French was born on 11 October 1957 in Holyhead, Wales, to English parents Felicity Roma (née O'Brien; 1934 – 2012)[3] and Denys Vernon French (5 August 1932 – 11 September 1977),[4] who married in their home town of Plymouth in 1953. French has an older brother, Gary. Her father served in the Royal Air Force, stationed at RAF Valley and later RAF Leconfield, where Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother went to tea at French's home when French was three years old. RAF archive footage of this event was included in French's comedy tour/video Thirty Million Minutes.
The RAF partly funded French's private education.[5] When her father was stationed at RAF Faldingworth, French attended Caistor Grammar School for one year. She later attended boarding school at St Dunstan's Abbey School for Girls in Plymouth (since absorbed by Plymouth College), where she was a member of Downton house. After finishing her schooling, she spent a year studying at the Spence School in New York on a debating scholarship that she won while at school.[5]
French has said that her self-confidence and self-belief stem from her father, who told her how beautiful she was each day.[6] She stated, "He taught me to value myself. He told me that I was beautiful and the most precious thing in his life."[7] Denys had a history of severe depression and made two suicide attempts, but managed to conceal his illness from Dawn and Gary.[6] When French was 19, her father died by suicide.[8]
In 1977, French began studying drama at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where she met her future comedy partner, Jennifer Saunders.[6][9] Both came from RAF backgrounds. They had grown up on the same camps, even having had the same best friend, although never meeting.[10] Saunders recalled her first perception of French was that she was a "cocky little upstart"; French considered Saunders to be snooty and aloof.[10] The comic duo originally did not like each other as French wanted to become a drama teacher[9] whereas Saunders loathed the idea and thus disliked French for being enthusiastic and confident about the course.[6]
French and Saunders shared a flat while at college and were influenced to do comedy by their flatmates as part of their projects for college. After talking in depth for the first time, they came to be friends.[6] While at college, French broke up with her fiancé, a former Royal Navy officer. After French and Saunders graduated from the Royal Central School, they decided to form a double-act called the Menopause Sisters. Saunders has described the act, which involved wearing tampons in their ears, as "cringeworthy".[11] The manager of the club recalled, "They didn't seem to give a damn. There was no star quality about them at all."[10] French and Saunders came to public attention as members of the Comic Strip, part of the alternative comedy scene in the early 1980s.
Career
Television
1980s
French has had an extensive career on television, debuting on Channel 4's The Comic Strip Presents series in an episode called "Five Go Mad in Dorset" in 1982.[9] Each episode presented a self-contained story and, in addition to French and Saunders, showcased Comic Strip performers Peter Richardson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Robbie Coltrane and Adrian Edmondson. She acted in 27 of the 37 episodes and wrote two of them.[9] One episode featured a parody of spaghetti westerns and another a black and white film about a hopelessly goofy boy. Some of French's first exposure to a wider audience occurred when comedy producer Martin Lewis recorded a Comic Strip record album in 1981 which featured sketches by French & Saunders. The album was released on Springtime!/Island Records in September 1981 and presented French and Jennifer Saunders to an audience outside London. In 1985, French starred with Saunders, Tracey Ullman, Ruby Wax and Joan Greenwood in Girls on Top, which portrayed four eccentric women sharing a flat in London.[9]
French has co-written and starred in her and Saunders' comedy series, French & Saunders, which debuted in 1987.[9] On their show, the duo have spoofed many celebrities such as Madonna, Cher, Catherine Zeta-Jones and the Spice Girls. They have also parodied films such as The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. After 20 years being on television together, their sketch series A Bucket o' French & Saunders, began airing on 8 September 2007.[6]
1990s
French and Saunders have also followed separate careers. During French's time starring in Murder Most Horrid, from 1991 to 1999, she played a different character each week, whether it was the murderer, victim, or both.[9]
French's biggest solo television role to date has been as the title figure in the long-running BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley, which Richard Curtis created for her. The show began in 1994. She stars as Geraldine Granger, a vicar of a small fictional village called Dibley. An audience of 12.3 million watched the final full-length episode to see her character's marriage ceremony.[12] She appeared on The Vicar of Dibley with Damian Lewis in a mini-episode made for Comic Relief in 2013. She was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance in the last episode of The Vicar of Dibley. Repeats of the show on BBC One still attract millions of viewers and it also retains a following amongst PBS viewers in the United States.[13] Although the main series ended in 2007, the show has returned for numerous short special episodes since, the latest four of which aired in December 2020.
In 2002, French appeared in the comedy/drama mini-series Ted and Alice. In the series, set in the Lake District, French played a tourist information officer who falls in love with an alien.[16] She appeared once in the Saunders led sitcom Absolutely Fabulous as TV interviewer Kathy in 1992, a parody of Lorraine Kelly, she reprised that role for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie in 2016 as a more established veteran journalist as Kelly is now. She also appeared in the BBC sitcom Wild West, with Catherine Tate,[17] in which she played a woman living in Cornwall who is a lesbian, more through lack of choice than any specific natural urge. This series did not meet with as much success as her earlier roles and it ended in 2004 after two years.[18]
In 2006, French appeared in Agatha Christie's Marple in the 2006 episode "Sleeping Murder".[21] She appeared as Caroline Arless in the BBC television drama Lark Rise to Candleford in 2008. Talking about her role, she has stated, "I'm quite a vibrant character. She's quite extreme, in that she drinks too much, laughs too much and sings too much. But she loves her family very much; it's just that she goes over the top sometimes."[22]
From 2016 until 2019, French starred in three series of Delicious on Sky 1, co-starring as a talented cook who is having an affair with her celebrity chef ex-husband (Iain Glen) who has remarried and started a successful hotel business with his new wife (Emilia Fox) in Cornwall.[28]
In 2014, French toured an autobiographical one woman show 30 Million Minutes in the UK and Oceania.[38] The title is based on the amount of minutes she had been alive at the time of producing the show.[39]
In 2022, she toured the UK with a further show titled Dawn French is a Huge Twat. In late 2022 it was announced that she would continue touring the UK with the same show in Autumn 2023, with further shows taking place in Australia in 2024.[40][41]
In 2019, French provided her voice for numerous Station idents for Greatest Hits Radio. This was produced in partnership with Bespoke Music.
In 2021, French was chosen to play the voice of a fairy lady for the Christmas food advertisements for leading retailer Marks and Spencers alongside Tom Holland voicing the company's mascot Percy Pig (who came to life for the first time in 29 years). In the main advert French as the fairy drops her magic wand onto a box covered in Percy pig wrappings, the lid opens and Percy pops out of the box. Throughout the rest of the advertisement she shows Percy all of the items which the retailer was selling for Christmas food.[44]
She later reprised the role for the 2022 M&S Christmas advert, playing alongside Jennifer Saunders voicing a sidekick called 'Duckie'. The pair, in the main advert, go on a journey to fill Duckie with 'some festive cheer' while showing off the M&S Food Christmas range for 2022.[45]
Writing
French has also written a best-selling epistolary[46] autobiography, which she has titled Dear Fatty. French was paid a £1.5 million advance for the book, which was released in 2008.[47] On an appearance on The Paul O'Grady Show on 6 October 2008, French said that "Fatty" is her nickname for Jennifer Saunders, as a joke about her own size. French said that she became great friends with Saunders well before they started working together, which was "over 30 years ago". The book consists of letters to the different people who have been in her life. In 2017, Me. You. A Diary, French's second non-fiction book, was released.[48] She has also written four novels – A Tiny Bit Marvellous (2010),[49]Oh Dear Silvia (2012),[50]According to Yes (2015)[51] and Because of You (2020). Because of You was longlisted for the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction. Her third non-fiction book, The Twat Files, tied in to her second stand-up show Dawn French is a Huge Twat, was published in October 2023.
French, Saunders and Burke returned for Comic Relief in 1997 as "The Sugar Lumps," along with Llewella Gideon and Lulu, to parody The Spice Girls, with whom they performed a version of "Who Do You Think You Are?".[53]
Personal life
French met comedian Lenny Henry on the alternative comedy circuit. The couple married on 20 October 1984 in Covent Garden, London.[54] They adopted a daughter, Billie.[55] French has stated that Billie has always known that she was adopted,[55] but once took out an injunction when a biographer came close to revealing the identity of Billie's biological mother. When faced with a question about how she and Henry would feel if Billie wanted to find out about her birth mother, French commented, "Whatever she wants to do when she's 18, we'll support her. What I do worry about is anyone else making the decision for her."[55]
On 6 April 2010, French and Henry announced they were separating after 25 years of marriage. It was reported that the separation was amicable. They had decided to separate in October the previous year but left announcing it until some months later, as they were still in discussion over the separation.[58] Their divorce was finalised later that year.[59]
French began dating charity executive Mark Bignell in 2011. On 22 April 2013, it was reported that they had just married.[59] The couple resided in Fowey, Cornwall, in a mansion overlooking Readymoney Cove. The Grade II-listed building dates back to the 19th century.[46]
In May 2021 it was announced that French had sold her Fowey property, having moved to an 1868 Gothic revival property in Calstock.[60]
French and Saunders won the honorary Golden Rose of Montreux award in 2002 and in 2003, she was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In a 2006 poll consisting of 4,000 people, French was named as the most admired female celebrity amongst women in Britain.[63]
In February 2013, she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.[64]
BAFTA Awards
1989 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance in French and Saunders
1991 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance in French and Saunders
1998 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Performance in The Vicar of Dibley
2000 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Performance in The Vicar of Dibley
2001 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Performance in The Vicar of Dibley
2007 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Performance in The Vicar of Dibley
