Celia Imrie
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| Celia Imrie | |||||||
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| Born | Celia Diana Savile Imrie 15 July 1952 Guildford, Surrey, England |
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| Occupation | Actress | ||||||
| Years active | 1973–present | ||||||
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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, Diana Neal in After You've Gone and Gloria Millington in Kingdom.
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[edit] 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.
She frequently works 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 were turned into a West End musical in 2005 starring most of the original cast. Imrie won an Olivier Award for her performance.[1]
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 mini series 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.
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 has also starred in the BBC sitcom, After You've Gone, alongside Nicholas Lyndhurst and in the ITV1 drama Kingdom, with Stephen Fry.
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.
[edit] Personal life
By actor Benjamin Whitrow, she has a son, Angus, who appears as her on-screen son in Kingdom.
[edit] Selected Awards and Nominations
- WON (1992) The Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Sea[2]
- WON (2006) The Laurence Olivier Award for Acorn Antiques:The Musical![3]
[edit] Real Life Quotes
- On George Lucas: “He's very cool, as you'd expect....He asked me to take off my lipstick though. As I was going to be the first female pilot they'd ever used, I thought I'd put on some lipstick, and make an effort.”
- On Star Wars: “I'm amazed anyone recognised me covered up in that hat and goggles. The casting director had seen me in a Harold Pinter play and asked me to be in Star Wars - how bizarre is that? I think I was originally up for the part of the mother at the beginning of the film but, when I didn't get it, they asked me to be a fighter pilot instead. I can't pretend I was a life-long Star Wars fan but I did think it would be rather cool for my son if his mum was in the film. He was little at the time so, when we went to see it, he went to sleep and missed me, but he got to see it with his school friends later. None of us knew what the story was, though. Because the producers are so worried about leaks, we had no idea how we fitted into the film. It was just terribly exciting to be on the set and part of a phenomenon like Star Wars.”
- When she won a Laurence Olivier Award in 2006, she stated that she would display it “very prominently in my bedroom so I can see it when I wake up in the morning!”
- On her first solo show: “"I never thought I'd do something on my own", she says, "Sometimes you get to a first night and think you're going to die with fright. But then you hold your nose and jump in and it disappears. And the feeling afterwards! That first drink is fantastic!”
- On Alan Bates: “"I'd known him for years and absolutely adored him. He really is naughty. Terrible. Or was, God bless him. But then, you see, Dame Judi's got that too. Everybody who's ever been one of my heroes is very naughty. Naughty sense of humour. Naughty sparkle in their eye."
- On Victoria Wood: “I first met her through her university friends in Birmingham. I was in the room applauding when she won New Faces and she then rather loyally came to see me in a chorus line in a pantomime. She's been terribly loyal to me and I'm very proud to be working with her at the moment.”
- On her character in ‘Wah-Wah’: A” friend of mine came to see a screening and said, 'Ceels, I was longing for you to suddenly become funny. And you didn't'. I said, 'I know, it's quite weird isn't it?' Originally Richard offered me another part but I said, 'yes, but what about this old bag?' ”
- On motherhood and marriage: "I can admire people who want to do it, who actually plunge into this lifelong thing with no way out, but I'd just feel trapped", she has said. "All that certainty. No surprises. I love not knowing what's going to happen next. Better to be independent if you can, I think." Perhaps it's got something to do with growing up in the 1950s. "I'm not sure the generation of young women that's coming up now has any idea what went on then. Not that they have to be grateful or anything, but I think they're completely unaware of what used to be. Which is quite alarming. Divorce was terribly frowned upon. When I was growing up 'a divorcee' really had the same besmirching as someone who had an illegitimate baby. Mother really didn't approve of that at all. It wasn't done. I'm afraid I broke that rule too."
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Film
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[edit] Television
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[edit] Theatrography [4]
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