Bonnie Langford

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Bonnie Langford
Bonnie Langford

Bonita Melody Lysette "Bonnie" Langford (July 22, 1964) is an English actress and entertainer.

Contents

[edit] Early career

Langford attended The Arts Educational School and the Italia Conti Academy stage school, soon after she first achieved fame as a child actor in the television series Just William and the film Bugsy Malone. In the early part of her career, Langford was associated with fellow child star Lena Zavaroni.

Her stage work includes Peter Pan: The Musical, Cats and The Pirates of Penzance. On 23 October 2005, Langford performed in Children Will Listen, a 75th birthday tribute to Stephen Sondheim at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London.

Langford is also a panto regular and most notably appeared at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford for 2 seasons in a row. In 2004–05, Langford played the title role in Dick Whittington, the following season she was invited back and this time played Prince Charming in Cinderella.

Although known for her stage work, Langford has regularly appeared on television. She came to prominence as a child star when, aged 6, she won the talent show Opportunity Knocks. As an adult, Langford gained further attention when she was a featured dancer, in BBC One's popular light entertainment series The Hot Shoe Show, which she also co-presented with Wayne Sleep.

[edit] Doctor Who

Langford later appeared in the classic science fiction series Doctor Who, playing the role of the Doctor's companion Mel. She appeared in the cult show from 1986 to 1987, where she accompanied both the Sixth and Seventh Doctor on their adventures. In 1993, as part of the BBC's annual charity spectacular Children In Need, Langford returned as Mel in Dimensions in Time, a special one-off crossover episode with the soap opera EastEnders. She has since gone on to reprise the role of Mel in audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions. The One Doctor has become a massive fan favourite, becoming the winner of the DWM poll in 2001. Langford's first outing was in The Fires of Vulcan, another strong performer coming second in the DWM poll in 2000. Big Finish producer Gary Russell was surprised and delighted that Langford wanted to take part in the audio range as Russell thought that Langford would not want to recreate the role of Mel. So far Langford has recorded 11 audio plays and Mel, one of the least popular companions on television, is considered to have been rehabilitated.

[edit] Dancing On Ice show and tour

In 2006, Langford was a celebrity contestant on the first series of ITV1's hit show Dancing on Ice. Langford's partner in the series was American pair skater and member of the US skating team Matt Evers. The pair were consistenly voted highly by the judging panel, achieving the highest total score given (28.5 out of a possible 30) and were the only act to be awarded a maximum score of six by an individual judge - a feat they recorded twice. However, the viewing public were less favourable than the judges and on two occasions when Langford was voted top by the judging panel she was placed in the bottom two when the viewers' votes were also taken into account. (The bottom two contestants each week faced an additional skate and final choice from the judges; Langford was kept in the competition by the judges on both occasions.) Langford and Evers went out of the contest in third place in the final show when the viewers alone voted for the final three acts.

Langford's skating routines were characterised by the dramatic lifts and tricks she and Evers performed, including the helicopter rotation, the neck spin and the whilee bird. Langford notably banged her head on the ice whilst performing the death spin in training.

Langford appeared again on the programme on the Champion of Champions show which followed series two. It featured the three finalists from each series of the show and she again skated with Matt Evers. She suffered a fall during her performance but was scored second overall by the judging panel. Again the public vote was less favourable and she was amongst the four teams eliminated in the first round of the competition.

Langford is currently on tour with Torvill and Dean's Dancing on Ice Live which runs until 6 May.

[edit] Career regeneration

Whilst competing on Dancing on Ice, Langford appeared in one episode of ITV1's popular murder mystery series starring Geraldine McEwan in ITV's new adaption of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. Langford starred in the episode By the Pricking of my Thumbs playing Betty Johnson alongside Brian Conley who played Eric Johnson.

Langford returned to the West End theatre in April 2006 for the first time since 1998 on the back of her performances on Dancing on Ice. Langford went on to play the murderess Roxie Hart in the long-running West End musical Chicago, a role for which she received much acclaim.

Langford also took part in a touring two-woman theatrical show called Short and Curly alongside Sandi Toksvig. From 2003 to 2005, Langford was a regular guest on Toksvig's weekday lunchtime show on LBC radio, sometimes hosting the programme if Toksvig was ill or on holiday. After a successful tour in 2006 performing at several festival venues Short and Curly will be doing a summer tour across the country in May and June of 2007. Dates released so far are:

  • Wednesday 23 May 2007 Perth Festival
  • Saturday 26 May Cheltenham Town Hall
  • Saturday 3 June Wyvern Theatre
  • Friday 8 June 2007 Bloomsbury Theatre London
  • Friday June 9 Wycomb Swan Theatre

Currently Langford has enjoyed a successful run in Guys and Dolls in the Birmingham tour at the Alexandra theatre, alongside Nigel Harman as Sky Masterson. Langford is playing Miss Adelaide Adams, a dance hall hostess. The run ended on January 6 2007. Langford's reviews have been so good that the producers have asked Langford to rejoin the show in Plymouth from 23 January until 3 February, and later in the year Langford will join the West End cast.

Langford also appeared in the comedy series: The Catherine Tate Show in a sketch with the fictional character Derek Faye. Derek always becomes very offended when people assume he is gay, and consequently he was highly offended when Langford made that assumption.

Over Christmas of December 2006 Langford appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire raising money for Childline. Langford raised £16,000 for Childline with celebrity partner Anton Du Beke.

Langford had recently recorded another famous quiz show The Weakest Link, aired on January 13 2007. Langford won the show after being the strongest link for 6 rounds, but decided to split the prize money with another competitor, Zoe Tyler. Langford's half went to the CdLs Foundation a charity that supports children with the rare condition of Cornelia de Lange Syndrome.

Langford continues her quiz show appearances with Supermarket Sweep in February 2007. The show is a revamp of the classic format on ITV with Dale Winton as host.

[edit] Comic Relief

Langford featured in the Comic Relief video in March 2007. The charity single a cover of "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". The video is of Peter Kay and Matt Lucas as Little Britain characters. Langford is featured alongside many stars old and new from TV entertainment.

[edit] Personal life

Langford lived with her husband, fellow actor Paul Grunert (most notable for appearances in ChuckleVision) whom she married in 1995, his daughter from a previous marriage Natasha, and their daughter Biana (born 2000).

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Filmography

Television
Film
  • Wombling Free (1977) aka Wombling Free: The Movie (UK: video title)
  • Bugsy Malone (1976) - Lena Marelli (as Bonita Langford)

[edit] Theatre and Tour appearances

[edit] Audio

[edit] Albums

[edit] External links

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