The Good Life

In 1975 Kendal had her big break on television with the BBC sitcom The Good Life. She and Richard Briers starred as Barbara and Tom Good - a middle-class suburban couple who decide to quit the rat race and become self-sufficient, much to the consternation of their snooty but well-meaning neighbour Margo and her down-to-earth husband Jerry Leadbetter (played by Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington). Kendal appeared in all 30 episodes, which extended over four series and two specials from 1975 to 1978.

Kendal has said that she can be "short-tempered and difficult", in contrast to the generally cheerful, patient and upbeat Barbara, with whom the public have come to associate her.[3]

Stage work

Kendal made her stage debut aged nine months, when she was carried on stage as a changeling boy in A Midsummer Night's Dream.[1]

She made her London stage debut in Minor Murder (1967), and went on to star in a number of well regarded plays.[citation needed]

Kendal's stage career blossomed during the 1980s and 1990s when she formed a close professional association with Tom Stoppard, starring in the first productions of many of his plays, including The Real Thing (1982), Hapgood (1988), Arcadia (1993), and Indian Ink (1995). This last was originally a radio play and the role was written for her.

She won the Evening Standard Theatre Award in 1989 for her performances in Much Ado About Nothing and Ivanov.

In 2002, Kendal starred in Charlotte Jones's play Humble Boy when it transferred from the National Theatre to the West End. In 2006 she starred in the West End revival of Amy's View by David Hare.

In 2008 she appeared in the West End in a revival of Noël Coward's play The Vortex.

In 2009 she appeared in the play The Last Cigarette (by Simon Gray) and in 2010 in Mrs. Warren's Profession (by Shaw). Both played at the Chichester Festival Theatre and subsequently in the West End.

In October 2013 she toured the UK with Simon Callow in Chin-Chin, an English translation by Willis Hall of Francois Billetdoux's Tchin-Tchin.[8]

In 2013 she starred in the first London revival of Relatively Speaking by Alan Ayckbourn at the Wyndham's Theatre.[9] In 2014, she toured the UK[10] and Australia as Judith Bliss in Noël Coward's Hay Fever, which then played in the West End.[11]

In 2017 she starred with Maureen Lipman in a revival of Lettice and Lovage at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Personal life

Kendal's first marriage to Drewe Henley (1968-79) and her second to Michael Rudman (1983-90) ended in divorce. Kendal has two sons: Charley, from her marriage to Henley, and Jacob, from her marriage to Rudman. In 1991 she left Rudman, and subsequently started a relationship with playwright Tom Stoppard.[12] The affair with Stoppard ended in 1998, and Kendal has since reunited with Michael Rudman.[12]

Kendal was brought up as a Catholic. She converted to Judaism at the time of her second marriage,[3] and has stated about the conversion, "I felt I was returning to my roots".[13] Her conversion took more than three years; she has stated that her decision to convert had "nothing to do" with her husband.[14]

In 1998 Kendal published a book of memoirs titled White Cargo.[4]

When asked (by The Guardian in 2010) whom she would invite to her "dream dinner party", Kendal replied "Emmeline Pankhurst, Gandhi, Byron, Eddie Izzard, George Bernard Shaw, Golda Meir, and Marlene Dietrich".[7]

Kendal was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1995 New Year Honours for services to drama.[1][15] Felicity Kendal is an ambassador for the charity Royal Voluntary Service, previously known as WRVS.[citation needed]

Filmography

Television work

As herself:

• Strictly Come Dancing (series 8), (2010)[1] - partnered with Vincent Simone. The couple were eliminated in the eighth week (staged in Blackpool).
• Felicity Kendal's Indian Shakespeare Quest, (2012)
• Piers Morgan's Life Stories, (2012)

Film work

Kendal's film roles are:

• Shakespeare Wallah (1965) - as Lizzie Buckingham. The film (by Merchant Ivory) was loosely based on the Kendal family's real-life experiences in post-colonial India.[2]
• Valentino (1977) - as June Mathis
• We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993) - voiced Elsa
• Parting Shots (1999) - as Jill Saunders
• How Proust Can Change Your Life, (2000) - as narrator

Awards

• 1976 - Most Promising Newcomer - Variety Club
• 1979 - Best Actress - Variety Club
• 1980 - Clarence Derwent Award
• 1984 - Woman of the Year - Best Actress - Variety Club
• 1989 - Best Actress - Evening Standard Theatre Awards

[ Source: Wikipedia ]