Joanna Lumley

At 78 years old, Joanna Lumley has this physical status:

Joanna Lamond Lumley, (born 1 May 1946), is an English actress, comedian, writer, television producer, and activist.

She received two BAFTA TV Awards for her appearance in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012), and she was nominated for the 2011 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for La Bête's revival.

She received the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards in 2013 and in 2017, she was honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship Award. Lumley's other television appearances include The New Avengers (1976–77), Sapphire & Steel (1979–82), Sensitive Skin (2005–07), and Jam & Jerusalem (2006–08).

Shirley Valentine (1989), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), The Wolf of Wall Street (2006), and Absolutely Fabulous: The Film (2016). In addition, she appeared in a Come You Being Served (Series 1, Episode 5, 1973), which was written by Jeremy Lloyd, who had both married and divorced three years ago. Lumley is a human rights advocate for Survival International and the Gurkha Justice Campaign.

She supports charities and animal rights organizations, including Compassion in World Farming and Vegetarians' International Voice for Animals.

She is also a member of Roald Dahl's Marvelous Children's Charity and the Farm Animal Sanctuary.

In Nepal, she is also known as the 'daughter of Nepal.'

Early life

In the final days of British India, Joanna Lamond Lumley was born in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, on May 1st. Both parents of her family served in the Raj for generations, with several relatives born there. Aelene is her older sister.

Thyra Beatrice Rose (née Weir; 1920–2005) was an Englishwoman, who was born in England. Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Weir (1883-1950) was born in Ghazipur and spent as an army officer in Kashmir; he was a close friend of the 13th Dalai Lama.

Major James Rutherford Lumley (1917-1989), her father, was born in Lahore (now a part of Pakistan) with Scottish and English roots. He served as an officer in Burma's 6th King Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles during World War II, most notable at the Battle of Mogaung. Tul Bahadur Pun intended to save his life.

In 1941, Joanna Lumley's parents married in 1941. She has early memories of being in the tropics.

On leave to England on the HMT Empire Windrush, the family went "home" to England. When her parents returned to Asia, she stayed at Mickleene School in Rolvenden, Kent, boarding. She was eight years old, which she later described as "completely young." She attended St Mary's Convent School on the Ridge, which was run by the Community of the Holy Family, from 11 to 17.

She attended the Lucie Clayton Finishing School in London after being refused admission by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the age of 16.

Personal life

James (known as Jamie) was born in 1967 and was named Lumley's uncle. Michael Claydon, his father, is a photographer. During 1970, she was briefly married to actor Jeremy Lloyd. She married conductor Stephen Barlow in 1986 and the couple now live in London. They also own a house in Penpont, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, which is also owned by the farmers.

Lumley has been a vegetarian for 40 years and supports more than 60 charities. She has donated books to Book Aid International. She is a member of the Born Free Foundation and an avid supporter of the Free Tibet campaign.

Lumley endorsed the plans for a pedestrian "Garden Bridge" across London's Thames in collaboration with the designer Thomas Heatherwick and former Mayor of London Boris Johnson. After more than £40 million of public funds had been invested, the plans were foundered.

During the 2009 European Elections campaign, Lumley endorsed the Green Party. Lumley's work, as part of the Green MEPs, advocating human rights and animal rights, made the Green Party "the obvious choice" in the European elections, with the Green Party's "positive vote for a better future" and encouraged UK voters "to vote for a democratic future by voting Green in the European Elections. In the Alternative Vote referendum in 2011, Lumley appeared in literature to promote the conversion of the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to an alternative election for electing Members of Parliament from first-past-the-post to the House of Commons.

During the 2010 General Election election campaign, Lumley donated £1,000 to Caroline Lucas' campaign to become the first Green Party MP. At the 2015 general election, she endorsed Lucas's parliamentary candidacy.

Lumley sponsored "GivingTales" by supporting UNICEF in August 2015, alongside other British stars, including Roger Moore, Stephen Fry, Ewan McGregor, Michael Caine, Charlotte Rampling, and Michael Ball.

Lumley joined a growing international community of actors in support of the Great Barrier Reef's listing of world heritage sites that are currently in danger in July 2021.

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Career

Lumley spent three years as a photographic model, notably for Brian Duffy, who photographed her with her son, born in 1967. That year she also appeared on the BBC2 programme The Impresarios: For Appearance's Sake. She also worked as a house model for Jean Muir. Over forty years later, she participated in another photoshoot – again with her son – for Duffy as part of a retrospective of the photographer's work.

Lumley appeared in an early episode of the Bruce Forsyth Show in 1966. She appeared in a British television advertisement for Nimble Bread first screened in 1969.

Lumley did not receive any formal training at drama school. Her acting career began in 1969 with a small, uncredited role in the film Some Girls Do, and as a Bond girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, in which she had two lines as a British girl among the villainous Ernst Stavro Blofeld's "Angels of Death". Lumley went on to have a brief but memorable role as Elaine Perkins in Coronation Street, in which her character turned down Ken Barlow's offer of marriage, as well as roles in other popular television series such as Are You Being Served?, Steptoe and Son and The Protectors. In 1973, she made another big screen appearance as Jessica Van Helsing in The Satanic Rites of Dracula, the last Hammer Dracula film to star Christopher Lee. She also had a role in the comedy film Don't Just Lie There, Say Something! (1974) alongside Leslie Phillips and Joan Sims.

She has worked with Tim Burton on two film projects, in James and the Giant Peach (1996) and Corpse Bride (2005). She has also appeared alongside Hugh Laurie in the British romantic comedy Maybe Baby (2000) and alongside Anne Hathaway in Ella Enchanted (2004). She has appeared twice as Mrs. Dolly Bantry in Agatha Christie's Marple, in the episodes; 'The Body in the Library' (2004) & 'The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side' (2009). In 2010, she appeared in a 4-episode guest arc on the BBC drama, Mistresses as Vivienne Roden. In 2013, she appeared in the Martin Scorsese crime drama, The Wolf of Wall Street.

Lumley has specialised in upper-class parts throughout her career, thanks to her voice and accent. Lumley's first major role was as Purdey in The New Avengers, successor to the secret agent series The Avengers, a role she played in all twenty-six episodes from 1976 to 1977.

In 1979, she appeared in another series which acquired a cult following: Sapphire & Steel, with David McCallum. Conceived as ITV's answer to Doctor Who, Lumley played a mysterious elemental being ("Sapphire") who, with her collaborator, "Steel", dealt with breaches in the fabric of time. In 1986, television producer Sydney Newman suggested Lumley for the role of the Doctor but his idea was dismissed. Over a decade later Lumley's career was boosted by her portrayal of the louche, selfish and frequently drunk fashion director Patsy Stone, companion to Jennifer Saunders' Edina Monsoon in the BBC comedy television series Absolutely Fabulous (1992–1996, 2001–2004, 2011–2012). Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie was released in 2016. From 1994 to 1995, Lumley starred alongside Nadine Garner and John Bowe in the British television show Class Act, playing the part of Kate Swift, an upper-class lady who had fallen on hard times.

Other work has included: Lovejoy as widow Victoria Cavero, In the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon (1996), a film about a journey made by her grandparents in Bhutan, and A Rather English Marriage (nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actress 1999) and Dr Willoughby (1999). In 1995, she provided the voice of Annie the rag doll in the animated series The Forgotten Toys. In 1999, she also provided the voice for Sims the chicken in the BAFTA award-winning animated series The Foxbusters. In 2000, she co-produced a new drama series The Cazalets. She appeared in a TV series on Sarawak, where she spent time in her childhood.

Lumley starred as the elderly Delilah Stagg in the 2006 sitcom Jam & Jerusalem with Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, and Sue Johnston. In July 2007, she starred in the second series of the drama Sensitive Skin where she played the main character Davina Jackson. The BBC said this will be the final series of the dark comedy.

She starred in David Hirson's La Bête – Comedy Theatre, London, 26 June – 28 August 2010 with David Hyde Pierce and Mark Rylance, directed by Matthew Warchus. She also starred in La Bête at the Music Box Theatre, Broadway, New York which opened on 14 October 2010. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, for her performance.

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