# Jane Lapotaire

Jane Elizabeth Marie Lapotaire (née Burgess; 26 December 1944) is an English actress from Suffolk. Lapotaire won the Laurence Olivier Award for Actress of the Year in a New Play for Piaf in 1979 and was nominated for the Actress of the Year Award in 1990 for Shadowlands. Additionally, Lapotaire was twice nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for Marie Curie and Sea Tales: The Return (1977) and Blind Justice (1988).

## Biography

Lapotaire was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, the daughter of Louise Elise (Burgess). Her stepfather, Yves Lapotaire, worked in the oil industry and was originally from Quebec, Canada. From the age of two months, she was raised as a foster child by an old-age pensioner, Grace Chisnell (Granny Grace), who was also the foster mother of Lapotaire's own biological mother, a French orphan, who was abandoned in England. When Lapotaire was about 12, her biological mother made a bid to get her back. The child welfare department of the Suffolk County Council intervened and decided that the mother had this right. Lapotaire chose to be with Granny Grace, but lived with her biological mother and stepfather, who worked in various French oil companies in North Africa (particularly Libya), three times a year. She also adopted their family name. The Lapotaires in North Africa were Francophones, and like French colonials at that time, lived around the French embassy. Granny Grace died in 1984 aged 96 and Louise Burgess died in 1999.
She studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School from 1961 to 1963, the programme was a two-year course at that time, unlike the three-year course today. She had earlier auditioned for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, but failed to get in. She joined the Bristol Old Vic theatre company in 1965. She joined the National Theatre in 1967, was a founding member of The Young Vic Theatre in 1970/1971, and moved to the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1974.
Her performance in the title role of Marie Curie (1977) first brought her to wide attention. In 1978, she performed the title role Édith Piaf for Pam Gems's play Piaf, directed by Howard Davies for the Royal Shakespeare Company, in Stratford-upon-Avon and in London at the Warehouse Theatre, Covent Garden in 1979. Two years later, the show moved to Broadway. Lapotaire won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play that year.
She was married to director Roland Joffé from 1974 to 1980; they had one son, screenwriter and director Rowan Joffé (born 1973). Following their divorce, she was for a time the partner of actor Michael Pennington.
She returned to the Royal Shakespeare Company in October–November 2013 as the Duchess of Gloucester in Gregory Doran's adaptation of Richard II with David Tennant in the title role. This was followed in October–December 2015 as Queen Isobel in Henry V. On Christmas Day in 2014, she appeared as Princess Irina Kuragin in season five, episode nine of Downton Abbey.

## Writing

Lapotaire has written a number of memoirs: Grace and Favour (1989), Out of Order: A Haphazard Journey Through One Woman's Year (1999), and Everybody's Daughter, Nobody's Child (2007), which includes an account of her childhood growing up in Levington Road, Ipswich.

## Illness

On 11 January 2000, while preparing to teach a course on Shakespeare at the Ecole Internationale in Paris, Lapotaire suffered a massive cerebral haemorrhage. Four days after her collapse, she underwent a six-hour surgery and spent the next three weeks largely unconscious. She writes about her recovery in Time Out of Mind.

## Associations

Lapotaire is honorary president of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Club, and is president of the Friends of Shakespeare's Globe.

## Filmography

Film :
| Year | Title | Role |
| 1970 | Crescendo | Lillianne |
| 1972 | Antony and Cleopatra | Charmian |
| 1973 | The Asphyx | Christina Cunningham |
| 1975 | One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing | Miss Prescott |
| 1983 | Eureka | Helen McCann |
| 1984 | To Catch a King | Irene Neumann |
| 1986 | Lady Jane | Princess/Queen Mary |
| 1996 | Surviving Picasso | Olga Picasso |
| 1997 | Shooting Fish | Dylan's Headmistress |
| 2000 | There's Only One Jimmy Grimble | Alice Brewer |
| 2005 | Can't Stop Breathing | Daisy (short movie) |
| 2016 | The Young Messiah | Sarah |
| 2020 | Rebecca | Granny |
| 2021 | Smyrna | Filio Mpaltatzi |
Television :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1968 | Sherlock Holmes | Annie Harrison | Episode: "The Naval Treaty" |
| 1971 | Jason King | French maid | Episode: "Buried in the Cold, Cold Ground" |
| 1971 | The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes | Emily Shaw | Episode: "The Case of Laker, Absconded |
| 1972 | Play for Today | Alice Stocker | Episode: "Stocker's Copper" |
| 1972 | Owen, M.D. | Jennie Hopkins | Episode: "It Never Rains" (2 parts) |
| 1972 | Callan | Kristina | Episode: "The Contract" |
| 1972 | Love and Mr Lewisham | Miss Alice Heydinger | Mini-series |
| 1972 | Armchair Theatre | Jean | Episode: "On Call" |
| 1972 | The Edwardians | Alice Hoatson | Episode: "E. Nesbit" |
| 1973 | Van der Valk | Elly | Episode: "Rich Man, Poor Man" |
| 1973 | Country Matters | Orianda | Episode: "The Black Dog" (S2E02) |
| 1973 | Crown Court | Juliet Tomlin | Episode: "Robin and his Juliet" |
| 1975 | Edward the Seventh | Empress Marie of Russia | |
| 1976 | Play for Today | Kim | Episode: "The Other Woman" |
| 1976 | The House of Bernarda Alba | Magdalena | |
| 1977 | Sea Tales | Narrator Bridget Ritsin | Episode: "The Return" |
| 1977 | Marie Curie | Marie Curie | [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] |
| 1978 | Wings | Anne Boissier | Episode: "Another Country" |
| 1978 | The Devil's Crown | Eleanor of Aquitaine | |
| 1979 | Jackanory | Storyteller | Episode: "Fanny's Sister" |
| 1981 | Antony & Cleopatra | Cleopatra | TV film |
| 1982 | The Barretts of Wimpole Street | Elizabeth Moulton-Barrett | |
| 1983 | The Captain's Doll | Evangeline | |
| 1983 | Macbeth | Lady Macbeth | TV film |
| 1984 | The Testament of John | Claire | |
| 1985 | Seal Morning | Miriam Spencer | |
| 1987 | Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story | Letizia Bonaparte | |
| 1988 | Theatre Night | Aline Solness | Episode: "The Master Builder" |
| 1988 | Blind Justice | Katherine Hughes | Episodes: "Crime and Punishment", "White Man Listen", "The One about the Irishman", "A Death in the Family", "Permanent Blue" |
| 1989 | The Dark Angel | Madame de la Rougierre | |
| 1989 | Murder on the Moon | Louise Mackey | TV film |
| 1990 | Screen Two | Helen | Episode: "Circles of Deceit" |
| 1992‍–‍93 | Love Hurts | Diane Warburg | (Series 1–2, 20 episodes) |
| 1994 | The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries | Elspeth Cost | Episode: "Dead Water" |
| 1995 | Johnny and the Dead | Mrs. Sylvia Liberty | |
| 1996 | Casualty | Eileen Jarvis | Episode: "We Shall Overcome" |
| 1996 | The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Anouk Khoori | Episode: "Simisola" |
| 1996 | Giving Tongue | Hilda Jacob | |
| 1997 | McCallum | Miriam Konrad | Episode: "Sacrifice" |
| 1997 | Ain't Misbehavin' | Clara Van Trapp | |
| 2000 | Arabian Nights | Miriam | TV film |
| 2001 | Midsomer Murders | Mary Mohan | Episode: "Who Killed Cock Robin?" |
| 2004 | Bella and the Boys | Mrs. Rogers | TV film |
| 2004 | He Knew He Was Right | Lady Milborough | |
| 2005 | The Inspector Lynley Mysteries | Fiona Deakin-Jones | Episode: "Word of God" |
| 2006 | Elizabeth David – a Life in Recipes | Ernestine Carter | |
| 2006 | Eleventh Hour | Gepetto | Episode: "Resurrection" |
| 2009 | Casualty | Maureen | Episodes: "Crush" and "Better Drowned" |
| 2009 | Trial & Retribution | Tess | Episode: "Ghost Train (Part 1)" |
| 2013 | Lucan | Older Susie Maxwell-Scott | Episode: 1 |
| 2014 | Downton Abbey | Princess Kuragin | Episode: "A Moorland Holiday" |
| 2019 | The Crown | Princess Alice of Battenberg | 2 episodes |
| 2021 | Dalgliesh | Lady Lavinia Berowne | Episode: "A Taste for Death" |
| 2023 | Endeavour | Madame Belasco | Episode: "Prelude" |
| 2023 | The Burning Girls | Joan Hartman | Main role |

## Theatre

Her stage credits include:
| Date | Title | Role | Director | Company / Theatre |
| 1965 | When We Are Married (Stage debut) | Ruby Birtle | | Bristol Old Vic / Theatre Royal, Bristol |
| 1965–1967 | Mrs. Warren's Profession | Vivie | | Bristol Old Vic / Theatre Royal, Bristol |
| 1965–1967 | War and Peace | Natasha | | Bristol Old Vic / Theatre Royal, Bristol |
| 1965–1967 | The Homecoming | Ruth | | Bristol Old Vic / Theatre Royal, Bristol |
| 1967 | The Dance of Death | Judith | | National Theatre, London |
| 1967 | A Flea in Her Ear | Antoinette | | National Theatre |
| 1969 | The Way of the World | Mincing, later Mrs. Fainall | | National Theatre |
| 1969 | Macrune's Guevara | Tania | | National Theatre |
| 1969 | The White Devil | Zanche | | National Theatre |
| 1969 | The Travails of Sancho Panza | Don Quixote's niece | | National Theatre |
| 1970 | The Merchant of Venice | Jessica | | National Theatre |
| 1970–1971 | Scapino | Zerbinetta | | Young Vic Theatre, London |
| 1970–1971 | The Taming of the Shrew | Katherina | | Young Vic Theatre |
| 1970–1971 | Oedipus | Jocasta | | Young Vic Theatre |
| 1970–1971 | Measure for Measure | Isabella | | Young Vic Theatre |
| 1971 | The Captain of Köpenick | Lieschen | | National Theatre |
| 1974 | Macbeth | Lady Macduff | | Royal Shakespeare Company |
| 1974 | Uncle Vanya | Sonya | | Royal Shakespeare Company |
| 1975 | As You Like It | Rosalind | | Nottingham Playhouse, Nottingham, then Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh |
| 1975 | Twelfth Night | Viola | | Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford, then Aldwych Theatre, London |
| 1975 | A Month in the Country | Vera | | Royal Shakespeare Company / Albery Theatre, London |
| 1975 | A Room with a View | Lucy Honeychurch | | Royal Shakespeare Company / Albery Theatre |
| 30 May 1976 | As You Like It | Rosalind | Peter Gill | Riverside Studios, London |
| 1976 | The Duchess of Malfi | Title role | | Bristol Old Vic / Theatre Royal, Bristol |
| 1979 | Love's Labour's Lost | Rosaline | | Stratford, 1978 then Aldwych Theatre |
| 1979 | Piaf | Édith Piaf | Howard Davies | The Other Palace, London, then Warehouse Theatre, London, later Aldwych Theatre |
| 1980 | Piaf | Édith Piaf | Howard Davies | Wyndham's Theatre and Piccadilly Theatre, London |
| 5 Feb 1981 – 28 Jun 1981 | Piaf | Édith Piaf | Howard Davies | Royal Shakespeare Company / Plymouth Theatre, New York City |
| 1983 | Kick for Touch | Eileen | Peter Gill | National Theatre |
| 12 September 1983 – | Dear Anyone | agony aunt | | Birmingham Repertory Theatre |
| 8 November 1983 – | Dear Anyone | agony aunt | | Cambridge Theatre |
| 1984 | Venice Preserv'd | Belvidera | | National Theatre |
| 15 May 1984 – | Antigone | Antigone | John Burgess and Peter Gill | National Theatre / Cottesloe Theatre, London |
| 1985 | Saint Joan | Title role | | Compass Company |
| 1986 | Double Double | | | Fortune Theatre, London |
| 1986 | Misalliance | | | Royal Shakespeare Company |
| 1986 | Archbishop's Ceiling | | | Royal Shakespeare Company |
| 1988 | Greenland | | | Royal Court Theatre, London |
| 1989–1990 | Shadowlands | Joy Davidman | | Queen's Theatre, London |
| 1992 | Hamlet | Gertrude | | Royal Shakespeare Company / Barbican Theatre, London |
| 1993 | Ghosts | Mrs. Alving | | Royal Shakespeare Company / The Other Place Theatre, Stratford |
| 26 November 1996 – 1997 | Henry VIII (also known as The Famous History of the Life of Henry VIII) | Katherine of Aragon | Gregory Doran | Royal Shakespeare Company / Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| 18 February 1998 – | Henry VIII (also known as The Famous History of the Life of Henry VIII) | Katherine of Aragon | Gregory Doran | Royal Shakespeare Company / Young Vic Theatre |
| 10 September 2006 – | The Rape of Lucrece | | Gregory Doran | Royal Shakespeare Company / Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| October 2013 – 16 November 2013 | Richard II | Duchess of Gloucester | Gregory Doran | Royal Shakespeare Company / Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| December 2013 – 25 January 2014 | Richard II | Duchess of Gloucester | Gregory Doran | Royal Shakespeare Company / Barbican Theatre |
| September 2015 – 25 October 2015 | Henry V | Queen Isobel | Gregory Doran | Royal Shakespeare Company / Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| 7 November 2015 – 30 December 2015 | Henry V | Queen Isobel | Gregory Doran | Royal Shakespeare Company / Barbican Theatre |
| April 2016 – | Henry V | Queen Isobel | Gregory Doran | Royal Shakespeare Company / New York |
| Major Tours |||||
| 21 May 1998 – 7 June 1998 | Henry VIII (also known as The Famous History of the Life of Henry VIII) | Katherine of Aragon | Gregory Doran | Royal Shakespeare Company / Brooklyn Academy of Music Majestic Theater, New York |
| 9 June 1998 – 5 July 1998 | Henry VIII (also known as The Famous History of the Life of Henry VIII) | Katherine of Aragon | Gregory Doran | Royal Shakespeare Company / John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC |
| 1999 | A Master Class with Maria Callas | | Di Trevis | British cities: Theatre Royal, Bath … |

## Radio

| Date | Title | Role | Director | Station |
| 9 Dec 1972 | The Lady with the Little Dog | Anna | Jane Graham | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 28 Jan 1974 | The Dark is Light Enough | Gelda | Jane Graham | BBC Radio 4 The Monday Play |
| 13 Jul 1976 | The Eating House | The woman | Betty Davies | BBC Radio 3 Drama Now |
| 2 Feb 1977 | Caring Incorporated | Judith | Jane Morgan | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Theatre |
| 22 May 1979 | Dr Piffoel | George Sand | John Theocharis | BBC Radio 3 |
| 19 Oct 1980 | Electra | Electra | Jane Morgan | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Theatre |
| 29 Mar 1981 | Plenty | Susan Traherne | Richard Wortley | BBC Radio 3 |
| 8 Mar 1984 | Boris Godunov | Marina Mniszek | John Theocharis | BBC Radio 3 |
| 29 Dec 1984 | The Maltese Falcon | Brigid O'Shaughnessy | Jane Morgan | BBC Radio 4 Saturday-Night Theatre |
| 13 Feb 1989 | First Things Last | Simone | Jane Morgan | BBC Radio 4 |
| 20 Feb 1989 | That Cunard Woman | Nancy Cunard | Penny Gold | BBC Radio 4 |
| 30 Apr 1993 | A Sorceress of Her Time | Alma Mahler | Rosemary Hart | BBC Radio 3 |
| 30 December 1994 | The Wolves of Willoughby Chase | Miss Slighcarp | Cherry Cookson | BBC Radio 4 Saturday Night Theatre |
| 4 May 1995 | Pen Pals | Fay Fuller | Shaun MacLoughlin | BBC Radio 4 Globe Theatre 95 |
| 12 Oct 1995 | Bertie and the Crime of Passion | Sarah Bernhardt | Matthew Walters | BBC Radio 4 |
| 18 May 1997 – 1 Jun 1997 | Mansfield Park | Mrs Norris | Sue Wilson | BBC Radio 4 Classic Serial |
| 12 Feb 1998 | Come to Me | Greta | Jane Morgan | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 13 Nov 1998 | In Singapore | Sally | Vanessa Whitburn | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 27 Nov 1998 | Writing Home | Mother | Cherry Cookson | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 5 Dec 2000 – 7 Dec 2000 | Plays of the Severn | Voice of the River | Peter Leslie Wild Sue Wilson | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 18 May 2001 | I'll Be George | George Sand | Ned Chaillet | BBC Radio 4 The Friday Play |
| 4 Jun 2001 – 15 Jun 2001 | Byron's Women | Lady Melbourne | Clive Brill | BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Drama |
| 14 Oct 2001 | Walk to the Paradise Garden | Miss Jordon | Terence Davies | BBC Radio 3 Sunday Play |
| 28 Jan 2002 | A Thousand Ships | Helen | Peter Kavanagh | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 22 Oct 2004 | Arthur: The Sword of the King | Morgan | Gordon House | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 29 Oct 2004 | Arthur: The Black Dog | Morgan | Gordon House | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 5 Nov 2004 | Arthur: The Lake'' | Morgan | Jeremy Mortimer | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 12 Nov 2004 | Arthur: The Moon Eats the Sun | Morgan | Jeremy Mortimer | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 19 Nov 2004 | Arthur: The Grail | Morgan | Jeremy Mortimer | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 26 Nov 2004 | Arthur: The Last Battle | Morgan | Jeremy Mortimer | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 27 Feb 2005 | The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene | Mary Magdalene | Marina Caldarone | BBC Radio 3 Drama on 3 |
| 7 Mar 2005 | Scenes of Seduction | Mme Etcheberri | Ned Chaillet | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 1 Jun 2005 | Exiled from Paradise | Roznay | Claudine Toutoungi | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 23 Sep 2007 – 30 Sep 2007 | The Waves | Jinny | Terence Davies | BBC Radio 4 Classic Serial |
| 14 Feb 2010 – 28 Feb 2010 | Plantagenet | Queen Eleanor | Jeremy Mortimer | BBC Radio 4 Classic Serial |
| 23 Jan 2011 | Living with Princes | Catherine de Medici | Jeremy Mortimer | BBC Radio 3 Drama on 3 |
| 25 Nov 2012 – 16 Dec 2012 | The Count of Monte Cristo | Haydee | Jeremy Mortimer Sasha Yevtushenko | BBC Radio 4 Classic Serial |
Radio interviews (available to listen again) :
| Date | Title | Synopsis | Station | Link |
| 9 Jun 1981 | Meridian – British Theatre on a Winning Streak in New York | Tony Awards: Jane Lapotaire won best actress as Piaf | BBC World Service | Meridian – British Theatre on a Winning Streak in New York |
| 17 Feb 1983 | Meridian | Jane Lapotaire on her role in writer-director Peter Gill's Kick For Touch at The National's Cottesloe Theatre | BBC World Service | Meridian |
| 17 August 1986 | Desert Island Discs | In conversation with Michael Parkinson, she recalls her difficult childhood in a foster home, and how she became an actress | BBC Radio 4 | Desert Island Discs: Jane Lapotaire |
| 9 Nov 1993 | Meridian – Treading the Boards | Actors who trained at the Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol reflect on their experiences | BBC World Service | Meridian – Treading the Boards |
| 22 Jan 2016 | My Classical Favourites | | BBC Radio 3 | My Classical Favourites: Jane Lapotaire |

## Awards

In April 2018, Lapotaire became the 29th recipient of the prestigious Pragnell Shakespeare Birthday Award and gave the 454th Shakespeare Birthday Lecture on 20 April 2018.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
| 1978 | Marie Curie (1977) | British Academy Television Award for Best Actress | Nominated |
| 1989 | Blind Justice (1988) | British Academy Television Award for Best Actress | Nominated |
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
| 1981 | Piaf (1978-1981) | Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play | Won |
| 1983 | Piaf (1978-1981) | CableACE Award for Actress in a Theatrical or Non-Musical Program | Nominated |
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
| 2020 | The Crown (2019) | Gold Derby TV Award for Drama Guest Actress | Nominated |