39 Facts About Lynda Bellingham

Lynda Bellingham was an English actress, broadcaster and author.

Lynda Bellingham acted in television series such as All Creatures Great and Small, Doctor Who, Second Thoughts and Faith in the Future.

Lynda Bellingham was known for her appearances as the mother in the long-running series of "Oxo Family" British TV advertisements between 1983 and 1999, and as a panellist on the ITV lunchtime chat show Loose Women between 2007 and 2011.

Lynda Bellingham was adopted when she was four months old.

Lynda Bellingham was educated at Aylesbury High School, and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Lynda Bellingham's first television role was an appearance in The Misfit when she was 21.

Lynda Bellingham played a nurse in the 1970s ATV afternoon soap opera General Hospital.

Lynda Bellingham appeared in the comedy short The Waterloo Bridge Handicap with Leonard Rossiter.

Lynda Bellingham appeared as the Inquisitor in the 14-part Doctor Who serial The Trial of a Time Lord in 1986.

Lynda Bellingham reprised the character for the Big Finish Productions audio series Gallifrey, and in the Big Finish Productions audio drama Trial of the Valeyard,.

Lynda Bellingham starred as Emily Marlowe in the film The Scarlet Tunic in 1998, and appeared in Gleb Panfilov's The Romanovs: A Crowned Family as Empress Alexandra the following year.

Lynda Bellingham was in Waking the Dead A Simple Sacrifice parts one and two playing Mary Mantel.

From 2000 to 2003, Lynda Bellingham played Pauline Farnell, the compassionate accountant in At Home with the Braithwaites with Amanda Redman and former All Creatures Great and Small colleague Peter Davison.

Lynda Bellingham had a recurring role in The Bill as villainess Irene Radford for several months in 2004, and appeared as Marlene in Devil's Gate the same year.

Lynda Bellingham appeared in Midsomer Murders "The Fisher King" as Jane Willows.

Lynda Bellingham had a role in the ITV comedy Bonkers playing Mrs Wadlow, a man-eating suburban housewife who seduces her neighbour's teenage son and turns him into her gigolo.

Lynda Bellingham played DCI Karen Hardwick in a 2007 episode of New Tricks.

Lynda Bellingham played the central character in the long-running "Oxo Family" series of TV commercials, starting in 1983, playing a mother who binds her family together by cooking them meals featuring Oxo products.

On 17 December 2010, Lynda Bellingham guest-presented the ITV programme Lorraine.

Lynda Bellingham joined Loose Women on 10 April 2007, appearing alongside Carol McGiffin and Coleen Nolan, and continued as a regular on the show until 2011.

In 2009, Lynda Bellingham was one of the contestants in the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, where she was partnered with Darren Bennett.

Lynda Bellingham was voted out by the judges in the fourth week.

In 1993, Lynda Bellingham was the subject of This Is Your Life when she was surprised by Michael Aspel on the set of Second Thoughts.

In 2011, Lynda Bellingham featured in a short film entitled Too Close for Comfort, playing the character of a mother to her real-life son, actor and celebrity butler Michael Peluso.

Twice in the 1960s, Lynda Bellingham appeared in the Pendley Open Air Shakespeare Festival.

Lynda Bellingham's performance received critical acclaim, especially from Michael Billington.

From September 2008 to July 2009, Lynda Bellingham played the role of Chris Harper in the stage version of the hit film Calendar Girls on tour and at the Noel Coward Theatre in the West End.

Lynda Bellingham returned to the show for further tours in 2010,2011 and 2012.

Lynda Bellingham was due to star in Kay Mellor's play A Passionate Woman at the Sheffield Crucible, followed by a national tour it was announced in July 2013 that the show had to be postponed owing to Lynda Bellingham's cancer treatment.

In 2010, Lynda Bellingham launched her book Lost and Found, a story of her life and career and toured the country for private readings.

Lynda Bellingham's novel Tell Me Tomorrow was published in 2013.

Lynda Bellingham was married three times, first in 1975 to film and theatre producer Greg Smith.

Around the same time as Lynda Bellingham was being abused by Peluso, she was starring in the Oxo adverts and felt bound to hide the truth about her marriage for fear of spoiling her image in the commercials.

On 31 May 2008, Lynda Bellingham married her boyfriend, Spain-based timeshare salesman, Michael Pattemore, at St Stephen Walbrook on her 60th birthday.

Lynda Bellingham was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2014 New Year Honours for voluntary service to charitable giving.

On 16 July 2013, it was announced that Lynda Bellingham had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

In September 2014, Lynda Bellingham confirmed that her cancer had metastasised to her lungs and liver and that she had "months to live".

Lynda Bellingham announced that she had made the choice in August 2014 to stop chemotherapy in November, so that she could have "one last Christmas" with her family and die in January 2015.

Lynda Bellingham died in a London hospital on 19 October 2014 with her husband Michael by her side.