Felicity Kendal
|
Felicity Kendal CBE |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
Felicity Ann Kendal 25 September 1946 Olton, Warwickshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1947–present (stage) 1965–present (screen) |
| Spouse(s) |
Drewe Henley (m. 1968–79, div.) Michael Rudman (m. 1983–90, div.) |
| Partner(s) |
Tom Stoppard (1991–98) Michael Rudman (1998–present) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) |
Geoffrey Kendal Laura Liddell |
| Relatives | Jennifer Kendal (sister) |
Felicity Ann Kendal, CBE (born 25 September 1946) is an English actress, working in television and theatre. She has appeared in numerous stage and screen roles over a 45-year career, but the role that brought attention to her career was that of Barbara Good in the 1975 television series The Good Life.
Felicity Kendal was born in Olton, Warwickshire, England, in 1946. She is the younger daughter of Geoffrey Kendal, an actor and manager, and his wife Laura (née Lidell). Her sister, Jennifer Kendal (died 1984, aged 51), also became an actress.
After early years in Birmingham, Kendal went to India with her family at age seven: her father was an English actor-manager who led his own repertory company on tours of India. The ensemble would perform Shakespeare before royalty one day, and in rough rural villages the next where audiences included many schoolchildren. As the family travelled, Felicity Kendal attended six convent schools in India, and contracted typhoid fever in Calcutta at age 17. She left India at the age of 20.
In 1975 Kendal had her big break on television with the BBC sitcom The Good Life. She and Richard Briers starred as Barbara and Tom Good – a middle-class suburban couple who decide to quit the rat race and become self-sufficient, much to the consternation of their snooty but well-meaning neighbour Margo and her down to earth husband Jerry Leadbetter (played by Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington). Kendal appeared in all 30 episodes which extended over four series from 1975 to 1978.
Kendal has stated that she can be "short-tempered and difficult" – which is in contrast to the generally cheerful, patient and upbeat character of Barbara, with whom the public have come to associate her.
Kendal made her stage debut aged nine months, when she was carried on stage as a changeling boy in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
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