Grand dames
Bond’s boss M, Queen Elizabeth I and booked into The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. She was made a dame in 1988, but said earlier this year she loathes being referred to as a national treasure because she does not want to be a relic.
The late Diana Rigg caused a stir as action woman Emma Peel in 1960s TV series The Avengers before going on to appear in the James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service as 007’s wife. The 82-yearold, who
became a dame in 1994, made her professional stage debut in 1957 and won a new generation of fans in TV hit Game of Thrones as the waspish Olenna Tyrell.
“I think I was quite daring,” she has said of her early career. “I was once escorted out of a restaurant because I was wearing a trouser suit. It wasn’t considered good breeding for a woman to go around in trousers after 6pm.”
Gosford Park’s Eileen Atkins has been a dame since 2001 and the 86-year-old created 1970s TV series Upstairs Downstairs with Jean Marsh. She was born in a Salvation Army Women’s Hostel in north London and a drama teacher helped her lose her
Cockney accent.
Keeping Up Appearances star Patricia Routledge said when she was made a dame three years ago: “I’m very surprised indeed, but very pleased that the honour pertains to theatre.”
The 91-year-old studied English at Liverpool University and began her career at the Liverpool Playhouse.
Joan Collins, aged 87, joined the dame ranks in 2015 and once explained: “I came into this business to be a theatre actress. I was nine when I first appeared on stage.”
Murder, She Wrote and Bedknobs and Broomstricks star Angela Lansbury, aged 94, has been a dame since 2014. Her career spans almost eight decades, and she first came to prominence in the 1944 film Gaslight. She also starred as sleuth Jessica Fletcher in 264 episodes of Murder, She Wrote.
Angela has been nominated for three Oscars during her career and played Elvis Presley’s mother in
1961 film Blue Hawaii – even though she was only 10 years older than him.
She said on being made a dame: “I’m joining a marvellous group of women I greatly admire like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. It’s a lovely thing to be given that nod of approval by your own country.”
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