Acting

Phyllida Law

Born May 8, 1932 · Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Died July 27, 2026 · aged 94

Phyllida Law OBE (8 May 1932 — 27th July 2026) was a Scottish actress of screen and stage, and the mother of actresses Emma and Sophie Thompson.

Known For

The Time Machine · 2002

The Time Machine

★ 6.42002

MovieScience FictionAdventure

Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th-century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds mankind divided into two warring races.

Widower Cedric Brown hires Nanny McPhee to care for his seven rambunctious children, who have chased away all previous nannies. Taunted by Simon and his siblings, Nanny McPhee uses mystical powers to instill discipline. And when the children's great-aunt and benefactor, Lady Adelaide Stitch, threatens to separate the kids, the family pulls together under the guidance of Nanny McPhee.

A Little Chaos · 2015

A Little Chaos

★ 6.32015

MovieDramaRomance

A landscape gardener is hired by famous architect Le Nôtre to construct the grand gardens at the palace of Versailles. As the two work on the palace, they find themselves drawn to each other and are thrown into rivalries within the court of King Louis XIV.

Raised as a slave, Danny is used to fighting for his survival. In fact, his "master," Bart, thinks of him as a pet and goes as far as leashing him with a collar so they can make money in fight clubs, where Danny is the main contender. When Bart's crew is in a car accident, Danny escapes and meets a blind, kindhearted piano tuner who takes him in and uses music to free the fighter's long-buried heart.

Much Ado About Nothing · 1993

Much Ado About Nothing

★ 7.01993

MovieDramaComedy

In this Shakespearean farce, Hero and her groom-to-be, Claudio, team up with Claudio's commanding officer, Don Pedro, the week before their wedding to hatch a matchmaking scheme. Their targets are sharp-witted duo Benedick and Beatrice -- a tough task indeed, considering their corresponding distaste for love and each other. Meanwhile, meddling Don John plots to ruin the wedding.

Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved children's book "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", struggles for love, happiness and success.

Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th century Ireland, where women aren't encouraged to be independent. Posing as a man, so she can work as a butler in Dublin's most posh hotel, Albert meets a handsome painter and looks to escape the lie she has been living.

Emma Woodhouse is a congenial young lady who delights in meddling in other people’s affairs. She is perpetually trying to unite men and women who are utterly wrong for each other. Despite her interest in romance, Emma is clueless about her own feelings, and her relationship with gentle Mr. Knightley.

Filmography

Sort

The Time Machine · 2002

The Time Machine

★ 6.42002

MovieScience FictionAdventure

Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th-century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds mankind divided into two warring races.

Mrs. Watchett

Mrs. Partridge (voice)

A Little Chaos · 2015

Suzanne

Distinguished Lady

Much Ado About Nothing · 1993

Much Ado About Nothing

Ursula

Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved children's book "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", struggles for love, happiness and success.

Mrs. Warne

Mrs. Cavendish

Mrs. Bates

Unexpectedly widowed, prim and proper housewife Grace Trevethyn finds herself in dire financial straits when she inherits massive debts her late husband had been accruing for years. Faced with losing her house, she decides to use her talent for horticulture and hatches a plan to grow potent marijuana which can be sold at an astronomical price, thus solving her financial crisis.

Margaret Sutton

In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.

Vronskaya

The Winter Guest · 1997

The Winter Guest

★ 6.51997

MovieDrama

It's winter in a small Scottish village near the sea, and multiple lives intersect in a day. Frances has just lost her husband to an early death, so her mother, Elspeth, travels to Frances' house to reconnect with her daughter and grandson, Alex. Meanwhile, old women Chloe and Lily go to a funeral, youngsters Sam and Tom cut class, and Alex gets a crush on tomboy Nita.

Elspeth

A young boy and his sister are drawn into one man's obsessive pursuit of his former lover.

Woman at Hairdresser #1

At the height of the Spanish Inquisition, high-ranking noblemen begin dropping like flies, with alarming frequency and unexplained violence. But can local 16th-century sheriff Ruy de Mendoza discern who's responsible when no one wants to cooperate? After all, before Mendoza can even identify the bodies, the crime scenes are mysteriously cleared - and the villagers pretend the murders never happened.

Esperanza de Mendoza

Copying Beethoven · 2006

Copying Beethoven

★ 6.52006

MovieDrama

Serving as Ludwig van Beethoven's copyist gives a conservatory student access to the composer's musical genius, but also exposes her to his cruelty.

Mother Canisius

Peter's Friends · 1992

Peter's Friends

★ 6.61992

MovieComedyDrama

After inheriting a large country estate from his late father, Peter invites his friends from college: married couple Roger and Mary, the lonely Maggie, fashionable Sarah, and writer Andrew, who brings his American TV star wife, Carol. Sarah's new boyfriend, Brian, also attends. It has been 10 years since college, and they find their lives are very different.

Vera

Hitler: The Last Ten Days · 1973

Hitler: The Last Ten Days

★ 6.21973

MovieDramaWar

Hitler: The Last Ten Days takes us into the depths of der Furher’s Berlin bunker during his final days. Based on the book by Gerhard Boldt, it provides a bleak look at the goings-on within, and without.

Fraulein Manzialy

The shooting of a U.S. senator's wife raises the stakes for kidnappers seeking a hefty ransom for a computer magnate.

Shouting Woman (uncredited)

A Little Trip to Heaven · 2005

A Little Trip to Heaven

★ 5.42005

MovieDramaThriller

Insurance investigator Abraham Holt travels to a tiny town in rural Minnesota to look into a particularly unusual insurance claim stemming from a horrific car accident. As Holt examines the scene of the wreck, it all seems a bit too perfect. And when he interviews Isold Mcbride and her shifty husband, Fred -- the impoverished beneficiaries of the massive, recently initiated life-insurance policy -- he begins to suspect that something is amiss.

Head Mistress

Bakery in Brooklyn · 2016

Bakery in Brooklyn

★ 5.22016

MovieComedyRomance

Brooklyn, New York. After the sudden death of their aunt Isabelle, Vivien and Chloe inherit her historic bakery. Vivien wants to keep up the tradition; Chloe feels that the business needs to be modernized. But when notified that they are about to be evicted, the two do not hesitate to work together to preserve the family legacy.

Baker on the iPad #1

Ways to Live Forever · 2010

Ways to Live Forever

★ 7.02010

MovieDramaFamily

Sam loves facts. He wants to know about UFOs and horror movies and airships and ghosts and scientists, and how it feels to kiss a girl. And because he has leukemia he wants to know the facts about dying. Sam needs answers to the questions nobody will answer.

Grandmother

A has-been rock star that discovers he has a teenage daughter from a long forgotten love affair.

Mrs. Williams

Before the Rain · 1994

Before the Rain

★ 7.31994

MovieDramaWar

The circularity of violence seen in a story that circles on itself. In Macedonia, during the war in Bosnia, Christians hunt an ethnic Albanian girl who may have murdered one of their own. A young monk who's taken a vow of silence offers her protection. In London, a photographic editor who's pregnant needs to talk it out with her estranged husband and chooses a toney restaurant.

Anne's Mother

Two Men Went To War · 2002

Two Men Went To War

★ 6.72002

MovieComedyWar

Comedy drama based on the true story of two British Army dentists who in 1942, eager to see action, go AWOL and invade occupied France on their own.

Faith

A lonely widow plans a trip around the world with her husband's ashes, to visit the places they loved in the movies. During her first stop in Scotland at the beautiful estate she stays in, she meets the innkeeper who changes her life forever.

Arlene

Midsomer Murders · 1997

Midsomer Murders

★ 7.51997

SeriesCrimeDrama

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Felicity Dinsdale

Agatha Christie's Poirot · 1989

Agatha Christie's Poirot

★ 8.21989

SeriesCrimeDrama

From England to Egypt, accompanied by his elegant and trustworthy sidekicks, the intelligent yet eccentrically-refined Belgian detective Hercule Poirot pits his wits against a collection of first class deceptions.

Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe

Play for Today · 1970

Play for Today

★ 6.61970

SeriesDrama

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Joan

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Nancy Bellow

Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.

Magistrate

Series of single made-for-television dramas.

Marie's Mother

Waking the Dead · 2001

Waking the Dead

★ 7.22001

SeriesCrimeMystery

A detective team apply new techniques to old crimes as they solve cold cases.

Mrs. Carstairs

Tales of the Unexpected · 1979

Tales of the Unexpected

★ 6.81979

SeriesDrama

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.

Maggie Patton

As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Foyle's War opens in southern England in the year 1940. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.

Lady Muriel Sackville

ITV Saturday Night Theatre · 1969

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

★ 7.01969

Series

Anthology series of dramatic works.

Jeanette Hornby

Taggart is a Scottish detective television program. The series revolves around a group of detectives initially in the Maryhill CID of Strathclyde Police, though various storylines have happened in other parts of the Greater Glasgow area, and as of the most recent series the team have operated out of the fictional John Street police station across the street from the City Chambers.

Rumpole of the Bailey · 1975

Rumpole of the Bailey

★ 7.11975

SeriesDramaComedy

Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It stars Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients, and has been spun off into a series of short stories, novels, and radio programmes.

Honoria Bird

Upstairs, Downstairs · 1971

Upstairs, Downstairs

★ 7.81971

SeriesDrama

Upstairs: the wealthy, aristocratic Bellamys. Downstairs: their loyal and lively servants. For nearly 30 years, they share a fashionable townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in London’s posh Belgravia neighborhood, surviving social change, political upheaval, scandals, and the horrors of the First World War.

Lady Constance Weir

Monarch of the Glen · 2000

Monarch of the Glen

★ 7.32000

SeriesDramaComedy

Archie MacDonald, a young restaurateur is called back to his childhood home of Glenbogle where he is told he is the new Laird of Glenbogle.

Isobel Hogg

BBC2 Play of the Week · 1977

BBC2 Play of the Week

★ 7.01977

SeriesDramaComedy

An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.

Phyllis

The Sarah Jane Adventures · 2007

The Sarah Jane Adventures

★ 7.12007

SeriesAction & AdventureDrama

Sarah Jane Smith is a truly remarkable woman who inhabits a world of mystery, danger and wonder; a world where aliens are commonplace and the Earth is under constant threat. A world that Maria Jackson, a seemingly ordinary girl, can only dream of – until she moves in next door. Nothing will ever be ordinary again.

Bea Nelson-Stanley

Dixon of Dock Green · 1955

Dixon of Dock Green

★ 6.01955

SeriesDrama

Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006.

Rosie McCallion

Hamish Macbeth · 1995

Hamish Macbeth

★ 7.71995

SeriesDrama

Hamish Macbeth is a comedy-drama series made by BBC Scotland and first aired in 1995. It is loosely based on a series of mystery novels by M. C. Beaton. The series concerns a local police officer, Constable Hamish Macbeth in the fictitious town of Lochdubh on the west coast of Scotland. The titular character was played by Robert Carlyle. It ran for three series from 1995 to 1997, with the first two series having six episodes and the third having eight.

Vicky Jeffreys

The House of Eliott · 1991

The House of Eliott

★ 6.61991

SeriesDrama

Two sisters who set up a London fashion house for society of the early 1920s.

Edith Duglass

The Main Chance · 1969

The Main Chance

★ 8.21969

SeriesDrama

The Main Chance was a British television series which first aired on ITV between 1969,1970,1972 and 1975. A drama, it depicts the sudden transformation in the life of solicitor David Main who relocates from London to Leeds.

Alison Murray

Looks can be deceiving. Peter Kingdom seems to have everything — a man of some standing in the seaside town of Market Shipborough, he dresses well and has all the trappings of success. Why, then, does he wander along the beach and stare out to sea for hours at a time? Despite Peter's thriving legal practice, he must deal with his dysfunctional family (which includes his unstable sister) and his grief over his missing half-brother and law partner, Simon.

Aunt Auriel

A Bit of Fry & Laurie · 1989

A Bit of Fry & Laurie

★ 7.91989

SeriesComedy

A British comedy television series with turns of phrase and elaborate wordplay, written by and starring former Cambridge Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.

When the Boat Comes In · 1976

When the Boat Comes In

★ 7.71976

SeriesDrama

When the Boat Comes In is a British television period drama produced by the BBC between 8 January 1976 and 21 April 1981. Taking place between 1919 to 1937, Jack Ford is a veteran of The Great War who returns to his poverty-stricken (fictional) town of Gallowshield in the North East of England. It dramatises the interwar political struggles of the 1920s and 1930s, and explores the impact of national and international politics upon Ford and those around him.

Hallmark Hall of Fame · 1951

Hallmark Hall of Fame

★ 8.81951

SeriesDrama

Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.

Maria