Susan Hampshire

Susan, Lady Kulukundis, CBE (née Hampshire; born 12 May 1937), known professionally by her maiden name Susan Hampshire, is an English actress, known for her many television and film roles.[1] A three-time Emmy Award winner, she won for The Forsyte Saga in 1970, The First Churchills in 1971, and for Vanity Fair in 1973. Her other television credits include The Pallisers (1974), The Grand (1997–98), and Monarch of the Glen (2000–2005).

Susan Hampshire

CBE
Susan Hampshire in trailer for The Three Lives of Thomasina (1963)
Born (1937-05-12) 12 May 1937
Kensington, London, England, UK
OccupationActress
Years active1947–present
Spouse(s)Pierre Granier-Deferre (1967–1974; divorced); 2 children
Sir Eddie Kulukundis (1981–2020; his death)

Early life

Susan Hampshire was born in Kensington, London,[2] to George Kenneth Hampshire and his wife, June (née Pavey) and is of Irish descent.[3] The youngest of five children, she had three sisters and one brother. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a director of ICI who was rarely at home, her parents having unofficially separated. As a child, she had some developmental difficulties, unable to spell her name until she was nine and unable to read well until she was 12. Her determined mother June founded a small London school in 1928, The Hampshire (now Gems Hampshire School), where Susan was taught.[4]

Her childhood ambition was to be a nurse, but she did not have the O level in Latin it required, so she decided to become an actress. She was diagnosed as dyslexic at the age of 30.[5]

Career

As an actress, Susan Hampshire worked in the theatre before moving on to film and television work. She took the title role in a dramatised version of Little Black Sambo recorded by HMV Junior Record Club (words by David Croft, music by Cyril Ornadel).[6] and sang on The Midday Show when ITV Anglia began broadcasting (as Anglia Television) in 1959.[7] Her first starring role was in the film During One Night in 1960. She then took the leading role in a 1962 BBC adaptation of What Katy Did. Soon afterwards, she was taken up by Walt Disney, and starred in The Three Lives of Thomasina (opposite Patrick McGoohan) and The Fighting Prince of Donegal. She would later appear opposite McGoohan again, in two episodes of Danger Man. She co-starred with Cliff Richard in Sidney J. Furie's 1964 musical Wonderful Life.

In 1966, she was introduced to American TV viewers in the pilot episode of The Time Tunnel as a young passenger on the Titanic who befriends Dr. Tony Newman. She later portrayed conservationist Joy Adamson in Living Free, the sequel to Born Free. In 1972, she played three different characters in Malpertuis, directed by Harry Kumel. She is well known for her work on television. She appeared in several popular television serials, including The Andromeda Breakthrough (1962) in which she replaced Julie Christie, who was not available for the show but had played the part of Andromeda in the first season A for Andromeda (1961). Her most notable television role in the 1960s came in the BBC's 1967 adaptation of The Forsyte Saga, in which she played Fleur.

Hampshire received Emmy Awards from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for her roles in The Forsyte Saga (1970), The First Churchills (1971) and Vanity Fair (1973). 1973 saw her again on U.S. television with Kirk Douglas in a musical version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Other miniseries in which she appeared are The Pallisers, The Barchester Chronicles and Coming Home. She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1992 when she was surprised by Michael Aspel at the Ritz Hotel. In 1997 she appeared in the ITV television series The Grand. She played a madame residing in the hotel. More recent TV roles include Molly MacDonald, Lady of Glenbogle in Monarch of the Glen (2000–05),[8] and an appearance in Casualty (Series 26, No Goodbyes, 19 November 2011) as Caitlin Northwick (alongside Michael Jayston).

Hampshire has been active on the stage, taking the lead roles in many leading plays. In 2007, she was in a ground-breaking play, The Bargain, based on a meeting between Robert Maxwell and Mother Teresa. She played the Fairy Godmother in pantomime at the New Wimbledon Theatre in 2005–06 and at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking in 2006–07. In 2008, she joined the relatively small band of actors who have played two generations in the same play on different occasions. Her appearance at Chichester Festival Theatre in Somerset Maugham's The Circle as Lady Catherine Champion-Cheney in summer 2008 followed on from her appearance in the same play (and venue) as Elizabeth Champion-Cheney (Lady Catherine's daughter-in-law) in 1976.[9]

Author and charity work

Until the publication in 1981 of her autobiography, Susan's Story, few people were aware of her struggle with dyslexia. Since then she has become a prominent campaigner in the UK on dyslexia issues and was President of the Dyslexia Institute from 1995–1998.[10]

Her second book, The Maternal Instinct (1984), discussed women and fertility issues and she published a collection of interviews Every Letter Counts: Winning in Life Despite Dyslexia in 1990. She has written children's books, including Lucy Jane at the Ballet, Lucy Jane and the Russian Ballet, Lucy Jane and the Dancing Competition, Lucy Jane on Television, Bear's Christmas, Rosie's First Ballet Lesson and Rosie's Ballet Slippers, and various books and videos about her lifelong hobby of gardening, including Easy Gardening, My Secret Garden and Trouble Free Gardening.

She is a patron of the British Homeopathic Association, HIV charity Body Positive Dorset, The National Osteoporosis Society, Dignity in Dying and population concern charity Population Matters.[11] She is also patron of Mousetrap Theatre Projects in London which supports disadvantaged and disabled children to enjoy theatre. Susan holds the position of Vice President at Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Ltd, UK

Personal life

Hampshire was married to the French film producer Pierre Granier-Deferre from 1967 until 1974; the couple have a son, Christopher, and had a daughter, Victoria, who died within 24 hours of birth. She has been married to theatre impresario Sir Eddie Kulukundis since 1981.

Hampshire was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1995 Birthday Honours for services to dyslexic people. In the 2018 New Year Honours, she was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to drama and charity.[12]

Filmography
  • The Woman in the Hall (1947) - Young Jay
  • Idol on Parade (1959) - Martha
  • Upstairs and Downstairs (1959) - Arriving Passenger 3 (uncredited)
  • Expresso Bongo (1959) - Cynthia (uncredited)
  • During One Night (1960) - Jean
  • The Long Shadow (1961) - Gunilla
  • The Andromeda Breakthrough (BBC TV series, 1962) - Andromeda
  • What Katy Did (BBC TV mini-series, 1962) - Katy Carr
  • The Three Lives of Thomasina (1963) - Lori MacGregor
  • Night Must Fall (1964) - Olivia Greyne
  • Wonderful Life (US: Swingers' Paradise, 1964) - Jenny Taylor
  • A Hard Day's Night (1964) - Dancer at Disco (uncredited)
  • Paris au mois d'août (1966) - Patricia Seagrave
  • Time Tunnel (1966, TV series, pilot episode) - Althea Hall
  • The Fighting Prince of Donegal (1966) - Kathleen McSweeney
  • The Trygon Factor (1966) - Trudy Emberday
  • The Violent Enemy (1967) - Hannah Costello
  • The Forsyte Saga (BBC TV mini-series, 1967) - Fleur Mont née Forsyte
  • Vanity Fair (BBC TV mini-series, 1967) - Becky Sharp
  • The Lady Is a Liar (BBC TV play, 1968) - Isabella
  • An Ideal Husband (BBC TV play, 1969) - Mabel Chiltern
  • Monte Carlo or Bust! (1969) - Betty
  • The First Churchills (BBC TV mini-series, 1969) - Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough / Sarah Churchill / Sarah Jennings
  • David Copperfield (1969, TV Movie) - Agnes Wickfield
  • Malpertuis (1971) - Nancy / Euryale / Alice / Nurse / Charlotte
  • Living Free (1972) - Joy Adamson
  • A Time for Loving (1972) - Patricia Robinson
  • Neither the Sea Nor the Sand (1972) - Anna Robinson
  • Baffled! (1972, TV Movie) - Michele Brent
  • Le Fils (1973) - L'Américaine (uncredited)
  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1973, TV Movie) - Isabel
  • No Encontré Rosas para mi Madre (The Lonely Woman) (1973) - Elaine
  • The Pallisers (BBC TV serial, 1974) - Glencora / Lady Glencora M'Cluskie
  • Thriller (TV series, 1 episode, 1975) - Sally
  • The Story of David (1976, TV Movie) - Michal
  • Bang! (1977) - Cilla Brown
  • Dick Turpin (TV series, one episode 1981) - Lady Melford
  • The Barchester Chronicles (BBC TV mini-series, 1982) - La Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni
  • Leaving (1984-1985, TV Series) - Martha Ford
  • Don't Tell Father (BBC TV series, 1992) - Natasha Bancroft
  • The Grand (ITV series, 1997-1998) - Esme Harkness
  • Coming Home (1998, TV Mini-Series) - Miss Catto
  • Nancherrow (1999, TV Mini-Series) - Miss Catto
  • Monarch of the Glen (BBC TV series, 2000-2005) - Molly MacDonald
  • Eve Buckingham (Short film, 2001)
  • Sparkling Cyanide (2003, TV Movie) - Lucilla Drake
  • The Royal (ITV series, two episodes 2009) - Elizabeth Middleditch
  • Casualty (BBC TV series, two episodes, 2011-2013) - Sylvia Black / Caitlin Northwick
  • Midsomer Murders (2017) - Delphi Hartley
  • Another Mother's Son (2017) - Elena
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gollark: Maybe if it was higher-resolution you could pre-blur the image so it's viewable from a reasonable distance.

References
  1. Profile of Susan Hampshire; registration required, International Who's Who. Accessed 3 September 2006.
  2. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  3. "Live Chat". Monarch of the Glen. BBC Home. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  4. "School website". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  5. Pamela Coleman (29 March 1996). "Spell of success". TES Magazine.
  6. "45Cat". Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  7. "The ITV Story Part 8: Anglia Television". Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  8. "Susan Hampshire: Monarch of the TV". Leigh Journal. 17 October 2003. Retrieved 30 January 2016. FAR from being a dotty dowager, Molly - now the Second Lady of Glenbogle - has style...
  9. "Susan Hampshire turns full Circle", Chichester Observer, 30 July 2008
  10. "Celebrity Support". Dyslexia Institute. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  11. "Population Matters Patrons". www.populationmatters.org. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014.
  12. Entertainment & Arts team (29 December 2017). "In pictures: Entertainment stars recognised in New Year Honours". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
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