- Diana Quick
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Diana Quick Born 23 November 1946
London, England, UKNationality English Education Dartford Grammar School for Girls Alma mater Oxford Occupation Actress Years active 1958–present Spouse Kenneth Cranham (1974-1978) (divorced) Partner Bill Nighy (1980-2008) Children Mary Nighy Diana Quick (born 23 November 1946) is an English actress.
Contents
Life
Quick was born in London, England. She grew up in Dartford, Kent, the third of a dentist's four children. She was educated at Dartford Grammar School for Girls, Kent. She was greatly aided by her English teacher, Miss Davis, who encouraged her to pursue acting. She became a member of an amateur dramatic society in Crayford, Kent whilst at school as well as appearing in many school productions. On leaving school she went to on pursue further studies at university at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Quick was the first female president of the Oxford University Dramatic Society.
Her longtime partner was actor Bill Nighy and they have one daughter, the actress Mary Nighy (born 1984). They separated in 2008.[1] The couple met in 1981 when co-starring in a play at the National Theatre in London. She was previously married to the actor Kenneth Cranham for a short time and had a relationship with Albert Finney which lasted seven years.
Quick spent seven years researching a book about her paternal family's life in India which has now been published (2009) by Virago with the title "A Tug on the Thread: From the British Raj to the British Stage". This title is possibly a reference to a line in Brideshead Revisited, in which author Evelyn Waugh uses a quote from a short story by G. K. Chesterton to illustrate the nature of Grace. Cordelia, in conversation with Charles Ryder, quotes a passage from the Father Brown detective story "The Queer Feet:" "I caught him, with an unseen hook and an invisible line which is long enough to let him wander to the ends of the world, and still to bring him back with a twitch upon the thread." In her book Quick reveals that she is of mixed race (Anglo-Indian) descent. Her great-grandfather served 23 years in the army in India before becoming a policeman and her great-grandmother had to flee from the Indian Mutiny after her father was killed.
Career
Quick is perhaps best known for the major role of Julia Flyte in the television production of Brideshead Revisited. She received an Emmy and British Academy Television Awards nomination for her work. Quick has also shown her versatility as actress appearing in many theatre, film and television productions. Her stage work has been most varied with roles in Shakespeare's Troillus and Cressida to Brecht's The Threepenny Opera.
Most recently she was particularly good as Queen Elizabeth II in a documentary drama made for television, The Queen : How Do You Solve The Problem of Camilla?. Prior to accepting the role, Quick had played the same character as a younger woman in Alan Bennett 's play, A Question of Attribution. She said of how she prepared for the television role,
I think one has to try to be as accurate as possible. You have to wear the right clothes, and in my case I wore a white wig, because I'm playing her as a mature Queen rather than when she was a younger woman. So you try and get the externals as accurate as possible, but then I think it's like any acting challenge, you just try to play the situation as truthfully as you can. So you play the spirit of the thing rather than the documentary reality of it. [2]
Quick has been feted as one of the most beautiful and talented actresses of her generation. In 1984 a magazine ran a cover of her with the caption "Is this the most beautiful woman in the world?"[3]
Film
- Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
- The Duellists (1977)
- The Three Hostages (1977)
- The Odd Job (1978)
- The Big Sleep (1978)
- Ordeal by Innocence (1984)
- Wilt (1989)
- Saving Grace (2000)
- The Affair of the Necklace (2001)
- The Discovery of Heaven (2001)
- Revengers Tragedy (2002)
Television
- Brideshead Revisited (1981)
- The Woman in White (BBC TV series, 1982)
- The Phantom of the Opera (1983)
- Minder: An Officer and a Car Salesman (1988)
- Dandelion Dead (1994)
- Dalziel and Pascoe ("For Love Nor Money") (2002)
- Inspector Morse ("Absolute Conviction")
- Poirot (Sad Cypress) (2003)
- Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka (2003)
- Kingdom: ("Series 2, Episode 5") (2008)
- The Queen: How Do We Solve The Problem of Camilla? (2009)
References
- ^ Roberts, Laura. It's not Love Actually after all as star Nighy splits with partner of 27 years, Daily Mail, August 25, 2008.
- ^ Interview: The Queen, Channel 4, Thursday, 5 November 2009
- ^ Bill Nighy - the star attraction The Sunday Times
External links
Categories:- 1946 births
- Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
- English actors
- English film actors
- English stage actors
- English television actors
- English voice actors
- Living people
- People from Dartford
- People from London
- Royal Shakespeare Company members
- Anglo-Indian people
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