Liz Smith (actress)
{{Short description|English actress (1921–2016)}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Liz Smith
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}}
| birth_name = Betty Gleadle
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1921|12|11}}
| birth_place = Crosby, Lincolnshire, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2016|12|24|1921|12|11}}
| death_place = Worthing, West Sussex, England{{cite news |last=Wynn-Davies |first=Stephen |url=https://www.worthingherald.co.uk/news/tributes-paid-to-worthing-resident-liz-smith-1-7749116 |title=Tributes paid to Worthing resident Liz Smith |work=Worthing Herald |date=27 December 2016 |access-date= 6 January 2019}}
| occupation = Actress
| yearsactive = 1969–2013
| height =
| spouse = {{marriage|Jack Thomas|1945|1959|reason=divorced}}
| children = 2
}}
Betty Smith (11 December 1921 – 24 December 2016), known by the stage name Liz Smith,{{cite web | url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/58929/supplement/22 | title=Page 22 | Supplement 58929, 31 December 2008 | London Gazette | the Gazette }} was an English actress. She was known for her roles in BBC sitcoms, including as Annie Brandon in I Didn't Know You Cared (1975–1979), the sisters Bette and Belle in 2point4 Children (1991–1999), Letitia Cropley in The Vicar of Dibley (1994–1996) and Norma ("Nana") in The Royle Family (1998–2006). For the latter she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Comedy Performance in 2007. She also played Zillah in Lark Rise to Candleford (2008) and won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of Mother in the film A Private Function (1984).
Early life
Smith was born Betty Gleadle on 11 December 1921 in the Crosby area of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire.[https://archive.today/20130505135319/http://www.thisisscunthorpe.co.uk/news/Liz-Smith-gets-MBE/article-1162904-detail/article.html Liz Smith gets MBE], This Is Scunthorpe, 14 July 2009. Her mother died when she was two; her father remarried, but his new wife did not wish him to have any contact with his previous life.{{cite news|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,2193755,00.html|work=The Guardian|location=London|title=This much I know|first=Ursula|last=Kenny|date=21 October 2007|access-date=11 May 2010}} As a result, she was brought up by her widowed grandmother and attended Crosby Junior School[http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/pictures/STAR-PUPILS-REVEALED-Famous-people-Scunthorpe/pictures-26690493-detail/pictures.html Star Pupils Revealed at Scunthorpe Telegraph] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151101161627/http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/pictures/STAR-PUPILS-REVEALED-Famous-people-Scunthorpe/pictures-26690493-detail/pictures.html |date=1 November 2015 |url-status=dead |accessdate= 9 July 2016}} and the Scunthorpe Modern and Day Commercial Schools in Cole Street.[http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/liz-smith-gets-mbe/story-11179262-detail/story.html Liz Gets MBE at Scunthorpe Telegraph] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103090403/http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/Liz-Smith-gets-MBE/story-11179262-detail/story.html |date=3 January 2014 |url-status=dead |accessdate= 9 July 2016}} During the Second World War, she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service of the Royal Navy.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2016/dec/26/liz-smith-obituary |title=Liz Smith obituary |first=Dennis |last=Barker |date=26 December 2016 |work=The Guardian}}
Career
=Early roles=
In 1971, aged 49, Smith had a career breakthrough when she appeared as the downtrodden mother in Mike Leigh's film Bleak Moments:
{{blockquote|The moment that my life transformed was when I was standing in Hamleys one Christmas, flogging toys and I got a message from this young director named Mike Leigh. I was nearly 50 at the time, but he wanted a middle-aged woman to do improvisations. I went to an audition and I got the job of the mother in this improvised film – Bleak Moments, his first film – and it changed my life.}}
Smith starred in It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow, written by Bernard Kops and directed by John Goldschmidt, which depicted the real-life drama of the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster during World War II. A role in Hard Labour followed. After that she appeared in Emmerdale Farm (as Hilda Semple), Last of the Summer Wine, Bootsie and Snudge, Crown Court, I Didn't Know You Cared and The Sweeney. She also appeared as Madame Balls in The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), but her scenes were deleted and remained unseen until Trail of the Pink Panther in 1982. She was seen in Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), and later Son of the Pink Panther (1993) in the same role. {{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}
In the 1970s and 1980s, Smith appeared in many UK television programmes, including The Duchess of Duke Street, Within These Walls, In Loving Memory, The Gentle Touch, Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, One by One as Gran Turner and The Lenny Henry Show. In 1984, Liz Smith received a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the mother of Maggie Smith's character in A Private Function.
In 1980, Smith won a role in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End as Lady Philippa of Staines. She later appeared in the thriller, Apartment Zero, which was featured in the 1988 Sundance Film Festival. Smith played the role of one of two eccentric characters (the other is Dora Bryan) described by The Washington Post as two "... tea-and-crumpet gargoyle-featured spinsters who snoop the corridors."{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/apartmentzero.htm|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=3 November 1989|access-date=11 May 2010|title=Apartment Zero' (R)}} also had a part in Lovejoy 1eps
=1990s=
Smith started the 1990s by appearing in 2point4 Children (as "Aunt Belle" and "Bette"), Bottom, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Lovejoy. In 1994, she played the lead role in the Children's BBC series Pirates and the supporting role of Letitia Cropley for seven episodes in The Vicar of Dibley. In the 1996 Easter Special episode the character died.
In November 1995 she made a guest appearance in the BBC1 medical drama series Casualty. In 1996 she had a cameo appearance in the Mike Leigh film Secrets & Lies and in 1998 starred in the TV sitcom The Royle Family. This aired until 2000, but came back for a special episode in 2006 when her character, Nana, died. In the meantime, she had appeared in The Queen's Nose and The Bill. In 1999 Smith was featured in A Christmas Carol as Mrs Dilber. She portrayed that same character in the 1984 version and also appeared as Miss Lory in Alice in Wonderland.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}
=2000s and 2010s=
Smith continued to act until ill-health beset her in 2009, appearing in such TV programmes as Trial & Retribution V and Doctors. In 2005, she played Grandma Georgina in the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and provided the voice of Mrs. Mulch in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, as well as small roles in Oliver Twist and Keeping Mum. {{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} In 2001, she appeared as herself in Lily Savage's Blankety Blank.{{cite episode|series=Lily Savage's Blankety Blank|network=ITV|airdate=22 April 2001}}
In 2006 Smith published her autobiography Our BettySmith, L. (2006), Our Betty – Scenes from my Life, London: Simon and Schuster. {{ISBN|978-1-4165-1161-8}} and around the same time, moved to a retirement home in Hampstead, London. In 2007, she published a series of short stories entitled Jottings: Flights of Fancy and appeared in the Little Man Tate music video "This Must Be Love".{{cite news|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303163036/http://www.gigwise.com/news.asp?contentid=28668|archive-date=3 March 2007 |url=http://www.gigwise.com/news.asp?contentid=28668|title=Little Man Tate Bring Nanna Royle Back From The Dead|work=Gigwise.com|date=1 March 2007}} On 5 December 2007, Smith won the Best Television Comedy Actress at the British Comedy Awards for her role in The Royle Family.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7130054.stm|title=Smith wins for Royle performance|first=Michael|last=Osborn|publisher=BBC News website|date=6 December 2007}} The 2006 episode "The Queen of Sheba" takes place six years after the events of the previous series and features Nana's declining health and death. It won the Best Sitcom award at the 2007 BAFTAs, and won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Situation Comedy & Comedy Drama.
In 2006 she made a cameo appearance in Kenneth Branagh's film The Magic Flute, a version in English of the Mozart opera. However, her role did not require her to sing. She portrayed Old Papagena who, later on in the film, magically transforms into Young Papagena (played by soprano Silvia Moi) and marries the birdcatcher Papageno (played by baritone Benjamin Jay Davis).
In 2008 she starred in the first series of the period drama Lark Rise to Candleford. That same year she was a castaway on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and was in the film City of Ember, which was released in October 2008. In July 2009, she featured in a one-hour BBC Four documentary called Liz Smith's Summer Cruise, where she joined a group of like-minded individuals on a cruise from Croatia to Venice. That same month, having suffered a series of strokes a few months earlier, she announced her retirement from acting at the age of 87.{{cite news|author=Staff|date=5 July 2009|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8135085.stm|title= Actress Liz Smith to quit acting |publisher=BBC News website|access-date=5 July 2009}}
Smith was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.{{London Gazette|issue=58929|date=31 December 2008|page=22 |supp=y}}{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5420707.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616145943/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5420707.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 June 2011|title=Terry Pratchett lost for words as he receives knighthood|author=Smyth, Chris|work=The Times |location=London |date=31 December 2008}}
In 2010 she took part in the BBC television programme The Young Ones, in which six celebrities in their 70s and 80s attempted to overcome some of the problems of ageing by harking back to the 1970s.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tq4d3|title=The Young Ones – BBC One}}
Personal life and death
In 1945, Smith married Jack Thomas, whom she met while on service in India. They had two children, but divorced in 1959. Smith brought up her son and daughter on her own. She described this as an extremely difficult period in her life, as she struggled against financial problems and social disapproval of her status as a divorcée.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/19ee7de8#b0093809 |title=Desert Island Discs – Castaway : Liz Smith |work=BBC Radio 4 |date=9 March 2008 |access-date=20 October 2013 |publisher=BBC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413161355/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/19ee7de8#b0093809 |archive-date=13 April 2019}}
Smith died on Christmas Eve 2016 at her home in Worthing, West Sussex, aged 95.{{Cite news |url=http://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/national/14988431.Royle_Family_star_Liz_Smith_dies_at_95/ |title=Royle Family star Liz Smith dies at 95 |author=Press Association 2019 |author-link=Press Association |date=27 December 2016 |access-date=15 December 2019 |newspaper=Kidderminster Shuttle}} Shane Allen, controller of BBC comedy commissioning, said that Smith had "brilliantly captured the grandparent in everyone's family" as Nana in The Royle Family. Mike Leigh said "She was a complete breath of fresh air... she was not your bog standard middle-aged actress."{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38440648 |title='Royle Family' actress Liz Smith dies |work=BBC News Online |date=26 December 2016 |access-date=15 December 2019 |publisher=BBC News |agency=BBC}} The final episode of the lockdown edition of The Vicar of Dibley ended with a tribute just before the closing credits reading, "In loving memory of Liz, John, Emma and Roger", paying tribute to her and also three other deceased Dibley cast members (John Bluthal, Emma Chambers and Roger Lloyd-Pack).
Filmography
| class="wikitable"
|+Film |
| Year
! Title ! Role |
|---|
| 1970
| Raving Tenant {{small|(uncredited)}} |
| 1971
| Pat's Mother |
| 1976
| It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet | Mrs. Dodds |
| rowspan="2" | 1977
| Fortune Teller |
| The Stick Up
| Hotel Manageress |
| 1979
| Agatha | Flora |
| 1980
| Lady Phillipa of Staines |
| rowspan="2" | 1981
| Villager {{small|(uncredited)}} |
| The French Lieutenant's Woman
| Mrs. Fairley |
| rowspan="3" | 1982
| Maisie |
| Crystal Gazing
| Lady in Pub |
| Give Us This Day
| Landlady |
| rowspan="2" | 1983
| Mrs. Jones {{small|(uncredited)}} |
| Curse of the Pink Panther
| Marta Balls |
| 1984
| Mother |
| 1987
| Mrs. Bangham |
| rowspan="2" | 1988
| Millie Burney |
| High Spirits
| Lavinia Plunkett |
| rowspan="3" | 1989
| Mrs. Rigby |
| The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
| Grace |
| Apartment Zero
| Mary Louise McKinney |
| 1991
| Dakota Road | Joan Road |
| rowspan="2" | 1993
| Marta Balls |
| Piccolo grande amore
| Queen Mother |
| 1995
| Haunted | Old Gypsy Woman |
| 1996
| Cat Owner |
| 1997
| Mrs. Meakin |
| rowspan="2" | 1998
| Winnie |
| Anthrakitis {{small|(short)}}
| Dolly |
| rowspan="2" | 1999
| Mrs. Willows |
| Tube Tales
| Old Lady {{small|(segment: "Horny")}} |
| 2003
| Anna Spud {{small|(short)}} | Gran |
| 2004
| Liz |
| rowspan="4" | 2005
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Grandma Georgina |
| Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
| Mrs. Mulch {{small|(voice)}} |
| Oliver Twist
| Old Woman |
| Keeping Mum
| Mrs. Parker |
| 2006
| The Old Papagena |
| rowspan="2" | 2008
| Flick | Ma |
| City of Ember
| Granny Mayfleet |
Television
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1973
| Housekeeper | Series 1, episode 4 |
| 1974
| Miss Long | Series 1, episode 4 |
| 1974
| {{N/a|(unknown role)}} | Series 15, episode 14 |
| 1974
| Seven Faces of Woman | Madge | Series 1, episode 4 |
| 1974
| Mrs. Whalley | Series 1, episode 2 |
| 1974
| Omnibus | Mrs. Smith | Series 8, episode 3 |
| 1974
| Mrs. Partridge | Series 4, episode 3 |
| 1974
| May | Series 1, episode 5 |
| 1974
| Nellie Hughins | Series 1, episodes 1 and 9 |
| 1974
| Mrs. Murphy | Series 3, episode 7 |
| 1974
| Mrs. Heep | Miniseries (3 episodes) |
| 1975
| Mrs. Davies | Series 2, episode 5 |
| 1975
| {{N/a|(unknown role)}} | Series 14, episode 5 |
| 1975
| Vi Bell | TV film |
| 1975
| Hilda Semple | Episodes 275–278 |
| 1975
| The Fortune Hunters | Mrs. Eady | TV film |
| rowspan="3" |1974–1976
| rowspan="3" |Crown Court |Mrs. Fowkes |Series 3, episode 7 |
| Kitty Ross
|Series 4, episodes 15 and 17 |
| Mrs. Flynn
|Series 5, episodes 39, 40 and 41 |
| 1976
| La Falourdel | TV film |
| 1977
| The Punch Review | Various | Series 1, episode 2 |
| 1977
| Peg Sliderskew | Miniseries (2 episodes) |
| 1977
| Mrs. Bag | Series 1, episode 2 |
| 1977
| Nanny | Series 2, episodes 4 and 12 |
| 1978
| Tottie Dodd | Series 5, episodes 12 and 13 |
| 1975–1979
| Annie Brandon | Series 1–4 (series regular, 27 episodes) |
| 1979
| Hazell | Mrs. Scropp | Series 2, episode 12 |
| rowspan="7" |1973–1980
| rowspan="7" |Play for Today |Mrs. Thornley |Series 3, episode 20 |
| Mrs. Matthews
|Series 4, episode 3 |
| {{N/a|(unknown role)}}
|Series 5, episode 5 |
| Mrs. Pritchett
|Series 5, episode 10 |
| Mrs. Oxfam
|Series 6, episode 5 |
| Keith's Granny
|Series 7, episode 12 |
| Elfie
|Series 10, episode 15 |
| 1980
| Bernie | {{N/a|(unknown role)}} | Series 2, episode 3 |
| 1980
| Various | Series 1 (7 episodes) |
| 1981
| Nora | Series 2, episode 4 |
| 1981
| Love Story: A Chance to Sit Down | Mrs. Barker | Series 1, episode 3 |
| 1980–1982
| Hilda Pardoe | Series 2, episode 1 and series 3, episode 8 |
| 1982
| Edna Slater | Series 3, episode 10 |
| 1982
| Russian Night... 1941 | Frosya | TV film |
| 1983
| Mr. Right | Gran | Series 1, episodes 1–4 |
| 1983
| Separate Tables | Miss Meacham | TV film |
| 1983
| The All Electric Amusement Arcade | Gran | Series 1 (series regular, 7 episodes) |
| 1983
| Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime | Hannah Macpherson | Miniseries (1 episode) |
| 1983–1984
| Now and Then | Gran | Series 1 and 2 (series regular, 13 episodes) |
| 1984
| Gran Turner | Series 1 (series regular, 10 episodes) |
| 1984
| Various | Series 1, episode 2 |
| 1984
| Mrs. Dilber | TV film |
| 1985
| Doctors' Dilemmas | Edna Bryant | Series 2, episode 5 |
| 1985
| Mrs. Anstruther | Series regular. In 5 episodes. |
| 1985
| Rainbow | Auntie Liz | Series 14, episode 40 |
| 1986
| Harem | Mrs. Pendleton | TV film |
| 1986
| Mrs. Chalmers | Series 1, episode 4 |
| 1986
| The Life and Loves of a She-Devil | Mrs. Fisher | Miniseries (3 episodes) |
| 1987
| Imaginary Friends | Milly Munger | Miniseries (3 episodes) |
| 1987
| Mrs. Watts | Series 1, episode 10 |
| 1987
| Bust | Brenda Walsh | Series 1, episode 5 |
| 1987
| Mrs. Northrop | TV film |
| 1987–1988
| Valentine Park | Mrs. Giles | Series 1 and 2 (series regular, 12 episodes) |
| 1988
| Annie Freeman | Series 3, episode 2 |
| 1988
| Witch | TV pilot |
| 1989
| Young Charlie Chaplin | Mrs. Greenwood | Series 1, episode 4 |
| 1989
| Singles | Mrs. Phelps | Series 2, episode 6 |
| 1989
| Aunt Mary | Series 1, episode 5 |
| rowspan="3" |1987–1990
| rowspan="3" |Screen Two |Mrs. Slatterthwaite |Series 3, episode 13 |
| Gran
|Series 5, episode 4 |
| Agent
|Series 6, episode 3 |
| 1990
| Woman Returning Suits | Series 2, episode 4 |
| 1990
| Dunrulin | Mrs. Trodd | TV film |
| 1990–1991
| Muriel | Series 2, episode 4 and series 3, episode 6 |
| 1991
| Mildred | Series 2, episode 4 |
| 1991
| Bottom | Gypsy Slag Wagon | Series 1, episode 4 |
| 1991
| Anyula | Series 1, episode 3 |
| 1992
| The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | Delfina | Series 2, episode 4 |
| 1993
| Lovejoy | Florence | Series 4, episode 8 |
| 1993
| Cluedo | Mrs. Blanche White | Series 4 (series regular, 6 episodes) |
| 1993
| Without Walls | Maid | 1 episode |
| 1994
| New Voices | Nana | 1 episode |
| 1994
| Harriet | Miniseries (1 episode) |
| 1994
| Mrs. Thompson | Series 6, episode 7 |
| 1995
| Delia {{small|(voice)}} | 20 episodes |
| 1995
| Casualty | Tillie | Series 10, Episode 9 |
| 1994–1997
| Pirates | Abigail Blood | Series 1–3 (24 episodes) |
| rowspan="2" |1994–1996
| rowspan="2" |The Vicar of Dibley | rowspan="2" |Letitia Cropley | Series 1 (series regular, 6 episodes) |
| Easter special (final episode) |
| 1996
| Karaoke | Mrs. Baglin | Miniseries (3 episodes) |
| 1998
| V.I.P. | Gossip Columnist | Series 1, episode 1 |
| 1998
| The Canterbury Tales | The Hag | Series 1, episode 1 |
| rowspan="2" |1991–1999
| rowspan="2" |2Point4Children |Bette |Series 1–8 (recurring, 11 episodes) |
| Aunt Belle
|Series 3, episode 1 and series 6, episode 3 |
| 1996–1999
| Grandma | Series 2 and 3 (7 episodes) |
| 1999
| Miss Lory | TV film |
| 1999
| Lena Finn | Series 11, episodes 8 and 9 |
| 1999
| Mrs. Dilber | TV film |
| 1999
| Sally | Miniseries (2 episodes) |
| 2000
| Megan Roberts | Series 3, episode 2 |
| 2000
| Donovan Quick | Granny | TV film |
| 2000
| Joyce | TV film |
| 2001
| The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | Peg Sliderskew | TV film |
| 2002
| Third Aunt | Series 2, episode 12 |
| 2002
| Mrs. Dorothy Norton | Series 5, episodes 1 and 2 |
| rowspan="4" |1984–2002
| rowspan="4" |The Bill |Maggie |Series 1, episode 6 |
| Mrs. West
|Series 7, episode 30 |
| Edna Finch
|Series 14, episode 78 |
| Harriet 'Tatsie' Wright
|Series 18, episodes 51 and 52 |
| 2003
| Doctors | Agatha Clifford | Series 5, episode 142 |
| 2003
| Audrey Delany | Series 1 (series regular, 6 episodes) |
| 2004
| Nero | Soothsayer | TV film |
| rowspan="2"|1998–2006
| rowspan="2"|The Royle Family | rowspan="2"|Norma Speakman | Series 1–3 (recurring, 10 episodes) |
| 2006 special |
| 2007
| Elsie | TV pilot |
| 2008
| Zillah | Series 1 (series regular, 10 episodes) |
| 2009
| The Antiques Rogue Show | Olive Greenhalgh | TV film |
| 2009
| The All Star Impressions Show | Queen Elizabeth II | TV special |
| 2013
| Common Ground | Colin's Mum | Series 1, episode 7 |
| 2013
| Harriet Stone | Series 1, episodes 2 and 3 |
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=0809131|name=Liz Smith}}
- {{tcmdb name|id=179884|name=Liz Smith}}
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24810782 Obituary: Liz Smith] From BBC News
{{BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress 1968–1984}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Liz}}
Category:20th-century English actresses
Category:21st-century English actresses
Category:Actors from the Borough of North Lincolnshire
Category:Actresses from Lincolnshire
Category:Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Award winners
Category:English film actresses
Category:English soap opera actresses
Category:English television actresses
Category:English voice actresses
Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire
Category:People from Scunthorpe
Category:Royal Navy personnel of World War II
Category:Women's Royal Naval Service personnel of World War II