Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes was born on May 18, 1941 in Oxford. A short, heavy-set British character actress, Margolyes has performed primarily on the stage and radio, generally in eccentric comedy roles often requiring her to play older than her years. After studies at Cambridge, she began acting in radio with the BBC. Over the next decade Margolyes' ripe delivery could be heard everywhere in radio spots and TV commercial voiceovers, including a stint as a seductive rabbit plugging Cadbury's Carmel Bunny candy and as a charwoman chimp for a tea ad. Margolyes did not act regularly in film until the mid-1970s, and for a time most of her roles were in little-seen British films including Battle of Billy's Pond, The (1976) and the experimental Crystal Gazing (1982) (1982), or small parts in the US-made Yentl (1983) and Little Shop of Horrors (1986). She gained critical and public attention with her performance as flirtatious spinster Flora Finching in the two-part film adaptation of Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit (1988). She followed with an amusing turn as Kevin Kline's outraged mother in the black comedy I Love You to Death (1990)and a failed sitcom, "Frannie's Turn" (1992). Margolyes received her greatest popular acclaim (under heavy padding) as the elderly, sharp-tongued Mrs. Mingott, the primary source of comic relief in Age of Innocence, The (1993). The widely expected Oscar nomination for Margolyes' work as Mrs. Mingott surprisingly did not appear, but the actress continued in prominent roles in ambitious films like Immortal Beloved (1994). She also extended her stream of oddball efforts with Ed and His Dead Mother (1993), as the deceased titular parent, wielding a chainsaw and eating bugs with her customary glee. Voiceover work kept her busy as well, her most popular effort in this vein being Fly, the maternal but pragmatic dog who learns about not compromising one's dreams from a pig named Babe (1995). She was awarded an OBE, or Officer of the Order of British Empire, by Queen Elizabeth II in the New Year's Eve Honors List 2001.

If you would like to send a fan letter to Miriam Margolyes, the following address handles her fan mail:

Miriam Margolyes
c/o PFD Drury House
34-43 Russell St.
London
WC2B 5HA
England