re-edited versions and another actor was never available all in the re-edited versions)
• The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) - Peg Sellers -note this film was shown in theatres in the UK - it aired on cable television on the HBO network in the US

Theatre

• The Importance of Being Earnest (BAM Harvey Theatre, New York) - Miss Prism
• Wicked (Apollo Victoria, London / Gershwin Theatre, New York) - Madame Morrible
• The Way of the World (Sydney Theatre Company)
• The Vagina Monologues (Arts Theatre, London)
• Romeo and Juliet (Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles)
• Fiddler on the Roof (Number One Tour) - Matchmaker
• Canterbury Tales (Bristol Old Vic) - Wife of Bath
• Kennedy's Children (Arts Theatre, London)
• Threepenny Opera (Piccadilly Theatre, London) - Whore
• The White Devil (Old Vic, London)
• Cloud Nine (Joint Stock / Royal Court)
• Flaming Bodies (ICA) - Psychiatrist
• 84 Charing Cross Road (Colchester) - Helen Hanff
• Gertrude Stein and a Companion (International Tour) - Gertrude Stein
• Man Equals Man (Almeida Theatre, London) - Widow Begbick
• Orpheus Descending (Haymarket Theatre, London) - Vee Talbot
• Dickens' Women (Duke of York's Theatre and Hampstead Theatre, London)
• Blithe Spirit (Melbourne Theatre Company, Australia)
• Realism (Melbourne Theatre Company, Australia) - 2009
• Endgame (Duchess Theatre, London) - 2009 - Nell

Documentary

• Dickens in America - writer/presenter

Awards and nominations

• Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for Services to Drama 2001^[9]
• Winner: Theatregoer's Choice Awards 2007 Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for Madam Morrible in Wicked
• Winner: Audiofile's Earphones Award 2001 for A Christmas Carol
• Winner: Prix Jeunesse Best Children's Programme (0-6 fiction) 2000 for The First Snow of Winter
• Winner: The Talkies Performer Of The Year 1997 for Oliver Twist
• Winner: Sony Radio Awards Best Actress On Radio 1993 for The Queen and I
• Winner: BAFTA Best Supporting Actress 1993 for The Age of Innocence
• Nominated: Olivier Award for Best Entertainment 1991 for Dickens' Women
• Winner: LA Critics Circle 1989 Best Supporting Actress for Little Dorrit (shared with Geneviève Bujold)

References

External links

• Miriam Margolyes at the Internet Movie Database
• Miriam Margolyes at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Miriam Margolyes personal website
• Dickens' Women Tour Website
• Women in Comedy