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Eleanor Bron (born 14 March 1938) is an English stage, film and television actress, and an author. Her film roles include Ahme in
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
musical ''
Help!
''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles " Help!" and " Ticket to Ride", ...
'' (1965), the Doctor in ''
Alfie
Alfie may refer to:
Theatre and film
* ''Alfie'' (play), a 1963 play by Bill Naughton
* ''Alfie'' (1966 film), a film based on the play starring Michael Caine
* ''Alfie'' (2004 film), a remake of the 1966 film
* ''Alfie'' (2013 film), an Indi ...
'' (1966), Margaret Spencer in ''
Bedazzled'' (1967), and Hermione Roddice in ''
Women in Love
''Women in Love'' (1920) is a novel by English author D. H. Lawrence. It is a sequel to his earlier novel ''The Rainbow'' (1915) and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, ...
'' (1969). She has appeared in television series such as ''
Yes Minister
''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fr ...
'', ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
,'' and ''
Absolutely Fabulous
''Absolutely Fabulous'' (also known as ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom based on the ''French and Saunders'' sketch, "Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The show was created and written by Saund ...
''.
Early life and family
Bron was born on 14 March 1938 in
Stanmore,
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...
, into a Jewish family. Before her birth, her father Sydney had legally changed his name from Bronstein to Bron, in an effort to enhance his newly founded commercial enterprise, Bron's Orchestral Service.
Her elder brother was the record producer
Gerry Bron
Gerald Lincoln "Gerry" Bron (1 March 1933 – 18 June 2012) was an English record producer and band manager.
Early life and education
Bron was born in Hendon, Middlesex, into a Jewish family, the elder brother of actress Eleanor Bron. Their fat ...
.
She attended the
North London Collegiate School
North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is an independent school with a day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju I ...
and then
Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...
, where she read Modern Languages. She later characterised her time at Newnham as "three years of unparalleled pampering and privilege".
Career
Early work
Bron began her career in the
Cambridge Footlights
Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University.
History
Footlights' inaugural ...
revue of 1959, titled ''The Last Laugh'', in which
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...
also appeared. The addition of a female performer to the Footlights was a departure; until that time it had been all-male, with female characters portrayed in drag.
Film appearances
Her film appearances include the role of Ahme in
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' film ''
Help!
''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles " Help!" and " Ticket to Ride", ...
'' (1965); her name inspired
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
when he composed "
Eleanor Rigby
"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album ''Revolver''. It was also issued on a double A-side single, paired with " Yellow Submarine". The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to L ...
". Other roles included the doctor who grounds
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...
's character in ''
Alfie
Alfie may refer to:
Theatre and film
* ''Alfie'' (play), a 1963 play by Bill Naughton
* ''Alfie'' (1966 film), a film based on the play starring Michael Caine
* ''Alfie'' (2004 film), a remake of the 1966 film
* ''Alfie'' (2013 film), an Indi ...
'' (1966), the unattainable Margaret Spencer in
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...
and
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...
's film ''
Bedazzled'' (1967), Hermione Roddice in
Ken Russell's ''
Women in Love
''Women in Love'' (1920) is a novel by English author D. H. Lawrence. It is a sequel to his earlier novel ''The Rainbow'' (1915) and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, ...
'' (1969), and Sisters McFee and MacArthur in ''
The National Health'' (1973).
She also appeared in the films ''
Two for the Road'' (1967) alongside
Albert Finney and
Audrey Hepburn, and ''
A Touch of Love'' (1969) with
Sandy Dennis
Sandra Dale Dennis (April 27, 1937 – March 2, 1992) was an American actress. She made her film debut in the drama ''Splendor in the Grass'' (1961). For her performance in the comedy-drama film ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1966), she rec ...
and
Ian McKellen. She later appeared in the film adaptation of ''
Black Beauty
''Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse'' is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she was bedridden and seriously ill.Merriam-Webster (1995). ...
'' (1994), and ''
A Little Princess
''A Little Princess'' is a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published as a book in 1905. It is an expanded version of the short story "Sara Crewe: or, What Happened at Miss Minchin's", which was serialized in ''St. Nicholas Ma ...
'' (1995).
Television work
Bron's earliest work for television included appearances on
David Frost's ''
Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life
''Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life'' (commonly abbreviated to ''NSMAPMAWOL'', pronounced ens-map-may-wall and stylised as Not so much a programme, more a way of Life) is a BBC-TV satire programme produced by Ned Sherrin, which aired d ...
'',
[ '' My Father Knew Lloyd George'' and '' BBC-3'', where she performed in sketches with ]John Fortune
John Fortune (born John C. Wood; 30 June 1939 – 31 December 2013) was an English satirist, comedian, writer, and actor, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the TV series ''Bremner, Bird and Fortune''.
Early life
Fortu ...
; they had already worked together at Peter Cook's Establishment Club
The Establishment was a London nightclub that opened in October 1961, at 18 Greek Street, Soho, and which became known in retrospect for satire although at the time was a venue more commonly booking jazz acts and used for other events. It was fo ...
. Later, her work included such programmes as '' Where Was Spring?'' (1969, also alongside Fortune), '' World in Ferment'' (1969), and '' After That, This'' (1975) – the one with the "egg" timer in the opening credits.
She collaborated with novelist and playwright Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce '' Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the M ...
on the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
programmes ''
Beyond a Joke'' (1972) and ''Making Faces'' (1975).
She appeared in "
Equal Opportunities
Equal opportunity is a state of fairness in which individuals are treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices, or preferences, except when particular distinctions can be explicitly justified. The intent is that the important ...
", a 1982 episode of the BBC series ''
Yes Minister
''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fr ...
'', playing a senior civil servant in
Jim Hacker
James George Hacker, Baron Hacker of Islington, , BSc ( Lond.), Hon. D. Phil ( Oxon.) is a fictional character in the 1980s British sitcom '' Yes Minister'' and its sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister''. He is the Minister of the (fictional) Depart ...
's Department. Hacker plans to promote her—ostensibly to strike a blow for women's rights—only to be sorely disappointed.
In 1979 Bron appeared as Maggie Hartley, a stage actress accused of murder, in an episode of the popular British legal series ''
Rumpole of the Bailey
''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, oft ...
'', entitled "Rumpole and the Show Folk", which starred
Leo McKern
Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notable roles include Cla ...
in the title role. She also appeared as
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
in ''
The Day Christ Died'' (1980), and played Mrs Barrymore in the 1983 TV movie ''
The Hound of the Baskervilles
''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is the third of the four crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' from August 1901 to April 1902, it is se ...
'' which starred
Ian Richardson
Ian William Richardson (7 April 19349 February 2007) was a Scottish actor.
He portrayed the Machiavellian Tory politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC's '' House of Cards'' (1990–1995) television trilogy. Richardson was also a leading S ...
as
Sherlock Holmes.
Bron appeared twice in the original series of ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
''. She had a brief comedic scene in the serial ''
City of Death
''City of Death'' is the second serial of the seventeenth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor. It was produced by the BBC ...
'' (1979) alongside
John Cleese, which was at the suggestion of its co-writer
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), BBC radio comedy, ''The H ...
. The pair are art critics in
Denise Rene's art gallery in Paris who are admiring the
TARDIS
The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior a ...
(which they think to be a piece of art), when
the Doctor (
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1974 to 1981.Scott, Danny. (1 ...
),
Romana (
Lalla Ward
Sarah Jill "Lalla" Ward (born 28 June 1951) is an English actress, voice artist and author. She is best known for playing the role of Romana II in the BBC television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1979 to 1981.
Career
Early career
Ward's stage na ...
), and Duggan (
Tom Chadbon
Tom Chadbon (born 27 February 1946, in Luton) is an English actor who has spent much of his career appearing on British television. Although principally a character actor, he has occasionally had leading or recurring roles.
Chadbon starred in a ...
) rush into it and it dematerialises. Bron's character, believing this to be part of the work, states that it is "Exquisite, absolutely exquisite!" She also had the main guest billing as the villain Kara in the
Colin Baker
Colin Baker (born 8 June 1943) is an English actor who played Paul Merroney in the BBC drama series '' The Brothers'' from 1974 to 1976 and the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series ''Docto ...
era serial ''
Revelation of the Daleks
''Revelation of the Daleks'' is the sixth and final serial of the 22nd season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on 23 and 30 March 1985. This was the final serial t ...
'' (1985). Bron later appeared in the ''Doctor Who'' audio drama ''
Loups-Garoux
''Loups-Garoux'' (French for werewolves) is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''.
Plot
In Brazil in the year 2080, the Fifth Doctor and Turlough are confronte ...
'' (2001) starring
Peter Davison, in which she played the wealthy heiress Ileana de Santos.
Bron played an art critic again in 1990, appearing in the BBC sketch comedy show ''
French and Saunders
''French and Saunders'' is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring comedy duo and namesake Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders that originally broadcast on BBC2 from 1987 to 1993, and later on BBC One until 2017. It is a ...
'' in a parody of an
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
documentary. Later she made frequent appearances in
Jennifer Saunders
Jennifer Jane Saunders (born 6 July 1958) is an English actress, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School of ...
' television series ''
Absolutely Fabulous
''Absolutely Fabulous'' (also known as ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom based on the ''French and Saunders'' sketch, "Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The show was created and written by Saund ...
''. Bron played, via flashback, the recurring character of Patsy's mother, a woman who "scattered bastard babies across Europe like a garden sprinkler". After giving birth, she would always say "Now take it away! And bring me another lover."
[ In 1992, she played Maria Laslo in the first series of Heartbeat. She had a supporting role in the 1994 BBC ghost story '']The Blue Boy
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', and also appeared in the BBC's biographical TV movie '' Saint-Ex'' in 1996. She also narrated an episode on ''Wild Discovery
Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to:
Common meanings
* Wild animal
* Wilderness, a wild natural environment
* Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed
Art, media and entertainment Film and television
* ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...
''.
Stage appearances
In 1973 she appeared in the West End musical ''The Card
''The Card'' is a comic novel written by Arnold Bennett in 1911 (entitled ''Denry the Audacious'' in the American edition). It was later made into a 1952 movie, starring Alec Guinness and Petula Clark.
Like much of Bennett's best work, it i ...
''. Throughout the 1980s she appeared in Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
's ''The Secret Policeman's Ball
''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' is a series of benefit shows staged initially in the United Kingdom to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. The shows started in 1976 featuring popular British comedians but lat ...
'' live benefit shows, working alongside Peter Cook and Rowan Atkinson, starting with the stage show that preceded those, '' A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)'' in 1976. In 2005 she appeared at the Liverpool Empire Theatre
The Liverpool Empire Theatre is a theatre on the corner of Lime Street in Liverpool, England. The playhouse, which opened in 1925, is the second one to be built on the site. It has the largest two-tier auditorium in the United Kingdom and can ...
in the musical play '' Twopence to Cross the Mersey''. She appeared in the role of an abbess in Howard Brenton's play ''In Extremis
''In extremis'' is a Latin phrase meaning "in the farthest reaches" or "at the point of death."
In extremis or extremis may also refer to:
* ''Extremis'' (2005–2006), a six-issue story arc from the Marvel Comics series ''Iron Man'' (vol. 4), p ...
'', staged at Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames. The original theatre was built in ...
in 2007. She also appeared in the dramatised version of Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; (often known simply as Almodóvar) born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish filmmaker. His films are marked by melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narra ...
's film ''All About My Mother
''All About My Mother'' ( es, link=no, Todo sobre mi madre) is a 1999 comedy-drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, and starring Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña, Antonia San Juan, Penélope Cruz and Rosa Maria Sardà.
...
'', which opened at the Old Vic
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
* Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...
theatre in the late summer of 2007.[
Bron also gave the premiere performance of '' The Yellow Cake Revue'' (1980), a series of pieces for voice and piano written by ]Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music.
As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Musi ...
in protest against uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
mining in the Orkney Islands. Bron has written and performed new verses for Camille Saint-Saëns' ''The Carnival of the Animals
''The Carnival of the Animals'' (''Le Carnaval des animaux'') is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements, including " The Swan", by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The work, about 25 minutes in duration, was written for privat ...
''. She has also performed and recorded the female reciter part in William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...
's Façade (entertainment)
''Façade'' is a series of poems by Edith Sitwell, best known as part of ''Façade – An Entertainment'' in which the poems are recited over an instrumental accompaniment by William Walton. The poems and the music exist in several versions.
S ...
with the Nash Ensemble.
Since 1985
In 1985 Bron was selected, for her authoritative tone, to become "the voice of BT" and can still be heard on various British telephone error messages such as "The number you have dialled has not been recognised, please check and try again".
In 1998, she appeared as Frau Luther in episode 2 "Stuckart" of the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
adaptation of ''Fatherland
A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...
'', a novel by Robert Harris, along with Anton Lesser
Anton Lesser (born 14 February 1952) is an English actor. He is well known for his roles as Qyburn in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'', as Thomas More in ''Wolf Hall'', as Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in ''The Crown'', as Prime Minister ...
, Angeline Ball
Angeline Ball (born 28 June 1969) is an Irish actress and singer who resides in London, England. She is known for her roles as Imelda Quirke in Alan Parker's '' The Commitments'' (1991) and as Tina in John Boorman's '' The General'' (1998). Sh ...
, Stratford Johns
Alan Edgar Stratford Johns (22 September 1925 – 29 January 2002), known as Stratford Johns, was a British stage, film and television actor who is best remembered for his starring role as Detective Inspector Charlie Barlow in the long-running ...
, Michael Byrne, William Scott Masson and Michael Culver
Michael Culver (born 16 June 1938) is an English actor. He was born in Hampstead, London, the son of actor Roland Culver and casting director Daphne Rye. He was educated at Gresham's School.
Actor
Culver's aunt, father, mother and brother a ...
In 2001 and 2002, she appeared in the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
radio comedy sketch show ''