Biography

She has no children. She stated 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.

Is a breast cancer survivor.

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.

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.

She was awarded the 1992 London Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "The Night of the Iguana".

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.

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.

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.

I'm rarely wrong.

When I worked on Wolf (1994), Jack Nicholson came onto the set preceded by five people looking after him. It was impossible to get to know him. We'd barely been introduced and were about to do a shot when I noticed his flies were undone. So, I told him. Jack couldn't have cared less, said thank you and zipped himself up. But for everyone else, you'd have thought I'd lifted the Pope's gowns and shown his knickers. Ridiculous!