Patricia Hodge

Patricia Hodge
Born Patricia Ann Hodge
(1946-09-29) 29 September 1946
Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England
Years active 1971–present
Spouse(s) Peter Douglas Owen
(1976–present; 2 children)

Patricia Ann Hodge (born 29 September 1946) is an English actor. She made her West End debut in 1972 and starred in the 1973 West End production of Pippin, directed by Bob Fosse. She received two Olivier Award nominations for Best Actress in a Musical, before winning the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the play Money.

Other roles include the 1983 film Betrayal, the TV series Rumpole of the Bailey (1978–1992), the 1986 TV adaptation of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil and the TV film Hotel du Lac (1986), for which she received a Best Actress BAFTA TV Award nomination. From 2009 to 2015, she starred in the BBC sitcom Miranda.

Early life

Hodge was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.[1] The daughter of the Royal Hotel owner/manager Eric and his wife Marion (née Phillips),[2] Hodge attended Wintringham Girls' Grammar School in Weelsby Avenue in Grimsby and then St. Helen's School, Northwood, Middlesex; before attending Maria Grey College (became West London Institute of Higher Education in 1976 then the Twickenham campus of Brunel University from 1995–2005), Twickenham to train as a teacher.[3] She taught English and drama at Russell County Primary School in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, whilst also applying to London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.[4] She started at LAMDA when she was 22, being awarded on graduation the Eveline Evans Award for Best Actress.[5]

Career

After graduation, she concentrated on theatre work and 18 months later worked with Bob Fosse on Pippin. However, she found when applying for television work she had become classed as a theatre actress. Having made the break-through in the role of Phyllida (Trant) Erskine-Brown in Rumpole of the Bailey, she found when trying to make the occasional return to theatre work that she had been classed as a television actress. Finding the need to have a flexible career to care for her young children, Hodge made the decision to focus her career on the stage, and hence is mainly seen on television in focus parts and singular roles in-between chosen different theatre roles.[5]

She has appeared in roles as diverse as in The Naked Civil Servant opposite John Hurt, shortly after she featured in the BBC's 1975 Christmas production Great Big Groovy Horse, a rock opera based on the story of the Trojan Horse shown on BBC2 starring Julie Covington, Bernard Cribbins and Paul Jones.[6] It was later repeated on BBC1 in 1977[7] She featured as Myra Arundel in the 1984 BBC version of Noël Coward's Hay Fever, as Margaret Thatcher in The Falklands Play, and in 2007 as Betty, the wife of tycoon Robert Maxwell, in the BBC TV drama Maxwell opposite David Suchet.[8] She took the female lead in the 1983 film, Betrayal (based on Harold Pinter's play Betrayal), a roman à clef derived from the playwright's affair with broadcaster Joan Bakewell.

She co-starred with Dame Judi Dench in the 1995 London revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music as Countess Charlotte Malcom.

She was nominated for a BAFTA for her role in a television adaptation of Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac in 1987, and was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the production of Money at the Royal National Theatre.[9] Hodge is an Honorary Graduate (DLitt) of Brunel University and one of the founder members of the Brunel Club.[10] Since 2009, she has played a comedy role in the BBC sitcom Miranda, as the mother of the eponymous main character. She is joint President of Grimsby's Caxton Theatre.

Personal life

Hodge married music publisher Peter Douglas Owen on 31 July 1976 in Tonbridge. The couple have two sons: Alexander Richard Charles (born March 1989); and Edward Frederick James (born January 1992).

Filmography

Television

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2015 Downton Abbey Mrs Mirada Pelham 2015 Christmas Special
2014 You Can't Get The Staff Narrator
2013 Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Big Four Madame Olivier
2009–2015 Miranda Penny 20 episodes
2007 Maxwell Betty Maxwell
2007 Hustle Veronica Powell
2006 Agatha Christie's Marple Mrs. Evadne Willett "The Sittaford Mystery"
2003 Sweet Medicine Georgina Sweet
2002 Waking the Dead Lady Alice Beatty episodes: "Special Relationship part 1&2"
2002 The Falklands Play Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher MP (Prime Minister)
1996 The Legacy of Reginald Perrin Geraldine Hackstraw
1992 The Cloning of Joanna May Joanna May
1991 Rich Tea and Sympathy Julia Merrygrove
1989 Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming Lady Evelyn
1989 Victoria Wood Moira episode: "Staying In"
1989 The Shell Seekers Olivia
1989 Inspector Morse Lady Hanbury episode: "Ghost in the Machine"
1988 Heat of the Day Stella
1986 Hotel du Lac Monica
1986 Robin of Sherwood Queen Hadwisa episode: "The Pretender"
1986 The Return of Sherlock Holmes Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope "The Second Stain"
1986 The Life and Loves of a She-Devil Mary Fisher
1986 The Death of the Heart Anna Quayne
1985 Time for Murder Margaret Tutting "Dust to Dust"
1984 Hay Fever Myra Arundel
1983 Jemima Shore Investigates Jemima Shore
1981–1982 Nanny Dorinda Sackville
1981 Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years Lady Londonderry
1980–1982 Holding the Fort Penny Milburn
1980–1981 The Other 'Arf Sybilla Howarth
1979 The Professionals Ann Holly episode: "Involvement"
1978 Edward and Mrs Simpson Lady Diana Cooper
1978–1992 Rumpole of the Bailey Phyllida Erskine-Brown
1975 Great Big Groovy Horse
1975 The Naked Civil Servant Ballet Teacher
1975 The Girls of Slender Means Anne Baberton

Films

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2015 N-Day Susan Jennings
2002 Before You Go Violet Mary Heaney
1988 Just Ask for Diamond Betty Charlady / Brenda von Falkenberg
1988 Thieves in the Night
1988 Sunset Christina Alperin
1985 Behind Enemy Lines Elizabeth Beaumont
1983 Betrayal Emma
1981 Riding High Miss Hemmings
1980 The Elephant Man Screaming Mum
1978 The Waterloo Bridge Handicap Gossiping Girl
1978 Rosie Dixon - Night Nurse Sister Belter
1977 The Disappearance Young Wife

Stage

Awards and nominations

Year Award Work Result
1981 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical The Mitford Girls Nominated
1987 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress Hotel du Lac Nominated
1990 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical Noel and Gertie Nominated
2000 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress Money Won

References

  1. ↑ "Miranda actress Patricia Hodge speaks at Everyman Club meeting". Grimsby Telegraph. September 12, 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  2. ↑ Bio at filmreference.com
  3. ↑ Lacey, Hester (May 9, 2014). "The Inventory: Patricia Hodge". Financial Times. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  4. ↑ LAMDA past
  5. 1 2 "The Big Interview: Patricia Hodge". London Theatre Guide. 2 May 2007. Archived from the original on 16 May 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  6. ↑ http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/612ffe3510ec4d1997059601247c58a0
  7. ↑ http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/c8a45fab0e7f4d099b95b367346c3d5b
  8. ↑ Dessau, B (2007-09-29). "A taste of plummy". Theatre (The Times). Retrieved 2007-10-03.
  9. ↑ O'Toole honoured at Oliviers BBC News – 18 February 2000
  10. ↑ Southbank Sinfonia and Patricia Hodge Brunel University – 2004

External links

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