MAUREEN LIPMAN
Maureen Lipman was born in Hull and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Following her debut in a stage production of The Knack she worked extensively in theatre and was a member of Laurence Olivier's Royal National Theatre Company at the Old Vic. She first gained prominence in film in ‘Up The Junction’ and on television in the situation comedy Agony and Agony Again. She played the lead role in the television series All at No 20 and took on a range of diverse characters when starring in the series About Face. She is well-known for playing Joyce Grenfell in the biographical show Re: Joyce! which she co-wrote on stage and TV and Beattie a series of award-winning television commercials for British Telecom.
She had a featured role in Oscar nominated films Educating Rita ,Soloman and Gaenor, and in 2002, she played the mother in Roman Polanski's award-winning film The Pianist. Her TV films include the Emmy award winning, The Evacuees, The Knowledge, Eskimo Day, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and the plays of all the Alans - Bennett, Aykbourne and Plater. She played The Wire in Doctor Who in the episode ‘The Idiot's Lantern’ and was featured in Minder, Jonathon Creek, He Kills Coppers, Sensitive Skin, Skins, Casualty and Where the Heart Is. She has also appeared on Just a Minute, The News Quiz, That Reminds Me, This Week and Have I Got News For You. She directed The Sunshine Boys in Edinburgh and Jack Rosenthal’s Last Act for Radio 4.
West End plays include See How They Run (Winner Olivier Award) Lost in Yonkers, *Thoroughly Modern Millie, Wonderful Town, Peggy for You, On Your Way Riley, The Sisters Rosensweig, The Cabinet Minister, Smash! and her Olivier nominated solo show, Alive and Kidding She also starred as Florence Foster Jenkins in Glorious! And as Aunt Eller the National Theatre's production of Oklahoma! with Hugh Jackman and Madame Armfeldt in Trevor Nunn’s theatre production of A Little Night Music at the Menier and the Garrick.
Recently, Maureen Lipman starred in the 1TV film comedy series Ladies of Letters with Anne Reid, and a second series of Ladies of Letters in 2010.
Maureen Lipman has presented two television series on the subject of design, one for UKTV about Art Deco and one about 20th century design for ITV and the series My Story. She wrote a monthly column for Good Housekeeping magazine for over ten years and several biographical books all of which were national bestsellers. Maureen Lipman also wrote a weekly column in The Guardian and contributes to The Oldie. In 2009 BBC Four screened an entire evening’s programming to her - ‘Maureen Lipman Night’. She has just finished filming Metamorphosis by Kafka playing the mother of a beetle and this autumn stars in J.B.Priestley’s When we are Married.
Her tenth book I Must Collect Myself is published by Simon & Shuster in November 2010.
She was married to the late screen writer Jack Rosenthal for 31 years. Her children, Amy and Adam are both writers.
PAST IT NOTES
Life the Lipman way is always unexpected, and the hilarious and witty way in which she recalls her adventures and misadventures has made her a bestselling author and national treasure. Past-it Notes is the ultimate Maureen Lipman collection, drawing on choice material from her six previous books (re-visited and re-worked) laced with a heady dose of extremely funny new autobiographical material. Past-it Notes is packed with beguiling showbiz anecdotes, wonderful stories, eccentric characters, bizarre situations and memorable encounters - recalled and recorded with gusto and relish, including affectionate recollections of her late husband, the playwright Jack Rosenthal, and of her mother and Muse, the inimitable Zelma. From entertaining the neighbours at the age of four with impressions of Alma Cogan to entertaining the nation on TV, from struggling with her laptop to film-roles and award-winning stage triumphs as diverse as The Pianist and Oklahoma - and not forgetting her iconic creation Beattie, star of thirty five British Telecom commercials - Maureen combines stories of her whirlwind professional life, and confessions of the chaos that often threatens to engulf her personal life, with a style and wit that is utterly and uniquely her own. 'Thank the Lord for Maureen Lipman...she is fast becoming a national treasure. She has a lightness of touch that glides over the poignant and the hilarious with elegance and gives voice to a generation that is increasingly and lamentably overlooked.' Sunday Express Born in Hull, actress Maureen Lipman has written six best-selling books, the most recent being Lip Reading. She has won numerous awards for her television and theatrical work including the Laurence Olivier and Variety Club of Great Britain Awards.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Past-it Notes (JR Books, 2008); The Gibbon’s In Decline, But The Horse Is Stable (Robson Books, 2006); By Jack Rosenthal: An Autobiography In Six Acts (Robson Books, 2005); Lip Reading (Robson Books, 1999); You Can Read Me Like A Book (Robson Books, 1996); When’s It Coming Out? (Robson Books, 1992); Thank You For Having Me (Robson Books, 1990); Something To Fall Back On (Robson Books, 1998); You Got An ‘Ology (Robson Books, 1989); How Was It For You? (Robson Books, 1985).
