Zena Walker
- John French (?–2003)
Zena Cecilia Walker (7 March 1934 – 24 August 2003) was an English actress in film, theatre and television.
Biography
Walker was born in the Selly Oak district of Birmingham, the daughter of George Walker, a grocer, and his wife Elizabeth Louise (née Hammond). She attended St. Martin's School in Solihull, and then went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
She appeared twice in the TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood, the second time in the 1958 episode "Women's War".
In 1960, she starred in a TV adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel The Citadel.
Her most memorable performance is considered that of a mother in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1969), a black comedy by Peter Nichols, adapted from his stage play, about a disabled child. For her performance in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg on Broadway, Walker won the 1968 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.
She was a memorable Ophelia in Hamlet (opposite Paul Scofield in the title role), and appeared as Her Ladyship in the film version of Ronald Harwood's play The Dresser (1983). Between 1970 and 1972, she appeared in the television series Man at the Top as Susan Lampton. She had a small role in the first series of New Tricks, playing Mrs Dubrovsky.
Walker married three times. Her first two husbands were actors: Robert Urquhart, with whom she had two children, and later Julian Holloway. Her third husband was John French, a theatrical agent, who survived her. She died in 2003 in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, aged 69, from undisclosed causes. Her last role was as the messenger in Oedipus.[1]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1960 | Danger Tomorrow | Ginny | |
1960 | Snowball | Mary Donovan | |
1961 | The Hellions | Julie Hargis | |
1962 | Emergency | Joan Bell | |
1962 | The Traitors | Annette Lane | |
1963 | Sammy Going South | Aunt Jane | |
1963 | Girl in the Headlines | Mildred Birkett | |
1963 | The Marked One | Kay Mason | |
1964 | Troubled Waters | Janet Carswell | |
1964 | Daylight Robbery | ||
1965 | Change Partners | Anna Arkwright | Edgar Wallace Mysteries |
1967 | The Prisoner | Janet Portland | Episode: "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling" |
1969 | The Last Shot You Hear | Eileen Forbes | |
1970 | The Reckoning | Hilda Greening | |
1970 | Callan | Lady Lewis | Episode: "Suddenly-At Home" |
1970 | Cromwell | Mrs. Cromwell | |
1971 | One of Those Things | Mrs. Vinther | |
1971 | The Chairman's Wife | Margaret Howe | Short |
1976 | The Likely Lads | Laura Windsor | |
1983 | The Dresser | Her Ladyship | |
1993 | Poirot | Vanda Chevenix | Episode: "Dead Man's Mirror" |
References
- ^ "Zena Walker" Obituary. For her performance in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg on Broadway, Zena won the 1968 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. The Telegraph, 8 September 2003
External links
- Zena Walker at IMDb
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- Patricia Neal (1947)
- Shirley Booth (1949)
- Maureen Stapleton (1951)
- Marian Winters (1952)
- Beatrice Straight (1953)
- Jo Van Fleet (1954)
- Patricia Jessel (1955)
- Una Merkel (1956)
- Peggy Cass (1957)
- Anne Bancroft (1958)
- Julie Newmar (1959)
- Anne Revere (1960)
- Colleen Dewhurst (1961)
- Elizabeth Ashley (1962)
- Sandy Dennis (1963)
- Barbara Loden (1964)
- Alice Ghostley (1965)
- Zoe Caldwell (1966)
- Marian Seldes (1967)
- Zena Walker (1968)
- Jane Alexander (1969)
- Blythe Danner (1970)
- Rae Allen (1971)
- Elizabeth Wilson (1972)
- Leora Dana (1973)
- Frances Sternhagen (1974)
- Rita Moreno (1975)
- Shirley Knight (1976)
- Trazana Beverley (1977)
- Ann Wedgeworth (1978)
- Joan Hickson (1979)
- Dinah Manoff (1980)
- Swoosie Kurtz (1981)
- Amanda Plummer (1982)
- Judith Ivey (1983)
- Christine Baranski (1984)
- Judith Ivey (1985)
- Swoosie Kurtz (1986)
- Mary Alice (1987)
- L. Scott Caldwell (1988)
- Christine Baranski (1989)
- Margaret Tyzack (1990)
- Irene Worth (1991)
- Bríd Brennan (1992)
- Debra Monk (1993)
- Jane Adams (1994)
- Frances Sternhagen (1995)
- Audra McDonald (1996)
- Lynne Thigpen (1997)
- Anna Manahan (1998)
- Elizabeth Franz (1999)
- Blair Brown (2000)
- Viola Davis (2001)
- Katie Finneran (2002)
- Michele Pawk (2003)
- Audra McDonald (2004)
- Adriane Lenox (2005)
- Frances de la Tour (2006)
- Jennifer Ehle (2007)
- Rondi Reed (2008)
- Angela Lansbury (2009)
- Scarlett Johansson (2010)
- Ellen Barkin (2011)
- Judith Light (2012)
- Judith Light (2013)
- Sophie Okonedo (2014)
- Annaleigh Ashford (2015)
- Jayne Houdyshell (2016)
- Cynthia Nixon (2017)
- Laurie Metcalf (2018)
- Celia Keenan-Bolger (2019)
- Lois Smith (2020/21)
- Phylicia Rashad (2022)
- Miriam Silverman (2023)