Name
Rosalind Knight
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1933-12-03
Deathday
2020-12-19 (87 years old)
Place of Birth
Marylebone, London, England, UK
Biography
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. Rosalind's interest in theatre was first kindled at the age of six when she and her mother attended a staging of Novello's "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 lady-in-waiting in Laurence Olivier's 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. Trinian's (1957) (decades later, she would return as a teacher in the sequel The Wildcats of St. Trinian's (1980)). This set the tone for a number of subsequent comedic roles which included a couple of early Carry On's and the Tony Richardson-directed 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 Shaw's "The Importance of Being Earnest".
Rosalind was married to director/producer Michael Elliott from 1959. In 1976, she helped rebuild and re-open 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 Actor's 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.
Known For
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The true story of the relationship between Alan Bennett and the singular Miss Shepherd, a ...
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In Haven Hospital, a certain men's ward is causing more havoc than the whole hospital alto...
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Celebrating twenty years of classic Carry On films, two of the films’ best-loved stars, ...
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Thomas Hardy's classic epic remains one of the most popular novels, this TV adaptation viv...
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Two sets of identical twins are accidentally switched at birth. One pair, Phillipe and Pie...
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When the young, attractive Joe Orton meets the older, more introverted Kenneth Halliwell a...
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- 2002 About a Boy as Lindsey's Mum
- 1979 The Lady Vanishes as Evelyn Barnes
- 1959 Carry On Teacher as Miss Felicity Wheeler
- 1993 Royal Celebration as Mrs. Maynard
- 1977 That's Carry On! as Miss Felicity Wheeler (archive footage)
- 1970 Start the Revolution Without Me as Helene de Sisi
- 1960 There Was a Crooked Man as Nurse
- 1975 Eskimo Nell as Lady Longhorn
- 1975 The Old Curiosity Shop as Mrs. George
- 1959 Carry On Nurse as Student Nurse Nightingale
- 2021 Friday Night Dinner: 10 Years and a Lovely Bit of Squirrel as Horrible Grandma (archive footage)
- 1992 Swords at Teatime as Shirley
- 2009 The Alchemistic Suitcase as Lady
- 2015 The Lady in the Van as Old Nun
- 1960 Doctor in Love as Doctor (uncredited)
- 1963 As You Like It as Celia
- 1980 The Wildcats of St Trinian's as Miss Walsh
- 2007 The Shell Seekers as Mrs. Croftway
- 1976 It Could Happen to You as Mrs Ramlin
- 1987 Claws as Mrs Hargreaves
- 1992 Afraid of the Dark as Edith
- 1987 Prick Up Your Ears as RADA Judge
- 1998 Gunslinger's Revenge as Miss Willow
- 1994 Pleasure as Madame Desneuves
- 1973 Baby Blues as Sister Maidenhead
- 1995 Solitaire for 2 as Receptionist
- 1957 Fortune Is a Woman as (uncredited)
- 1961 The Kitchen as Daphne
- 1957 Blue Murder at St. Trinian's as Annabel
- 2011 The Lost World Cup
- 1968 On the Eve of Publication as Barbara
- 1963 Tom Jones as Mrs. Fitzpatrick
- 1982 The Disappearance of Harry as Dr Abbeydale
- 1981 The Kindness of Mrs Radcliffe as Matron
- 1958 The Horse's Mouth as Art Student (uncredited)
- 1968 Diamonds for Breakfast as Museum Visitor in Pink Dress (uncredited)
- 1998 Tess of the D'Urbervilles as Mrs. D'Urberville
- 1998 What's a Carry On? as Miss Felicity Wheeler (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1969 Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? as Critic Bentley
- 1986 The Good Doctor Bodkin-Adams as Nurse Stronach
- 2003 Cheeky as Pam
- 1997 Midsomer Murders ( 1 episode ) as Eleanor Macpherson
- 1994 Wycliffe ( 1 episode ) as Mrs. Prentice
- 1990 Jeeves and Wooster ( 1 episode ) as Dame Daphne
- 1962 The Beverly Hillbillies ( 1 episode )
- 1999 Gimme Gimme Gimme ( 13 episodes ) as Beryl Merit
- 1992 Heartbeat ( 1 episode ) as Edith Benton
- 1989 Agatha Christie's Poirot ( 1 episode ) as Georgina Morley
- 1957 Nicholas Nickleby ( 2 episodes ) as Miss Fanny Squeers
- 1984 I Thought You'd Gone ( 7 episodes )
- 1964 Martin Chuzzlewit ( 10 episodes )
- 2011 Friday Night Dinner ( 3 episodes ) as Cynthia Goodman
- 2001 Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story ( 2 episodes ) as Hag Woman
- 1964 The Wednesday Play ( 1 episode ) as Barbara
- 1984 Sherlock Holmes ( 1 episode ) as Countess of Morcar
- 1998 Berkeley Square ( 10 episodes ) as Great Aunt Effie
- 2010 Sherlock ( 1 episode ) as Grace
- 2016 The Crown ( 2 episodes ) as Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark
- 1997 Midsomer Murders ( 1 episode ) as Mother Jerome
- 1974 Playhouse ( 1 episode ) as Mrs. Mattison
- 1994 Harry Enfield and Chums ( 1 episode ) as Lady Fotherington Carstairs
- 1987 Watching ( 1 episode ) as Mrs. Lloyd Roberts
- 1974 Playhouse ( 1 episode ) as Matron
- 1968 Nicholas Nickleby ( 2 episodes ) as Miss Snevellicci
- 1982 Nancy Astor ( 2 episodes ) as Margot Asquith
- 1972 Crown Court ( 1 episode ) as Felicity Price
- 1985 Mapp & Lucia ( 1 episode ) as La Contessa Amelia Faraglione
- 1984 Diana ( 1 episode ) as Mrs Eggins
- 1967 Not in Front of the Children ( 2 episodes ) as Biddy
- 1998 Tess of the D'Urbervilles ( 2 episodes ) as Mrs. D'Urberville
- 1991 In Suspicious Circumstances ( 1 episode ) as Agnes
- 1996 Dalziel and Pascoe ( 1 episode ) as Brigid Stewart
- 1983 Up the Elephant and Round the Castle ( 2 episodes ) as Mrs London
- 1984 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ( 1 episode ) as Countess of Morcar
- 1989 Judith Krantz's Till We Meet Again ( 2 episodes ) as Marquise de St. Fraycourt
- 1990 A Sense of Guilt ( 2 episodes ) as Natasha Blor
