Jennifer Kendal

{{short description|English actress (1934–1984)}}

{{EngvarB|date=February 2018}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Jennifer Kendal

| image = Jennifer Kendal Kapoor.jpg

| caption = Kendal in the film Junoon (1978)

| birth_name = Jennifer Kendal

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1933|02|28}}

| birth_place = Southport, Lancashire, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1984|09|7|1933|02|27}}

| death_place = London, England

| occupation = Actress

| spouse = {{marriage|Shashi Kapoor|1958}}

| parents = Geoffrey Kendal
Laura Liddell

| children = Kunal Kapoor
Karan Kapoor
Sanjana Kapoor

| relatives = Felicity Kendal (sister)
See also Kapoor family

}}

Jennifer Kendal Kapoor (28 February 1933 – 7 September 1984){{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f12e269 |title=Jennifer Kendal |website=British Film Institute |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213163253/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f12e269 |archive-date=13 December 2017}} was an English actress and the founder of the Prithvi Theatre. She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the film 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981). Her other film appearances included Bombay Talkie (1970), Junoon (1978), Heat and Dust (1983), and Ghare Baire (1984).

Childhood

Jennifer Kendal was born in Southport, England, but spent much of her youth in India. She and younger sister Felicity Kendal were born to Geoffrey Kendal and Laura Liddell, who ran a travelling theatre company, Shakespeareana, which travelled around India as depicted in the book and film, Shakespeare Wallah (1965) in which Kendal appeared, uncredited, and which starred her husband Shashi Kapoor, her parents and her sister.{{cite web| url = https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/cover/the-wandering-players/article8505050.ece/| title = The wandering players}}

Work and Shashi Kapoor

Shashi Kapoor and Kendal met for the first time in Calcutta, in 1956, where he was part of the Prithvi Theatre company, while she was playing Miranda in the play The Tempest, as part of Shakespeareana.{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20100805231813/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2004/09/06/stories/2004090600840300.htm A question of pedigree]}} The Hindu, 6 September 2004. Soon, Shashi Kapoor also began to tour with the Shakespeareana Company,[http://www.junglee.org.in/jennifer.html Jennifer Biography] and the couple married in July 1958. Kendal and her husband were also instrumental in the rejuvenation of Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai, with the opening of their theatre in the Juhu area of the city in 1978.{{cite news |title=Prithvi, pioneer in theatre |url=http://www.hindu.com/fr/2003/11/07/stories/2003110701340600.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040101014620/http://www.hindu.com/fr/2003/11/07/stories/2003110701340600.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 January 2004 |work=The Hindu |date=7 November 2003}} Kendal and Kapoor also starred in a number of films together, particularly those produced by Merchant Ivory Productions. Their first joint starring roles were in Bombay Talkie (1970), which was also one of the earlier films produced by Merchant Ivory.{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}

Personal life

She had three children with her husband: sons Kunal Kapoor and Karan Kapoor, and daughter Sanjana Kapoor; all are former Hindi actors.[http://www.news18.com/photogallery/movies/in-pics-meet-shashi-kapoors-family-992937-10.html Meet the Kapoors], Network 18.

In 1982, she was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer and subsequently died of the disease in 1984.

Filmography

= Actress =

=Costume Design=

Awards

References

{{Reflist|2}}