Pippa Guard
Encyclopedia
Philippa Ann Guard is a British actress.
Guard was born in Edinburgh
, Scotland
and belongs to a well-known theatrical family, whose members include her uncle Philip Guard, cousins Christopher Guard
and Dominic Guard
, and younger brother Alex Guard. Her father was an engineer who moved the family to Kent
and then to Canada
. Guard briefly attended the University of Montreal, first studying English and drama and then nursing, before returning to Britain to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
. She left RADA in 1975 as winner of the Ronson, Kendall and Pole prizes and was named as "Britain's Most Promising Actress".
She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company
in 1976, and first attracted attention when she took over the role of Juliet
from a sick Francesca Annis
. She played Hermia
in John Barton
's 1977 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
, Luciana in Trevor Nunn
's musical Comedy of Errors
and Evie in Factory Birds. As The Stratfordians notes, Guard appeared destined for a classical stage career but she has become best-known as a television actress.
In 1978 Guard left the RSC and won the role of Maggie Tulliver in a BBC
serialisation of The Mill on the Floss
(1978), followed by Barbara Mallen in The Mallens
(Granada
1979), Maria in Maria Marten (BBC, 1980), Prue in To the Lighthouse
(BBC, 1982) and three roles for the BBC Television Shakespeare: Miranda in The Tempest
(1979), Diana in All's Well that Ends Well
(1980) and, once again, Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1981). (On BBC Radio, she also played Tess in Tess of the d'Urbervilles
in 1982 and Bella Wilfer in Our Mutual Friend
in 1984). However, her stated desire for more contemporary and diverse roles was evident in her portrayal of a 21st-century woman in the Play for Today
The Flipside of Dominick Hide
(1980) and its sequel Another Flip for Dominick (1982). She also portrayed P. D. James
' sleuth Cordelia Gray in an adaptation of An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
(1981), her only film role.
In 1984, Guard played Edith Holden in a twelve-part adaptation of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady (Central). This drama attracted a peak audience of 13 million viewers and raised Guard's public profile considerably, but it effectively marked the end of the first phase of her television career. In 1981 she had married the BBC production manager and director Steve Goldie and in July 1984 she gave birth to their daughter Sama. She did not return to television until 1986, although she focussed on her stage career in the meantime, playing Antigone
at the National Theatre
(1984) and Faye in A Chorus of Disapproval
in the West End
(1986). In 1986, she played an abusive mother in the award-winning A Couple of Charlies (Central) and an abused wife in The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
(BBC), marking a radical shift in her TV persona.
She then returned to the Royal Shakespeare Company for two years, where her roles included Natasha in Three Sisters
Caresse Crosby in Divine Gossip (Barbican, 1988) and Katherine in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Barbican, 1991), although she did not play any major Shakespearean roles. In the 1990s, Guard re-established her television career, favouring contemporary and comic parts. Her first major project was the sitcom Close to Home
, with Paul Nicholas (LWT, 1990), followed by two series of the comedy-drama The Riff Raff Element
(BBC, 1993-94), All or Nothing at All
with Hugh Laurie
(LWT, 1993), John Sullivan
's Roger Roger (BBC, 1998-2000), and two series of The Creatives (1998-2000), plus many guest appearances. She also featured in an episode of the Poirot
series "The ABC murder", in 1992. In her "second" television career, Guard successfully demonstrated her versatility. However, she was usually cast as the love interest of the male star, or as a member of an ensemble cast, rather than as the leading lady. Her last known screen appearance was in Roger Roger (2003).
In 1998, she graduated with a first-class degree in English and drama from the University of Greenwich
. After gaining an MPhil from Royal Holloway, University of London
, she gained a PhD
in 2005 on early modern drama from the same institution. Guard now works as a lecturer and drama programme leader at the University of Greenwich
, her published research includes "A Defence of the First English Actress", and appeared on BBC Radio 4
's Woman's Hour
to discuss Shakespeare's women.
Guard was born in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and belongs to a well-known theatrical family, whose members include her uncle Philip Guard, cousins Christopher Guard
Christopher Guard
Christopher Guard is an English actor.Educated at Latymer Upper School, Guard was a member of the National Theatre aged 20. He has appeared in Vienna 1900 , Memoirs of a Survivor and Return to Treasure Island...
and Dominic Guard
Dominic Guard
Dominic Guard is a former English film actor.His most famous role was as a 14-year-old when he played Leo in The Go-Between. He won a BAFTA award in 1972 for his performance...
, and younger brother Alex Guard. Her father was an engineer who moved the family to Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
and then to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Guard briefly attended the University of Montreal, first studying English and drama and then nursing, before returning to Britain to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
. She left RADA in 1975 as winner of the Ronson, Kendall and Pole prizes and was named as "Britain's Most Promising Actress".
She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
in 1976, and first attracted attention when she took over the role of Juliet
Juliet Capulet
Juliet is one of the title characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the other being Romeo. She is the daughter of old Capulet, head of the house of Capulet. The story has a long history that precedes Shakespeare himself....
from a sick Francesca Annis
Francesca Annis
Francesca Annis is an English actress, known for her film and television appearances, most recently in the BBC series Wives and Daughters, Cranford, and Deceit.-Early life and education:...
. She played Hermia
Hermia
Hermia is a science park near Tampere University of Technology . Hermia is located in Hervanta, a suburb of Tampere, Finland. Hermia is also acting as a technology centre for its region....
in John Barton
John Barton (director)
John Bernard Adie Barton CBE is a theatrical director. He is the son of Sir Harold Montagu and Lady Joyce Barton. He married Anne Righter, a university lecturer, in 1968....
's 1977 production of 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...
, Luciana in Trevor Nunn
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
's musical Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
and Evie in Factory Birds. As The Stratfordians notes, Guard appeared destined for a classical stage career but she has become best-known as a television actress.
In 1978 Guard left the RSC and won the role of Maggie Tulliver in a 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...
serialisation of The Mill on the Floss
The Mill on the Floss
The Mill on the Floss is a novel by George Eliot , first published in three volumes in 1860 by William Blackwood. The first American edition was by Thomas Y...
(1978), followed by Barbara Mallen in The Mallens
The Mallens
The Mallens was a popular Granada Television adaptation of Catherine Cookson novels that ran for 13 episodes from 1979-1980.- Plot summary :Based on the novels The Mallen Streak,The Mallen Girl and the Mallen Litter...
(Granada
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
1979), Maria in Maria Marten (BBC, 1980), Prue in To the Lighthouse
To the Lighthouse
To the Lighthouse is a novel by Virginia Woolf. A novel set on the Ramsays and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920, it skilfully manipulates temporal and psychological elements....
(BBC, 1982) and three roles for the BBC Television Shakespeare: Miranda in The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
(1979), Diana in All's Well that Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623....
(1980) and, once again, Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1981). (On BBC Radio, she also played Tess in Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Tess of the d'Urbervilles or just Tess, is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British...
in 1982 and Bella Wilfer in Our Mutual Friend
Our Mutual Friend
Our Mutual Friend is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining psychological insight with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life" but is also about human...
in 1984). However, her stated desire for more contemporary and diverse roles was evident in her portrayal of a 21st-century woman in the Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
The Flipside of Dominick Hide
The Flipside of Dominick Hide
The Flipside of Dominick Hide is a British television play first transmitted by the BBC on 9 December 1980 as part of the Play for Today series....
(1980) and its sequel Another Flip for Dominick (1982). She also portrayed P. D. James
P. D. James
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL , commonly known as P. D. James, is an English crime writer and Conservative life peer in the House of Lords, most famous for a series of detective novels starring policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh.-Life and career:James...
' sleuth Cordelia Gray in an adaptation of An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (film)
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman is a 1982 British crime film directed by Chris Petit. It was entered into the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival. It is based on the novel of the same name by P. D...
(1981), her only film role.
In 1984, Guard played Edith Holden in a twelve-part adaptation of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady (Central). This drama attracted a peak audience of 13 million viewers and raised Guard's public profile considerably, but it effectively marked the end of the first phase of her television career. In 1981 she had married the BBC production manager and director Steve Goldie and in July 1984 she gave birth to their daughter Sama. She did not return to television until 1986, although she focussed on her stage career in the meantime, playing Antigone
Antigone
In Greek mythology, Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, Oedipus' mother. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood", "in place of a mother", or "anti-generative", based from the root...
at the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
(1984) and Faye in A Chorus of Disapproval
A Chorus of Disapproval
A Chorus of Disapproval is a 1988 British film adapted from the Alan Ayckbourn play of the same title, directed by Michael Winner. Among the movie's cast are Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Irons, Richard Briers, and Alexandra Pigg....
in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
(1986). In 1986, she played an abusive mother in the award-winning A Couple of Charlies (Central) and an abused wife in The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil is a 1983 novel by British feminist author Fay Weldon about a highly unattractive woman who goes to great lengths to take revenge on her husband and his attractive lover...
(BBC), marking a radical shift in her TV persona.
She then returned to the Royal Shakespeare Company for two years, where her roles included Natasha in Three Sisters
Three Sisters (play)
Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
Caresse Crosby in Divine Gossip (Barbican, 1988) and Katherine in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Barbican, 1991), although she did not play any major Shakespearean roles. In the 1990s, Guard re-established her television career, favouring contemporary and comic parts. Her first major project was the sitcom Close to Home
Close to Home (UK TV series)
Close to Home is a British television sitcom created by Brian Cooke, and made by London Weekend Television. Two series were originally broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom between 1989 and 1990....
, with Paul Nicholas (LWT, 1990), followed by two series of the comedy-drama The Riff Raff Element
The Riff Raff Element
The Riff Raff Element was a 1990s British television series written by Debbie Horsfield and directed by Jeremy Ancock, who also directed Dressing for Breakfast and episodes of The Bill and Bergerac....
(BBC, 1993-94), All or Nothing at All
All or Nothing at All
"All or Nothing at All" is a song composed in 1939 by Arthur Altman, with lyrics by Jack Lawrence.Frank Sinatra's 1939 recording of the song became a huge hit in 1943, when it was reissued by Columbia Records during the 1942-43 musicians' strike...
with Hugh Laurie
Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...
(LWT, 1993), John Sullivan
John Sullivan (writer)
John Richard Thomas Sullivan OBE was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several popular British sitcoms, including Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends....
's Roger Roger (BBC, 1998-2000), and two series of The Creatives (1998-2000), plus many guest appearances. She also featured in an episode of the Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
series "The ABC murder", in 1992. In her "second" television career, Guard successfully demonstrated her versatility. However, she was usually cast as the love interest of the male star, or as a member of an ensemble cast, rather than as the leading lady. Her last known screen appearance was in Roger Roger (2003).
In 1998, she graduated with a first-class degree in English and drama from the University of Greenwich
University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich is a British university located in the London Borough of Greenwich, London, England. The main campus is located on the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, a central location within the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site.-History:The history of the...
. After gaining an MPhil from Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London is a constituent college of the University of London. The college has three faculties, 18 academic departments, and about 8,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 130 different countries...
, she gained a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 2005 on early modern drama from the same institution. Guard now works as a lecturer and drama programme leader at the University of Greenwich
University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich is a British university located in the London Borough of Greenwich, London, England. The main campus is located on the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, a central location within the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site.-History:The history of the...
, her published research includes "A Defence of the First English Actress", and appeared on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's Woman's Hour
Woman's Hour
Woman's Hour is a radio magazine programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom.-History:Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by Alan Ivimey the programme was first broadcast on 7 October 1946 on the BBC's Light Programme . It was transferred to its current home in 1973...
to discuss Shakespeare's women.
External links
- Pippa Guard at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...