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Eileen Atkins

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Dame Eileen Atkins
Atkins in 2023
Born
Eileen June Atkins

(1934-06-15) 15 June 1934 (age 90)
Clapton, London, England
EducationGuildhall School of Music and Drama
OccupationActress
Years active1953–present
Spouses
(m. 1957; div. 1966)
Bill Shepherd
(m. 1978; died 2016)

Dame Eileen June Atkins, DBE (born 15 June 1934)[a] is an English actress. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for Cranford. She is also a three-time Olivier Award winner, winning Best Supporting Performance in 1988 (for Multiple roles) and Best Actress for The Unexpected Man (1999) and Honour (2004).[2] She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1990 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2001.

Atkins joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1957 and made her Broadway debut in the 1966 production of The Killing of Sister George, for which she received the first of four Tony Award nominations for Best Actress in a Play in 1967. She received subsequent nominations for, Vivat! Vivat Regina! (1972), Indiscretions (1995) and The Retreat from Moscow (2004). Other stage credits include The Tempest (Old Vic 1962), Exit the King (Edinburgh Festival and Royal Court 1963), The Promise (New York 1967), The Night of the Tribades (New York 1977), Medea (Young Vic 1985), A Delicate Balance (Haymarket, West End 1997) and Doubt (New York 2006).

Atkins co-created the television dramas Upstairs, Downstairs (1971–1975) and The House of Elliot (1991–1994) with Jean Marsh. She also wrote the screenplay for the 1997 film Mrs Dalloway. Her film appearances include I Don't Want to Be Born (1975), Equus (1977), The Dresser (1983), Let Him Have It (1991), Wolf (1994), Jack and Sarah (1995), Gosford Park (2001), Cold Mountain (2003), Vanity Fair (2004), Scenes of a Sexual Nature (2006), Evening (2007), Last Chance Harvey (2008), Robin Hood (2010) and Magic in the Moonlight (2014).

Early life

[edit]

Atkins was born in the Mothers' Hospital in Lower Clapton, a Salvation Army maternity hospital in east London. Her mother, Annie Ellen (née Elkins), was a barmaid who was 46 when Eileen was born, and her father, Thomas Arthur Atkins,[3] was a gas meter reader who was previously under-chauffeur to the Portuguese Ambassador. She was the third child in the family and when she was born the family moved to a council home in Tottenham. Her father did not, in fact, know how to drive and was responsible, as under-chauffeur, mainly for cleaning the car. At the time Eileen was born, her mother worked in a factory the whole day and then as a barmaid in the Elephant & Castle at night. When Eileen was three, a Gypsy woman came to their door selling lucky heather and clothes pegs. She saw little Eileen and told her mother that her daughter would be a famous dancer. Her mother promptly enrolled her in a dance class. Although she hated it, she studied dancing from age 3 to 15 or 16. From age 7 to 15, which covered the last four years of the Second World War (1941–45), she danced in working men's club circuits for 15 shillings a time as "Baby Eileen".[4] During the war, she performed as well at London's Stage Door canteen for American troops and sang songs like "Yankee Doodle." At one time she was attending dance class three or four times a week.[5]

Once, when she was given a line to recite, someone told her mother that she had a Cockney accent. Her mother was appalled but speech lessons were too expensive for the family. Fortunately, a woman took interest in her and paid for her to be educated at Parkside Preparatory School in Tottenham. Eileen Atkins has since publicly credited the Principal, Miss Dorothy Margaret Hall, for the wise and firm guidance under which her character developed. From Parkside she went on to The Latymer School, a grammar school in Edmonton, London. By 12, she was a professional in panto in Clapham and Kilburn. One of her grammar school teachers who used to give them religious instruction, an Ernest J. Burton, spotted her potential and, without charge, rigorously drilled away her Cockney accent. He also introduced her to the works of William Shakespeare. She studied under him for two years.[6]

When she was 14 or 15 and still at Latymer's, Atkins also attended "drama demonstration" sessions twice a year with this same teacher. At around this time (though some sources say she was 12), her first encounter with Robert Atkins took place. She was taken to see Atkins' production of King John at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. She wrote to him saying that the boy who played Prince Arthur was not good enough and that she could do better. Atkins wrote back and asked that she come to see him. On the day they met, Atkins thought she was a shop girl and not a school girl. She gave a little prince speech and he told her to go to drama school and come back when she was older.[7]

Burton came to an agreement with Eileen's parents that he would try to get her a scholarship for one drama school and that if she did not get the scholarship he would arrange for her to do a teaching course in some other drama school. Her parents were not at all keen on the fact that she would stay in school until 16 as her sister had left at 14 and her brother at 15 but somehow they were persuaded. Eileen was in Latymer's until 16. 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 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. But, although she was taking the teaching course, she also attended drama classes and in fact performed in three plays in her last year. This was in the early 1950s. In her third and last year she had to teach once a week, an experience she later said she hated. She graduated from Guildhall in 1953.[8]

As soon as she left Guildhall, Atkins got her first job with Robert Atkins in 1953: as Jaquenetta in Love's Labour's Lost at the same Regent's Park Open Air Theatre where she was brought to see Atkins' King John production years before. She was also, very briefly, an assistant stage manager at the Oxford Playhouse until Peter Hall fired her for impudence. She was also part of repertory companies performing in Billy Butlin's holiday camp in Skegness, Lincolnshire. It was there when she met Julian Glover.

It took nine years (1953–62) before she was working steadily.[9][10]

Stage

[edit]

Atkins joined the Guild Players Repertory Company in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland, as a professional actress in 1952. She appeared as the nurse in Harvey at the Repertory Theatre, Bangor, in 1952.[11] In 1953 she appeared as an attendant in Love's Labours Lost at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Her London stage debut was in 1953 as Jaquenetta in Robert Atkins's staging of Love's Labour's Lost at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park.[12][13]

Atkins has regularly returned to the life and work of Virginia Woolf for professional inspiration. She has played the writer on stage in Patrick Garland's adaptation of A Room of One's Own and also in Vita and Virginia, winning the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show and an Obie Award for A Room of One's Own in which she also played in the 1990 television version; she also provided the screenplay for the 1997 film adaptation of Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway, and made a cameo appearance in the 2002 film version of Michael Cunningham's Woolf-themed novel, The Hours.

Atkins joined the Stratford Memorial Theatre Company in 1957 and stayed for two seasons. She was with the Old Vic in its 1961–62 season (she appeared in the Old Vic's Repertoire Leaflets of February–April 1962 and April–May 1962).

Film and television

[edit]

Atkins appeared as Maggie Clayhanger in all six episodes of Arnold Bennett's Hilda Lessways from 15 May to 19 June 1959, produced by BBC Midlands with Judi Dench and Brian Smith.[14] In the 1960 Shakespeare production An Age of Kings she played Joan of Arc.

Atkins helped create two television series. Along with fellow actress Jean Marsh, she created the concept for an original television series, 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 because of stage commitments. The same team was also responsible for the BBC series The House of Eliott (1991–93).

Atkins' film and television work includes appearing as Dornford Yates' villainess Vanity Fair in the BBC adaptation of She Fell Among Thieves (1978), Sons and Lovers (1981), Smiley's People (1982), Oliver Twist (1982), Titus Andronicus (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), Cold Mountain (2003), What a Girl Wants (2003), Vanity Fair (2004), Ballet Shoes (2005) and Ask the Dust (2006).

In the autumn of 2007, Atkins co-starred with Dame Judi Dench and Sir Michael Gambon in the BBC One drama 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.[15] In September 2007 she played Abigail Dusniak in Waking the Dead Yahrzeit (S6:E11-12).

In 2009 Atkins played the evil Nurse Edwina Kenchington in the BBC Two black comedy Psychoville. 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. The same year, she played Louisa in the dark comedy film Wild Target.

Atkins and Jean Marsh, creators of the original 1970s series of Upstairs, Downstairs, were 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 Maud, Lady Holland. In August 2011, it was revealed that Atkins had decided not to continue to take part as she was unhappy with the scripts.[16] In September 2011, Atkins joined the cast of ITV comedy-drama series Doc Martin playing the title character's aunt, Ruth Ellingham.[4] She remained with the series until the show ended in 2022.

Atkins starred as Lady Spence with Matthew Rhys in an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's The Scapegoat, shown in September 2012.[17]

Atkins has portrayed Queen Mary on two occasions, in the 2002 television film Bertie and Elizabeth and in the 2016 Netflix-produced television series The Crown.

In 2018 Atkins starred in a British documentary titled Nothing Like a Dame, directed by Roger Michell, which documents conversations between actresses Smith, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Joan Plowright, which were interspersed with scenes from their careers on film and stage.[18][19] The film was released in the United States as Tea with the Dames. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film a five out of five star rating, declaring it an "outrageously funny film".[20] Guy Lodge of Variety called the film a "richly enjoyable gabfest" but that the film was "hardly vital cinema".[21]

Atkins portrayed graduate school professor Evelyn Ashford to Vivian Bearing (Emma Thompson) in Wit, a 2001 American television movie directed by Mike Nichols. The teleplay by Nichols and Emma Thompson is based on the 1999 Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same title by Margaret Edson. The film was shown at the Berlin International Film Festival on 9 February 2001 before being broadcast by HBO on 24 March. It was shown at the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Warsaw Film Festival later in the year.

Radio

[edit]

Atkins had a guest role in BBC Radio 4's long-running rural soap The Archers in September 2016, playing Jacqui, the juror who persuades her fellow jurors to acquit Helen Titchener (née Archer) of the charge of attempted murder and wounding with intent of her abusive husband, Rob.[22]

Personal life

[edit]

Atkins was married to actor Julian Glover in 1957; they divorced in 1966. (A day after his divorce, Glover married actress Isla Blair.)[23] She married her second husband, Bill Shepherd, on 2 February 1978. Shepherd died on 24 June 2016.[24]

In 1997, she wrote the screenplay for Mrs Dalloway, starring Vanessa Redgrave. The film received positive reviews but was a box-office failure. It was a financial disaster for Atkins and her husband, who had invested in it. She said of this incident: "I have to work. I was nearly bankrupted over Mrs Dalloway, and if you are nearly bankrupted, you are in trouble for the rest of your life. I don't have a pension. In any case, it doesn't hurt me to work. I think it's quite good, actually."[25]

"All through my career, I have tried to do new work, but there is a problem in the West End as far as new work is concerned. As a theatregoer, I get bored with seeing the same old plays again and again. I felt terrible the other night because I bumped into Greta Scacchi and she asked me if I was coming to see her in The Deep Blue Sea. I said, 'Greta, I'm so old, I've seen it so many times. I've seen it with Peggy Ashcroft, with Vivien Leigh, with Googie Withers, with Penelope Wilton and I played it myself when I was 19. I can't bring myself to see it again.' She was very sweet about it."[25]

In 1995, Atkins was diagnosed with breast cancer and treated for the condition. She has recovered.[26] Living alone in widowhood during the COVID lockdown, Atkins (at age 87) completed her autobiography Will She Do?.[4] She read an abridged version on BBC Radio 4.[27]

Filmography

[edit]

Film

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1968 Inadmissible Evidence Shirley
1975 Sharon's Baby Sister Albana
1977 Equus Hester Saloman
1983 The Dresser Madge
1991 Let Him Have It Lilian Bentley
1994 Wolf Mary
1995 Jack and Sarah Phil
Cold Comfort Farm Judith
1998 The Avengers Alice
1999 Women Talking Dirty Emily Boyle
2001 Gosford Park Mrs. Croft
2002 The Hours Barbara
2003 Cold Mountain Maddy
What a Girl Wants Jocelyn Dashwood
2004 Vanity Fair Miss Matilda Crawley
The Queen of Sheba's Pearls School matron
2005 The Feast of the Goat Aunt Adelina
2006 Ask the Dust Mrs. Hargraves
Scenes of a Sexual Nature Iris
2007 Evening The Night Nurse
2008 Last Chance Harvey Maggie
2010 Robin Hood Eleanor of Aquitaine
Wild Target Louisa Maynard
2012 The Scapegoat Lady Spence
2013 Beautiful Creatures Gramma
2014 Magic in the Moonlight Aunt Vanessa
2016 ChickLit Peggy Law [28]
2017 Paddington 2[29] Madame Kozlova
2018 Nothing Like a Dame Herself Documentary
2023 Wicked Little Letters Mabel

Television

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1959 Hilda Lessways Maggie Clayhanger 6 episodes
1960 An Age of Kings Performer 3 episodes
1961 Emergency – Ward 10 Miss Spinks 2 episodes
ITV Playhouse Girl Episode: "The Square"
1964 Z-Cars Grace Patchett Episode: "A Stroll Along the Sands"
The Massingham Affair Charlotte Verney 6 episodes
1964–1965 ITV Play of the Week Norma/Kathy 2 episodes
1965 Knock on Any Door Ruth Episode: "Close Season"
1966 Major Barbara Barbara Television film
1968 Theatre 625 Eileen Episode: "Party Games"
Half Hour Story Her Episode: "Nothing's Ever Over"
The Sex Game Performer Episode: "Women Can Be Monsters"
1965–1969 The Wednesday Play 4 episodes
1969–1970 W. Somerset Maugham Various 2 episodes
1970 Solo Mary Kingsley Episode: "Eileen Atkins as Mary Kingsley"
1972 Stage 2 The Duchess Episode: "The Duchess of Malfi"
1969–1972 BBC Play of the Month Performer 4 episodes
1974 The Lady from the Sea Ellida Wangel Television film
1975 Affairs of the Heart Kate Cookman Episode: "Kate"
1980 She Fell Among Thieves Vanity Fair BBC2 Play of The Week
Masterpiece Theatre: Sons and Lovers Gertrude Morel Mini-series; 7 episode
1981 Celebrity Playhouse Stella Kirby Episode: "Eden's End"
1982 Smiley's People Madame Ostrakova 4 episodes
Oliver Twist Mrs. Mann Television film
1983 Nelly's Version Nelly
1985 The Burston Rebellion Kitty Higdon See Burston Strike School
1986 Breaking Up Mrs. Mailer 4 episodes
1985–1987 Screen Two Performer 2 episodes
1991 A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf Television film
1992 The Lost Language of Cranes Rose Benjamin BBC Screen Two
Mistress of Suspense Mrs. Waggoner Episode: "The Stuff of Madness"
1993 Performance Mrs. May Maitland Episode: "The Maitlands"
1995 Cold Comfort Farm Judith Starkadder Television film
1997 A Dance to the Music of Time Brightman Episode: "Post War"
1998 Talking Heads 2 Celia Episode: "The Hand of God"
2000 Tales from the Madhouse The Mourner Episode: "The Mourner"
David Copperfield Miss Jane Murdstone Television film
2001 The Sleeper Violet Moon
Wit Evelyn Ashford
2002 Bertie and Elizabeth Queen Mary
2003 Love Again Eva Larkin
2007 Agatha Christie's Marple Lady Tressilian Episode: "Towards Zero"
Waking the Dead Abigail Dusniak Episode: Yahrzeit
Cranford Miss Deborah Jenkyns 2 episodes
Ballet Shoes Madame Fidolia Television film
2009–2011 Psychoville Edwina Kenchington 8 episodes
2010 Upstairs Downstairs Maud, Lady Holland 3 episodes
Agatha Christie's Poirot Princess Natalia Dragomiroff Episode: "Murder on the Orient Express"
Rosamunde Pilcher's Shades of Love Violet Aird 2 episodes
2014 This is Jinsy Miss Penny Episode: "Penny's Pendant"
2016 The Crown Queen Mary Main role (Season 1);
5 episodes
2017 Carnage Dorothy Mockumentary
2011–2022 Doc Martin Ruth Ellingham 46 episodes

Music video

[edit]
Year Title Artist
1968 "Child of the Moon" The Rolling Stones[30]

Theatre

[edit]
Year Title Role Playwright Venue
1957 Cymbeline Performer William Shakespeare Shakespeare Memorial Theatre
The Tempest Shakespeare Memorial Theatre
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Vigil Magdalen Ladislas Fodor Shakespeare Memorial Theatre
1958 Romeo and Juliet Performer William Shakespeare
Hamlet Lady
Pericles Diana
Much Ado About Nothing Performer
1958–1959 Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet Performer, Lady Tour
1961 Roots Beattie Arnold Wesker Bristol Old Vic[31]
The Square Girl Marguerite Duras Bromley Little Theatre
1962 Twelfth Night Viola William Shakespeare The Old Vic
Richard III Queen
The Tempest Miranda
Semi-Detached Eileen Midway David Turner Saville Theatre
1963 The Provok'd Wife Lady Brute John Vanbrugh Georgian Theatre (Richmond, Yorkshire)
Vaudeville Theatre
Exit the King Juliette Eugène Ionesco Edinburgh Festival
Royal Court Theatre
1965 The Sleepers' Den Mrs. Shannon Peter Gill Royal Court Theatre
1965–1966 The Killing of Sister George Alice McNaught Frank Marcus Bristol Old Vic
Duke of York's Theatre
1966–1967 Belasco Theatre, Broadway
1966 The Restoration of Arnold Middleton Joan Middleton David Storey Royal Court Theatre
1967 The Promise Lika Aleksei Arbuzov Henry Miller's Theatre, Broadway[32]
1968 The Cocktail Party Celia Coplestone T. S. Eliot Chichester Festival Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre
Theatre Royal Haymarket
1970–1971 Vivat! Vivat Regina! Elizabeth I Robert Bolt Chichester Festival Theatre
Piccadilly Theatre
1972 Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway
1973 Suzanna Andler Suzanna Andler Marguerite Duras Aldwych Theatre
As You Like It Rosalind William Shakespeare Royal Shakespeare Theatre
1975 Heartbreak House Hesione Husbaye George Bernard Shaw The Old Vic
1977 The Night of the Tribades Marie Caroline David Per Olov Enquist Helen Hayes Theatre, Broadway
St. Joan St. Joan George Bernard Shaw The Old Vic
Liverpool Playhouse
1978 The Lady's Not For Burning Jennet Jourdemayne Christopher Fry The Old Vic
Twelfth Night Viola William Shakespeare
1981 Passion Play Nell Peter Nichols Aldwych Theatre
1984 Serjeant Musgrave's Dance Mrs. Hitchcock John Arden The Old Vic
1986 Medea Medea Euripides The Young Vic
1988 The Winter's Tale Paulina William Shakespeare Cottesloe Theatre
Cymbeline Queen
Mountain Language Elderly Woman Harold Pinter Lyttelton Theatre
1989 Exclusive Sally Kershaw Jeffrey Archer Theatre Royal, Bath
Strand Theatre
1990 A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf Patrick Garland Hampstead Theatre
Playhouse Theatre
1992 The Night of the Iguana Hannah Jelkes Tennessee Williams Lyttelton Theatre
1992
1993–1994
Vita and Virginia Virginia Woolf Eileen Atkins Minerva Theatre, Chichester
Ambassadors Theatre
Union Square Theatre (Off-Broadway)
1995 Indiscretions Leonie Jean Cocteau Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway
1996 John Gabriel Borkman Mrs. Gunhild Borkman Henrik Ibsen Lyttelton Theatre
Hermione Lee on Virginia Woolf Reader Hermione Lee Cottesloe Theatre
1997 A Delicate Balance Agnes Edward Albee Theatre Royal Haymarket
1998 The Unexpected Man Woman Yasmina Reza The Pit, London
Duchess Theatre
2000 Promenade Theatre, Off-Broadway
2003 Honour Honour Joanna Murray-Smith Cottesloe Theatre
2004 The Retreat from Moscow Alice William Nicholson Booth Theatre, Broadway
2005 The Birthday Party Meg Harold Pinter Duchess Theatre, London
2006 Doubt Sister Aloysius
(replacement)
John Patrick Shanley Walter Kerr Theatre, Broadway
2007 There Came A Gypsy Riding Bridget Frank McGuinness Almeida Theatre, London
2008 The Sea Mrs. Rafi Edward Bond Theatre Royal, Haymarket
The Female of the Species Margot Joanna Murray-Smith Vaudeville Theatre
2009 Harold Pinter: A Celebration Performer Harold Pinter Olivier Theatre
2012 All That Fall Mrs. Rooney Samuel Beckett Jermyn Street Theatre[33]
Arts Theatre
2013 59E59 Theatre, New York City[34]
2014 The Witch of Edmonton Elizabeth Sawyer William Rowley Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon[35]
2014–2016 Ellen Terry with Eileen Atkins Ellen Terry Eileen Atkins Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
2018 The Height of the Storm Madeleine Florian Zeller Wyndham's Theatre
2019 Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, Broadway
2023 4000 Miles Vera Amy Herzog Minerva Theatre, Chichester[36]

Honours

[edit]

Atkins was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1990 Birthday Honours.[37] She was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) on her 67th birthday in the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours "for services to Drama."[38] On 23 June 2010, she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, by Oxford University and is an Honorary Fellow of St Hugh's College, Oxford. On 5 December 2005 she received the degree of Doctor of Arts, honoris causa, from City University London.[39] She is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame; she was inducted in 1998.

Awards and nominations

[edit]

Theatre Awards

[edit]

Tony Awards

Year Category Work Result Ref.
1967 Best Actress in a Play The Killing of Sister George Nominated [40]
1972 Vivat! Vivat Regina! Nominated
1995 Indiscretions Nominated
2004 The Retreat from Moscow Nominated

Drama Desk Awards

Year Category Work Result Ref.
1972 Outstanding Performance Vivat! Vivat Regina! Won [40]
1978 Featured Actress in a Play The Night of the Tribades Won
1991 Outstanding Solo Performance A Room of One's Own Won
1995 Honorary Award Won
2001 Outstanding Actress in a Play The Unexpected Man Nominated
2004 The Retreat from Moscow Nominated

Olivier Awards

Year Category Work Result
1978 Best Actress in a Revival Twelfth Night Nominated
1981 Best Actress in a New Play Passion Play Nominated
1988 Best Supporting Performance Cymbeline
The Winter's Tale
Mountain Language
Won
1992 Best Supporting Actress The Night of the Iguana Nominated
1997 Best Actress John Gabriel Borkman Nominated
1999 Best Actress The Unexpected Man Won
2004 Best Actress Honour Won
2018 Best Actress The Height of the Storm Nominated

Film and Television Awards

[edit]
Year Award Category Work Result
1970 BAFTA TV Award Best Actress BBC Play of the Month
W. Somerset Maugham
The Wednesday Play
Nominated
1983 BAFTA Film Award Best Supporting Actress The Dresser Nominated
2001 Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Ensemble – Film Gosford Park Won
2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Acting Ensemble Won
2002 Florida Film Critics Circle Best Ensemble Cast Won
2002 Phoenix Film Critics Society Best Ensemble Nominated
2002 Satellite Award Best Cast – Film Won
2008 BAFTA TV Award Best Actress Cranford Won
2008 Golden Globe Award Best Supporting Actress – Television Nominated
2008 Emmy Award Supporting Actress in a Miniseries Won
2011 Upstairs Downstairs Nominated

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ The birth certificate shows 16 June 1934. Atkins herself relates how she was born just before midnight on 15 June but the nursing home record was completed, and dated, just after midnight on 16 June.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Atkins, Eileen (2021). Will she do? : act one of a life on stage. London: Virago. pp. 6–7. ISBN 9780349014661.
  2. ^ "Past Nominees & Winners". Olivier Awards. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  3. ^ "Marriage Register, St Mary Stoke Newington". The London Archives. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Adams, Tim (19 June 2022). "Eileen Atkins: 'People told me not to go on the internet because I'm angry enough already': Lunch with... Eileen Atkins". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  5. ^ Atkins (2021) pp.16, 63
  6. ^ Atkins (2021) p.85
  7. ^ Atkins (2021) p.97
  8. ^ Principal's General Report to the Board of Governors, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 13 May 2013, p. 4.
  9. ^
    • "Regent's Park Open Air Theatre: Our History" in openairtheatre.org/history. Retrieved 1 December 2011
    • Carole Zucker, In The Company of Actors: Reflections on the Craft of Acting (London: A & C Black Publishers, 1999), p. 2. Retrieved from Google Books, 3 December 2011
    • Sally Vincent, "A class act," The Guardian (Saturday, 9 December 2000). Retrieved from www.guardian.co.uk on 2 December 2011
    • William Glover, "Eileen Atkins Stars in Another Ringing Triumph," The Evening News (26 February 1972). Retrieved from news.google.com on 2 December 2011
    • Jasper Rees, "Theartdesk Q&A: Actress Eileen Atkins," (24 December 2010) in www.theartdesk.com. Retrieved, 3 December 2011
  10. ^
    • interview with Jonathan Ross on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, BBC1, 13 June 2008
    • Richard Digby Day, "Delightful Insight into Life of Actress," Newark Advertiser (23 October 2011, Palace Theatre, Newark) in www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk. Retrieved 30 November 2011
    • "Eileen Atkins" in The Telegraph (16 June 2001) at www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 30 November 2011
  11. ^ Eileen Atkins profile, filmreference.com; retrieved 20 December 2011.
  12. ^ Eileen Atkins' profile, filmbug.com; retrieved 30 November 2011.
  13. ^ Atkins' profile, Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television (The Gale Group, Inc., 2004); retrieved 4 December 2011.
  14. ^ Profile, ftvdb.bfi.org.uk; accessed 26 April 2014.
  15. ^ "Television Awards Winners in 2008". Bafta.org. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  16. ^ "Dame Eileen Atkins leaves Upstairs Downstairs", BBC News Online, 21 August 2011.
  17. ^ Hemley, Matthew (13 October 2011). "Eileen Atkins to star in ITV's The Scapegoat". The Stage. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  18. ^ Fremont, Maggie (20 September 2018). "11 Delightful Things We Learned from Tea with the Dames". Vulture. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  19. ^ Weldon, Glen (October 2018). "Review: Which Tea with the Dames Are you?". NPR. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  20. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (26 April 2018). "Nothing Like a Dame review – Judi Dench and Maggie Smith trade brutal banter". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  21. ^ Lodge, Guy (21 September 2018). "Film Review: 'Tea With the Dames'". Variety. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  22. ^ "Dame Eileen Atkins, Nigel Havers and Catherine Tate to deliberate over Helen Titchener's fate". BBC Radio 4, The Archers. 9 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  23. ^ Frances Hardy, "I stalked my lover's wife!" (22 July 2011); retrieved 30 November 2011.
  24. ^ "SHEPHERD – Deaths Announcements – Telegraph Announcements". Announcements.telegraph.co.uk. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  25. ^ a b Chris Hastings, "Eileen Atkins: I don't see why ageing can't be attractive" The Telegraph (5 July 2008); retrieved 8 December 2011.
  26. ^ "Screen queen shakes a leg". The Telegraph. 4 June 2002. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  27. ^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0010gyr , reviewed in The Guardian at https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/sep/26/eileen-atkins-will-she-do-act-one-of-a-life-on-stage-interview
  28. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (1 September 2016). "ChickLit review – mummy-porn shenanigans fail to arouse". The Guardian.
  29. ^ Solutions, Powder Blue Internet Business. "Richard Ayoade to appear in Paddington 2 : News 2017 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  30. ^ Jackson, Laura (1997). Heart of Stone The Unauthorized Life of Mick Jagger. Edgware, England: Smith Gryphon. p. 82. ISBN 9781856851312.
  31. ^ University of Bristol Theatre Collection, A–Z of Bristol Old Vic (A photographic exhibition featuring on-stage and backstage images from the theatre in King Street, 9 June – 30 September 2003). Retrieved from www.bris.ac.uk/theatrecollection/atoz_booklet.pdf on 20 December 2011
  32. ^ "Ian McKellen Writings: For Curt Dawson" in www.mckellen.com. Retrieved 7 December 2011
  33. ^ Moss, Stephen (7 November 2012). "All That Fall: the Samuel Beckett stage play that isn't". The Guardian.
  34. ^ Ben Brantley, Theater Review: Funny, How Gravity Pulls Us, and the Safety Net is an Illusion, The New York Times, 12 November 2013 in www.nytimes.com, retrieved 1 December 2013
  35. ^ "The Witch of Edmonton". Rsc.org.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  36. ^ Bodie, Jamie (16 February 2023). "Sound of Music and Sondheim's Assassins feature in Daniel Evans' final CFT season". The Stage.
  37. ^ "No. 52173". The London Gazette. 15 June 1990. p. 7.
  38. ^ United Kingdom "No. 56237". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 16 June 2001. p. 7.
  39. ^ "Dame Eileen Atkins, DBE". St Hugh's College. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  40. ^ a b "Eileen Atkins – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB".
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