# Gemma Jones

Jennifer "Gemma" Jones (born 4 December 1942) is an English actress. Appearing on both stage and screen, her film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), the Bridget Jones series (2001–2025), the Harry Potter series (2002–2011), You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010), and Ammonite (2020).
For her role in the BBC television film Marvellous (2014), she won the 2015 BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress. She had received three previous nominations in the Best Actress category in 1971, 1972 and 1977 for her television roles. Her other roles on television include Rainbow City (1967), The Duchess of Duke Street (1976–1977), Trial & Retribution (2003–2008), Spooks (2007–2008), Teacup Travels (2015–2017), Diana and I (2017), and Gentleman Jack (2019).
On the stage, Jones was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Actress of the Year in a New Play for And a Nightingale Sang in 1979.

## Early life

Jones was born in Marylebone, the daughter of Irene (née Isaac; 1911–1985) and Harold "Griffith" Jones, an actor (1909–2007). Her brother Nicholas Jones is also an actor. She attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she won the gold medal.

## Career

During the 1960s, Gemma Jones performed with companies at regional theatres including the Nottingham Playhouse, Birmingham Repertory Theatre and the Little Theatre, Bristol. In 1962 she appeared at the Mermaid Theatre as Gilda in the original stage production of Alfie. In the 1970s, Jones performed in productions with the National Theatre at the Old Vic and with the Royal Shakespeare Company as Hippolyta/Titania. Jones made many further performances in classical and contemporary plays with the RSC in the 1980s and 1990s, including appearances in separate productions of The Winters Tale as both Hermione (1981) and a decade later as Paulina (1993). In 1986, she played the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi in After Aida at the Old Vic Theatre.
On television Jones became known to viewers after starring in the BBC serial Kenilworth (1967) as Queen Elizabeth I, and in BBC 2's 1970 dramatisation of The Spoils of Poynton.
She was first recognised outside the UK in the mid-1970s, after playing the Empress Frederick in the BBC television drama series Fall of Eagles and Louisa Trotter in another BBC drama, The Duchess of Duke Street. In 1980, she played the role of Portia in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of The Merchant of Venice, opposite Warren Mitchell's Shylock.
Jones played Madeleine de Brou in the 1971 Ken Russell film The Devils. She played Mrs. Dashwood alongside Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson in the Academy Award-winning period drama Sense and Sensibility (1995). Her other notable roles include Mrs. Fairfax in Jane Eyre (1997), Lady Queensbury in Wilde (1997), Grace Winslow in The Winslow Boy (1999), Bridget's mother Pam Jones in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and Poppy Pomfrey in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), reprising her role in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011).
From 2007 to 2008, she played Connie James in the BBC1 drama Spooks. She appeared in the Woody Allen film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger in 2010. In 2011, she appeared in the BBC1 series Merlin, as the Cailleach, the gatekeeper to the spirit world. Also in 2011 she appeared in the Bridge Project's version of Richard III as Queen Margaret, alongside Kevin Spacey as Richard III and directed by Sam Mendes, at the Old Vic and subsequently on an international tour.
She received the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Neil Baldwin's mother, Mary, in the 2014 television film Marvellous.
In 2015, Jones played the part of Petunia Howe in the three-part BBC series Capital, based on John Lanchester's novel of the same name. In the 2018 BBC Radio 4 production of The Importance of Being Earnest Jones played the part of Lady Augusta Bracknell.
Jones has twice played the same part of Anne Lister's aunt, first in the 2010 BBC telefilm The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister and again in the 2019-2022 BBC/HBO programme Gentleman Jack.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1971 | The Devils | Madeleine | |
| 1988 | Paperhouse | Dr. Sarah Nicols | |
| 1988 | On the Black Hill | Mary Jones | |
| 1995 | Feast of July | Mrs. Wainwright | |
| 1995 | Sense and Sensibility | Mrs. Dashwood | |
| 1997 | Wilde | Lady Queensberry | |
| 1998 | OK Garage | Mrs. Wiggins | |
| 1998 | The Theory of Flight | Anne | |
| 1999 | The Winslow Boy | Grace Winslow | |
| 1999 | Captain Jack | Eunice Pickles | |
| 1999 | Cotton Mary | Mrs Freda Davids | |
| 2001 | Bridget Jones's Diary | Pamela Jones | |
| 2001 | Don't Tempt Me | Nancy | |
| 2002 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Madam Poppy Pomfrey | |
| 2003 | Shanghai Knights | Queen Victoria | |
| 2003 | Kiss of Life | Sonia | |
| 2004 | Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason | Pamela Jones | |
| 2005 | Fragile | Mrs. Folder | |
| 2007 | The Contractor | Mrs. Day | Short |
| 2008 | Good | Mother | |
| 2009 | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | Madam Poppy Pomfrey | |
| 2010 | You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger | Helena | |
| 2010 | Forget me Not | Lizzie Fisher | |
| 2011 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 | Madam Poppy Pomfrey | |
| 2011 | Hysteria | Lady St. John-Smythe | |
| 2013 | Burn the Clock | Becky | Short |
| 2014 | Radiator | Maria | |
| 2016 | Bridget Jones's Baby | Pamela Jones | |
| 2017 | God's Own Country | Deirdre Saxby | |
| 2017 | Carnage | Davina | |
| 2017 | Gypsy's Kiss | Judith | Short |
| 2017 | You, Me and Him | Sue Miller | |
| 2018 | The Egg and the Thieving Pie | Thelma | |
| 2018 | Patrick | Celia | |
| 2019 | Rocketman | Ivy | |
| 2020 | Ammonite | Molly Anning | |
| 2021 | Benediction | Older Hester Gatty | |
| 2022 | Emily | Aunt Branwell | |
| 2023 | Wicked Little Letters | Victoria Swan | |
| 2025 | Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy | Pamela Jones | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Note |
| 1962 | ITV Play of the Week | Postmistress | Episode: "The Typewriter" |
| 1962 | No Hiding Place | Brenda | |
| 1963 | The Human Jungle | Pamela Phillips | Episode: "The Vacant Chair" |
| 1963 | ITV Television Playhouse | Rachel | Episode: "Adam's Apple" |
| 1965 | Theatre 625 | Victoire / Lucille Desmoulins | Episode: "Poor Bitos" |
| 1966 | ITV Play of the Week | Vera Fawcett | Episode: "Come Laughing Home" |
| 1966 | Thirteen Against Fate | Antoinette Baron | Episode: "The Lodger" |
| 1966 | Theatre 625 | Nina | Episode: "The Seagull" |
| 1967 | Rainbow City | Mary Steele | 4 episodes |
| 1968 | Sanctuary | Sister Stephens | Episode: "The Novice" |
| 1969 | The Wednesday Play | Clarice | Episode: "Smoke Screen" |
| 1970 | Crime of Passion | Nicole Delcourt | Episode: "Nicole" |
| 1970 | The Spoils of Poynton | Fleda Vetch | 4 episodes |
| 1971 | Shadows of Fear | Judith | Episode: "At Occupier's Risk" |
| 1974 | Fall of Eagles | Princess Vicky | 2 episodes |
| 1976–1977 | The Duchess of Duke Street | Louisa Trotter | 31 episodes |
| 1980 | The Merchant of Venice | Portia | TV movie |
| 1986 | The Importance of Being Earnest | Miss Prism | TV movie |
| 1987 | Inspector Morse | Anne Staveley | Episode: "The Dead of Jericho" |
| 1988 | The Storyteller | Queen | Episode: "The Heartless Giant" |
| 1989 | Chelworth | Virginia Hincham | 8 episodes |
| 1990 | The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Mrs Peveril | 3 episodes |
| 1991 | Devices and Desires – Adam Dalgliesh | Alice Mair | 6 episodes |
| 1993 | Wycliffe and the Cycle of Death | Sara Glynn | TV movie |
| 1993 | Screen One | Nicky Dobbs | Episode: "Tender Loving Care" |
| 1993 | The Return of the Borrowers | Miss Menzies | 3 episodes |
| 1994 | Faith | Jane Moreton | 4 episodes |
| 1997 | Jane Eyre | Mrs Fairfax | |
| 1997 | The Phoenix and the Carpet | Mrs Bibble | 6 episodes |
| 1999 | An Evil Streak | Beatrice Kyle | 3 episodes |
| 2002 | Bootleg | Mrs Bubby | 3 episodes |
| 2002 | Midsomer Murders | Maisie Gooch | Episode: "Ring Out Your Dead" |
| 2003 | Agatha Christie's Poirot | Miss Cecilia Williams | Episode: "Five Little Pigs" |
| 2003–2008 | Trial & Retribution | Dr Jean Mullins | 10 episodes |
| 2005 | All About George | Kate Kinsey | 6 episodes |
| 2007 | Ballet Shoes | Dr Jakes | TV movie |
| 2007–2008 | Spooks | Connie James | 16 episodes |
| 2010 | The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister | Aunt Lister | TV movie |
| 2010 | Whistle and I'll Come to You | Alice Parkin | TV movie |
| 2011 | Merlin | The Cailleach | 2 episodes |
| 2013 | The Lady Vanishes | Rose Flood-Porter | TV movie |
| 2013 | Death in Paradise | Sister Anne | Episode: "An Unholy Death" |
| 2013 | Last Tango in Halifax | Muriel | 2 episodes |
| 2014 | Marvellous | Mary | TV movie |
| 2015 | Doc Martin | Annie Winton | 2 episodes |
| 2015 | Unforgotten | Claire Slater | 6 episodes |
| 2015 | Capital | Petunia | 3 episodes |
| 2015–2017 | Teacup Travels | Great Aunt Lizzie | 45 episodes |
| 2017 | Diana and I | Mrs McDonald | TV movie |
| 2019–2022 | Gentleman Jack | Aunt Anne Lister | 16 episodes |
| 2020 | Cold Feet | Heather Childs | 1 episode |
| 2020 | The Crown | Penelope Carter | Episode: "The Hereditary Principle" |
| 2021 | Finding Alice | Minnie | 6 episodes |
| 2023 | The Reckoning | Agnes Savile | 2 episodes |
| 2024 | Murder, They Hope | Brenda | 1 episode |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role |
| 2018 | Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery | Madam Pomfrey (voice) |

## Other projects, contributions

* When Love Speaks (2002, EMI Classics) – Shakespeare's "Sonnet 50" ("How heavy do I journey on the way")