Maria Penelope Katharine Aitken was born on 12 September 1945 and is a British theatre director, teacher, actress, and writer.
13 Facts About Maria Aitken
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Maria Aitken was born in Dublin, Ireland, the daughter of Sir William Maria Aitken, a Conservative MP, and the Hon.
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Maria Aitken's grandfather was the UK Representative to Ireland.
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Maria Aitken is a great-niece of newspaper magnate and war-time minister Lord Beaverbrook, and sister to former Conservative cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken.
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Maria Aitken attended Riddlesworth Hall Preparatory School in Norfolk, Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset and St Anne's College, Oxford, where she graduated with a degree in English Language and Literature.
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Maria Aitken has directed several plays in the West End and on Broadway.
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Maria Aitken is a Visiting Lecturer at Yale, NYU and Juilliard drama schools.
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Maria Aitken's extensive acting career includes leading roles at the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and in the West End.
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Maria Aitken has played more Noel Coward leads than any other actress.
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In 1984, Maria Aitken co-wrote and starred in the sitcom Poor Little Rich Girls alongside Jill Bennett.
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Maria Aitken is the mother of actor Jack Davenport, born during her marriage to Nigel Davenport from 1972 to 1981.
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Maria Aitken was married to Richard Durden from 1968 to 1971.
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Maria Aitken has been a patron of the British Thyroid Foundation since 1992, and was appointed a Trustee of the Noel Coward Foundation in 2012.