Trivia

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".

She has portrayed the same character (Queen Mary of Teck, wife of King George V of England) in two different works: the TV movie Bertie and Elizabeth (2002) and the Netflix TV series The Crown (2016).

Turned down a part in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) so she could do a play on the London stage.

She claims to be high-maintenance.

She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1989 (1988 season) for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for "Cymbeline" and "Mountain Language".

She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1999 (1998 season) for Best Actress for her performance in "The Unexpected Man".

She was awarded the 1997 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "A Delicate Balance".

Has been nominated for four Tony Awards: as Best Actress (Dramatic), in 1967 for "The Killing of Sister George" and in 1972 for "Vivat! Vivat Regina!"; and as Best Actress (Play), in 1995 for "Indiscretions" and in 2004 for "The Retreat from Moscow".

She was will be replacing Tony Award-winner Cherry Jones' in the Pulitzer Award winning drama, "Doubt" with Ron Eldard in New York City. (January 2006)

She was awarded the 2004 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress of the 2003 season for her performance in "Honour" at the Royal National Theatre: Cottesloe Stage.

Won the Best Actress Award for "Honour" at the 2004 Laurence Olivier Awards.

2004 Tony Award nominee for Best Actress in a Play for "The Retreat from Moscow."

She was nominated for a 1997 (1996) Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress in a play for her performance in "John Gabriel Borkman".

Both she and Judi Dench have portrayed Princess Dragomiroff in the different versions of Agatha Christie's novel "Murder on the Orient Express"; Atkins in a 2010 episode of Poirot (1989) and Dench in the film Murder on the Orient Express (2017). Prior to these adaptations Atkins and Dench played sisters on Cranford (2007).

Her mother was told by a gypsy that she was going to be a great dancer so she sent her to dance school which Atkins hated. At 12 she rebelled and said that she wasn't doing it any more. At her first school she was in a play of Little Women and decided that was what she wanted to do. which was confirmed when in senior school she did Alice in Wonderland. Her parents weren't happy at her intention but she got further involved in the theatre when she married actor Julian Glover and went on to appear in As You Like It at Stratford.

She was nominated for a 2003 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Honour" at the Royal National Theatre: Cottesloe.

Appearing in "The Birthday Party" at the Duchess Theatre, London. (May 2005)

Filming Wild Target (2010) with Rupert Grint and Bill Nighy. (2008)

Appearing with Anna Maxwell Martin and Sophie Thompson in Joanna Murray-Smith's "Female of the Species" at the Vaudeville Theatre in London. (July 2008)

She was made a Dame in 2001.

She is starring with John Lithgow and Ben Chaplin in William Nicholson's drama, "The Retreat from Moscow", on Broadway. (February 2004)

Daughter of Arthur (1886-1975) and Annie (née Elkins) Atkins (1889-1984).

Second husband Bill Shepherd was a television commercial producer.