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.
LATEST BOOK: I MUST COLLECT MYSELF
Maureen Lipman has the knack of making the everyday supremely entertaining, the ordinary absurd and unexpected. This new collection of pieces sparkles with her inimitable prose and pithy opinions. Encounters in the street, at the hairdresser, in the dressing room, on her travels at home and abroad, indeed wherever she goes, are sharply observed, joyfully and - at times - ruefully recorded. Included too are a selection of brilliant monologues which capture the many voices of Maureen in wonderfully diverse ways.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: I Must Collect Myself (Simon & Schuster, 2010); 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).
