Eileen Atkins
Encyclopedia
Dame Eileen June Atkins, DBE (born 16 June 1934) is an English actress and occasional screenwriter
.
, a Salvation Army
women's hostel in East London
. Her mother, Annie Ellen (née
Elkins), was a barmaid who was 46 when Eileen was born, and her father, Arthur Thomas Atkins, was a gas meter
reader who was previously under-chauffeur
to the Portuguese Ambassador
. Atkins attended the Latymer School
, Edmonton
and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
.
Her father was an under-chauffeur and her mother worked for a time as a barmaid at the Trocadero Theatre. In her youth she worked really hard to get rid of her cockney accent. She is, in fact, against the "fashion" in drama schools these days for students not to get rid of their "basic accent." She says that such fashion is "bad for those from the working-class areas" as they will never get "classical leading parts."
Her mother was told by a gypsy that Eileen would be a great dancer, so she was sent to dancing classes from an early age, and appeared dancing in working men's club
s as "Baby Eileen" throughout the war years.
She took dancing lessons when a gypsy came to her mother's door and said that she would be a good dancer. She danced in working men's clubs two to three nights a week. By 12 she hated dancing and began doing pantomine acting. Out of 300 applicants for a RADA scholarship, she got down to the last three but was not selected. So she did a three-year course on teaching and acting at the Guildhall instead. As soon as she left she got her first job with Robert Atkins whom she impressed back when she was 12. She met her first husband, Julian Glover, when she was doing repertory at Butlins and helped him enter the Royal Shakespeare Company.
She was taken to see King John at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park when she was 12. She wrote to Robert Atkins, then director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, saying that the boy who played Prince Arthur was bad and that she would have been better. They met, she did a Prince Arthur speech and he told her to come back when an adult. She won the Shakespeare prize at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
in 1953. She also appeared on-stage with Laurence Olivier
, John Thaw
and James Bolam
in Semi-Detached
(1962) by David Turner
.
Atkins' initial London stage appearance was in Robert Atkins' staging of Love's Labours Lost at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park. Seasons in repertory followed, including two years with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1956, she appeared as an attendant in Love's Labours Lost. Her character was named "Jaquenetta."
Among her accomplishments are the creation of two television series - along with Jean Marsh
she created the concept for an original television series, titled Behind the Green Baize Door, which became the award-winning ITV
series Upstairs, Downstairs
(1971–75). Marsh played maid Rose for the duration of the series but Atkins was unable to accept a part due to stage commitments. The same team was also responsible for the BBC
series The House of Eliott
(1991–93).
As an actress her television work has included Three Sisters
(1970), A Midsummer Night's Dream
(1971), The Lady from the Sea
(1974), Electra
(1974), the villainess "Vanity Fair" in Dornford Yates
' She Fell Among Thieves (1977), Sons and Lovers
(1981), Oliver Twist
(1982), Smiley's People
(1982),Titus Andronicus
(1985), The Burston Rebellion (1985), A Better Class of Person
(1985), Roman Holiday
(1987), The Lost Language of Cranes
(1991), Cold Comfort Farm
(1995), Talking Heads
(1998), Madame Bovary
(2000), David Copperfield (2000), Wit
(2001) and Bertie and Elizabeth
(2002).
Atkins has regularly returned to the life and work of Virginia Woolf
for professional inspiration. She has played the writer on stage (A Room of One's Own
and Vita and Virginia, winning the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show
for the former) and screen (the 1990 television version of Room); she also provided the screenplay for the 1997 film adaptation of Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway - starring Vanessa Redgrave
(her stage costar in Vita and Virginia) - and made a cameo appearance in the 2002 film version of Michael Cunningham
's Woolf-themed novel The Hours
.
Her other films include I Don't Want to Be Born
(1975), Equus
(1977), The Dresser
(1983), Wolf
(1994), Jack and Sarah
(1995), Gosford Park
(2001), Cold Mountain
(2003), Vanity Fair
(2004) and Ask the Dust
(2006).
She has appeared in countless stage productions in and around London, including A Delicate Balance (1997), Cymbeline
(1988), Honour
(2003), John Gabriel Borkman
(1996), Mountain Language
(1988), The Night of the Iguana
(1992), The Unexpected Man
(1998) and The Birthday Party
(2005).
Atkins has appeared on Broadway many times as well, scoring four Tony
nominations as Best Actress in a Play. Her debut was in 1966, in Frank Marcus
' The Killing of Sister George
. Next was the Russian play The Promise (which closed after less than a month in 1967). In 1972's premiere of Robert Bolt
's Vivat! Vivat Regina!, she played Elizabeth I to Claire Bloom
's Mary, Queen of Scots. The Scandinavia
n novelty The Night of the Tribades barely ran for two weeks in 1977. A bit more successful were 1995's new version of Jean Cocteau
's Indiscretions , directed by Sean Mathias (which co-starred Kathleen Turner
and Broadway debutant Jude Law
) and 2004's The Retreat from Moscow
, William Nicholson
's play about a marriage in ruins, with co-stars John Lithgow
and Ben Chaplin
.
In January 2006, she took over the lead role in the Broadway production of John Patrick Shanley
's Pulitzer-prize winning play Doubt
also featuring Ron Eldard
and Jena Malone
. Her off-Broadway work has included A Room of One's Own
(1991) and The Unexpected Man
(2001).
In the autumn of 2007, she co-starred with Judi Dench
and Michael Gambon
in the BBC1 drama series Cranford
playing the central role of Miss Deborah Jenkyns. This performance earned her the 2008 BAFTA Award for best actress, as well as the Emmy Award
.
She returned to London's West End in January 2008 to play Mrs Rafi in Edward Bond
's The Sea
at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. The play closed in April 2008. Later in 2008, she appeared at the Vaudeville Theatre
in The Female of the Species
, a play which outraged the feminist Germaine Greer
because of its connection with an incident in her life. The play was, however, generally very well received, with The Sunday Telegraph reviewer Tim Walker giving it five stars and describing it as "great theatre."
Atkins was created a Commander of the British Empire
(CBE) in 1990, and raised to Dame Commander (DBE
) in 2001. In 2008 Atkins signed onto the 2009 dark comedy, Wild Target
, with such actors as Bill Nighy
, Emily Blunt
and Rupert Grint
. She will be playing Nighy's mother, Louisa.
She recently played the evil Nurse Edwina Kenchington in the BBC Two
sitcom Psychoville
starring Dawn French. Atkins replaced Vanessa Redgrave
as Eleanor of Aquitaine in the blockbuster movie Robin Hood
starring Russell Crowe
, which was released in the UK in May 2010.
Atkins and Jean Marsh
, creators of the original 1970s series of Upstairs Downstairs, are among the cast of a new BBC adaptation, shown over the winter of 2010/11. The new series is set in 1936. Marsh again played Rose while Atkins was cast as the redoubtable Lady Maud Holland. In August 2011, it was revealed that Atkins has decided not to take part in the new series, due to be shown in 2012, because she is reportedly unhappy with the direction the scripts are taking.
In September 2011, Atkins joined the cast of ITV comedy-drama series Doc Martin
playing the title character's aunt, Ruth Ellingham.
Atkins will star with Matthew Rhys
in an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier
's The Scapegoat
, to be shown in 2012.
Her Royal Shakespeare Company performances include:
1. unnamed parts in Cymbeline at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 2 July 1957 press night)
2. unnamed parts in The Tempest at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 13 August 1957 press night)
3. as Magdalen in The Vigil at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 21 October 1957 press night)
4. unnamed parts in The Tempest at the Theatre Royal (Drury Lane, London, 5 December 1957 press night)
5. unnamed parts in Romeo and Juliet at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 8 April 1958 press night)
6. as Lady in Hamlet at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 3 June 1958 press night)
7. as Diana in Pericles at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 8 July 1958 press night)
8. unnamed parts in Much Ado About Nothing at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 26 August 1958 press night)
9. unnamed parts in Romeo and Juliet and as Lady in Hamlet on Tour (12 December 1958 press night, ran until 5 January 1959)
10. as Suzanna Andler in Suzanna Andler at the Aldwych Theatre (London, 7 March 1973 press night)
11. as Rosalind in As You Like It at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 12 June 1973 press night)
12. as Nell in Passion Play at the Aldwych Theatre (London, 13 January 1981 press night)
13. as the Woman in The Unexpected Man at the Pit (London, 15 April 1998 press night)
14. as the Woman in The Unexpected Man at the Duchess Theatre (London, 15 June 1998 press night)
In 1961 the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company became the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Her National Theatre performances include:
1. as Honor in Honour at the Cottesloe Theatre (21 February 2003 opening night)
2. as Reader in Hermione Lee on Virginia Woolf at the Cottesloe Theatre (18 October 1996 opening night)
3. as Elderly Woman in Mountain Language at the Lyttelton Theatre (17 October 1988 opening night)
4. as Mrs. Gunhild Borkman in John Gabriel Borkman at the Lyttelton Theatre (15 July 1996 opening night)
5. as Hannah Jelkes in The Night of the Iguana at the Lyttelton Theatre (31 January 1992 opening night)
6. as Queen wife to Cymbeline in Cymbeline at the Cottesloe Theatre (5 October 1988 opening night)
7. as Paulina wife to Antigonus in The Winter's Tale at the Cottesloe Theatre (5 February 1988 opening night)
8. as Hesione Hushabye in Heartbreak House at the Old Vic (20 February 1975 opening night)
She was in the 1961-1962 season of The Old Vic appearing in::
1. as Viola in Twelfth Night (2 October 1961)
2. as the Queen in Richard III (6 March 1962)
3. as Miranda in The Tempest (29 May 1962)
Also appeared in Roots (for the Bristol Old Vic, 1960-1961) and Julius Caesar (Old Vic Tour, 1961-1962).
Other notable stage performances include::
1. as Eileen Midway in Semi-Detached at the Saville Theatre, London (5 December 1962 press night)
2. as Alice "Childie" McNaught in The Killing of Sister George at the Bristol Old Vic (1964-1965)
3. in Vivat!Vivat Regina! at the Piccadilly Theatre (8 October 1970 press night)
4. as Joan in St. Joan at the Old Vic Theatre (for the Prospect Theatre Co., 1977)
5. in St. Joan at the Old Vic, Theatre Royal (Bath) and Bristol Hippodrome (1976-1978)
6. in The Lady's Not For Burning, as Viola in Twelfth Night and in Ivanov all at the Old Vic (1978-1979)
7. in Serjeant Musgrave's Dance at the Old Vic (1983-1984)
8. in Medea at the Young Vic Theatre (1985-1986)
9. in Exclusive (1988-1989) and A Room of One's Own (1990-1991) at the Theatre Royal (Bath)
10. as Virginia Woolf in Vita and Virginia for the Chichester Festival Theatre at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester (August-September 1992)
11. in Vita and Virginia at the Ambassador's Theatre (London, 1993-1994)
12. in A Delicate Balance (with Dame Maggie Smith) at the Theatre Royal in Haymarket London) and at the Theatre Royal in Bath (1997-1998)
13. in Harold Pinter: A Celebration at the Olivier Theatre for the National Theatre (7 June 2009)
She played Virginia Woolf in A Room of One's Own (1989) for which she won much acclaim. She toured the US with the show. She later taped a production for UK television at Girton College, Cambridge (the venue of Ms. Woolf's original lecture). She was Virginia Woolf again in 1992 in Vita and Virginia opposite Penelope Wilton (as Vita) for the UK stage and Vanessa Redgrave for the US stage.
She also performed in the Chichester Festival Theatre productions of The Cocktail Party with Alec Guiness as co-performer and director (1968) and Robert Bolt's Vivat!Vivat Regina!(1970-1971). In 1965, she appeared in the leading role in the first performance of Peter Gill's The Sleepers' Den at the Royal Court Theatre.
Her Broadway performances are:
1. as Alice "Childie" McNaught in The Killing of Sister George (5 October 1966 - 1 April 1967)
2. as Lika in The Promise (14 November - 2 December 1967)
3. as Elizabeth I in Vivat!Vivat Regina! (20 January - 29 April 1972)
4. as Marie Caroline David in The Night of the Tribades (13-22 October 1977)
5. as Leonie in Indiscretions (27 April - 4 November 1995)
6. as Alice in The Retreat From Moscow (23 October 2003 - 29 February 2004)
7. as Sister Aloysius in Doubt (10 January 2006 - ?)
in 1957; they divorced in 1966. She has been married to her current husband, Bill Shepherd, since 2 February 1978. Atkins was propositioned by Colin Farrell
on location in 2004, shortly before she turned 70; she said the incident helped her pass that milestone far more easily than she otherwise would have expected. The Oldie
magazine awarded her the Refusenik of the Year' award for this incident.
Julian Glover and Eileen Atkins divorced in September 1968. A day after his divorce, Glover married actress Isla Blair. They are still married to date.
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
.
Early life
Atkins was born in the Mothers' Hospital in ClaptonLower Clapton
Lower Clapton is a district within the London Borough of Hackney.It is immediately adjacent to central Hackney - bounded, roughly, by the western side of Hackney Downs , the Lea Valley , Clifden Road and the Lea Bridge Road...
, a Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
women's hostel in East London
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
. Her mother, Annie Ellen (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Elkins), was a barmaid who was 46 when Eileen was born, and her father, Arthur Thomas Atkins, was a gas meter
Gas meter
A gas meter is used to measure the volume of fuel gases such as natural gas and propane. Gas meters are used at residential, commercial, and industrial buildings that consume fuel gas supplied by a gas utility. Gases are more difficult to measure than liquids, as measured volumes are highly...
reader who was previously under-chauffeur
Chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.Originally such drivers were always personal servants of the vehicle owner, but now in many cases specialist chauffeur service companies, or individual drivers provide...
to the Portuguese Ambassador
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. Atkins attended the Latymer School
The Latymer School
The Latymer School is a selective, mixed grammar school in Edmonton, north London, England.- Examination procedures :Approximately 180 pupils are admitted to Year 7 annually. Places are awarded on the basis of competitive examination, though 20 are reserved for students with exceptional musical...
, Edmonton
Edmonton, London
Edmonton is an area in the east of the London Borough of Enfield, England, north-north-east of Charing Cross. It has a long history as a settlement distinct from Enfield.-Location:...
and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
.
Her father was an under-chauffeur and her mother worked for a time as a barmaid at the Trocadero Theatre. In her youth she worked really hard to get rid of her cockney accent. She is, in fact, against the "fashion" in drama schools these days for students not to get rid of their "basic accent." She says that such fashion is "bad for those from the working-class areas" as they will never get "classical leading parts."
Her mother was told by a gypsy that Eileen would be a great dancer, so she was sent to dancing classes from an early age, and appeared dancing in working men's club
Working men's club
Working men's clubs are a type of private social club founded in the 19th century in industrial areas of the United Kingdom, particularly the North of England, the Midlands and many parts of the South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class men and their families.-...
s as "Baby Eileen" throughout the war years.
She took dancing lessons when a gypsy came to her mother's door and said that she would be a good dancer. She danced in working men's clubs two to three nights a week. By 12 she hated dancing and began doing pantomine acting. Out of 300 applicants for a RADA scholarship, she got down to the last three but was not selected. So she did a three-year course on teaching and acting at the Guildhall instead. As soon as she left she got her first job with Robert Atkins whom she impressed back when she was 12. She met her first husband, Julian Glover, when she was doing repertory at Butlins and helped him enter the Royal Shakespeare Company.
She was taken to see King John at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park when she was 12. She wrote to Robert Atkins, then director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, saying that the boy who played Prince Arthur was bad and that she would have been better. They met, she did a Prince Arthur speech and he told her to come back when an adult. She won the Shakespeare prize at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Career
She joined the Guild Players Repertory Company in Bangor, Northern Ireland as a professional actress in 1952. Her first English stage appearance was at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's ParkOpen Air Theatre, Regent's Park
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, in the City of Westminster, London, is a permanent venue with an annual sixteen-week summer season. It was founded in 1932 by Sydney Carroll and Robert Atkins.-The theatre:...
in 1953. She also appeared on-stage with Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
, John Thaw
John Thaw
John Edward Thaw, CBE was an English actor, who appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles, his most popular being police and legal dramas such as Redcap, The Sweeney, Inspector Morse and Kavanagh QC.-Early life:Thaw came from a working class background, having been born in Gorton,...
and James Bolam
James Bolam
James Christopher Bolam, MBE is a British actor, best known for his roles as Jack Ford in When the Boat Comes In, Trevor Chaplin in The Beiderbecke Trilogy, Terry Collier in The Likely Lads and its sequel Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Roy Figgis in Only When I Laugh, Dr Arthur Gilder in...
in Semi-Detached
Semi-Detached (play)
Semi-Detached is a play written by David Turner. It was premiered at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry in June 1962 with Leonard Rossiter in the lead role and directed by Tony Richardson....
(1962) by David Turner
David Turner (dramatist)
David Turner was a British playwright.From a working class background, he studied French at Birmingham University and subsequently worked as a school teacher in that city...
.
Atkins' initial London stage appearance was in Robert Atkins' staging of Love's Labours Lost at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park. Seasons in repertory followed, including two years with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1956, she appeared as an attendant in Love's Labours Lost. Her character was named "Jaquenetta."
Among her accomplishments are the creation of two television series - along with Jean Marsh
Jean Marsh
Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh is an English actress, occasional screenwriter, and co-creator of the television series Upstairs, Downstairs and The House of Eliott....
she created the concept for an original television series, titled Behind the Green Baize Door, which became the award-winning ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
series Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
(1971–75). Marsh played maid Rose for the duration of the series but Atkins was unable to accept a part due to stage commitments. The same team was also responsible for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series The House of Eliott
The House of Eliott
The House of Eliott is a British television series produced and broadcast by the BBC in three series between 1991 and 1994. The series starred Stella Gonet and Louise Lombard as two sisters in 1920s London who establish a dressmaking business and eventually their own haute couture fashion house...
(1991–93).
As an actress her television work has included Three Sisters
Three Sisters (1970 Messina film)
Three Sisters is a 1970 film starring Eileen Atkins, Janet Suzman and Anthony Hopkins, based on the play by Anton Chekhov. The film was directed by Cedric Messina for the television series Play of the Month.-Cast:*Eileen Atkins .... Olga...
(1970), A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
(1971), The Lady from the Sea
The Lady from the Sea
The Lady from the Sea is a play written in 1888 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.Kvinnan från havet is a ballet by choreographer Birgit Cullberg, and based on Ibsen's play...
(1974), Electra
Electra
In Greek mythology, Electra was an Argive princess and daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra. She and her brother Orestes plotted revenge against their mother Clytemnestra and stepfather Aegisthus for the murder of their father Agamemnon...
(1974), the villainess "Vanity Fair" in Dornford Yates
Dornford Yates
Dornford Yates was the pseudonym of the British novelist, Cecil William Mercer , whose novels and short stories, some humorous , some thrillers , were best-sellers in the 21-year interwar period between the First and Second world wars.The pen name, Dornford Yates, first in print in 1910, resulted...
' She Fell Among Thieves (1977), Sons and Lovers
Sons and Lovers (1981 TV serial)
Sons and Lovers is a 1981 BBC television serial based on the D. H. Lawrence book Sons and Lovers. It starred Eileen Atkins, Tom Bell, Karl Johnson and Lynn Dearth. It was adapted by Trevor Griffiths and directed by Stuart Burge. It aired in the US as part of the PBS's Masterpiece Theatre program...
(1981), Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to...
(1982), Smiley's People
Smiley's People
Smiley's People is a spy novel by John le Carré, published in 1979. Featuring British master-spy George Smiley, it is the third and final novel of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy...
(1982),Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were...
(1985), The Burston Rebellion (1985), A Better Class of Person
A Better Class of Person
A Better Class of Person is an autobiography written by dramatist John Osborne and published in 1981. Based on Osborne's childhood and early life, it ends with the first performance of Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court Theatre in 1956...
(1985), Roman Holiday
Roman Holiday (1987 film)
Roman Holiday is a 1987 television film, based on the 1953 film of the same name. The plot features Princess Elysa , who is touring Rome, and decides to get 'out and about' away from her normal life. She meets with an American reporter and his photographer, who show her the sights...
(1987), The Lost Language of Cranes
The Lost Language of Cranes
The Lost Language of Cranes is a novel by David Leavitt, first published in 1986. A British TV movie of the novel was made in 1991. The movie was released on dvd in 2009.-Plot introduction:...
(1991), Cold Comfort Farm
Cold Comfort Farm
Cold Comfort Farm is a comic novel by Stella Gibbons, published in 1932. It parodies the romanticised, sometimes doom-laden accounts of rural life popular at the time, by writers such as Mary Webb...
(1995), Talking Heads
Talking Heads (plays)
Talking Heads is a series of dramatic monologues written for BBC television by British playwright Alan Bennett. The two series were first broadcast in 1988 and 1998, and have since been broadcast on BBC Radio and included on the A-level and GCSE English Literature syllabus.A West End theatre...
(1998), Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert's first published novel and is considered his masterpiece. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life...
(2000), David Copperfield (2000), Wit
Wit (film)
Wit is a 2001 American television movie directed by Mike Nichols. The teleplay by Nichols and Emma Thompson is based on the 1998 Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same title by Margaret Edson....
(2001) and Bertie and Elizabeth
Bertie and Elizabeth
Bertie & Elizabeth is a 2002 television film produced by Carlton Television. The film explores the relationship between King George VI and his wife Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon from their very first meeting to the King's death in the winter of 1952...
(2002).
Atkins has regularly returned to the life and work of Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
for professional inspiration. She has played the writer on stage (A Room of One's Own
A Room of One's Own
A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on 24 October 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928...
and Vita and Virginia, winning the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...
for the former) and screen (the 1990 television version of Room); she also provided the screenplay for the 1997 film adaptation of Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway - starring Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
(her stage costar in Vita and Virginia) - and made a cameo appearance in the 2002 film version of Michael Cunningham
Michael Cunningham
Michael Cunningham is an American writer, best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999.-Early life and education:...
's Woolf-themed novel The Hours
The Hours (novel)
The Hours is a 1998 novel written by Michael Cunningham. It won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the 1999 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and was later made into an Oscar-winning 2002 movie of the same name starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.-Plot introduction:The book...
.
Her other films include I Don't Want to Be Born
I Don't Want to Be Born
I Don't Want to Be Born is a 1975 British horror film, directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Joan Collins, Ralph Bates, Eileen Atkins and Donald Pleasence, which tapped into the 1970s fad for devil-child horror films. The film was originally marketed as a straight-faced and serious product, and as...
(1975), Equus
Equus (film)
Equus is a 1977 British-American drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Richard Burton. Peter Shaffer wrote the screenplay based on his play Equus...
(1977), The Dresser
The Dresser
The Dresser is a 1983 film which tells the story of an aging actor's personal assistant, who struggles to keep his charge's life together. It is based on a screenplay by Ronald Harwood, in turn based on his successful 1980 West End and Broadway play of the same name.The film was directed by Peter...
(1983), Wolf
Wolf (film)
Wolf is a 1994 American horror film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Jim Harrison, Wesley Strick, and an uncredited Elaine May, with music by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno....
(1994), Jack and Sarah
Jack and Sarah
Jack and Sarah is a 1995 British romantic comedy film written and directed by Tim Sullivan. The film was originally released in the UK on 2 June 1995.The theme song in this film is Stars by British pop group Simply Red.- Plot :...
(1995), Gosford Park
Gosford Park
Gosford Park is a 2001 British-American mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon...
(2001), Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain (film)
Cold Mountain is a 2003 war drama film written and directed by Anthony Minghella. The film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Charles Frazier...
(2003), Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (2004 film)
Vanity Fair is a 2004 British-American costume drama film directed by Mira Nair and adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name...
(2004) and Ask the Dust
Ask the Dust (film)
Ask the Dust is a 2006 film based on the book Ask the Dust by John Fante. The movie was written and directed by Robert Towne. Tom Cruise served as one of the film's producers. The film was released on a limited basis on March 17, 2006...
(2006).
She has appeared in countless stage productions in and around London, including A Delicate Balance (1997), Cymbeline
Cymbeline
Cymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...
(1988), Honour
Honour
Honour or honor is an abstract concept entailing a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or corporate body such as a family, school, regiment or nation...
(2003), John Gabriel Borkman
John Gabriel Borkman
John Gabriel Borkman is the penultimate composition of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, written in 1896.-Plot:The Borkman family fortunes have been brought low by the imprisonment of John Gabriel who used his position as a bank manager to illegally speculate with his investors' money...
(1996), Mountain Language
Mountain Language
Mountain Language is a one-act play written by Harold Pinter, first published in The Times Literary Supplement on 7–13 October 1988. It was first performed at the Royal National Theatre in London on 20 October 1988 with Michael Gambon and Miranda Richardson. Subsequently, it was published by...
(1988), The Night of the Iguana
The Night of the Iguana
The Night of the Iguana is a stageplay written by American author Tennessee Williams, based on his 1948 short story. The play premiered on Broadway in 1961. Two film adaptations have been made, including the Academy Award-winning 1964 film of the same name....
(1992), The Unexpected Man
The Unexpected Man
The Unexpected Man is a play written in 1995 by Yasmina Reza. Reza is best known in the English speaking world as the author of Art.-Plot:...
(1998) and The Birthday Party
The Birthday Party (play)
The Birthday Party is the first full-length play by Harold Pinter and one of Pinter's best-known and most-frequently performed plays...
(2005).
Atkins has appeared on Broadway many times as well, scoring four Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nominations as Best Actress in a Play. Her debut was in 1966, in Frank Marcus
Frank Marcus
Frank Marcus was a British playwright, best known for The Killing of Sister George.-Life:Frank Ulrich Marcus was born 30 June 1928 into a Jewish family in Breslau . They came to England as refugees in 1939...
' The Killing of Sister George
The Killing of Sister George
The Killing of Sister George is a 1964 play by Frank Marcus that was adapted as a 1968 film directed by Robert Aldrich.- Stage version :Sister George is a beloved character in the popular radio series Applehurst, a nurse who ministers to the medical needs and personal problems of the local villagers...
. Next was the Russian play The Promise (which closed after less than a month in 1967). In 1972's premiere of Robert Bolt
Robert Bolt
Robert Oxton Bolt, CBE was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar winning screenwriter.-Career:He was born in Sale, Cheshire. At Manchester Grammar School his affinity for Sir Thomas More first developed. He attended the University of Manchester, and, after war service, the University of...
's Vivat! Vivat Regina!, she played Elizabeth I to Claire Bloom
Claire Bloom
Claire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...
's Mary, Queen of Scots. The Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n novelty The Night of the Tribades barely ran for two weeks in 1977. A bit more successful were 1995's new version of Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
's Indiscretions , directed by Sean Mathias (which co-starred Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...
and Broadway debutant Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
) and 2004's The Retreat from Moscow
The Retreat from Moscow
The Retreat from Moscow is a play written by William Nicholson.The play is about the end of a three-decade marriage and the subsequent emotional fallout. The title is taken from Napoleon's costly invasion of Moscow and the subsequent retreat. It was first performed at the Chichester Festival...
, William Nicholson
William Nicholson (writer)
William Nicholson FRSL is a British screenwriter, playwright, and novelist.-Family:A native of Lewes, Sussex, William Nicholson was raised in a Catholic family in Gloucestershire. By the time he reached his tenth birthday, he had decided to become a writer. He was educated at Downside School,...
's play about a marriage in ruins, with co-stars John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
and Ben Chaplin
Ben Chaplin
Ben Chaplin , is an English actor.-Early life:Chaplin, the youngest of four children, was born in London, the son of Cynthia , a drama teacher, and Peter Greenwood, an engineer. He took his stage name after his mother's maiden name. He was raised in Windsor, Berkshire, England and attended Hurtwood...
.
In January 2006, she took over the lead role in the Broadway production of John Patrick Shanley
John Patrick Shanley
John Patrick Shanley is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He also contributed articles on the performing arts to The New York Times among other publications.-Life and career:...
's Pulitzer-prize winning play Doubt
Doubt (play)
Doubt: A Parable is a 2004 play by John Patrick Shanley. Originally staged off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club on November 23, 2004, the production transferred to the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway in March 2005 and closed on July 2, 2006 after 525 performances and 25 previews...
also featuring Ron Eldard
Ron Eldard
Ronald Jason "Ron" Eldard is an American actor.-Early life:Eldard, the second youngest of seven children , was born on Long Island, New York. Eldard's mother died in a car accident when he was a child, and Eldard and his siblings were sent to live with various family members...
and Jena Malone
Jena Malone
Jena Malone is an American actress and musician who has appeared on television, in films, and on Broadway. She made her movie debut with the film Bastard Out of Carolina , and has appeared in films including Contact , Stepmom , Donnie Darko , Saved! , Into the Wild , and Sucker Punch .Malone is...
. Her off-Broadway work has included A Room of One's Own
A Room of One's Own
A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on 24 October 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928...
(1991) and The Unexpected Man
The Unexpected Man
The Unexpected Man is a play written in 1995 by Yasmina Reza. Reza is best known in the English speaking world as the author of Art.-Plot:...
(2001).
In the autumn of 2007, she co-starred with Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
and Michael Gambon
Michael Gambon
Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...
in the BBC1 drama series Cranford
Cranford (TV series)
Cranford is a British television series directed by Simon Curtis and Steve Hudson. The teleplay by Heidi Thomas was adapted from three novellas by Elizabeth Gaskell published between 1849 and 1858: Cranford, My Lady Ludlow, and Mr Harrison's Confessions...
playing the central role of Miss Deborah Jenkyns. This performance earned her the 2008 BAFTA Award for best actress, as well as the Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
.
She returned to London's West End in January 2008 to play Mrs Rafi in Edward Bond
Edward Bond
Edward Bond is an English playwright, theatre director, poet, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of some fifty plays, among them Saved , the production of which was instrumental in the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK...
's The Sea
The Sea (play)
The Sea is a play written by the English dramatist Edward Bond in 1973. It is a comedy set in a small village in rural East Anglia in the Edwardian period. The play draws on some of the themes of Shakespeare's The Tempest....
at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. The play closed in April 2008. Later in 2008, she appeared at the Vaudeville Theatre
Vaudeville Theatre
The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...
in The Female of the Species
The Female of the Species (play)
The Female of the Species is a comic play by Joanna Murray-Smith first performed in 2006. The play is a satire about celebrity feminists, with a plot loosely inspired by a real-life incident in 2000, when author Germaine Greer was held at gunpoint in her own home by a disturbed student.The play...
, a play which outraged the feminist Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
because of its connection with an incident in her life. The play was, however, generally very well received, with The Sunday Telegraph reviewer Tim Walker giving it five stars and describing it as "great theatre."
Atkins was created a Commander of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(CBE) in 1990, and raised to Dame Commander (DBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
) in 2001. In 2008 Atkins signed onto the 2009 dark comedy, Wild Target
Wild Target
Wild Target is a 2010 comedy film, directed by Jonathan Lynn. It is based on the 1993 French film Cible Emouvante. Lucinda Coxon wrote the screenplay, and it was produced by Martin Pope and Michael Rose....
, with such actors as Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
, Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt is an English actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada , The Young Victoria , and The Adjustment Bureau . She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two London Film Critics' Circle Awards, and one BAFTA Award...
and Rupert Grint
Rupert Grint
Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint is an English actor, who rose to prominence playing Ron Weasley, one of the three main characters in the Harry Potter film series. Grint was cast as Ron at the age of 11, having previously acted only in school plays and at his local theatre group...
. She will be playing Nighy's mother, Louisa.
She recently played the evil Nurse Edwina Kenchington in the BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
sitcom Psychoville
Psychoville
Psychoville is an award-winning British dark comedy television serial written by and starring The League of Gentlemen members Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. It debuted on BBC Two on 18 June 2009. Pemberton and Shearsmith each play numerous characters, with Dawn French and Jason Tompkins in...
starring Dawn French. Atkins replaced Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
as Eleanor of Aquitaine in the blockbuster movie Robin Hood
Robin Hood (2010 film)
Robin Hood is a 2010 British/American adventure film based on the Robin Hood legend, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett...
starring Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
, which was released in the UK in May 2010.
Atkins and Jean Marsh
Jean Marsh
Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh is an English actress, occasional screenwriter, and co-creator of the television series Upstairs, Downstairs and The House of Eliott....
, creators of the original 1970s series of Upstairs Downstairs, are among the cast of a new BBC adaptation, shown over the winter of 2010/11. The new series is set in 1936. Marsh again played Rose while Atkins was cast as the redoubtable Lady Maud Holland. In August 2011, it was revealed that Atkins has decided not to take part in the new series, due to be shown in 2012, because she is reportedly unhappy with the direction the scripts are taking.
In September 2011, Atkins joined the cast of ITV comedy-drama series Doc Martin
Doc Martin
Doc Martin is a British television comedy drama series starring Martin Clunes in the title role. It was created by Mark Crowdy, Craig Ferguson and Dominic Minghella. The show is filmed on location in the fishing village of Port Isaac, Cornwall, United Kingdom, with filming of most interior scenes...
playing the title character's aunt, Ruth Ellingham.
Atkins will star with Matthew Rhys
Matthew Rhys
Matthew Rhys Evans , known professionally as Matthew Rhys, is a Welsh actor, best known as Kevin Walker on the U.S. ABC family drama Brothers & Sisters, and as Dylan Thomas in The Edge of Love.-Early life:...
in an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier
Daphne du Maurier
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
's The Scapegoat
The Scapegoat (2012 film)
The Scapegoat is an upcoming film adaption of Daphne du Maurier's 1957 novel of the same name, commissioned by ITV1. The drama is written and directed by Charles Sturridge and stars Matthew Rhys as lookalike characters John Standing and Johnny Spence....
, to be shown in 2012.
Her Royal Shakespeare Company performances include:
1. unnamed parts in Cymbeline at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 2 July 1957 press night)
2. unnamed parts in The Tempest at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 13 August 1957 press night)
3. as Magdalen in The Vigil at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 21 October 1957 press night)
4. unnamed parts in The Tempest at the Theatre Royal (Drury Lane, London, 5 December 1957 press night)
5. unnamed parts in Romeo and Juliet at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 8 April 1958 press night)
6. as Lady in Hamlet at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 3 June 1958 press night)
7. as Diana in Pericles at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 8 July 1958 press night)
8. unnamed parts in Much Ado About Nothing at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 26 August 1958 press night)
9. unnamed parts in Romeo and Juliet and as Lady in Hamlet on Tour (12 December 1958 press night, ran until 5 January 1959)
10. as Suzanna Andler in Suzanna Andler at the Aldwych Theatre (London, 7 March 1973 press night)
11. as Rosalind in As You Like It at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, 12 June 1973 press night)
12. as Nell in Passion Play at the Aldwych Theatre (London, 13 January 1981 press night)
13. as the Woman in The Unexpected Man at the Pit (London, 15 April 1998 press night)
14. as the Woman in The Unexpected Man at the Duchess Theatre (London, 15 June 1998 press night)
In 1961 the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company became the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Her National Theatre performances include:
1. as Honor in Honour at the Cottesloe Theatre (21 February 2003 opening night)
2. as Reader in Hermione Lee on Virginia Woolf at the Cottesloe Theatre (18 October 1996 opening night)
3. as Elderly Woman in Mountain Language at the Lyttelton Theatre (17 October 1988 opening night)
4. as Mrs. Gunhild Borkman in John Gabriel Borkman at the Lyttelton Theatre (15 July 1996 opening night)
5. as Hannah Jelkes in The Night of the Iguana at the Lyttelton Theatre (31 January 1992 opening night)
6. as Queen wife to Cymbeline in Cymbeline at the Cottesloe Theatre (5 October 1988 opening night)
7. as Paulina wife to Antigonus in The Winter's Tale at the Cottesloe Theatre (5 February 1988 opening night)
8. as Hesione Hushabye in Heartbreak House at the Old Vic (20 February 1975 opening night)
She was in the 1961-1962 season of The Old Vic appearing in::
1. as Viola in Twelfth Night (2 October 1961)
2. as the Queen in Richard III (6 March 1962)
3. as Miranda in The Tempest (29 May 1962)
Also appeared in Roots (for the Bristol Old Vic, 1960-1961) and Julius Caesar (Old Vic Tour, 1961-1962).
Other notable stage performances include::
1. as Eileen Midway in Semi-Detached at the Saville Theatre, London (5 December 1962 press night)
2. as Alice "Childie" McNaught in The Killing of Sister George at the Bristol Old Vic (1964-1965)
3. in Vivat!Vivat Regina! at the Piccadilly Theatre (8 October 1970 press night)
4. as Joan in St. Joan at the Old Vic Theatre (for the Prospect Theatre Co., 1977)
5. in St. Joan at the Old Vic, Theatre Royal (Bath) and Bristol Hippodrome (1976-1978)
6. in The Lady's Not For Burning, as Viola in Twelfth Night and in Ivanov all at the Old Vic (1978-1979)
7. in Serjeant Musgrave's Dance at the Old Vic (1983-1984)
8. in Medea at the Young Vic Theatre (1985-1986)
9. in Exclusive (1988-1989) and A Room of One's Own (1990-1991) at the Theatre Royal (Bath)
10. as Virginia Woolf in Vita and Virginia for the Chichester Festival Theatre at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester (August-September 1992)
11. in Vita and Virginia at the Ambassador's Theatre (London, 1993-1994)
12. in A Delicate Balance (with Dame Maggie Smith) at the Theatre Royal in Haymarket London) and at the Theatre Royal in Bath (1997-1998)
13. in Harold Pinter: A Celebration at the Olivier Theatre for the National Theatre (7 June 2009)
She played Virginia Woolf in A Room of One's Own (1989) for which she won much acclaim. She toured the US with the show. She later taped a production for UK television at Girton College, Cambridge (the venue of Ms. Woolf's original lecture). She was Virginia Woolf again in 1992 in Vita and Virginia opposite Penelope Wilton (as Vita) for the UK stage and Vanessa Redgrave for the US stage.
She also performed in the Chichester Festival Theatre productions of The Cocktail Party with Alec Guiness as co-performer and director (1968) and Robert Bolt's Vivat!Vivat Regina!(1970-1971). In 1965, she appeared in the leading role in the first performance of Peter Gill's The Sleepers' Den at the Royal Court Theatre.
Her Broadway performances are:
1. as Alice "Childie" McNaught in The Killing of Sister George (5 October 1966 - 1 April 1967)
2. as Lika in The Promise (14 November - 2 December 1967)
3. as Elizabeth I in Vivat!Vivat Regina! (20 January - 29 April 1972)
4. as Marie Caroline David in The Night of the Tribades (13-22 October 1977)
5. as Leonie in Indiscretions (27 April - 4 November 1995)
6. as Alice in The Retreat From Moscow (23 October 2003 - 29 February 2004)
7. as Sister Aloysius in Doubt (10 January 2006 - ?)
Personal life
Atkins was married to Julian GloverJulian Glover
Julian Wyatt Glover is a British actor best known for such roles as General Maximilian Veers in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the Bond villain Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only, and Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.-Personal life:Glover was born in...
in 1957; they divorced in 1966. She has been married to her current husband, Bill Shepherd, since 2 February 1978. Atkins was propositioned by Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell
Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
on location in 2004, shortly before she turned 70; she said the incident helped her pass that milestone far more easily than she otherwise would have expected. The Oldie
The Oldie
The Oldie is a monthly magazine launched in 1992 by Richard Ingrams, who for 23 years was the editor of Private Eye. It carries general interest articles, humour and cartoons, and has an eclectic list of contributors, including James Le Fanu, John Sweeney, Thomas Stuttaford, Virginia Ironside,...
magazine awarded her the Refusenik of the Year' award for this incident.
Julian Glover and Eileen Atkins divorced in September 1968. A day after his divorce, Glover married actress Isla Blair. They are still married to date.
Selected filmography
- Nelly's VersionNelly's VersionNelly's Version is a 1983 British mystery film directed by Maurice Hatton and starring Eileen Atkins, Anthony Bate and Nicholas Ball. It was based on a novel by Eva Figes. A woman turns up a hotel having lost her memory and forgotten who she is.-Cast:...
(1983) - Gosford ParkGosford ParkGosford Park is a 2001 British-American mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon...
(2001) - Vanity FairVanity Fair (2004 film)Vanity Fair is a 2004 British-American costume drama film directed by Mira Nair and adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name...
(2004 film) - CranfordCranfordCranford may refer to:*Cranford - a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell*Cranford - a BBC television adaptation of Cranford and other works by Elizabeth GaskellCranford may also refer to the following places:...
(2006) - EveningEveningEvening is the period between the late afternoon and night when daylight is decreasing, around dinner time at 6pm. Though the term is subjective, evening is typically understood to begin before sunset, during the close of the standard business day and extend until nightfall, the beginning of night...
(2007) - Last Chance HarveyLast Chance HarveyLast Chance Harvey is a 2008 American romantic drama film written and directed by Joel Hopkins. The screenplay focuses on two lonely people who tentatively forge a relationship over the course of three days...
(2008)