Elizabeth Spriggs (September 18, 1929 – July 2 2008) was an Olivier Award-winning and BAFTA Award-nominated English character actress.
She was born in Buxton. Her longest role on British television was as Nan on Shine on Harvey Moon. She also appeared in Doctor Who and in the BBC dramatisations of Our Mutual Friend and Martin Chuzzlewit, both by Charles Dickens, and George Eliot's Middlemarch. In children's television she appeared as the title witch in the BBC's Simon and the Witch (1987). She made frequent appearances as a supporting player in British television drama and comedy series. Because of the type of roles she typically played, she was often confused with Liz Smith, even though there was little physical resemblance between the two.
Spriggs also made two appearances on the long running murder mystery series, Midsomer Murders, appearing in the pilot episode (Killings At Badgers Drift) as Iris Rainbird in 1997 and then again as the identical twin sister (Ursula Gooding) of the latter character in the ninth series in 2005. Spriggs' appearances on Midsomer have been with Richard Cant who played her son both times.
A stalwart member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and RSC Associate Artiste, from 1962 to 1976 she played many important Shakespearean roles, including The Nurse and Beatrice. In Hamlet, for the RSC in Stratford and in London (directed by Peter Hall), she presented a memorable interpretation of Gertrude opposite David Warner as Hamlet and Brewster Mason as Claudius. She also interpreted Paulina, Calpurnia and Mistress Quickly for the RSC. This was a senior character actress par excellence. At the same time, her graciousness and kindness was a major moral support for less experienced actors and actresses trying to develop their careers. Her work at the RSC was followed by a memorable Madame Arcati in the opening season of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit at the new National Theatre on London's South Bank. Spriggs was the recipient of the 1978 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Love Letters on Blue Paper by Arnold Wesker.
On film, she played The Fat Lady in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), and Mrs Jennings in Emma Thompson's 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. An early film role was as Mrs. Murray, the PVC-clad personnel manager in the 1968 Peter Hall film Work is a 4-letter word, opposite Cilla Black and David Warner.
One of her last performances was as Miss Doggett in a BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Barbara Pym's Jane and Prudence.
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Last updated on Saturday July 26, 2008 at 05:48:06 PDT (GMT -0700)
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