Maureen Lipman

Dame Maureen Diane Lipman (born 10 May 1946)<ref name="Filmref"/> is an English actress, columnist and comedian. She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and her stage work has included appearances with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She was made a dame in the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to charity, entertainment and the arts.

Lipman has been nominated for seven Olivier Awards across categories commending acting in plays, musicals and comedy, winning in 1984 for See How They Run. On film, Lipman was BAFTA nominated for Educating Rita (1983) and has also appeared in The Wildcats of St Trinian's (1980), Carry On Columbus (1992), Solomon & Gaenor (1999) and The Pianist (2002). On television, Lipman had prominent roles in Agony (1979–1981), Smiley's People (1982), Eskimo Day (1996) and Ladies of Letters (2009–2010). Since 2018, she has starred in Coronation Street as Evelyn Plummer.

Early life and education

Lipman was born on 10 May 1946 in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, the daughter of Maurice Julius Lipman and Zelma Pearlman.<ref name="Filmref">Template:Cite web</ref> Her father was a tailor; he used to have a shop between the Ferens Art Gallery and Monument Bridge. Lipman grew up Jewish and found post-war Hull a welcoming place for the Jewish community.<ref name="aaronovitch">Template:Cite journal</ref> She lived in Northfield Road, Hull<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and attended Wheeler Primary School.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Lipman then attended Newland School for Girls in Hull,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and in her youth became interested in performing. She performed in school productions, attended an early Beatles concert, and watched Elizabeth Taylor's Butterfield 8 fifteen times.<ref name="lipman20140828">Template:Cite news</ref> Her first performances at home included impersonations of Alma Cogan; "a nice Jewish girl, she was big in our house",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and she was encouraged into an acting career by her mother, who used to take her to the pantomime and push her onto the stage.

Lipman trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Career

Theatre

Lipman worked extensively in the theatre following her début in a stage production of The Knack at the Watford Palace Theatre. In order to get the post, she pretended that a documentary producer wanted to follow her finding her first job – this was a lie but it seemed to work.<ref>Dunn, Kate. Exit Through the Fireplace, John Murray, 1998.Template:ISBN</ref><ref name = Walsh>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lipman was a member of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company at the Old Vic from 1971 to 1973 and of the Royal Shakespeare Company for its 1973 Stratford season.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Lipman has continued to work in the theatre for more than fifty years, playing, among other roles, Aunt Eller in the National Theatre's Oklahoma!.<ref name = Walsh/><ref name="Frazer Oct 2020"/>

From November 2005 to April 2006 she played Florence Foster Jenkins in the Olivier Award-nominated show Glorious! at the Duchess Theatre in London's West End.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

From October 2010 to February 2011, Lipman starred in a production of J.B. Priestley's When We Are Married at the Garrick Theatre. In 2012, she directed and appeared in a production of Barefoot in the Park on tour and starred in Old Money at Hampstead Theatre. In 2013, she starred in Daytona at the Park Theatre followed by a tour, and in 2014 a season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. In 2015, she starred with James Dreyfus in Mary Chase's play Harvey at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, on tour and at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. In 2016, she starred in My Mother Said I Never Should at the St. James Theatre. In 2017, she starred with Felicity Kendal in a revival of Lettice and Lovage at the Menier Chocolate Factory. In 2018, she starred with Martin Shaw in The Best Man at the Playhouse Theatre, as well as returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the first time in fifty years with a one-woman show of jokes and storytelling called Up For It.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Television

After early appearances in the sitcoms The Lovers, and Doctor at Large, and a role in The Evacuees (1975),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lipman first gained prominence on television in the situation comedy Agony (1979–81), in which she played an agony aunt with a troubled private life. In her role as Stella Craven in Smiley's People (1982), Lipman appeared with Alec Guinness.

She performed the Joyce Grenfell monologue The Committee for the first time on The Green Tie on the Little Yellow Dog, which was recorded 1982, and broadcast by Channel 4 in 1983.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Maureen Lipman performing as Joyce Grenfell.jpg

Lipman performing as Joyce Grenfell in The Green Tie on the Little Yellow Dog

She played the lead role in the television series All at No 20<ref name="Number 2-">Template:Cite web</ref> (1986–87) and took on a range of diverse characters when starring in the series of comedy plays About Face (1989–91).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She is known for playing Joyce Grenfell in the biographical show Re: Joyce!,<ref name="Aaronovitch JQ">Template:Cite magazine</ref> which she co-wrote with James Roose-Evans.

In 1996 she appeared in the BBC comedy drama Eskimo Day, written by husband Jack Rosenthal and directed by Piers Haggard, about the trials and tribulations of three young would-be students as they arrive with their families at Queens' College, Cambridge, on interview day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There was a sequel, Cold Enough for Snow, in 1997.

She appeared as snooty landlady Lillian Spencer in Coronation Street for six episodes in 2002. The character was employed by Fred Elliott (John Savident) to run The Rovers Return Inn.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She re-joined the cast of Coronation Street in August 2018, this time playing Evelyn Plummer, the long-lost grandmother of Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2003 she appeared in Jonathan Creek in the episode "The Tailor's Dummy". Lipman played Maggie Wych in the children's television show The Fugitives, broadcast in 2005. She has narrated two television series on the subject of design, one for UKTV about Art Deco and one about 20th-century design for ITV/Sky Travel.

She performed as a villain, The Wire, in the 2006 series of Doctor Who in the episode entitled "The Idiot's Lantern".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

She has also appeared on Just a Minute,<ref name="Just a Minute">Template:Cite web</ref> The News Quiz,<ref name="News Quiz">Template:Cite web</ref> That Reminds Me, This Week and Have I Got News for You.<ref name="HIGNY 2016">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2007, Lipman appeared as a celebrity contestant on Comic Relief Does The Apprentice to raise money for Comic Relief. The show saw her helping to run a funfair. Later in 2007, she made a guest appearance in Casualty; this was followed by an appearance in a December 2011 episode of the Casualty spin-off Holby City, playing a different character.

In May 2008, she appeared in the BBC documentary series Comedy Map of Britain.<ref name="Comedy Map">Template:Cite web</ref> On Sunday 11 January 2009, BBC Four was devoted to a "Maureen Lipman Night".<ref name="BBC Four">Template:Cite web</ref> On 5 February 2009, she appeared in the third series of teen drama Skins, in the episode entitled "Thomas" as Pandora Moon's Aunt Elizabeth.

She played Irene Spencer in the ITV3 comedy Ladies of Letters, in which she starred alongside Anne Reid. The show's first series started in 2009, and it returned for a second series in 2010.

Film

Lipman made an early film appearance in Up the Junction (1968).<ref name="Frazer Oct 2020"/> She played the title character's mother in Roman Polanski's film The Pianist (2002).<ref name="Frazer Oct 2020"/>

In the 1999 film Solomon & Gaenor, the character she played spoke Yiddish throughout.<ref name = Walsh/>

Advertising

In 1987,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> she was cast as the character "Beatrice Bellman" ("Beatie/BT"), a Jewish grandmother in a series of television commercials for British Telecom,<ref name = Walsh/> a role which became sufficiently well known to launch a book You Got An Ology in 1989,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and which was still referred to 25 years later by politicians.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Books, newspapers and magazines

After her husband died in May 2004 she completed his autobiography By Jack Rosenthal, and played herself in her daughter's four-part adaptation of the book, Jack Rosenthal's Last Act, on BBC Radio Four in July 2006.<ref name="Frazer Oct 2020"/> Her anthology, The Gibbon's In Decline But The Horse Is Stable, is a book of animal poems that is illustrated by established cartoonists, including Posy Simmonds and Gerald Scarfe, to raise money for Myeloma UK, to combat the cancer to which she lost her husband.

She also wrote a monthly column for Good Housekeeping magazine<ref name = Walsh/> for more than ten years,<ref name="Frazer Oct 2020">Template:Cite news</ref> which formed the basis for several autobiographical books, including How Was It For You?, Something To Fall Back On, Thank You For Having Me, You Can Read Me Like A Book and Lip Reading. Lipman has also contributed a weekly column in The Guardian in the newspaper's G2 section.

She writes for The Oldie<ref name="Frazer Oct 2020"/><ref name="Oldie">Template:Cite web</ref> and is on the editorial advisory board of Jewish Renaissance magazine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Lipman is Jewish. She lives in Muswell Hill, north London<ref name = Walsh/> and has two children, writers Amy and Adam Rosenthal.

She was married to dramatist Jack Rosenthal from 1974<ref name="rosenthal_obit_bbc">Template:Cite news</ref> until his death in 2004, and has had a number of roles in his works.

Retired computer expert Guido Castro, an Egyptian Jew, was her partner from 2008 until his death in January 2021.<ref name="Lady">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Busby">Template:Cite news</ref>

In August 2024, Lipman became engaged to David Turner,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> co-founder<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> of gym chain LA Fitness (now owned by PureGym).

Political views

Burma

Lipman supports the work of the Burma Campaign UK,<ref name="Frazer Oct 2020"/><ref name="Mont Blance">Template:Cite press release</ref> Europe's largest NGO regarding Myanmar (Burma). Lipman supports the process of democratisation in the country. Lipman also supports the work of Prospect Burma, a non-political charity that offers Burmese students the opportunity to study at university overseas. Lipman spoke on behalf of Prospect Burma in the BBC Radio 4 Appeal, broadcast in September 2009.<ref name="Prospect Appeal">Template:Cite web</ref>

Pro-Israel activism

Lipman supported Israel during the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah conflict. On 13 July 2006, in a debate on the BBC's This Week, she argued that "human life is not cheap to the Israelis, and human life on the other side is quite cheap actually, because they strap bombs to people and send them to blow themselves up." These comments were condemned by columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown who said "Brutally straight, she sees no equivalence between the lives of the two tribes".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lipman responded to Alibhai-Brown's accusation of racism by arguing that the columnist had deliberately misrepresented Lipman's comments as generalisations about Muslims rather than specific comments about terrorists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In The Jewish Chronicle, Lipman argued that media reporting of the conflict was "heavily distorted": Template:Cquote

In May 2015, Lipman joined pro-Israel groups including the Zionist Federation in a protest outside the London premiere of a Palestinian play, The Siege, at Battersea Arts Centre.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In an interview with The Guardian on 18 August 2020, Lipman inaccurately asserted that Hezbollah had claimed responsibility for the 2020 Beirut explosion, stating: "I'm very grateful that Hezbollah said they did it". She intimated that she would not be prepared to work alongside some pro-Palestinian actors, citing Maxine Peake and Miriam Margolyes as examples.<ref name="Guardian 18 Aug"/>

In 2024, Lipman said that protests against Israel are "close to fascism".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She said, "These bleeding heartless liberals care so deeply for the Palestinians? That they espouse their cause at the expense of every other oppressed people of the world... Shame. Shame. Shame on every one of you."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Antisemitism

In a January 2015 interview on LBC Radio, Lipman said she was considering emigrating to the United States or Israel in response to what she perceived as increasing antisemitism in the United Kingdom.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In November 2023 Lipman joined a march against antisemitism in London alongside prominent celebrities including Vanessa Feltz, Robert Rinder, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Elliot Levey, Rachel Riley, Eddie Marsan, and David Baddiel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Labour Party

At the 2005 general election, Lipman supported the Labour Party,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but declared in October 2014 that she could no longer do so due to leader Ed Miliband's support for a parliamentary motion in favour of recognising the State of Palestine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In April 2018, Lipman criticised Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for the way he had handled antisemitism in the Labour Party and the party's reputed failure to address the issue. Lipman attended a protest outside Labour's head office and said she was there "as a disenfranchised socialist". She identified with a placard reading "Corbyn made me a Tory".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In a 2020 interview, she described herself as a "Labour luvvie" under the tenure of Tony Blair, as opposed to a "party member". She also said she would have to be "stark raving mad to support (Conservative Party leader) Boris Johnson".<ref name="Guardian 18 Aug">Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Up the Junction	Sylvie
1969	Template:Sortname	Sarah	AKA, School for Unclaimed Girls
1971	Gumshoe	Naomi
1980	Template:Sortname	Katy Higgs
1983	Educating Rita	Trish
1985	Water	Margaret Thatcher
	National Lampoon's European Vacation	Lady in the bed
1992	Carry On Columbus	Countess Esmeralda
1999	Solomon & Gaenor	Rezl
	Captain Jack	Barbara Bostock
2002	Template:Sortname	Edwarda Szpilman
2003	SuperTex	Dora Breslauer
2004	Lighthouse Hill	Audrey Davidson
2008	Template:Sortname	Charlie
	Caught in the Act	Judith Herbst
2012	Run for Your Wife	Exercising woman	Cameo
	Metamorphosis	Mrs. Samsa
2020	The Schnoz	Norma & Golda

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	The Inquisitors	Magda Barcelona	Episode: "The Peeling of Sweet Pea"
1969–1970, 1981	ITV Playhouse	Liz; Little Satin Bottom/The Mayoress; Zoya Krein	Episodes: "In a Cottage Hospital", "The People's Jack", "Last Night Another Dissident..."
1969–1970, 1973	ITV Sunday Night Theatre	Joanna Dibble; Barbara; Cathleen	Episodes: "It's Called the Sugar Plum", "The Gingham Dog", "Long Day's Journey Into Night"
1970	Codename	Lisa	Episode: "A Walk with the Lions"
	Don't Ask Us – We're New Here	Various	TV series
	Template:Sortname	Sandra Appleton	Episode: "Brainwashing"
1971	Doctor at Large	Maxine	Episode: "Saturday Matinee"
1973	Thriller	Liz Morris	Episode: "File It Under Fear"
	Casanova '73	Gloria	Episode #1.3
1973–1975	Crown Court	Sarah Lewis	Recurring role
1974	Armchair Cinema	Annie	Episode: "Regan"
	You'll Never Walk Alone	Marjorie Pouncey	TV short
1975	Template:Sortname	Sarah Miller	TV film
	Three Comedies of Marriage	Rachel	Episode: "Bobby Bluesocks"
1975–1976	Couples	Marian Steinberg	Main role
1976	Template:Sortname	Mrs. Smedley	Episode: "Selected Target"
	Rogue Male	Freda	TV film
1978	Template:Sortname	Alison Holmes	TV series
	Play for Today	Sharon Benson	Episode: "Dinner at the Sporting Club"
1979	Template:Sortname	Mrs. Paige	Episode #1.2
	Template:Sortname	Brenda Weller	TV film
1979–1981	Agony	Jane Lucas	Main role
1981	Template:Sortname	Margaret Thatcher (voice)	Episode: "Away from It All"
	Dangerous Davies – The Last Detective	Ena Lind	TV film
1982	Jackanory	Witch	Episode: "The Witching Hour"
	Smiley's People	Stella Craven	TV mini-series
	Objects of Affection	Val	Episode: "Rolling Home"
	Outside Edge	Maggie	TV film
1983	The Green Tie on the Little Yellow Dog	Joyce Grenfell
1984	See How They Run	Miss Skillon
1985	On Your Way, Riley	Kitty McShane
	Love's Labour's Lost	The Princess of France
	Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV	Ruth	Episode #1.5
	Theatre Night	Marge	Episode: "Absent Friends"
	Absurd Person Singular	Jane Hopcroft	TV film
1986	Screenplay	Julie	Episode: "Shift Work"
1986–1987	All at No 20	Sheila Haddon	TV series
1987	Template:Sortname	Miss Minchin	TV mini-series
	First Sight	Tamara	Episode: "Exclusive Yarns"
1989–1991	About Face	Various	Main role
1991	Re:Joyce! – A Celebration of the Work of Joyce Grenfell	Joyce Grenfell	TV film
1992	Bookmark	Enid Blyton	Episode: "Sunny Stories"
1995	Call up the Stars	Joyce Grenfell	TV film
	Agony Again	Jane Lucas	Main role
1996	Eskimo Day	Shani Whittle	TV film
1997	Cold Enough for Snow	Shani Whittle
1999	Oklahoma!	Aunt Eller
2002	George Eliot: A Scandalous Life	Narrator
	Coronation Street	Lillian Spencer	Guest role, 6 episodes
2003	Jonathan Creek	Louise Bergman	Episode: "The Tailor's Dummy"
	Winter Solstice	Marcia	TV film
2004	Where the Heart Is	Stella Sinclair	Episode: "Body & Soul"
2005	Template:Sortname	Maggie Wynch	Recurring role
2006	Doctor Who	The Wire	Episode: "The Idiot's Lantern"
2007	Sensitive Skin	Sue Shortstop	Episodes: "Three Lost Loves", "Here I Am"
	Casualty	Hannah 'Hayley' Liddell	Episode: "Behind Closed Doors"
2008	He Kills Coppers	Lily Porter	TV film
2009	Skins	Aunt Elizabeth	Episode: "Thomas"
	Minder	Anita Richardson	Episode: "The Art of the Matter"
2009–2010	Ladies of Letters	Irene Spencer	Main role
2011	Tinga Tinga Tales	Hummingbird (voice)	Episode: "Why Hummingbird Hums"
	Holby City	Bonnie Walters	Episode: "Half Empty"
2012	Midsomer Murders	Mags Dormer	Episode: "Written in the Stars"
2015	Template:Sortname	Alicia	Episode: "Comic Relief Special 2015"
	Bull	Beverley Bull	Main role
	Template:Sortname	Maggie Higgins	Episode #3.6
2016–2019	Plebs	Landlady	Recurring role (series 3–5)
2017	Holding Back the Years	Presenter
2018–	Coronation Street	Evelyn Plummer	Main cast
2020–present	Celebrity Gogglebox	Herself	Alongside Gyles Brandreth
2021	Rose	Rose
2022	DNA Journey	Herself	Alongside Rula Lenska

Publications

• How Was It For You? Home thoughts from a broad, Little Brown, 1986. Template:ISBN
• Something to Fall Back On...and other pretty colourful material, Robson Books, 1987. Template:ISBN
• (with Richard Philips)You Got An Ology?, Robson Books, 1989. Template:ISBN
• Thank You For Having Me, Robson Books, 1990. Template:ISBN
• When's It Coming Out, Robson Books, 1992. Template:ISBN
• You Can Read Me Like A Book, Robson Books, 1995. Template:ISBN
• Lip Reading, Robson Books, 1999. Template:ISBN
• The Gibbon's in Decline But the Horse is Stable..., Robson Books, 2006. Template:ISBN
• Past-it Notes, Gardners Books, 2008. Template:ISBN
• I Must Collect Myself: Choice Cuts From a Long Shelf-Life, Simon & Schuster, 2010. Template:ISBN
• It's a Jungle Out There: A Lipman-Agerie, Biteback Publishing, 2016. Template:ISBN

Awards and nominations

• In 1994, Lipman was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Hull.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Year	Awards	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1979	Laurence Olivier Awards	Best Comedy Performance	Outside Edge	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1981	British Academy Television Awards	Best Light Entertainment Performance	Agony	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1983		Best Actress	Outside Edge / Rolling Home	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Laurence Olivier Awards	Actress of the Year in a New Play	Messiah	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1984	British Academy Film Awards	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Educating Rita	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Laurence Olivier Awards	Best Comedy Performance	See How They Run	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1986		Best Actress in a Musical	Wonderful Town	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1998		Best Family Show	Maureen Lipman, Live and Kicking	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2003	Polish Film Award	Best Supporting Actress	The Pianist	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2004	Laurence Olivier Awards	Best Actress in a Musical	Thoroughly Modern Millie	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2010		Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical	A Little Night Music	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2023	The British Soap Awards	Best Comedy Performance	Coronation Street	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Honours

Lipman was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1999 New Year Honours and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to charity, entertainment and the arts.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Accompanied by her son, Adam Rosenthal, she received her award from Charles, Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle on 28 October 2021.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Legacy

Her papers, and those of her husband Jack Rosenthal, are held at the University of Sheffield.<ref name="Lipman Papers">Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Green, Linda (22 December 2006). A short bio of Maureen Lipman. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
• Template:IMDb name
• Maureen Lipman's Guardian column
• Maureen Lipman in webTV interview talking about By Jack Rosenthal and working on Doctor Who, July 2006, BBC Norfolk. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
• The Oldie magazine