Eileen Atkins

Dame Eileen June Atkins, DBE (born 16 June 1934),^[a] is an English actress and occasional screenwriter. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for Cranford. She is also a three-time Olivier Award winner, winning Best Supporting Performance in 1988 (for Multiple roles) and Best Actress for The Unexpected Man (1999) and Honour (2004).^[2] She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1990 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2001.

Dame Eileen Atkins DBE
Atkins in 2021
Born	Eileen June Atkins (1934-06-16) 16 June 1934 (age 88) London, England
Education	Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Years active	1953–present
Spouses	Julian Glover ​ ​ (m. 1957; div. 1966)​ Bill Shepherd ​ ​ (m. 1978; died 2016)​

Atkins joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1957 and made her Broadway debut in the 1966 production of The Killing of Sister George, for which she received the first of four Tony Award nominations for Best Actress in a Play in 1967. She received subsequent nominations for, Vivat! Vivat Regina! (1972), Indiscretions (1995) and The Retreat from Moscow (2004). Other stage credits include The Tempest (Old Vic 1962), Exit the King (Edinburgh Festival and Royal Court 1963), The Promise (New York 1967), The Night of the Tribades (New York 1977), Medea (Young Vic 1985), A Delicate Balance (Haymarket, West End 1997) and Doubt (New York 2006).

Atkins co-created the television dramas Upstairs, Downstairs (1971–1975) and The House of Elliot (1991–1994) with Jean Marsh. She also wrote the screenplay for the 1997 film Mrs Dalloway. Her film appearances include I Don't Want to Be Born (1975), Equus (1977), The Dresser (1983), Let Him Have It (1991), Wolf (1994), Jack and Sarah (1995), Gosford Park (2001), Cold Mountain (2003), Vanity Fair (2004), Scenes of a Sexual Nature (2006), Evening (2007), Last Chance Harvey (2008), Robin Hood (2010) and Magic in the Moonlight (2014).

Early life

Atkins was born in the Mothers' Hospital in Lower Clapton, a Salvation Army maternity hospital in East London. Her mother, Annie Ellen (née Elkins), was a barmaid who was 46 when Eileen was born, and her father, Arthur Thomas Atkins, was a gas meter reader who was previously under-chauffeur to the Portuguese Ambassador. She was the third child in the family and when she was born the family moved to a council home in Tottenham. Her father did not, in fact, know how to drive and was responsible, as under-chauffeur, mainly for cleaning the car. At the time Eileen was born, her mother worked in a factory the whole day and then as a barmaid in the Elephant & Castle at night. When Eileen was three, a Gypsy woman came to their door selling lucky heather and clothes pegs. She saw little Eileen and told her mother that her daughter would be a famous dancer. Her mother promptly enrolled her in a dance class. Although she hated it, she studied dancing from age 3 to 15 or 16. From age 7 to 15, which covered the last four years of the Second World War (1941–45), she danced in working men's club circuits for 15 shillings a time as "Baby Eileen". During the war, she performed as well at London's Stage Door canteen for American troops and sang songs like "Yankee Doodle." At one time she was attending dance class four or five times a week.^[1]

Once, when she was given a line to recite, someone told her mother that she had a Cockney accent. Her mother was appalled but speech lessons were too expensive for the family. Fortunately, a woman took interest in her and paid for her to be educated at Parkside Preparatory School in Tottenham. Eileen Atkins has since publicly credited the Principal, Miss Dorothy Margaret Hall, for the wise and firm guidance under which her character developed. From Parkside she went on to The Latymer School, a grammar school in Edmonton, London. By 12, she was a professional in panto in Clapham and Kilburn. One of her grammar school teachers who used to give them religious instruction, an Ernest J. Burton, spotted her potential and, without charge, rigorously drilled away her Cockney accent. He also introduced her to the works of William Shakespeare. She studied under him for two years.^[1]

When she was 14 or 15 and still at Latymer's, she also attended "drama demonstration" sessions twice a year with this same teacher. At around this time (though some sources say she was 12), her first encounter with Robert Atkins took place. She was taken to see Atkins' production of King John at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. She wrote to him saying that the boy who played Prince Arthur was not good enough and that she could do better. Atkins wrote back and asked that she come to see him. On the day they met, Atkins thought she was a shop girl and not a school girl. She gave a little prince speech and he told her to go to drama school and come back when she was older.^[1]

Burton came to an agreement with Eileen's parents that he would try to get her a scholarship for one drama school and that if she did not get the scholarship he would arrange for her to do a teaching course in some other drama school. Her parents were not at all keen on the fact that she would stay in school until 16 as her sister had left at 14 and her brother at 15 but somehow they were persuaded. Eileen was in Latymer's until 16. Out of 300 applicants for a RADA scholarship, she got down to the last three but was not selected, so she did a three-year course on teaching at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. But, although she was taking the teaching course, she also attended drama classes and in fact performed in three plays in her last year. This was in the early 1950s. In her third and last year she had to teach once a week, an experience she later said she hated. She graduated from Guildhall in 1953.^[3]

As soon as she left Guildhall she got her first job with Robert Atkins in 1953: as Jaquenetta in Love's Labour's Lost at the same Regent's Park Open Air Theatre where she was brought to see Atkins' King John production years before. She was also, very briefly, an assistant stage manager at the Oxford Playhouse until Peter Hall fired her for impudence. She was also part of repertory companies performing in Billy Butlin's holiday camp in Skegness, Lincolnshire. It was there when she met Julian Glover.

It took nine years (1953–62) before she was working steadily.^[4][5]

Stage

She joined the Guild Players Repertory Company in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland, as a professional actress in 1952. She appeared as the nurse in Harvey at the Repertory Theatre, Bangor, in 1952.^[6] In 1953 she appeared as an attendant in Love's Labours Lost at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Her London stage debut was in 1953 as Jaquenetta in Robert Atkins's staging of Love's Labour's Lost at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park.^[7][8]

Atkins has regularly returned to the life and work of Virginia Woolf for professional inspiration. She has played the writer on stage in Patrick Garland's adaptation of A Room of One's Own and also in Vita and Virginia, winning the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show and an Obie Award for A Room of One's Own in which she also played in the 1990 television version; she also provided the screenplay for the 1997 film adaptation of Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway, and made a cameo appearance in the 2002 film version of Michael Cunningham's Woolf-themed novel, The Hours.

Atkins joined the Stratford Memorial Theatre Company in 1957 and stayed for two seasons. She was with the Old Vic in its 1961–62 season (she appeared in the Old Vic's Repertoire Leaflets of February–April 1962 and April–May 1962).

Film and television

She appeared as Maggie Clayhanger in all six episodes of Arnold Bennett's Hilda Lessways from 15 May to 19 June 1959, produced by BBC Midlands with Judi Dench and Brian Smith.^[9] In the 1960 Shakespeare production An Age of Kings she played Joan of Arc.

She helped create two television series. Along with fellow actress, Jean Marsh, she created the concept for an original television series, Behind the Green Baize Door, which became the award-winning ITV series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971–75). Marsh played maid Rose for the duration of the series but Atkins was unable to accept a part because of stage commitments. The same team was also responsible for the BBC series The House of Eliott (1991–93).

Her film and television work includes Sons and Lovers (1981), Smiley's People (1982), Oliver Twist (1982), Titus Andronicus (1985), A Better Class of Person (1985), Roman Holiday (1987), The Lost Language of Cranes (1991), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Talking Heads (1998), Madame Bovary (2000), David Copperfield (2000), Wit (2001) and Bertie and Elizabeth (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), What a Girl Wants (2003), Vanity Fair (2004), Ballet Shoes (2005) and Ask the Dust (2006).

In the autumn of 2007, she co-starred with Dame Judi Dench and Sir Michael Gambon in the BBC One drama Cranford playing the central role of Miss Deborah Jenkyns. This performance earned her the 2008 BAFTA Award for best actress, as well as the Emmy Award.^[10] In September 2007 she played Abigail Dusniak in Waking the Dead Yahrzeit (S6:E11-12).

In 2009 Atkins played the evil Nurse Edwina Kenchington in the BBC Two black comedy Psychoville. Atkins replaced Vanessa Redgrave as Eleanor of Aquitaine in the blockbuster movie Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe, which was released in the UK in May 2010. The same year, she played Louisa in the dark comedy film Wild Target.

Atkins and Jean Marsh, creators of the original 1970s series of Upstairs, Downstairs, were among the cast of a new BBC adaptation, shown over the winter of 2010–11. The new series is set in 1936. Marsh again played Rose while Atkins was cast as the redoubtable Maud, Lady Holland. In August 2011, it was revealed that Atkins had decided not to continue to take part as she was unhappy with the scripts.^[11] In September 2011, Atkins joined the cast of ITV comedy-drama series Doc Martin playing the title character's aunt, Ruth Ellingham. She returned as Aunt Ruth for the show's sixth series in September 2013, the seventh in September 2015 and eighth in September 2017.

Atkins starred as Lady Spence with Matthew Rhys in an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's The Scapegoat, shown in September 2012.^[12]

She has portrayed Queen Mary on two occasions, in the 2002 television film Bertie and Elizabeth and in the 2016 Netflix-produced television series The Crown.

Atkins portrayed graduate school professor Evelyn Ashford to Vivian Bearing (Emma Thompson) in Wit, a 2001 American television movie directed by Mike Nichols. The teleplay by Nichols and Emma Thompson is based on the 1999 Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same title by Margaret Edson. The film was shown at the Berlin International Film Festival on 9 February 2001 before being broadcast by HBO on 24 March. It was shown at the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Warsaw Film Festival later in the year.

Radio

Atkins had a guest role in BBC Radio 4's long-running rural soap The Archers in September 2016, playing Jacqui, the juror who persuades her fellow jurors to acquit Helen Titchener (née Archer) of the charge of attempted murder and wounding with intent of her abusive husband, Rob.^[13]

Personal life

Atkins was married to actor Julian Glover in 1957; they divorced in 1966. (A day after his divorce, Glover married actress Isla Blair.)^[14] She married her second husband, Bill Shepherd, on 2 February 1978. Shepherd died on 24 June 2016.^[15]

In 1997, she wrote the screenplay for Mrs Dalloway, starring Vanessa Redgrave. The film received excellent reviews but was a box-office failure. It was a financial disaster for Atkins and her husband, who had invested in it. She said of this incident: "I have to work. I was nearly bankrupted over Mrs Dalloway, and if you are nearly bankrupted, you are in trouble for the rest of your life. I don't have a pension. In any case, it doesn't hurt me to work. I think it's quite good, actually."^[16]

"All through my career, I have tried to do new work, but there is a problem in the West End as far as new work is concerned. As a theatregoer, I get bored with seeing the same old plays again and again. I felt terrible the other night because I bumped into Greta Scacchi and she asked me if I was coming to see her in The Deep Blue Sea. I said, 'Greta, I'm so old, I've seen it so many times. I've seen it with Peggy Ashcroft, with Vivien Leigh, with Googie Withers, with Penelope Wilton and I played it myself when I was 19. I can't bring myself to see it again.' She was very sweet about it."^[16]

In 1995, Atkins was diagnosed with breast cancer and treated for the condition. She has recovered.^[17] Living alone in widowhood during the COVID lockdown, Atkins (at age 87) completed her autobiography Will She Do?. She read an abridged version on BBC Radio 4.^[18]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Inadmissible Evidence	Shirley
1975	Sharon's Baby	Sister Albana
1977	Equus	Hester Saloman
1983	The Dresser	Madge
1991	Let Him Have It	Lilian Bentley
1994	Wolf	Mary
1995	Jack and Sarah	Phil
	Cold Comfort Farm	Judith
1998	The Avengers	Alice
1999	Women Talking Dirty	Emily Boyle
2001	Gosford Park	Mrs. Croft
2002	The Hours	Barbara
2003	Cold Mountain	Maddy
	What a Girl Wants	Jocelyn Dashwood
2004	Vanity Fair	Miss Matilda Crawley
	The Queen of Sheba's Pearls	School matron
2005	The Feast of the Goat	Aunt Adelina
2006	Ask the Dust	Mrs. Hargraves
	Scenes of a Sexual Nature	Iris
2007	Evening	The Night Nurse
2008	Last Chance Harvey	Maggie
2010	Robin Hood	Eleanor of Aquitaine
	Wild Target	Louisa Maynard
2012	The Scapegoat	Lady Spence
2013	Beautiful Creatures	Gramma
2014	Magic in the Moonlight	Aunt Vanessa
2017	Paddington 2^[19]	Madame Kozlova
2018	Nothing Like a Dame	Herself	Documentary
TBA	Wicked Little Letters		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	Hilda Lessways	Maggie Clayhanger	6 episodes
1960	An Age of Kings	Performer	3 episodes
1961	Emergency – Ward 10	Miss Spinks	2 episodes
	ITV Playhouse	Girl	Episode: "The Square"
1964	Z-Cars	Grace Patchett	Episode: "A Stroll Along the Sands"
	The Massingham Affair	Charlotte Verney	6 episodes
1964–1965	ITV Play of the Week	Norma/Kathy	2 episodes
1965	Knock on Any Door	Ruth	Episode: "Close Season"
1966	Major Barbara	Barbara	Television film
1968	Theatre 625	Eileen	Episode: "Party Games"
	Half Hour Story	Her	Episode: "Nothing's Ever Over"
	The Sex Game	Performer	Episode: "Women Can Be Monsters"
1965–1969	The Wednesday Play		4 episodes
1969–1970	W. Somerset Maugham	Various	2 episodes
1970	Solo	Mary Kingsley	Episode: "Eileen Atkins as Mary Kingsley"
1972	Stage 2	The Duchess	Episode: "The Duchess of Malfi"
1969–1972	BBC Play of the Month	Performer	4 episodes
1974	The Lady from the Sea	Ellida Wangel	Television film
1975	Affairs of the Heart	Kate Cookman	Episode: "Kate"
1980	She Fell Among Thieves	Vanity Fair	BBC2 Play of The Week
	Masterpiece Theatre: Sons and Lovers	Gertrude Morel	Mini-series; 7 episode
1981	Celebrity Playhouse	Stella Kirby	Episode: "Eden's End"
1982	Smiley's People	Madame Ostrakova	4 episodes
	Oliver Twist	Mrs. Mann	Television film
1983	Nelly's Version	Nelly
1985	The Burston Rebellion	Kitty Higdon	See Burston Strike School
1986	Breaking Up	Mrs. Mailer	4 episodes
1985–1987	Screen Two	Performer	2 episodes
1991	A Room of One's Own	Virginia Woolf	Television film
1992	The Lost Language of Cranes	Rose Benjamin	BBC Screen Two
	Mistress of Suspense	Mrs. Waggoner	Episode: "The Stuff of Madness"
1993	Performance	Mrs. May Maitland	Episode: "The Maitlands"
1995	Cold Comfort Farm	Judith Starkadder	Television film
1997	A Dance to the Music of Time	Brightman	Episode: "Post War"
1998	Talking Heads 2	Celia	Episode: "The Hand of God"
2000	Tales from the Madhouse	The Mourner	Episode: "The Mourner"
	David Copperfield	Miss Jane Murdstone	Television film
2001	The Sleeper	Violet Moon
	Wit	Evelyn Ashford
2002	Bertie and Elizabeth	Queen Mary
2003	Love Again	Eva Larkin
2007	Agatha Christie's Marple	Lady Tressilian	Episode: "Towards Zero"
	Waking the Dead	Abigail Dusniak	Episode: Yahrzeit
	Cranford	Miss Deborah Jenkyns	2 episodes
	Ballet Shoes	Madame Fidolia	Television film
2009–2011	Psychoville	Edwina Kenchington	8 episodes
2010	Upstairs Downstairs	Maud, Lady Holland	3 episodes
	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Princess Natalia Dragomiroff	Episode: "Murder on the Orient Express"
	Rosamunde Pilcher's Shades of Love	Violet Aird	2 episodes
2014	This is Jinsy	Miss Penny	Episode: "Penny's Pendant"
2016	The Crown	Queen Mary	Main role (Season 1); 5 episodes
2017	Carnage	Dorothy	Mockumentary
2011–2022	Doc Martin	Ruth Ellingham	39 episodes (as of 2019)

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Playwright	Venue
1957	Cymbeline	Performer	William Shakespeare	Shakespeare Memorial Theatre
	The Tempest			Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
	The Vigil	Magdalen	Ladislas Fodor	Shakespeare Memorial Theatre
1958	Romeo and Juliet	Performer	William Shakespeare
	Hamlet	Lady
	Pericles	Diana
	Much Ado About Nothing	Performer
1958–1959	Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet	Performer, Lady		Tour
1961	Roots	Beattie	Arnold Wesker	Bristol Old Vic^[20]
	The Square	Girl	Marguerite Duras	Bromley Little Theatre
1962	Twelfth Night	Viola	William Shakespeare	The Old Vic
	Richard III	Queen
	The Tempest	Miranda
	Semi-Detached	Eileen Midway	David Turner	Saville Theatre
1963	The Provok'd Wife	Lady Brute	John Vanbrugh	Georgian Theatre (Richmond, Yorkshire) Vaudeville Theatre
	Exit the King	Juliette	Eugène Ionesco	Edinburgh Festival Royal Court Theatre
1965	The Sleepers' Den	Mrs. Shannon	Peter Gill	Royal Court Theatre
1965–1966	The Killing of Sister George	Alice McNaught	Frank Marcus	Bristol Old Vic Duke of York's Theatre
1966–1967				Belasco Theatre, Broadway
1966	The Restoration of Arnold Middleton	Joan Middleton	David Storey	Royal Court Theatre
1967	The Promise	Lika	Aleksei Arbuzov	Henry Miller's Theatre, Broadway^[21]
1968	The Cocktail Party	Celia Coplestone	T. S. Eliot	Chichester Festival Theatre Wyndham's Theatre Theatre Royal Haymarket
1970–1971	Vivat! Vivat Regina!	Elizabeth I	Robert Bolt	Chichester Festival Theatre Piccadilly Theatre
1972				Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway
1973	Suzanna Andler	Suzanna Andler	Marguerite Duras	Aldwych Theatre
	As You Like It	Rosalind	William Shakespeare	Royal Shakespeare Theatre
1975	Heartbreak House	Hesione Husbaye	George Bernard Shaw	The Old Vic
1977	The Night of the Tribades	Marie Caroline David	Per Olov Enquist	Helen Hayes Theatre, Broadway
1977	St. Joan	St. Joan	George Bernard Shaw	The Old Vic Liverpool Playhouse
1978	The Lady's Not For Burning	Jennet Jourdemayne	Christopher Fry	The Old Vic
	Twelfth Night	Viola	William Shakespeare	The Old Vic
1981	Passion Play	Nell	Peter Nichols	Aldwych Theatre
1984	Serjeant Musgrave's Dance	Mrs. Hitchcock	John Arden	The Old Vic
1986	Medea	Medea	Euripides	The Young Vic
1988	The Winter's Tale	Paulina	William Shakespeare	Cottesloe Theatre
	Cymbeline	Queen		Cottesloe Theatre
	Mountain Language	Elderly Woman	Harold Pinter	Lyttelton Theatre
1989	Exclusive	Sally Kershaw	Jeffrey Archer	Theatre Royal, Bath Strand Theatre
1990	A Room of One's Own	Virginia Woolf	Patrick Garland	Hampstead Theatre Playhouse Theatre
1992	The Night of the Iguana	Hannah Jelkes	Tennessee Williams	Lyttelton Theatre
1992 1993–1994	Vita and Virginia	Virginia Woolf	Eileen Atkins	Minerva Theatre Ambassadors Theatre Union Square Theatre (Off-Broadway)
1995	Indiscretions	Leonie	Jean Cocteau	Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway
1996	John Gabriel Borkman	Mrs. Gunhild Borkman	Henrik Ibsen	Lyttelton Theatre
	Hermione Lee on Virginia Woolf	Reader	Hermione Lee	Cottesloe Theatre
1997	A Delicate Balance	Agnes	Edward Albee	Theatre Royal Haymarket
1998	The Unexpected Man	Woman	Yasmina Reza	The Pit, London Duchess Theatre
2000				Promenade Theatre, Off-Broadway
2003	Honour	Honour	Joanna Murray-Smith	Cottesloe Theatre
2004	The Retreat from Moscow	Alice	William Nicholson	Booth Theatre, Broadway
2005	The Birthday Party	Meg	Harold Pinter	Duchess Theatre, London
2006	Doubt	Sister Aloysius (replacement)	John Patrick Shanley	Walter Kerr Theatre, Broadway
2007	There Came A Gypsy Riding	Bridget	Frank McGuinness	Almeida Theatre, London
2008	The Sea	Mrs. Rafi	Edward Bond	Theatre Royal, Haymarket
	The Female of the Species	Margot	Joanna Murray-Smith	Vaudeville Theatre
2009	Harold Pinter: A Celebration	Performer	Harold Pinter	Olivier Theatre
2012	All That Fall	Mrs. Rooney	Samuel Beckett	Jermyn Street Theatre Arts Theatre
2013				59E59 Theatre, New York City^[22]
2014	The Witch of Edmonton	Elizabeth Sawyer	William Rowley	Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon^[23]
2014–2016	Ellen Terry with Eileen Atkins	Ellen Terry	Eileen Atkins	Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
2018	The Height of the Storm	Madeleine	Florian Zeller	Wyndham's Theatre
2019				Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, Broadway

Honours

Atkins was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1990. She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) on her 67th birthday, 16 June 2001. On 23 June 2010, she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, by Oxford University. On 5 December 2005 she received the degree of Doctor of Arts, honoris causa, from City University London. She is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame; she was inducted in 1998.

Awards and nominations

Theatre Awards

Tony Awards

Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
1967	Best Actress in a Play	The Killing of Sister George	Nominated	^[24]
1972		Vivat! Vivat Regina!	Nominated
1995		Indiscretions	Nominated
2004		The Retreat from Moscow	Nominated

Drama Desk Awards

Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
1972	Outstanding Performance	Vivat! Vivat Regina!	Won	^[24]
1978	Featured Actress in a Play	The Night of the Tribades	Won
1991	Outstanding Solo Performance	A Room of One's Own	Won
1995	Honorary Award	—	Won
2001	Outstanding Actress in a Play	The Unexpected Man	Nominated
2004		The Retreat from Moscow	Nominated

Olivier Awards

Year	Category	Work	Result
1978	Best Actress in a Revival	Twelfth Night	Nominated
1981	Best Actress in a New Play	Passion Play	Nominated
1988	Best Supporting Performance	Cymbeline The Winter's Tale Mountain Language	Won
1992	Best Supporting Actress	The Night of the Iguana	Nominated
1997	Best Actress	John Gabriel Borkman	Nominated
1999	Best Actress	The Unexpected Man	Won
2004	Best Actress	Honour	Won
2018	Best Actress	The Height of the Storm	Nominated

Film and Television Awards

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1970	BAFTA TV Award	Best Actress	BBC Play of the Month W. Somerset Maugham The Wednesday Play	Nominated
1983	BAFTA Film Award	Best Supporting Actress	The Dresser	Nominated
2001	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Ensemble – Film	Gosford Park	Won
2002	Broadcast Film Critics Association	Best Acting Ensemble		Won
2002	Florida Film Critics Circle	Best Ensemble Cast		Won
2002	Phoenix Film Critics Society	Best Ensemble		Nominated
2002	Satellite Award	Best Cast – Film		Won
2008	BAFTA TV Award	Best Actress	Cranford	Won
2008	Golden Globe Award	Best Supporting Actress – Television		Nominated
2008	Emmy Award	Supporting Actress in a Miniseries		Won
2011			Upstairs Downstairs	Nominated

Notes

1. The birth certificate shows 16 June 1934, but Atkins herself relates how she was born just before midnight on 15 June but the nursing home record was completed just after midnight on the following day.^[1]

References

1. Atkins, Eileen (2021). Will she do? : act one of a life on stage. London: Virago. ISBN 9780349014661.
2. . Olivier Awards. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
3. Principal's General Report to the Board of Governors, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 13 May 2013, p. 4.
4. • "Regent's Park Open Air Theatre: Our History" in openairtheatre.org/history. Retrieved 1 December 2011
   • Carole Zucker, In The Company of Actors: Reflections on the Craft of Acting (London: A & C Black Publishers, 1999), p. 2. Retrieved from Google Books, 3 December 2011
   • Sally Vincent, "A class act," The Guardian (Saturday, 9 December 2000). Retrieved from www.guardian.co.uk on 2 December 2011
   • William Glover, "Eileen Atkins Stars in Another Ringing Triumph," The Evening News (26 February 1972). Retrieved from news.google.com on 2 December 2011
   • Jasper Rees, "Theartdesk Q&A: Actress Eileen Atkins," (24 December 2010) in www.theartdesk.com. Retrieved, 3 December 2011
5. • interview with Jonathan Ross on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, BBC1, 13 June 2008
   • Richard Digby Day, "Delightful Insight into Life of Actress," Newark Advertiser (23 October 2011, Palace Theatre, Newark) in www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk. Retrieved 30 November 2011
   • "Eileen Atkins" in The Telegraph (16 June 2001) at www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 30 November 2011
6. Eileen Atkins profile, filmreference.com; retrieved 20 December 2011.
7. Eileen Atkins' profile, filmbug.com; retrieved 30 November 2011.
8. Atkins' profile, Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television (The Gale Group, Inc., 2004); retrieved 4 December 2011.
9. Profile, ftvdb.bfi.org.uk; accessed 26 April 2014.
10. . Bafta.org. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
11. "Dame Eileen Atkins leaves Upstairs Downstairs", BBC News Online, 21 August 2011.
12. "Eileen Atkins to star in ITV's The Scapegoat". thestage.co.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
13. "Dame Eileen Atkins, Nigel Havers and Catherine Tate to deliberate over Helen Titchener's fate". BBC Radio 4, The Archers. 9 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
14. Frances Hardy, "I stalked my lover's wife!" (22 July 2011); retrieved 30 November 2011.
15. "SHEPHERD – Deaths Announcements – Telegraph Announcements". Announcements.telegraph.co.uk. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
16. Chris Hastings, "Eileen Atkins: I don't see why ageing can't be attractive" The Telegraph (5 July 2008); retrieved 8 December 2011.
17. "Screen queen shakes a leg". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
18. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0010gyr , reviewed in The Guardian at https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/sep/26/eileen-atkins-will-she-do-act-one-of-a-life-on-stage-interview
19. Solutions, Powder Blue Internet Business. "Richard Ayoade to appear in Paddington 2 : News 2017 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk.
20. University of Bristol Theatre Collection, A–Z of Bristol Old Vic (A photographic exhibition featuring on-stage and backstage images from the theatre in King Street, 9 June – 30 September 2003). Retrieved from www.bris.ac.uk/theatrecollection/atoz_booklet.pdf on 20 December 2011
21. "Ian McKellen Writings: For Curt Dawson" in www.mckellen.com. Retrieved 7 December 2011
22. Ben Brantley, Theater Review: Funny, How Gravity Pulls Us, and the Safety Net is an Illusion, The New York Times, 12 November 2013 in www.nytimes.com, retrieved 1 December 2013
23. "The Witch of Edmonton". Rsc.org.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
24. "Eileen Atkins – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB".

External links

• Eileen Atkins at IMDb
• Eileen Atkins at tcm.com
• Eileen Atkins at the Internet Broadway Database  
• Eileen Atkins interviewed by Beth Stevens about performing in Doubt on Broadway
• Eileen Atkins interviewed on Theater Talk about performing in Doubt on Broadway
• Performance details listed at the Theatre Collection archive, University of Bristol