Dame Eileen June Atkins, DBE (born 16 June 1934) is an English actress and occasional screenwriter. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. She has won several major acting awards, including a BAFTA, an Emmy and three Olivier's. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1990 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2001.Atkins joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1957 and made her Broadway debut in the 1966 production of The Killing of Sister George, for which she received the first of four Tony Award nominations for Best Actress in a Play in 1967. She received subsequent nominations for, Vivat! Vivat Regina! in 1972, Indiscretions in 1995 and The Retreat from Moscow in 2004. In the UK, she has won three Olivier Awards, for Best Supporting Performance (for multiple roles) in 1988 and two for Best Actress, for The Unexpected Man in 1999 and Honour in 2004.Other stage credits include, Twelfth Night (Old Vic London, 1961 & 1978), The Tempest (Old Vic 1962), Exit the King with Alec Guinness (Edinburgh Festival and Royal Court 1963), The Promise (New York 1967), The Night of the Tribades (New York 1977), Medea (Young Vic 1985), A Delicate Balance with Maggie Smith (Haymarket, West End 1997) and Doubt (New York 2006).For television, she co-created Upstairs, Downstairs (1971–1975) and The House of Elliot (1991–1993) with Jean Marsh. In 2008, she won a BAFTA TV Award and an Emmy Award for her role opposite Judi Dench in the BBC drama CranfordHer film roles include, Equus (1977), The Dresser, (1983), Let Him Have It (1991), Wolf (1994), Jack and Sarah (1995), Gosford Park (2001), Evening (2005), Last Chance Harvey (2008) and Robin Hood (2010). She also wrote the screenplay for the 1997 film version of Mrs Dalloway, starring Vanessa Redgrave.
Bill Shepherd (m. 1978), Julian Glover (m. 1957–1966)
Parents
Arthur Thomas Atkins, Annie Ellen Atkins
Awards
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie
Star Sign
Gemini
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Quote
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I'm rarely wrong.
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I think most British people who say they can do an American accent are so bad at it. I find it excruciating. I find it excruciating the other way around, too.
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There's no such thing as a legend. Nearly everyone has forgotten Laurence Olivier. What's that dreadful word - 'dynasty', as in the Redgraves and Foxes? Acting is not in the blood - otherwise what are Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and I doing here? I'm the least well known, for a very good reason. Judi's an incredible actress who wouldn't be so popular if she hadn't been in As Time Goes By (1992). Maggie has always done movies, and won Oscars. I plough away at the classics.
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In England, as here, there are always two kinds of audiences: the Royal Shakespeare and the West End. In the last 10 years, audiences have been changed by television. One can tell: people don't concentrate and they expect lighter fare - and I do hate disappointing the audiences. One lady came up to me afterwards here, very complimentary, and then she said 'Well, this is terrible heavy.' And I thought 'Oh dear, you think this is heavy? Because it isn't, it's just serious.
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Fact
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Turned down a part in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) so she could do a play on the London stage.
She was will be replacing Tony Award-winner Cherry Jones' in the Pulitzer Award winning drama, "Doubt" with Ron Eldard in New York City. [January 2006]
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Appearing in "The Birthday Party" at the Duchess Theatre, London. [May 2005]
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She claims to be high-maintenance
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She has no children. She claimed in an interview with the Radio Times that she has never had any maternal instinct and put that down to the fact that she did not get on with her mother
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Is a breast cancer survivor.
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Has been nominated for four Tony Awards: as Best Actress (Dramatic), in 1967 for "The Killing of Sister George" and in 1972 for "Vivat! Vivat Regina!; and as Best Actress (Play), in 1995 for "Indiscretions" and in 2004 for "The Retreat from Moscow."
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Won the Best Actress Award for "Honour" at the 2004 Laurence Olivier Awards.
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2004 Tony Award nominee for Best Actress in a Play for "The Retreat from Moscow."
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She was nominated for a 1997 (1996) Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress in a play for her performance in "John Gabriel Borkman".
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She was nominated for a 2003 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in Honour at the Royal National Theatre: Cottesloe.
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She was awarded the 1997 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in A Delicate Balance.
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She was awarded the 1992 London Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Night of the Iguana.
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She was awarded the 2004 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress of the 2003 season for her performance in "Honour" at the Royal National Theatre: Cottesloe Stage.
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She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1999 (1998 season) for Best Actress for her performance in "The Unexpected Man".
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She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1989 (1988 season) for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for "Cymbeline and Mountain Language".
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Co-creator (with actress Jean Marsh) of the classic British drama series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971) - making her wonderful presence in the Altman upstairs-downstairs movie Gosford Park (2001) particularly resonant.
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She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours List and the DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.