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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
May 31, 1948
Died
October 19, 2014
Place of Birth
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Lynda Bellingham
0.7 Popularity
Biography
Lynda Bellingham played many roles during her five-decade professional career, but became synonymous with one. "Being a mum making gravy was not quite how I had seen my career advancing," she said once. But between 1983 and 1999 that's what she did in 42 "episodes" of an award-winning TV ad. Since the early 1980s, her name was rarely mentioned in print without it being prefaced with "Oxo mum". During her career, though, she starred on TV as the vet's wife Helen Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small in the 80s and as one of two divorcees trying to forge a relationship in the 90s sitcom Second Thoughts, opposite James Bolam. On stage she was best known for playing the lead in a touring production of Calendar Girls between 2008 and 2012. She was also, for four years between 2007 and 2011, a regular member of the team on Loose Women, the daytime TV chat show. She had few regrets about how her career turned out, summarising its trajectory thus on her website: "Arrived in London at the Central School [for Speech and Drama] in 1966 and never looked back. I had a ball!" Bellingham, though, knew that gravy, like Lady Macbeth's damned spot, left an indelible mark. "In many ways I was very proud of what we did, but there is no doubt that my credibility as an actress was knocked," she reflected. "Certain people in the industry would never employ me as a serious actress after it. On the other hand, it gave me the financial security to go off and work in the theatre for very little money." Her performances as Mrs Oxo were reportedly responsible for a 10% increase in stock cube sales.
Known For
Credits
🎬
Too Close for Comfort
as Mum
2012
0.0
🎬
Odd One In
2010
0.0
🎬
Mister Eleven
as Shirley
2009
4.5
All Star Mr & Mrs
2008
0.0
🎬
The Alan Titchmarsh Show
as Self
2007
3.7
Bonkers
2007
0.0
Robin Hood
2006
6.8
Devil's Gate
as Marlene
2004
0.0
The Long Bank Holiday
as Councillor Marjorie Balsam
2004
8.0
New Tricks
2004
7.4
🎬
One Life
2003
0.0
The Last Detective
2003
7.7
My Uncle Silas
as Mrs. Gadsby
2001
7.0
Bodywork
as Poppy Fields
2001
2.7
Waking the Dead
as Mary Mantel
2001
7.2
The Romanovs: A Crowned Family
as Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna
2000
4.9
At Home with the Braithwaites
as Pauline Farnell
2000
6.4
Loose Women
as Self
1999
3.2
Don't Go Breaking My Heart
as Maxine
1999
4.6
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
1998
2.0
🎬
The Scarlet Tunic
as Emily Marlowe
1998
4.5
An Audience with Ronnie Corbett
1997
6.5
Midsomer Murders
as Jane Willows
1997
7.5
Dalziel & Pascoe
1996
6.3
Faith in the Future
1995
6.3
Martin Chuzzlewit
as Mrs. Lupin
1994
8.0
🎬
Junior Masterchef
1994
5.5
🎬
Gibberish
1992
6.0
Second Thoughts
as Faith
1991
6.6
This Morning
as Self
1988
5.2
The Vision
as Mary Morris
1987
10.0
Filthy Rich & Catflap
as Ms Tomkins
1987
6.6
Doctor Who: The Ultimate Foe
as The Inquisitor
1986
5.8
Doctor Who: Terror of the Vervoids
as The Inquisitor
1986
6.2
Doctor Who: Mindwarp
as The Inquisitor
1986
7.0
Doctor Who: The Mysterious Planet
as The Inquisitor
1986
6.2
Casualty
as Steph Yates
1986
6.1
Screen Two
as Mary Morris
1985
6.8
Surprise, Surprise
as Self
1984
5.8
Wogan
as Self
1982
4.5
Riding High
as Miss Mott
1981
4.4
Mackenzie
as Ruth Isaacs
1980
0.0
The Gentle Touch
1980
6.9
Shoestring
1979
6.8
🎬
The Waterloo Bridge Handicap
1978
6.0
🎬
The Pink Medicine Show
1978
0.0
All Creatures Great and Small
as Helen Herriot
1978
7.8
An Audience with...
as Self
1978
5.3
Blake's 7
as Vena
1978
7.3
The Professionals
as Betty Hope
1977
7.5
Stand up, Virgin Soldiers
as Valerie
1977
4.2
Sweeney!
as Janice Wyatt
1977
6.8
Confessions of a Driving Instructor
as Mary Truscott
1976
4.3
Yus, My Dear
as Carol
1976
5.3
Angels
1975
3.7
The Sweeney
as Nancy King
1975
7.8
🎬
Tell Tarby
as Nurse Norma Snockers
1973
0.0
The Misfit
as Wee Jeannie
1970
0.0
Doctor Who
as The Inquisitor
1963
7.9
Z-Cars
1962
7.0