# Deborah Norton

Deborah Norton (born 1944) is an English actress.

## Personal life

Deborah Norton was born in Croydon, Surrey, in 1944. She attended a Quaker boarding school and later studied at the Drama Centre London. She worked in Britain until she toured America with The Beggar's Opera. She later returned to the UK.

## Career
### Stage work

Norton has taken part in productions of Six Degrees of Separation, Thérèse Raquin, The School for Scandal, and others in locations as diverse as the Royal Court, Bristol Old Vic, the Nottingham Playhouse, the National Theatre and others.
| Play | Playwright | Director | Theatre |
| The London Cuckolds | Edward Ravenscroft | Stuart Burge | Royal Court Theatre |
| Inadmissible Evidence | John Osborne | John Osborne | Royal Court Theatre |
| Six Degrees of Separation | John Guare | Phylidda Lloyd | Royal Court Theatre / Comedy Theatre |
| A Lie of the Mind | Sam Shepard | Simon Curtis | Royal Court Theatre |
| Innocent Bystanders | Gordon Graham | Denise Coffey | Royal Court Theatre |
| AC/DC | Heathcote Williams | Nicholas Wright | Royal Court Theatre |
| Red Cross | Sam Shepard | | Royal Court Theatre |
| Backbone | Michael Rosen | | Royal Court Theatre |
| The Enoch Show | | | Royal Court Theatre |
| Anarchist | Michael Almaz | | Royal Court Theatre |
| The Dragon | Yevgeny Schwarz | | Royal Court Theatre |
| The Black Prince | Iris Murdoch | Stuart Burge | Aldwych Theatre |
| A Little Hotel on the Side | Georges Feydeau (adapted by John Mortimer) | Jonathan Lynn | Royal National Theatre |
| On the Razzle | Johann Nestroy (adapted by Tom Stoppard) | Peter Wood | Royal National Theatre |
| Barnaby and the Old Boys | Keith Baxter | Toby Robertson | Clwyd Theatr Cymru / Vaudeville Theatre |
| Kennedy's Children | Robert Patrick (playwright) | Clive Donner | Arts Theatre |
| The Philanthropist | Christopher Hampton | Robert Kidd | May Fair Theatre |
| Agamemnon | Steven Berkoff | Steven Berkoff | Greenwich Theatre |
| The Ball Game | Tom Thomas | John Fortune | Open Space Theatre |
| Suicide in B Flat | Sam Shepard | Kenneth Chubb | Open Space Theatre |
| The Italian Straw Hat | Eugene Labiche and Marc-Michel | Ray Cooney | Shaftesbury Theatre |
| Waiting for the Parade | John Murrell | Richard Cottrell | Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith) |
| Children's Day | Keith Waterhouse & Willis Hall | Clive Perry | Mermaid Theatre |
| Chiaroscuro | Israel Horovitz | | Institute of Contemporary Arts |
| The Electronic Nigger | Ed Bullins | | |
| Dandy Dick | Arthur Wing Pinero | Sheila Hancock | Cambridge Arts Theatre |
| Schooldays | JB Stevenson | Jonathan Lynn | Cambridge Arts Theatre |
| What the Butler Saw | Joe Orton | Roger Michell | Cambridge Arts Theatre |
| Private Lives | Noël Coward | Gareth Morgan | Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne |
| The School for Scandal | Richard Brinsley Sheridan | Phyllida Lloyd | Manchester Royal Exchange |
| Thérèse Raquin | Emile Zola | Pip Broughton | Nottingham Playhouse |
| Trees in the Wind | John McGrath | | 7:84 Company, Edinburgh Festival |
| Killing of Mr Toad | David Gooderson | David Gooderson | King's Head Theatre |
| The Lenny Bruce Show | | Danny Brainin | King's Head Theatre |
| Cracks | Martin Sherman | Tim Luscombe | King's Head Theatre |
| Suicide in B Flat | Sam Shepard | | Open Space Theatre |
| Just Between Ourselves | Alan Ayckbourn | Terry Johnson | Bristol Old Vic |
| Sixty Thousand Nights | | Val May | Bristol Old Vic |
| Nightshade | Stewart Parker | Peter Farago | Birmingham Repertory Theatre / King's Head Theatre |
| California Dog Fight | Mark Lee | Simon Stokes | Bush Theatre |
| Look Back in Anger | John Osborne | Jonathan Hales | Phoenix Theatre |
| Live Like Pigs | John Arden | Jonathan Hales | |
| The Country Wife | William Wycherley | Jonathan Hales | Phoenix Theatre |
| A View From The Bridge | Arthur Miller | | Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Lock Up Your Daughters | | | Theatre Royal, Lincoln |
| The Governor's Lady | David Mercer | | |
| What the Butler Saw | Joe Orton | Robert Delamere | Manchester Royal Exchange |

### Television

She has acted roles in many television productions, including Marta Dorf in the television miniseries Holocaust and roles in A Bit of Fry & Laurie, although she is perhaps best known for her role as the PM's advisor Dorothy Wainwright in Yes, Prime Minister.

## Selected filmography

* Holocaust (1978)
* Robbie (1979)
* The Wildcats of St Trinian's (1980)
* Play for Today (4 plays, 1976–1981)
* Yes, Prime Minister (6 episodes, 1986–1988)
* A Bit of Fry & Laurie (3 episodes, 1989)
* Making Out (2 episodes, 1989)
* Health and Efficiency (12 Episodes 1993 – 1995)
* Chalk (1 Episode 1997)

## Awards and nominations

Nominated for Best Actress for her work on Kennedy's Children by Plays and Players Magazine
Nominated for Best Supporting Actress for School For Scandal by the Manchester Evening News