Rosalind Knight

Born in Marylebone London versatile character actress Rosalind Marie Knight was born to theatrical parentage Her father was the accomplished thespian Esmond Knight Her mother the comedienne Frances Clare often featured in Ivor Novello operettas Rosalinds interest in theatre was first kindled at the age of six when she and her mother attended a staging of Novellos The Dancing Years at Drury Lane Rosalind was evacuated to the countryside with her nanny during the war years In 1949 she accompanied her father to the Old Vic Theatre and became enthralled by a production of The Snow Queen primarily performed by drama school novices The following year she won an audition and spent two years at the Old Vic Theatre School This was succeeded by a lengthy apprenticeship in repertory which led to her gaining further experience as assistant stage manager for the West of England Theatre Company the Midland Theatre Company in Coventry and the Piccolo Theatre Company in Manchester In 1955 she made her first impact on screen as a ladyinwaiting in Laurence Oliviers Richard III 1955 which also featured her father in the cast A year later having come to the attention of a movie producer she played Annabel one of the schoolgirls in Blue Murder at St Trinians 1957 decades later she would return as a teacher in the sequel The Wildcats of St Trinians 1980 This set the tone for a number of subsequent comedic roles which included a couple of early Carry Ons and the Tony Richardsondirected Tom Jones 1963 in which she played the giddy Mrs Harriet Fitzpatrick While doing the Carry On films she was not under any form of contract and was paid a mere 50 a week In 1957 Rosalind joined her father in an early BBC adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby 1957 as the spiteful Fanny Squeers In a later miniseries based on Charles Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit 1964 she was a splendidly shrewish Charity Pecksniff During her prolific career Rosalind relished every opportunity to portray a diverse range of characters good and bad from servants to princesses Alice of Battenberg in The Crown 2016 to old maids Aspasia Fitzgibbon in The Pallisers 1974 to wealthy socialites Margot Asquith in Nancy Astor 1982 and unpleasant aristocratic dowagers Daphne Winkworth in Jeeves and Wooster 1990 She even essayed a retired prostitute turned landlady in the sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme 1999 In addition to a staple of period dramas she guested in numerous episodic TV dramas including Poirot 1989 Dalziel and Pascoe 1996 Heartbeat 1992 Marple 2004 Midsomer Murders 1997 and Sherlock 2010 All the while she remained heavily engaged in theatrical work with the Old Vic The Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court Theatre her last appearance being the strict incorruptible governess Mrs Prism in Shaws The Importance of Being Earnest Rosalind was married to directorproducer Michael Elliott from 1959 In 1976 she helped rebuild and reopen the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester of which her husband was involved as one of five artistic directors She was also a patron of the Actors Centre in London and the Ladies Theatrical Guild a charity founded in 1891 Rosalind Knight continued to perform as an actress right up to her death on December 19 2020 at the age of 87