Zena Walker

Zena Walker (7 March 1934 – 24 August 2003) was an English actress in film, theatre and television.

Walker was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, the daughter of George Walker, a grocer, and his wife Elizabeth Louise (née Hammond). She attended St. Martin's School in Solihull and then went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

She starred in an adaptation of A.J. Cronin's novel The Citadel.

Her most memorable performance is considered that of a mother in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1969), a black comedy by Peter Nichols, adapted from his stage play, about a handicapped child. For her performance in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg on Broadway, Walker won the 1968 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.

She was a memorable Ophelia opposite Paul Scofield in the lead role of Hamlet, and appeared as Her Ladyship in the film version of Ronald Harwood's play The Dresser (1983). Between 1970 and 1972 she appeared in the television series Man at the Top as Susan Lampton.

Walker married three times. Her first two husbands were actors: Robert Urquhart and later Julian Holloway. Her third husband was John French, a theatrical agent. She died in 2003 in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, aged 69, from undisclosed causes. Her last role was as the messenger in Oedipus.

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