Julie Walters
| Julie Walters | |
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 Star on the Birmingham Walk of Stars |
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| Born | Julia Mary Walters 22 February 1950 Smethwick, West Midlands, England |
| Occupation | Actress, novelist |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Spouse | Grant Roffey (1997–present) |
Julie Walters, CBE (born 22 February 1950) is an award-winning English actress and novelist.
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Early life
Walters was born as Julia Mary Walters in Smethwick, Sandwell, the daughter of Mary Bridget (née O'Brien), a postal clerk of Irish Catholic extraction, and Thomas Walters, a builder and decorator.[1][2][3] The youngest of three children and only girl,[4] Walters had an early education at a convent school[5] and later at Holly Lodge Grammar School for Girls on Holly Lane in Smethwick, although she was asked to leave at the end of her lower sixth due to her "high jinks". In an interview with Alison Oddey, Walters said about her early schooling: "I was never going to be academic, so [my mother] suggested that I try teaching or nursing [...] I'd been asked to leave school, so I thought I'd better do it."[6] Her first job was in insurance at the age of 15.[7] At 18 she trained as a nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham and worked on the Ophthalmic, Casualty and Coronary Care wards during the 18 months she spent there.[8] She fell madly in love with her first proper boyfriend who then left to study sociology in Manchester. Walters decided to leave nursing and follow her boyfriend to Manchester and study English and Drama at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University) and pursued a career in the performing arts. Walters worked for the Everyman Theatre Company in Liverpool in the mid 1970s, alongside several other notable performers: Bill Nighy, Pete Postlethwaite, Jonathan Pryce, Willy Russell and Alan Bleasdale.[9]
Career
1978–1999
Walters first received notice as the occasional partner of comedienne Victoria Wood, whom she had briefly met in Manchester. The two first worked together in the 1978 theatre revue In At The Death, followed by the television adaptation of Wood's play Talent. They went on to appear in their own Granada Television series, Wood and Walters, in 1982. They have continued to perform together frequently over the years. The Bafta-winning BBC follow-up, Victoria Wood As Seen On TV, featured one of Walters' best-known roles, Mrs. Overall in Wood's parodic soap opera, Acorn Antiques (she later appeared in the musical version, and received an Olivier Award nomination for her efforts). She also appeared as Petula Gordino in Wood's sitcom dinnerladies. Before making her London stage debut in Educating Rita, Walters had worked in regional theatre, stand-up comedy and cabaret. Her first serious acting role on TV was in the classic Boys from the Blackstuff in 1982, and she broke into films with her Academy Award-nominated, BAFTA Best Actress award-winning and Golden Globe Award Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical/Comedy award-winning performance opposite Michael Caine in Educating Rita (1983), a role she had created on the West End stage. In 1985, she played Adrian Mole's mother Pauline in the TV adaptation of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. In 1991 she starred opposite Liza Minnelli in Stepping Out and had a one-off television special, Julie Walters and Friends, which featured writing contributions from Victoria Wood and Alan Bennett. Walters played the lead character's wife, June, in the film Buster, released in 1988. She also appeared as Mrs. Peachum in the 1989 film version of The Threepenny Opera, which was renamed Mack the Knife for the screen. In 1998 she starred as the Fairy Godmother in the ITV Pantomime – Jack and the Beanstalk, alongside actors Neil Morrissey, Adrian Edmondson, Paul Merton, Denise van Outen and Julian Clary. The show was first broadcast 25 December 1998 on ITV1 and continues to be shown every year around Christmas on ITV2.
2000–present
Walters has won numerous other acting awards, and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1999 and raised to Commander level (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours for her services to drama. In 2001, she won a Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in Arthur Miller's All My Sons. She received her second Oscar nomination and won a BAFTA for her supporting role as the ballet teacher in Billy Elliot (2000). In 2002, she again won a BAFTA for her performance as Paul Reiser's mother in My Beautiful Son.
Walters also played Molly Weasley in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (US title) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film) (UK Title) (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009).
In 2003, Walters starred as a widow (Annie Clark) determined to make some good come out of her husband's death from cancer in Calendar Girls, which also starred Helen Mirren and Ciarán Hinds; in 2005, Walters again starred as inspirational real-life figure Marie Stubbs in the ITV1 drama Head of the Class.
In 2006, she came fourth in ITV's poll of the public's 50 Greatest Stars, coming four places above frequent co-star Victoria Wood. Also in 2006, she played the main role in an ITV drama Driving Lessons alongside Rupert Grint (who played her son Ron in the Harry Potter series), and later a leading role in the BBC's adaptation of Phillip Pullman's novel The Ruby in the Smoke. In the summer of 2006, she published her first novel, Maggie's Tree.[10] Walters starred in Asda's Christmas 2007 TV advertising campaign. She also appeared alongside Patrick Stewart in UK Nintendo DS Brain Training television advertisements, and in a Public Information Film about smoke alarms. In summer 2008, Walters appeared in the movie version of Mamma Mia!, marking her second high profile musical, after Acorn Antiques.
Walters played Mary Whitehouse in the BBC Drama Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story, an adaptation of the real-life story of Mrs. Whitehouse, who campaigned for "taste and decency on television". Walters commented, "I am very excited to be playing Mary Whitehouse, and to be looking at the time when she attacked the BBC and started to make her name."[11] Filth won Best Motion Picture Made for Television, and Walters was nominated for Best Actress In A Miniseries Or A Motion Picture Made For Television, at the 2008 13th Annual Satellite Awards.
In 2009 Walters received a star in the Birmingham Walk of Stars on Birmingham's Golden Mile, Broad Street. She said: "I am very honoured and happy that the people of Birmingham and the West Midlands want to include me in their Walk of Stars and I look forward to receiving my star. Birmingham and the West Midlands is where I'm from; these are my roots and in essence it has played a big part in making me the person I am today".[12] Other awards include an International Emmy with Ben Whishaw for "A Short Stay In Switzerland".
Later that year Walters played the late MP and former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam in a drama for Channel 4, broadcast in early 2010.[13] She had misgivings about taking on the role because of the differences in their physical appearance,[14] but the result was highly praised by critics.[15][16]
Personal life
Marriage and daughter
Walters met her husband, Grant Roffey, an AA patrol man, in a whirlwind romance. The couple have a daughter, Maisie Mae Roffey (born 1988, City of Westminster, London), but did not marry until 1997, 11 years into their relationship, when they went to New York. The couple live on an organic farm run by Roffey in West Sussex.
Victim of sexual assault
In 2008 Walters revealed to The Daily Mirror, that as a young girl she and three other girls were abducted by an unknown assailant and subjected to sexual assault. "He tried to get us into a derelict house", she stated. "He touched me. It was nothing horrific, but it could have been. It was the start of a sexual assault. There were three of us, plus a little one, and you'd think there'd have been safety in numbers. But we were so frightened of him, we would have done anything." She kept the ordeal secret until she told her husband in 1995, aged 45.[17].
Filmography
| Year | Work | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Boys from the Blackstuff | Angie Todd | TV: 1 Episode |
| Wood and Walters | Various Roles | TV | |
| 1983 | Educating Rita | Rita Susan White | |
| 1984 | She'll Be Wearing Pink Pyjamas | Fran | |
| 1985 | The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ | Pauline Mole | TV: 5 Episodes |
| Car Trouble | Jacqueline Spong | ||
| 1985–1987 | Victoria Wood As Seen On TV | Various Characters | TV: 13 Episodes |
| 1986 | Acorn Antiques | Mrs. Overall | TV: 6 Episodes |
| 1987 | Personal Services | Christina Painter | |
| Prick Up Your Ears | Elsie Orton | ||
| 1988 | Talking Heads | Lesley | TV Episode: Her Big Chance |
| Buster | June Edwards | ||
| 1988 | Mack the Knife | Mrs Peachum | |
| Killing Dad | Judith | ||
| 1989 | Victoria Wood | Various Roles | TV: 3 Episodes |
| 1991 | Julie Walters and Friends | Herself/Various Roles | TV |
| G.B.H. | Mrs Murray | TV: 7 Episodes | |
| Stepping Out | Vera | ||
| 1992 | Just Like a Woman | Monica | |
| Victoria Wood's All Day Breakfast | Various Roles | TV | |
| 1994 | Sister My Sister | Madame Danzard | |
| Pat and Margaret | Pat | TV | |
| 1995 | Jake’s Progress | Julie Diadoni | TV: 6 Episodes |
| 1996 | Intimate Relations | Marjorie Beasley | |
| 1997 | Melissa | Paula Hepburn | TV: 5 Episodes |
| 1998 | Girls' Night | Jackie Simpson | |
| Titanic Town | Bernie McPhelimy | ||
| Talking Heads 2 | Marjory | TV Episode: The Outside Dog |
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| 1998–2000 | Dinnerladies | Petula | TV: 9 Episodes |
| 1999 | Oliver Twist | Mrs Mann | TV: 4 Episodes |
| 2000 | Billy Elliot | Mrs Wilkinson | |
| All Forgotten | Princess Zasyekin | ||
| 2001 | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Molly Weasley | |
| 2002 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | ||
| 2003 | Calendar Girls | Annie | |
| The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath | Beth | TV | |
| 2004 | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Molly Weasley | |
| 2005 | Wah-Wah | Gwen Traherne | |
| Ahead of the Class | Marie Stubbs | TV | |
| 2006 | Driving Lessons | Evie Walton | |
| The Ruby in the Smoke | Mrs Holland | TV | |
| 2007 | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | Molly Weasley | |
| Becoming Jane | Mrs Austen | ||
| 2008 | Mamma Mia! | Rosie | |
| Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story | Mary Whitehouse | TV | |
| 2009 | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | Molly Weasley | |
| A Short Stay in Switzerland | Dr. Anne Turner | TV | |
| Victoria Wood's Mid Life Christmas | Bo Beaumont/Mrs. Overall | TV | |
| 2010 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I | Molly Weasley | post-production |
| Mo | Mo Mowlam | TV | |
| 2011 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II | Molly Weasley | post-production |
| Brave (2012 film) | Witch | pre-production |
Theatreography
- (London debut) Irene Tinsley, Funny Peculiar, Mermaid Theatre, then Garrick Theatre, London, 1976
- Vera, Breezeblock Park, Mermaid Theatre, then Whitehall Theatre, London, 1977
- Irene Goodnight, Flaming Bodies, ICA Theatre, London, 1979
- Rita, Educating Rita, Royal Shakespeare Company, London, 1980
- Having a Ball, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London, 1981
- Fool for Love, Royal National Theatre, London, 1984–1985
- Macbeth, Leicester Haymarket Theatre, 1985
- When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout, Whitehall Theatre, 1986
- Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, Comedy Theatre, 1989
- Serafina, The Rose Tattoo, Playhouse, London, 1991
- All My Sons, Royal National Theatre, 2000
- Acorn Antiques: The Musical, 2005
- Also appeared in The Taming of the Shrew, produced in Liverpool, England; and in Jumpers, Royal Exchange; performed with *Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, and Bristol Old Vic.
Awards
| Year | Work | Role | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Educating Rita | Susan White | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress |
| 2001 | Billy Elliot | Georgia Wilkinson | BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role |
| All My Sons | Kate Keller | Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress | |
| 2010 | Mo | Mo Mowlam | British Academy Television Award for Best Actress |
Julie Walters has won 7 BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe, an Olivier, an International Emmy and has been nominated for two Academy Awards.
Styles
- Julie Walters (1950–1999)
- Julie Walters OBE (1999–2008)
- Julie Walters CBE (2008–present)
Notes
- ↑ Scott, Danny (3 September 2006). "Julie Walters". The Times (London). http://women.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,27870-2328343,00.html. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
- ↑ Mottram, James (14 May 2001). "Julie Walters: An actress in her prime". The Guardian (London). http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,490748,00.html. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
- ↑ Julie Walters Biography (1950–)
- ↑ Walters, Julie (2008). That's Another Story: The Autobiography. Orion Publishing Co. p. 1. ISBN 029785206X.
- ↑ "That's Another Story—Book Review". http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/HB-40512/That. Retrieved 14 November 2009.
- ↑ Performing Women: Stand-ups, Strumpets and Itinerants, by Alison Oddey, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. p. 305
- ↑ Walters, Julie (2008). That's Another Story: The Autobiography. Orion Publishing Co. p. 100. ISBN 029785206X.
- ↑ Walters, Julie (2008). That's Another Story: The Autobiography. Orion Publishing Co. pp. 102–123. ISBN 029785206X.
- ↑ Nigel Farndale (25 March 2009). "Bill Nighy interview for The Boat That Rocked". London: The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/5038817/Bill-Nighy-interview-for-The-Boat-That-Rocked.html.
- ↑ Saner, Emine (13 October 2006). "It was like being videoed making love". The Guardian (London). http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,1921878,00.html. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
- ↑ The Mary Whitehouse Story Julie Walters takes the lead | Interviews | primetime.unreality.co.uk
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2008/10/07/julie_walters_feature.shtml BBC Birmingham – Julie Walters on Walk of Stars (07 Oct 2008)
- ↑ "Julie Walters is transformed into Mo Mowlam for new film role". London: dailymail.co.uk. 4 June 2009. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1190793/Julie-Walters-transformed-Mo-Mowlam-new-film-role.html.
- ↑ "Julie Walters tells of fear over Mo Mowlam role". bbc.co.uk. 20 January 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8470780.stm.
- ↑ "Julie Walters’ dramatic portrayal of Mo Mowlam 'is Bafta-worthy'". The Belfast Telegraph. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/julie-waltersrsquo-dramatic-portrayal-of-mo-mowlam-is-baftaworthy-14647630.html.
- ↑ James Rampton (29 January 2010). "Observations: Just a Mo for Julie Walters". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/observations-just-a-mo-for-julie-walters-1882279.html.
- ↑ "Walters 'was assaulted aged 10'". BBC News. 4 August 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7540646.stm. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
External links
- Julie Walters at the Internet Movie Database
- Julie Walters at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
- A Conversation with Julie Walters – interactive video interview presented by BFI Screenonline and British Telecom
- Walters named as CBE
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