Scotianostra

Happy 90th Birthday Scottish actress Phyllida Law, born on May 8th 1932 in Glasgow.

I always love  announcing events like this where the person in my post has had as long successful life and career, and  Phyllida certainly falls into this category.

There is very little  about her early life except she was born in Glasgow, the daughter of Megsie “Meg” and William Law, a journalist, we don’t even know if  Phyllida has any siblings, the only comment she has made about her upbrining is  “When you grow up in Glasgow with a Glaswegian granny, you’re taught that pride is a wicked thing. I still feel a bit like that.“ The little we know is she grew up in Glasgow’s west end, just off Great Western Road, and when war broke out when she was just seven and she found herself evacuated to places such as Lenzie, in Dunbartonshire, and Skelmorlie, Ayrshire.

That gave her a love for the Scots countryside which means she now splits her life between her home in London and a family cottage in Argyll. Phyllida would fit in well with the Scottish & Proud ethos, in an interview she says:

“I’m passionate about my Scots heritage. How could I not be?  I can’t live without it. There’s no way I could live without those hills and it’s got to be the west coast.
“I sometimes travel to Edinburgh then go up to Pittenweem or somewhere and I think to myself, ‘This isn’t Scotland.’ It’s a wonderful coastline but it’s not Scotland for me.

“When my parents lived in Glasgow they were always looking for a cottage to which they could retire. They found one in Ardentinney, so I visit that a lot.

She joined the Bristol Old Vic in 1952, from what I can gather she was first in the wardrobe department, the first pic shows her standing, from a 1952 photo.
Heron screen acting credits start in 1958 and are very extensive, the pick of them are Dixon of Dock Green and a stint as the storyteller in the great children’s show Jackanory in the 60’s. It must have been during her time in the BBC’s children’s TV department she met her husband to be, Eric Thompson, they married in 1957, he went on to narrate The Magic Roundabout

Angels in the 70’s and of course Taggart in the 80’s followed, as well Thomson, the variety series hosted by actress Emma Thompson in 1988, Emma just happens to be her daughter. Heartbeat, Hamish Macbeth and Dangerfield in the 90’s, Waking the dead and Doctors in the noughties has kept her busy, now in her 86th year she has still been appearing on the small screen, in The Other Wife and New Tricks during the past 8 years. Film roles include She is known for her work on Much Ado About Nothing , The Time Machine and The Winter Guest.

Phyllida spends most of her time in Argyll in a house she shares with her actress daughter, Emma. The second picture shows mother and daughter receiving honorary degrees from The Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow in 2013. Her other daughter, Sophie is also a talented actress.

With Phyllida’s advance years she is classified as ‘extremely vulnerable’ category in the current climate, Emma, who spends most of her time in Italy, flew out from her home in Venice, just as the corona virus was starting to take hold in the country, arriving in Scotland in early March to look after her mother in her home on the banks of Loch Eck. Emma has a love for Scotland too and once said of the loch …

“I’ve played on its banks, picnicked on its beaches, swum in its chilly, unsalted depths, cycled round it, drunk it, got drunk near it, kissed in boats on it, got married near it and never wearied of it.”

When asked,  The way you would spend your fantasy 24 hours, with no travel restrictions she answered

I’d take my best friend Mildew on a tour of the islands of Scotland, 

which of course id the correct answer!

The third pic is from 1998 when Phyllida was a mere 66 years young, it is of Emma and Alan Rickman  at The Winter Guest. Next up is with Emma again, this time at the 1993 Oscars.  The last pic is proud Mother with her two daughters.