28 Facts About Lindsay Duncan

Lindsay Duncan has starred in several plays by Harold Pinter.

Lindsay Duncan's father had served in the British army for 21 years before becoming a civil servant.

Lindsay Duncan's parents moved to Leeds, then Birmingham, when she was still a child.

Lindsay Duncan attended King Edward VI High School for Girls in Birmingham through a scholarship.

Lindsay Duncan's father died in a car accident when she was 15.

Lindsay Duncan's mother was affected by Alzheimer's disease and died in 1994; she inspired Sharman Macdonald to write the play The Winter Guest, directed by Alan Rickman, which he later adapted as a film.

Lindsay Duncan became friends with future playwright Kevin Elyot, who attended the neighbouring King Edward's School for boys, and followed him to Bristol, where he read Drama at university.

Lindsay Duncan did a number of odd jobs while staging her own production of Joe Orton's Funeral Games.

Lindsay Duncan joined London's Central School of Speech and Drama at the age of 21.

Lindsay Duncan appeared in two small roles in Moliere's Don Juan at the Hampstead Theatre in 1976, and joined the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester when it opened.

Lindsay Duncan performed in the first productions at the Royal Exchange and appeared in eight plays in Manchester in the next two years.

Lindsay Duncan made her breakthrough on Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, staged at the Royal Court in London and later transferred to the Public Theater in New York, Her performance as Lady Nijo, a 13th-century Japanese concubine, won her an Obie, her first award.

In 1988, Lindsay Duncan won an Evening Standard Award for her role of Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams.

Lindsay Duncan went on tour in the United States with the rest of the cast, but back and neck pains forced her to be replaced by Emily Button from January to March 1997.

Lindsay Duncan reunited with Alan Rickman in a revival of Noel Coward's Private Lives and won a Tony Award for Best Actress and a second Olivier Award for her performance as Amanda Prynne; she was nominated that year for her role in Mouth To Mouth by Kevin Elyot.

Lindsay Duncan played Servilia Caepionis in the 2005 HBO-BBC series Rome, and starred as Rose Harbinson in Starter for 10.

Lindsay Duncan played Alice's mother in Tim Burton's 2010 film Alice in Wonderland, alongside Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

Lindsay Duncan starred in the original London run of Polly Stenham's play That Face at the Royal Court co-starring Matt Smith and directed by Jeremy Herrin.

Alan Bleasdale asked Lindsay Duncan to appear in his first work for television after ten years of absence, The Sinking of the Laconia, aired in January 2011.

Lindsay Duncan played an upper-class passenger in the two-part drama based on a true story of World War II.

Lindsay Duncan played the mother of Matt Smith in the telefilm Christopher and His Kind written by Kevin Elyot after Christopher Isherwood's autobiography of the same title.

Lindsay Duncan played Queen Annis, ruler of Caerleon and antagonist of Merlin, in the 5th episode of the fourth series of BBC1's Merlin.

Lindsay Duncan appeared as Home Secretary Alex Cairns to Rory Kinnear's Prime Minister in "The National Anthem", the first episode of Charlie Brooker's anthology series Black Mirror.

Lindsay Duncan started 2012 as a guest in the New Year special of Absolutely Fabulous, playing Saffy's favourite film actress, Jeanne Durand.

Lindsay Duncan played the Duchess of York in the first film, Richard II, with David Suchet as the Duke of York and Patrick Stewart as John of Gaunt.

In October 2014, Lindsay Duncan appeared as Claire in the revival of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance on Broadway.

Lindsay Duncan is married to fellow Scottish actor Hilton McRae, whom she met in 1985 at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Lindsay Duncan was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 Birthday Honours, for her services to drama.