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Name: Maureen Lipman
Field:
Actor
Productions:
An Audience with Maureen Lipman
Biography: Maureen Lipman studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and made her acting debut in The Knack in 1969. Since then she has appeared in a number of West End productions. To many people, Maureen Lipman is Beattie from the British Telecom advertisements which won her an award for "You got an Ology?", but in reality she has done so much more.
Maureen's film career began in 1967 and continued through the 1970s with a number of roles. However it was in 1979 when she really became a star when she played Jane Lucas in the ITV comedy series Agony alongside Simon Williams.
In 1980 Maureen returned to the big screen playing Miss Higgs in The Wildcats of St Trinian's. In 1982 she also played Maggie in the TV play Outside Edge. Another big role for Maureen came in 1983 when she was Trish in the film Educating Rita, for which she won an award for best-supporting actress.
Maureen's most recent stage appearance was in Oklahoma! at the Royal National Theatre in 1998/9 playing Aunt Eller which she claimed took an unforgettable year out of her life. After the run at the National, the show was filmed and then did a five month run at the Lyceum in London.
Maureen married playwright Jack Rosenthal in 1973 and has two children - Amy and Adam. They lived i in Muswell Hill, North London. In 1999 Maureen was awarded a CBE by the Queen.
In June 2001 Maureen returned to the West End stage when she appeared in The Vagina Monologues at the New Ambassadors and in September that year Maureen appeared at Southampton's Nuffield Theatre in a play written by her daughter, Amy Rosenthal - Sitting Pretty. The story concerns a redundant woman in her fifties, who stumbles across a life-drawing class. What starts out as a hobby for the woman, soon turns out to provide her with a whole new lease of life.
In 2002 Maureen was one of may performers on the Richard Rodgers: Some Enchanted Evening DVD and she played Mother in the movie The Pianist. In 2003 she was Louise Bergman in an episode of the TV series Jonathan Creek : The Tailor's Dummy. That year she also appeared in two movies - SuperTex in which she played Dora Breslauer; and Winter Solstice in which she played Marcia.
In June 2004 Maureen's beloved husband of 30 years, Jack Rosenthal, lost his battle with cancer and died at the age of 72. A tribute to Jack's work can be seen as part of the The National Theatre's Platforms this year on Tuesday 28th March 2006 at The National Theatre. By Jack Rosenthal with Maureen Lipman and Friends is a chance to hear extracts from the screenplay by the author of Bar Mitzvah Boy, The Knowledge and P’tang Yang Kipperbang, performed by his wife and other friends and colleagues.
Christmas 2004 saw Maureen on stage in Pantomime when she played Dim Sum in the Old Vic Theatre production of Aladdin alongside Ian McKellan (Widow Twankey) and Roger Allam (Abbanazar). This production, written by Billie Brown, opened on 18 December 2004 and ran until 23rd January 2005.
Maureen currently writes a column for The Guardian newspaper.
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