Janine Duvitski

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Janine Duvitski
Born
Christine Janine Drzewicki

(1952-06-28) 28 June 1952 (age 71)
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England
OccupationActress
Years active1972–present
Spouse
Paul Bentall
​
(m. 1983)​
Children4, including Ruby Bentall

Janine Duvitski (born Christine Janine Drzewicki, 28 June 1952)[1] is an English actress, known for her roles in the BBC television sitcom series Waiting for God, One Foot in the Grave and Benidorm. Duvitski first came to national attention in the play Abigail's Party, written and directed in 1977 by Mike Leigh.

Personal life

Duvitski was born in Nottingham to a Polish father and an English mother.[2][3][4] She attended Nottingham Girls' High School, then a direct grant grammar school.[5]

She trained at East 15 Acting School in Essex. Her stage surname is a phonetic representation of her birth surname, which she thought no one would be able to pronounce. She has four children, Jack, Albert, Ruby, and Edith Bentall, with her actor husband Paul Bentall. Her youngest daughter Edith is the lead singer of the band FOURS.[6]

Career

Television

Duvitski's principal television credits include the roles of Jane Edwards in Waiting for God (1990–1994), Pippa Trench in One Foot in the Grave (1990–2000), and Jacqueline Stewart in Benidorm (2007–2018). In the BBC's Vanity Fair she played Mrs Crawley. She has also appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank.[7]

She has also appeared in the one-off production of Blue Remembered Hills by Dennis Potter, as well as in episodes of Foyle's War ("Fifty Ships"), Brush Strokes, Cowboys, Citizen Smith, Minder, Midsomer Murders (1998), My Family, Man About the House, The Georgian House, The New Statesman, The Black Stuff by Alan Bleasdale, The Knowledge, Z-Cars, The Worst Week of My Life, Little Dorrit, Still Open All Hours and, in 2013, as Emily Scuttlebutt in the CBeebies show Old Jack's Boat.[8]

In 2015 Duvitski starred in the BBC sitcom Boy Meets Girl.[9] In 2017 she appeared as Mrs Leydon, the Chapel assistant, in BBC's mockumentary Hospital People.[10]

Films

Duvitski had a small role opposite Laurence Olivier and Donald Pleasence in Dracula (1979), and appeared in the 1980 rock music film Breaking Glass. She also appeared in Michael Crichton's The First Great Train Robbery (1978), The Madness of King George (1994), About a Boy (2002), The New World (2005) and Angel (2007).

Theatre

Duvitski first came to national attention in Abigail's Party, written and directed in 1977 by Mike Leigh. The play opened in April 1977 at the Hampstead Theatre, returning after its initial run in the summer of 1977, with a total of 104 performances. A suburban comedy of manners, the play is a satire on the aspirations and tastes of the new middle class that had emerged in Britain in the 1970s. In November 1977 an abridged version of the play, lasting 104 minutes, was recorded as a BBC Play for Today. Duvitski plays Angela, a nurse, wife of Tony Cooper, appearing meek and somewhat childlike, unintelligent and tactless. She comes into her own only when host Laurence Moss suffers his fatal heart attack at the climax of the play.

Her theatre career has also included productions at UK's National Theatre, Young Vic and Royal Shakespeare Company.[11]

In 2007 she appeared on stage in the revival of English National Opera's On the Town. The production, which also included veteran British comic actress June Whitfield, saw Duvitski give a "touching comic account of Lucy Schmeeler, Hildy's homely roommate".[12]

Duvitski played the Vegetable Fairy in the 2017 Sunderland Empire Theatre pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk.[13] In 2019 she played Mummy Bear in Goldilocks and the Three Bears at the London Palladium.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1975 Diane Diane
1977 Jabberwocky Fanatic
1978 The First Great Train Robbery Maggie
1979 Dracula Annie
1980 Breaking Glass Jackie
1982 The Missionary Millicent, Ames' Maid
1985 The Bride Serving Girl
1988 Drowning by Numbers Marina Bellamy
1994 Giorgino Josette
1994 The Madness of King George Margaret Nicholson
1997 Swept from the Sea Mrs. Finn
2002 About a Boy Caroline / SPAT
2005 The New World Mary
2007 Angel Aunt Lottie

References

  1. ^ "Janine Duvitski". bfi. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ Greenstreet, Rosanna (November 2012). "Family jewel: Interview with Ruby Bentall". Sheengate Publishing. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  7. ^ "ITV Series 1, Episode 4". Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. 28 January 2001. ITV. Repeated 23 August 2016 on Challenge TV.
  8. ^ "Old Jack's Boat". BBC. 14 January 2013. Archived from the original on 30 June 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  9. ^ Ellis-Petersen, Hannah. "BBC starts filming sitcom starring transgender actor | Television & radio". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  10. ^ Dowell, Ben (13 February 2017). "Russell Brand to guest star as a "nutrition guru" in new BBC comedy Hospital People". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 6 October 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  11. ^ "Janine Duvitski: Other Works". IMDb. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  12. ^ Elleson, Ruth (9 May 2007). "On The Town – English National Opera". Opera Today. Archived from the original on 2 March 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  13. ^ Wheeler, Katy (20 December 2017). "REVIEW: Jack and the Beanstalk, Sunderland Empire". Sunderland Echo. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Janine_Duvitski&oldid=956397179"