Elizabeth Spriggs
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| Elizabeth Spriggs | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 18, 1929 Buxton, Derbyshire, England |
Elizabeth Spriggs (born September 18, 1929) is a British character actress.
Her longest role on British television was as Nan on Shine on Harvey Moon. She has also appeared in Doctor Who and in the BBC dramatisations of Our Mutual Friend and Martin Chuzzlewit both by Charles Dickens and George Eliot's Middlemarch. In children's television she appeared as the title witch in the BBC's Simon and the Witch (1987). She makes frequent appearances as a supporting player in British television drama and comedy series. Because of the type of roles she typically plays, she is often confused with Liz Smith, even though there is little physical resemblance between the two.
Spriggs has also made two appearances on the long running murder mystery series, Midsomer Murders, appearing in the pilot episode (Killings At Badgers Drift) as Iris Rainbird in 1997 and then again as the identical twin sister (Ursula Gooding) of the latter character in the ninth series in 2005. Spriggs' appearances on Midsomer have been with Richard Cant who played her son both times.
A stalwart member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1962 to 1976 she played many Shakespearean roles, including The Nurse, Beatrice, Gertrude, Paulina, Calpurnia and Mistress Quickly. This was followed by a memorable Madame Arcati in the opening season of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit at the new National Theatre on London's South Bank.
On film, she played The Fat Lady in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), and Mrs Jennings in Emma Thompson's 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. An early film role was as Mrs. Murray, the PVC-clad personnel manager in the 1968 Peter Hall film Work is a 4-letter word, opposite Cilla Black and David Warner.
