Eleanor Bron (born 14 March 1938) is an English stage, film and television actress, and an author. Her film roles include Ahme in the Beatles musical Help! (1965), the Doctor in Alfie (1966), Margaret Spencer in Bedazzled (1967), and Hermione Roddice in Women in Love (1969). She has appeared in television series such as Yes Minister, Doctor Who, and Absolutely Fabulous.
Early life and family
Bron was born on 14 March 1938 in Stanmore, Middlesex, into a Jewish family.[1] Before her birth, her father Sydney had legally changed his name from Bronstein to Bron, in an effort to enhance his newly founded commercial enterprise, Bron's Orchestral Service.[2] Her elder brother was the record producer Gerry Bron.[3]
Bron began her career in the Cambridge Footlights revue of 1959, titled The Last Laugh, in which Peter Cook also appeared. The addition of a female performer to the Footlights was a departure; until that time it had been all-male, with female characters portrayed in drag.
She appeared in "Equal Opportunities", a 1982 episode of the BBC series Yes Minister, playing a senior civil servant in Jim Hacker's Department.[12] Hacker plans to promote her—ostensibly to strike a blow for women's rights—only to be sorely disappointed.[13]
Bron appeared twice in the original series of Doctor Who. She had a brief comedic scene in the serial City of Death (1979) alongside John Cleese, which was at the suggestion of its co-writer Douglas Adams.[14] The pair are art critics in Denise Rene's art gallery in Paris who are admiring the TARDIS (which they think to be a piece of art), when the Doctor (Tom Baker), Romana (Lalla Ward), and Duggan (Tom Chadbon) rush into it and it dematerialises. Bron's character, believing this to be part of the work, states that it is "Exquisite, absolutely exquisite!"[15] She also had the main guest billing as the villain Kara in the Colin Baker era serial Revelation of the Daleks (1985).[16] Bron later appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Loups-Garoux (2001) starring Peter Davison, in which she played the wealthy heiress Ileana de Santos.[17]
Bron played an art critic again in 1990, appearing in the BBC sketch comedy show French and Saunders in a parody of an Andy Warhol documentary.[18] Later she made frequent appearances in Jennifer Saunders' television series Absolutely Fabulous. Bron played, via flashback, the recurring character of Patsy's mother, a woman who "scattered bastard babies across Europe like a garden sprinkler". After giving birth, she would always say "Now take it away! And bring me another lover."[7] In 1992, she played Maria Lazlos in an episode of the first series of Heartbeat. She had a supporting role in the 1994 BBC ghost story The Blue Boy, and also appeared in the BBC's biographical TV movie Saint-Ex in 1996. She also narrated an episode on Wild Discovery.
In 1985 Bron was selected, for her authoritative tone, to become "the voice of BT" and can still be heard on various British telephone error messages such as "The number you have dialled has not been recognised, please check and try again".[7][failed verification]
In April 2010, Bron, along with Ian McKellen and Brian Cox, appeared in a series of TV advertisements to support Age UK,[27] the charity recently formed from the merger of Age Concern and Help the Aged. All three actors gave their time free of charge.
In June 2010, she guest-starred in Foyle's War in the episode "The Russian House". She appeared in the long-running British TV series Midsomer Murders as Lady Isobel DeQuetteville in the episode "The Dark Rider", first aired on ITV1 on 1 February 2012.[28] In 2019 she appeared as Maxine in "The Miniature Murders."
In November–December 2019, Bron read Salley Vickers's Grandmothers[30] in 10 parts on BBC Radio 4.[31]
Personal life
Bron was the partner of the architect Cedric Price for many years until his death in 2003; they had no children.[7] An interview with Bron in 2015 revealed that she had voted for Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour leadership election.[32] Bron is a pescetarian.[33]
She is the author of several books, including Life and Other Punctures, a 1978 account of bicycling in France and Holland on a Moulton bicycle; and Cedric Price Retriever, an inventory of the contents of the bookshelves of her late partner, architect Cedric Price.
Publications
Bron, Eleanor; Fortune, John (1972). Is Your Marriage Really Necessary?. Methuen. ISBN0-413-29450-1.
^Chris Hansen, ed. (2010). Ruminations, Peregrinations, and Regenerations: A Critical Approach to Doctor Who. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 93–94. ISBN978-1443820844.
^"Loups-Garoux". DoctorWhoReviews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 February 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
^Rye, Matthew (18 January 1997). "A fantastic journey". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. Archived from the original on 26 February 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2020.