Life and career

Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, the daughter of Alice Travers, a tap dancer and former actress, and Clifford William Wilton, a businessman. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant. Her maternal grandparents owned theatres. She and her sisters, Rosemary and Linda, attended the convent school in Newcastle upon Tyne, at which their mother had previously taught. She attended the Drama Centre London.

Wilton had a successful stage career before transitioning into television acting, and her West End debut was opposite Sir Ralph Richardson. She played Ruth in the original 1974 London stage production of Alan Ayckbourn's Norman Conquests trilogy. Her television acting career began in 1972, playing Vivie Warren in Mrs. Warren's Profession opposite Robert Powell. She then had several major TV roles, including two of the BBC Television Shakespeare productions (as Desdemona in Othello and Regan in King Lear ).

Wilton's film career includes roles in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Cry Freedom (1987), Iris (2001), Calendar Girls (2003) and Shaun of the Dead (2004), Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (2005), Woody Allen's Match Point (2005), and in The History Boys (2006).

However she did not become a household name until she appeared with Richard Briers in the 1984 BBC situation comedy, Ever Decreasing Circles, which ran for five years. She played Ann, long suffering wife of Martin (Briers), an obsessive and pedantic "do-gooder". Throughout the run, Ann seeks a more adventurous lifestyle than that offered as a pillar of the community, and mildly flirts with their considerably more charismatic neighbour Paul (Peter Egan) but she remains faithful to Martin.

In 2005, Wilton guest starred as Harriet Jones for two episodes in the BBC's revival of the popular TV science-fiction series Doctor Who. This guest role was written especially for her by the programme's chief writer and executive producer Russell T. Davies, with whom she had worked on Bob and Rose (ITV, 2001). The character of Jones returned as Prime Minister in the Doctor Who 2005 Christmas special "The Christmas Invasion". In the first part of the 2008 series finale, "The Stolen Earth", she made a final appearance, now as the former Prime Minister who sacrifices herself for extermination by the Daleks so that the Doctor's companions can contact him. She appeared in four episodes.

Wilton has also appeared on television as Barbara Poole, the mother of a missing woman, in the BBC television drama series Five Days in 2005; and in ITV's drama Half Broken Things (October 2007) and the BBC production of The Passion (Easter 2008). Since 2010, she has appeared as Isobel Crawley in the hit period drama Downton Abbey. She was the castaway on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in April 2008.

In December 2012 and February 2013, she was the narrator in Lin Coghlan's dramatisation of The Cazalets (Elizabeth Jane Howard) broadcast on BBC Radio.

Awards and recognition

In 2001, she was nominated for the London Evening Standard Theatre Award for her performance in The Little Foxes at the Donmar Warehouse. In 2004, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to drama. In 2012, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hull's Scarborough Campus.

Year	Olivier Awards	Nominated work	Result
1981	Olivier Award for Actress of the Year in a Revival	Man and Superman	Nominated
1988	Olivier Award for Actress of the Year in a New Play	The Secret Rapture	Nominated
1994	Olivier Award for Best Actress	The Deep Blue Sea	Nominated
2008	Olivier Award for Best Actress	John Gabriel Borkman	Nominated
2009	Olivier Award for Best Actress	The Chalk Garden	Nominated
2015	Olivier Award for Best Actress	Taken at Midnight	Won
Other awards
1981	Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress	Much Ado About Nothing	Won
1993	Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress	The Deep Blue Sea	Won
2012	Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series	Downton Abbey	Won
2014			Won
2015			Won

Roles

Television and film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1972	Thirty-Minute Theatre		TV series (1 episode: "An Affair of Honour")
1972	Country Matters	Rachel Sullens	TV series (1 episode: "The Sullens Sisters")
1972	Play of the Month: Mrs. Warren's Profession (BBC)	Vivie Warren	TV drama (G.B. Shaw)
1973	The Pearcross Girls	Anna Pearcross/Helen Charlesworth/Julia Pearcross/Lottie Merchant	TV series (4 episodes)
1973	The Song of Songs	Lilli Czepanek	TV drama
1975	Play of the Month: King Lear	Regan	Shakespeare, d. Jonathan Miller
1976	The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd		TV drama
1977	Joseph Andrews	Mrs. Wilson
1977	The Norman Conquests: Living Together	Annie	TV drama
1977	The Norman Conquests: Round and Round the Garden	Annie	TV drama
1977	The Norman Conquests: Table Manners	Annie	TV drama
1980	Play for Today	Helen/Virginia Carlion	TV series (2 episodes: 1980-1981)
1981	The French Lieutenant's Woman	Sonia
1981	Othello	Desdemona	Shakespeare (d. Jonathan Miller)
1982	The Tale of Beatrix Potter	Beatrix Potter	TV drama
1982	King Lear	Regan	Shakespeare (d. Jonathan Miller)
1984	Laughterhouse	Alice Singleton
1984	Ever Decreasing Circles	Ann Bryce	TV series (27 episodes: 1984-1989)
1986	Clockwise	Pat
1986	C.A.T.S. Eyes	Angela Lane	TV series (1 episode: "Good as New")
1986	The Monocled Mutineer	Lady Angela Forbes	TV series (2 episodes)
1987	Cry Freedom	Wendy Woods
1990	4 Play	Julia	TV series (1 episode: "Madly in Love")
1992	Blame It on the Bellboy	Patricia Fulford
1992	Screaming	Beatrice	TV series
1992	The Borrowers	Homily	TV series
1993	The Secret Rapture	Marion French
1993	The Return of the Borrowers	Homily	TV series
1994	Performance: The Deep Blue Sea	Hester Collyer	TV series (2 episodes: 1994-1995)
1995	Carrington	Lady Ottoline Morrell
1998	This Could Be the Last Time	Marjorie	TV film
1998	Talking Heads 2	Rosemary	TV miniseries (1 episode: "Nights in the Gardens of Spain")
1998	Alice Through the Looking Glass	White Queen	TV film
1999	Gooseberries Don't Dance		Short
1999	Kavanagh QC	Barbara Watkins	TV series (1 episode: "Time of Need")
1999	Tom's Midnight Garden	Aunt Melbourne
1999	Wives and Daughters	Mrs. Hamley	TV miniseries (2 episodes)
2000	Rockaby		TV short
2001	The Whistle-Blower	Heather Graham	TV film
2001	Victoria & Albert	Princess Victoria, Duchess of Kent	TV film
2001	Bob & Rose	Monica Gossage	TV series (3 episodes)
2001	Iris	Janet Stone
2003	Lucky Jim	Celia Welch	TV film
2003	Calendar Girls	Ruth
2004	Shaun of the Dead	Barbara
2005	Falling	Daisy Langrish	TV film
2005	Match Point	Eleanor Hewett
2005	Pride & Prejudice	Mrs. Gardiner
2005-2008	Doctor Who	Harriet Jones	TV series (4 episodes: 2005-2008)
2006	Celebration	Julie	TV film
2006	The History Boys	Mrs. Bibby
2007	Five Days	Barbara Poole	TV series (4 episodes) Nominated - RTS Award - Best Actor
2007	Half-Broken Things	Jean	TV film
2008	The Passion	Mary	TV miniseries
2009	Marple: They Do It with Mirrors	Carrie Louise Serrocold	TV film
2009	Margot	B.Q.	TV film
2010	My Family	Rosemary Matthews	TV series (1 episode: "Wheelie Ben")
2010-2015	Downton Abbey	Isobel Crawley latterly Baroness (Lady) Merton	TV series
2011	South Riding	Mrs. Beddows	TV series (3 episodes)
2012	The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel	Jean	Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2012	The Girl	Peggy Robertson	TV film
2013	Belle	Lady Mary Murray
2015	The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel	Jean
2016	The BFG	The Queen	Filming
2016	Brief Encounters	Pauline	Filming

Stage

Penelope Wilton commenced her professional career at the Nottingham Playhouse, and appeared alongside Nicholas Clay in The Dandy Lion. She was Regan to Michael Hordern's King Lear at Nottingham Playhouse in 1970; Anna Calder-Marshall played Cordelia, and Thelma Ruby was the elder sister, Goneril.

Year	Title	Role	Venue
1971	West of Suez	Mary	Royal Court Theatre, London
1971	The Philanthropist	Araminta	Royal Court Theatre, then Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City
1972	The Great Exhibition	Maud	Hampstead Theatre Club, London
1973	The Director of the Opera	Sophia	Royal Court Theatre, London
1973	The Seagull	Masha	Chichester Festival
1974	Something's Burning	Dikson	Mermaid Theatre, London
1974	The Norman Conquests	Ruth	Greenwich Theatre, London
1974	Bloomsbury	Dora Carrington	Phoenix Theatre, London
1975	Measure For Measure	Isabella	Greenwich Theatre, London
1976	"Play," Play and Others	Second woman	Royal Court Theatre
1978	Plunder	Prudence Malone	National Theatre Company, Lyttelton Theatre, London
1978	The Philanderer	Julia Craven	National Theatre Company, Lyttelton Theatre
1978	Betrayal	Emma	National Theatre Company, Lyttelton Theatre
1979	Tishoo	Barbara	Wyndham's Theatre, London
1981	Man and Superman	Ann Whitefield and Dona Ana	National Theatre Company, Olivier Theatre, London
1981	Much Ado about Nothing	Beatrice	National Theatre Company, Olivier Theatre
1982	Major Barbara	Barbara Undershaft	National Theatre Company, Lyttelton Theatre
1988	The Secret Rapture	Marion French	National Theatre Company, Lyttelton Theatre
1988	Andromache	Hermione	Old Vic Theatre, London
1990	Piano		Cottesloe Theatre, London
1993	The Deep Blue Sea	Hester Collyer	Almeida Theatre, London
1999	A Kind of Alaska, The Collection, and The Lover	Deborah	Donmar Warehouse, London
2000	The Seagull	Arkadina	Barbican Theatre, London
2001	Lillian Hellman's Little Foxes	Regina	Donmar Warehouse
2002	Afterplay	Sonya	Gielgud Theatre, London Gate Theatre, Dublin
2005	The House of Bernarda Alba	Bernada	National Theatre Company, Lyttelton Theatre
2006	Eh Joe	Female voice	Gate Theatre, Dublin Duke of York's, Westminster, London
2006	Women Beware Women	Livia	Swan Theatre, Stratford
2007	John Gabriel Borkman	Ella Rentheim	Donmar Warehouse, London
2008	The Chalk Garden	Miss Madrigal	Donmar Warehouse, London
2008	The Family Reunion	Agatha	Donmar Warehouse, London
2009	Hamlet	Gertrude	Wyndham's Theatre, London
2011	A Delicate Balance	Agnes	Almeida Theatre, London
2014-15	Taken At Midnight	Irmgard Litten	Minerva Theatre, Chichester/Theatre Royal Haymarket, London

Personal life

Between 1975 and 1984, Wilton was married to the actor Daniel Massey. They had a daughter, Alice, born in 1977. Before this, she had a stillborn son born very premature. She has remarked that this was one of the saddest things in her life. In 1991 Wilton married Sir Ian Holm (in 1998, after he was knighted, she became Lady Holm) and they appeared together as Pod and Homily in the BBC's 1993 adaptation of The Borrowers. They were divorced in 2001.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]