Celia Bannerman

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Celia Bannerman (born 3 June 1944) is an English actress and director.

Contents

Career

Celia Bannerman was born at Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and trained at the London Drama Centre. In 2023 she played Phebe in " As You Like It" at the RSC. She started her professional career with Ralph Richardson as Dolly in Bernard Shaw's You Never Can Tell and Lucy in Sheridan's The Rivals followed by Cecily in "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London. She played Lady Anne in "Richard III", Katherine in "Perkin Warbeck" and Mrs Galy Gay in "Man is Man" at the RSC. [1] She played a number of major television roles early on in her acting career notably Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice [2] (1967), Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest and Lady Diana Newbury in Upstairs, Downstairs . [3] She starred in the films The Tamarind Seed (1974), Biddy (1983) for which she received an award from Moscow Film Festival, Little Dorrit (1987) and The Land Girls (1998). [4]

Bannerman was Associate Director at the Bristol Old Vic directing The Price, Translations, Quartermaine's Terms, The White Devil, Good Fun and La Ronde. At Stratford East she directed, Sleeping Beauty and The Proposal. She was the Staff Director at the Royal National Theatre on The Passion, Larkrise, Fruits of Enlightenment and Strife. She also devised and directed a programme of erotic poetry called Making Love, and was the first woman to direct a play at the National Theatre, Lies in Plastic Smiles devised by the company and written by Gawn Grainger. In the West End she directed September Tide at the Comedy Theatre, A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, Jack and the Beanstalk at the Shaw Theatre and three world premieres Beached, Sinners and Saints and Bet Noir at the New Vic and Warehouse Theatre.

Bannerman has a long association with Sands Films starting by playing "Biddy" in Christine Edzards's film "Biddy" followed by setting up Edzard's first big feature film "Little Dorrit" and casting the 200 actors. "Little Dorrit" was nominated for Oscars and won the LA Film Critics Award. Also for Sands Films she cast "The Fool", "As You Like It" and "A Dangerous Man: Lawrence after Arabia" which won an Emmy for Best Drama.

She has been a Dialect Coach and a Children's Acting Coach on several movies including Seven Years in Tibet , Two Brothers , The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Nanny McPhee . [4]

Family

She is married to Edward Klein. Her parents were Hugh Bannerman and Hilda Bannerman, née Diamond. Her brother is Julian Bannerman.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1974 The Tamarind Seed Rachel Paterson
1983 Biddy Biddy
1987 Little Dorrit The Milliner
1992As You Like ItCelia
1998 The Land Girls District Commissioner

Television

YearFilmRoleNotes
1965Object ZDiana Winters6 episodes
1967 Blandings Castle JaneEpisode: "Lord Emsworth and the Crime Wave at Blandings"
Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth Bennet6 episodes
1968 Thirty-Minute Theatre The ActressEpisode: "The Bishop and The Actress"
1969W. Somerset MaughamIris MaitlandEpisode: "Louise"
Albert!LucyEpisode: "The Good Samaritan"
1970Vile BodiesNina BlountTV movie
1971 ITV Sunday Night Theatre Sue QuarryEpisode: "Tales of Piccadilly: The Way Out"
Crime of PassionAgathe BernoisEpisode: "Justine"
1972 Armchair Theatre Miss ArrowrootEpisode: "The Folk Singer"
1973 The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Milly RevellEpisode: "The Missing Q.C.s"
Upstairs, Downstairs Diana Newbury/Lady Diana Russell4 episodes
1974 Play of the Month Cecily CardewEpisode: "The Importance of Being Earnest"
Affairs of the HeartCora ProdmoreEpisode: "Grace"
1975Ten From the TwentiesGrace PeddleyEpisode: "Two or Three Graces"
Shades of Greene The GirlEpisode: "The Invisible Japanese Gentleman"
1977 Wings Kate Gaylion3 episodes
1982For the Love of EgyptKate BradburyTV movie
Chronicle Kate BradburyEpisode: "For the Love of Egypt"
1985 Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV PippaEpisode #1.4
1988 Screenplay Mrs. AnsellEpisode: "No Further Cause for Concern"
1992 Performance Miss PotterEpisode: "After the Dance"
2006 Bad Girls Mrs. FiskEpisode #8.8
2007 Hindenburg: The Untold Story Margaret MatherTV movie documentary
2014 14 Tagebücher des Ersten Weltkriegs Sarah Macnaughtan2 episodes

References

  1. "Celia Bannerman | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  2. "BFI Screenonline: Pride and Prejudice (1967)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  3. "Celia Bannerman". www.aveleyman.com.
  4. 1 2 "Celia Bannerman". BFI. Archived from the original on 31 December 2018.