Maureen Lipman

Dame Maureen Lipman was born on 10th May 1946 in Hull, Yorkshire, England. Her father was a Jewish tailor and she was pressed into acting by her mother Zelma, who used to take Maureen to the pantomime and push her onto the stage. She studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Since then, she has appeared in a number of West End productions, including "See How They Run" (1984); "Candide"; "Lost in Yonkers" and her one-woman show "Re Joyce" - her homage to her heroine Joyce Grenfell. In 28 years in the profession, Maureen has only been out of work for four months - and that was when she needed major surgery to remove a tumor at the top of her spine, which was threatening to paralyze her. To many people, Maureen Lipman is "Beattie" from the British Telecom advertisements which won her an award for "You got an Ology?" but, in reality, she has done so much more. She was awarded the C. B. E.

She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award or Best Comedy Performance in 1985 (1984 season) for "See How They Run".

(Commander of the British Empire) in 1993.

Her show, "Live and Kidding", performed at the Duchess Theatre, was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Entertainment of the 1997 season.

(Commander of the British Empire) in the 1999 Queen's New Years Honors List for her services to drama. Her husband, Jack Rosenthal, received a C. B. E.

She was nominated for a 2004 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Musical of 2003 for her performance in "Thoroughly Modern Millie", performed at the Shaftesbury Theatre.