Phoebe Sarah Nicholls (born 1957) is an English film, television, and stage

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. She is known for her roles as Cordelia Flyte in ''

Brideshead Revisited ''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...

'' and as the mother of John Merrick in ''

The Elephant Man Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then we ...

''.

Personal life

Nicholls is the daughter of actors Anthony Nicholls and Faith Kent. She trained at the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

. Nicholls married director

Charles Sturridge Charles B. G. Sturridge (born 24 June 1951) is an English director and screenwriter. He is the recipient of a BAFTA Children's Award and four BAFTA TV Awards. He has also been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards. Early life and educatio ...

on 6 July 1985; they have two sons, Tom and Arthur, and a daughter

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse * Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...

. Her grandfather is photojournalist

Horace Nicholls Horace Walter Nicholls (17 February 1867 – 28 July 1941) was an English photographer, notable as a war photographer during World War I. Life and work Nicholls was born in Cambridge, the son of Charlotte (née Johnson) and Arthur N. Nicholls, a ...

Career

As a

child actress The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated ...

in several films she was billed as Sarah Nicholls. In her early 20s, she appeared in David Lynch's ''

'' (1980),

Richard Loncraine Richard Loncraine (born 20 October 1946) is a British film and television director. Loncraine was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Loncraine received early training in the features department of the BBC, including a season directing i ...

's ''

The Missionary ''The Missionary'' is a 1982 British comedy film directed by Richard Loncraine, and starring Michael Palin and Maggie Smith. It was produced by George Harrison, Denis O'Brien, Palin (who also wrote the screenplay) and Neville C. Thompson. Plot ...

'' (1982) and as Cordelia Flyte in ''

'' (1981). Since then, she has worked almost exclusively in television and theatre. Cast in

Michael Lindsay-Hogg Sir Michael Edward Lindsay-Hogg, 5th Baronet (born 5 May 1940) is an American-born television, film, music video, and theatre director. Beginning his career in British television, Lindsay-Hogg became a pioneer in music film production, directing ...

's original staging of '' Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' in 1978, she later performed in Robert Strura's revival of '' Three Sisters'' with

Vanessa Redgrave Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, tw ...

Stephen Daldry Stephen David Daldry CBE (born 2 May 1960) is an English director and producer of film, theatre, and television. He has won three Olivier Awards for his work in the West End and three Tony Awards for his work on Broadway. He has received thr ...

's acclaimed National Theatre version of

J.B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...

's ''

An Inspector Calls ''An Inspector Calls'' is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in the Soviet Union in 1945 and at the New Theatre in London the following year. It is one of Priestley's best-known works for the stage and is c ...

'' and in the

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

-winning productions of ''Pravda'', with ''

'' co-star Sir Anthony Hopkins and Terry Johnson's '' ''Hysteria''''. Her supporting performances in the 2008 West End revivals of Noël Coward's ''

The Vortex ''The Vortex'' is a play in three acts by the English writer and actor Noël Coward. The play depicts the sexual vanity of a rich, ageing beauty, her troubled relationship with her adult son, and drug abuse in British society circles after the ...

'' and

Harley Granville Barker Harley Granville-Barker (25 November 1877 – 31 August 1946) was an English actor, director, playwright, manager, critic, and theorist. After early success as an actor in the plays of George Bernard Shaw, he increasingly turned to directi ...

's ''

Waste Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste prod ...

'' earned her the 2009

Clarence Derwent Award The Clarence Derwent Awards are theatre awards given annually by the Actors' Equity Association on Broadway in the United States and by Equity, the performers' union, in the West End in the United Kingdom. Clarence Derwent (23 March 1884 – 6 Aug ...

from Equity. She also played the conniving art critic Rivera in the National Theatre production of the

Howard Barker Howard Barker (born 28 June 1946) is a British playwright, screenwriter and writer of radio drama, painter, poet, and essayist writing predominantly on playwriting and the theatre. The author of an extensive body of dramatic works since the 197 ...

drama, '' Scenes from an Execution''. Nicholls appeared in the BBC film '' Persuasion'' (1995), an adaptation of Jane Austen's novel. She has made guest appearances on several television mystery series, including '' Kavanagh QC'', ''

Prime Suspect ''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television drama series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, who ...

'', '' Midsomer Murders'', ''

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

'', ''

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries ''The Ruth Rendell Mysteries'' is a British television crime drama series, produced by TVS and later by its successor Meridian Broadcasting, in association with Blue Heaven Productions, for broadcast on the ITV network. Twelve series were bro ...

'' ("May and June", 1997), ''

Foyle's War ''Foyle's War'' is a British detective drama television series set during and shortly after the Second World War, created by '' Midsomer Murders'' screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz and commissioned by ITV after the long-running series ...

'', ''

Second Sight Extrasensory perception or ESP, also called sixth sense, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke Universit ...

'' starring Clive Owen, and the 2012 Christmas episode of ''

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States o ...

'', a role she reprised for the 2014 season. She has also appeared in several works directed by her husband,

, including his 1995 television adaptation of '' Gulliver's Travels'', where she portrayed the Liliputian Empress, the 1997 film '' Fairy Tale: A True Story'' and '' Shackleton'' in 2002.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

* 1978: '' Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' * 1981: ''

The Cherry Orchard ''The Cherry Orchard'' (russian: Вишнёвый сад, translit=Vishnyovyi sad) is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by '' Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate editio ...

'' * 1983: ''The Beautiful Part of Myself'' * 1984: ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the ...

'' * 1985: ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises th ...

'' * 1991: '' Three Sisters'' * 1993: ''

'' * 1993: '' Hysteria'' * 1994: ''

Rutherford & Son ''Rutherford and Son'' is a play by Githa Sowerby (1876–1970), written in 1912. It premiered in London in the same year with four matinee performances at the Royal Court followed by a run of 133 performances at the Vaudeville Theatre. The ...

'' * 1997: '' Dona Rosita the Spinster'' * 2005: ''Three Women and a Piano Tuner'' * 2007: ''

'' * 2008: ''

'' * 2009: ''When the Rain Stops Falling'' * 2012: '' Scenes from an Execution'' * 2022: ''

The Southbury Child ''The Southbury Child'' is a play by Stephen Beresford. Production history The play premiered at the Chichester Festival Theatre running from 13 June to 25 June, before transferring to the Bridge Theatre, London running from 1 July to 27 August 2 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholls, Phoebe 1957 births 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses Actresses from London Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Clarence Derwent Award winners English film actresses English stage actresses English television actresses Living people English child actresses