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Margolyes will reprise her role as [[Pomona Sprout|Professor Sprout]] in ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (films)|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]''.
Margolyes will reprise her role as [[Pomona Sprout|Professor Sprout]] in ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (films)|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]''.


In October 2009 she will be appearing in a new production of ''[[Endgame]]'' by [[Samuel Beckett]] at the [[Duchess Theatre]] in London's [[West End theatre|West End]].
In October 2009 she will be appearing in a new production of ''[[Endgame (play)|Endgame]]'' by [[Samuel Beckett]] at the [[Duchess Theatre]] in London's [[West End theatre|West End]].


===Other work===
===Other work===

Revision as of 18:59, 23 September 2009

Miriam Margolyes
reading at an event for the charity Sense, 2006
OccupationActor

Miriam Margolyes OBE (born 18 May 1941) is an English actress and voice artist.

Margolyes earliest roles were in theatre and after several supporting roles in film and television she won a BAFTA Award for her role in The Age of Innocence (1993).

Life and career

Early life

Margolyes was born in Oxford, England, the daughter of Ruth (née Walters), a real estate investor, and Joseph Margolyes, a physician.[1] She grew up in a Jewish family,[2] a descendant of immigrants from Belarus. She attended the local Oxford High School and later Newnham College, Cambridge. There, she began acting in her 20s, and also appeared in productions of the comedy troup, Cambridge Footlights.

Acting career

Margolyes first gained recognition for her work as a voice artist. She recorded a soft-porn audio called Sexy Sonia: Leaves from my Schoolgirl Notebook. She performed most of the supporting female characters in the dubbed Japanese action TV series, Monkey. She also worked with the theatre company Gay Sweatshop.

Margolyes' first major role in a film was as Elephant Ethel in Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977). She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Flora Finching in the 1988 movie Little Dorrit. On American television, she headlined the short-lived 1992 CBS sitcom Frannie's Turn. In 1993 she won a Best Supporting Actress, BAFTA for her role as Mrs Mingott, the only comic relief in Martin Scorsese's The Age Of Innocence. Margolyes then began to be noticed by a much younger audience when she starred as Aunt Sponge in James And The Giant Peach; she also provided the voice of the Glow Worm in the same movie. Around this time, she voiced the female rabbit character in the animated commercials for Cadbury's Caramel bars. She appeared as Professor Pomona Sprout in Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets.

Margolyes appeared with Geoffrey Rush and Charlize Theron in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), and with Annette Bening, Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon in Being Julia (2004). She also featured as Dorcas the housekeeper in Ladies in Lavender with Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. Her television performances include a guest role in ITV mystery drama Marple (2004).

She is also known for comedic roles, particularly in the Blackadder series opposite Rowan Atkinson: these roles include the Spanish Infanta in The Black Adder, Lady Whiteadder in Blackadder II and Queen Victoria in Blackadder's Christmas Carol.

In 2007 she toured Australia in her one woman show Dickens' Women beginning in September. Margolyes also featured in the British comedy Jam and Jerusalem, which stars Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French and Joanna Lumley.

She was one of the original cast of the London production of Wicked in 2006, playing Madame Morrible opposite Idina Menzel, a role she also played on Broadway in 2008.

Margolyes will reprise her role as Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

In October 2009 she will be appearing in a new production of Endgame by Samuel Beckett at the Duchess Theatre in London's West End.

Other work

Margolyes is a supporter of Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association, and was the host at the first ever Sense Creative Writing Awards, held at the Dickens Museum in London in December 2006, where she read a number of works written by talented deafblind people.

Personal life

Margolyes is openly gay and has been with her partner for 40 years. She described herself as "gay" rather than as lesbian and mentioned her relationships with women several times when she appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in September 2008.[3] She took time out of her career to look after her ill mother, and spent a quarter of a million pounds on full time care for her father[citation needed]. She is a campaigner for a respite care charity, Crossroads.[4][5] She also supports Sense, a charity for deafblind people.[6]

She appeared on the British Television show University Challenge in 1963, whilst at Cambridge University. As part of a BBC documentary University Challenge: The Story so Far she claimed that during her appearance, she swore live on air after getting a question wrong.[7][8]

She has stated her intention to become an Australian citizen.[4]

Filmography

Notes

  • The Thief and the Cobbler (1995) - the voice of the Maiden from Mombassa (original version only; the character was never heard at all in the re-edited versions and another actor was never available all in the re-edited versions)
  • The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) - Peg Sellers -note this film was shown in theatres in the UK - it aired on cable television on the HBO network in the US

Theatre

Documentary

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ^ Miriam Margolyes Biography (1941-)
  2. ^ http://www.gmb.org.uk/Shared_ASP_Files/UploadedFiles/DDD81B34-BD5C-4BA4-B6B3-F1D06E022C21_MiriamMargolyes.pdf
  3. ^ Desert Island Discs - 28September2008 - Miriam Margolyes
  4. ^ a b Late Night Live - 10September2007 - Miriam Margolyes and Dickens' Women
  5. ^ http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/current/audioonly/lnl_20070910.mp3
  6. ^ Sense | Celebrity supporters | Miriam Margolyes
  7. ^ Hellicar, Michael (25 December 2008). "Fingers on Buzzers: As BBC2 devotes a night of homage to University Challenge, why is this eccentric quiz so addictive?". Daily Mail. Retrieved 22 May 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Walker, Tim (26 September 2008). "Why Britain's comedy 'brain drain' is no joke for Ronnie Corbett". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 May 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "No. 56430". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 31 December 2001.

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