Elspet Gray

Elspet Gray, Lady Rix
Elspet Gray playing Gertrude of Flanders in Blackadder
Born	Elspet Jean MacGregor Gray 12 April 1929 Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland
Died	18 February 2013(2013-02-18) (aged 83) London, England, UK
Occupation	Television actress
Years active	1948-2013
Spouse(s)	Brian Rix, Baron Rix (1949-2013) (her death)
Children	4

Elspet Jean Gray, Baroness Rix (née Gray; 12 April 1929 – 18 February 2013) was a Scottish actress, who became well known for her partnership with her husband, Lord Rix, and was later familiar to British television audiences for various roles in the 1970s and 1980s. She was best-recognised as Mrs. Palmer, in the British TV comedy Solo, alongside Felicity Kendal, and as Lady Collingford in the British TV series Catweazle.

Gray appeared in many television programmes, her first appearance being in Love in Waiting in 1948. She had several roles in the 1970s including parts in Fawlty Towers, as the pediatrician wife of a psychiatrist baffled by Basil's behaviour,The Crezz, Catweazle, and in the 1980s with Doctor Who story Arc of Infinity and the World War Two drama Tenko. She appeared as the Queen in the BBC sitcom The Black Adder (1983), with Rowan Atkinson as her son in the title role, and as Mrs Palmer in Solo (1981–82), another comedy, this time with Felicity Kendal in the lead as her daughter.

She remained active until the late 1990s, appearing in Agatha Christie's Poirot, the films The Girl in a Swing (1988) and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), and as Hilary in the British TV comedy Dinnerladies.