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British-Australian actress Margolyes has become known for her outspoken and often risqué TV and radio appearances over the years.
The Oxford-born actress, 81, dropped the F-bomb during her appearance on the first series of University Challenge in 1963 – possibly one of the first times the word was said on British television.
She was representing Newnham College, Cambridge where she studied English and developed her craft as an actress.
Margolyes went on to have a wide-ranging career which has spanned decades, beginning in the 1970s with voiceover work before she went onto appear on her first comedy series, The Betty Witherspoon Show, on BBC Radio 2 in 1974.
She was quickly recognised for her wit and comic timing and went on to appear in films and TV shows including Blackadder opposite Rowan Atkinson.
Margolyes’ most famous role is as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series, in which she starred alongside her late friend Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid.
She won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in Martin Scorsese’s 1993 The Age of Innocence.
British-Australian actress Margolyes has become known for her outspoken and often risqué TV and radio appearances over the years
Since 2018, Margolyes has portrayed Mother Mildred in the BBC One drama, Call The Midwife.
The actress has made no secret of her political views and is a Labour Party member.
Before university, she said, she was ‘always Tory-voting… [from] a very middle-class Jewish background’.
While at college she joined the Workers Revolutionary Party along with actress Vanessa Redgrave, and has previously said she ‘moved sharply to the left with age’.
She was a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, publicly defending him against accusations of anti-semitism.
She was also a vocal detractor of Boris Johnson’s strategy during the Covid-19 pandemic, which she described as ‘a disgrace’.
After the then-Prime Minister was ill with Covid he comedian faced backlash after saying on Channel 4’s Last Leg: “I had difficulty not wanting Boris Johnson to die, I wanted him to die, and then I thought that reflects badly on me and I don’t want to be the sort of person who wants people to die. So, then I wanted him to get better, which he did do, he did get better, but he didn’t get better as a human being and I really would prefer that.”
Her comments led to an ‘initial investigation’ by Ofcom, but no official investigation was launched.
In January 2018 she surprised journalist Robert Peston with the F-bomb during his ITV Sunday morning show, despite warning the presenter that she was about to use ‘a bad word’.
In 2002 Margolyes was awarded an OBE for services to Drama.
She released her memoir, This Much is True, in 2021.
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