Julia McKenzie CBE
Julia McKenzie in 2006
Born	Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie[1] (1941-02-17)17 February 1941 (age 84) Enfield,Middlesex, England
Occupations	Actress singer presenter theatre director, manager and producer
Years active	1966–present
Spouse	Jerry Harte ​ ​ (m. 1971; died 2018)​ [2]

Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzieCBE (born 17 February 1941) is an English actress, singer, presenter, and theatre director. She has premièred leading roles written by bothAlan Ayckbourn andStephen Sondheim. On television, she is known for herBAFTA Award nominated role as Hester Fields in the sitcomFresh Fields (1984–1986) and its sequelFrench Fields (1989–1991), asMiss Marple inAgatha Christie's Marple (2009–2013) and for her appearance in theBBC One costume drama seriesCranford.

McKenzie has also starred in numerous musicals, receiving a 1977Tony Award nomination for her work in theBroadwayrevue,Side by Side by Sondheim. A six-timeOlivier Award nominee, she has twice won theOlivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical; for the 1982 revival ofGuys and Dolls and the 1993 revival ofStephen Sondheim'sSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. She also starred in the original London productions of the Sondheim musicalsFollies (1987) andInto the Woods (1990). Her film appearances includeBright Young Things (2003) andNotes on a Scandal (2006).

McKenzie was born on 17 February 1941, inEnfield,Middlesex, England, the daughter of Kathleen Rowe and Albion McKenzie. She attended Woodside High School. She trained at theGuildhall School of Music and Drama.^[3]

McKenzie's early West End musical credits includeMaggie May (1966),Mame (1969), andCompany (1971). She appeared in the West End revueSide by Side by Sondheim in 1976, and made her Broadway debut when the show transferred to New York in 1977,^[4] receiving aTony Award nomination forBest Featured Actress in a Musical. She also received aDrama Desk Award nomination. For her role as Miss Adelaide in the 1982 West End revival ofGuys and Dolls, she won the first of twoOlivier Awards for Best Actress in a Musical.^[5][6]

For her role in the 1986 West End production of theAlan Ayckbourn playWoman in Mind, McKenzie won theEvening Standard Award for Best Actress. She went on to appear in the original West End productions of two Stephen Sondheim musicals, playing Sally inFollies at theShaftesbury Theatre in 1987,^[7] and the Witch inInto the Woods at the Phoenix Theatre in 1990.^[8] She continued her association with Sondheim when she starred as Mrs Lovett in the 1993 London revival ofSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The role won her a second Olivier Award in 1994.

McKenzie appeared in aNational Theatre 80th birthday tribute toLord Olivier,Happy Birthday, Sir Larry, on 31 May 1987 in the presence of Olivier himself.^[9]

McKenzie's early television credits include the sitcomMaggie and Her (1978–1979), alongsideIrene Handl andThat Beryl Marston...! (1981), withGareth Hunt. She went on to greater popularity with British viewers as Hester in the 1980s sitcomFresh Fields oppositeAnton Rodgers, and its 1990s sequelFrench Fields, for which she was votedTV Times Favourite Female Comedy Performance for five consecutive years. The role also earned her a 1985BAFTA nomination forBest Entertainment Performance. She appeared as Mrs Forthby inBlott on the Landscape and as a villager involved in a series of murders in an episode ofMidsomer Murders. Film credits includeHotel du Lac (1986),Shirley Valentine (1989),Bright Young Things (2003),These Foolish Things (2006) andNotes on a Scandal (2006).

She was the subject ofThis Is Your Life in 1981 when she was surprised byEamonn Andrews outside the Royalty Theatre in London.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, she was reunited with Anton Rodgers (again as a husband and wife team) in theITV comedyYou Can Choose Your Friends. Also in 2007, she co-starred withMichael Gambon andJudi Dench in theBBC One costume drama seriesCranford, playing Mrs Forrester, a military widow of slender means, very attached to her cow Bessie.^[10]

In 2008, she was announced as the replacement forGeraldine McEwan as ITV'sMiss Marple.^[11] She noted: "It's difficult because Agatha Christie wrote her in two ways ... First, very much what Geraldine McEwan played: a slight, rather Victorian creature. Then, a little sturdier and tweedier. I chose the latter. A lot of people say they don't like the tweedier version. But they're both genuine."^[2] Also, she said: "Just about everybody in the world knows about Miss Marple and has an opinion of what she should be like, so I’m under no illusions about the size of the task ahead."^[11] McKenzie's first series of Marple comprisedA Pocket Full of Rye,Murder Is Easy,They Do It with Mirrors andWhy Didn't They Ask Evans?. The second series of the show, which aired in 2010, includedThe Pale Horse,The Secret of Chimneys,The Blue Geranium, andThe Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side. A sixth series, including adaptations ofA Caribbean Mystery,Greenshaw's Folly andEndless Night, began filming in September 2012 and was broadcast in 2013.

During 2012, she also played the role of Betty Nicholas in theITV television seriesThe Town.^[12]

On 26 December 2013, McKenzie appeared as the title character in the TV film adaptation ofDavid Walliams's bookGangsta Granny. In February 2015, McKenzie appeared as Shirley Mollison in the BBC mini seriesThe Casual Vacancy. She played the mother of one of the main protagonists in the 2019 TV series,Gold Digger. She joined an ensemble cast in the filmAllelujah, released in March 2023.

She is a radio performer with a long list of credits, includingBlithe Spirit,The Country Wife andA Room with a View. As a director she has stagedStepping Out,Peter Pan,Hey, Mr. Producer!,Steel Magnolias,Putting It Together andA Little Night Music. Throughout the early mid 2000s she played Ariadne Oliver in radio adaptations of Agatha Christie novels starring John Moffatt asHercule Poirot; one such novel wasElephants Can Remember.

She also recorded an audio book ofLewis Carroll'sThrough the Looking Glass.^[13]

McKenzie also lent her voice to several animated works for Martin Gates Productions including three filmsThe Snow Queen,Jack and the Beanstalk andThe Snow Queen's Revenge and the TV seriesBimble's Buckett. In 2018, Julia McKenzie was cast as The Twelve in aBig Finish productionThe Eighth Doctor – Time War 2 And 4.

In 2012 she appeared in the short filmHappy and Glorious, produced by Lisa Osborne for the BBC and directed byDanny Boyle as part of theopening ceremony of the 2012 London Summer Olympics, doubling forQueen Elizabeth II in the scene where Her Majesty boards a helicopter alongsideDaniel Craig asJames Bond as her escort to the Olympic Stadium.^[14]

In 1971 McKenzie married American actor-director Jerry Harte.^[2] He died in 2018.^[15] McKenzie was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the2018 New Year Honours for services to drama.^[16] She is a critic offox hunting and was among more than 20 high-profile people who signed a letter to members of parliament in 2015 to opposeConservative Prime MinisterDavid Cameron's plan to amend theHunting Act 2004.^[17]

• (London debut)Maggie May, Adelphi Theatre, London, 1966
• Gloria,Mame, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, 1969
• Girl in owl coat,Promises, Promises, Prince of Wales Theatre, London, 1970
• April,Company, Her Majesty's Theatre, London, 1971
• Cowardy Custard, Mermaid Theatre, London, 1973
• Cole, Mermaid Theatre, 1974^[18]
• (New York debut)Side by Side by Sondheim, Music Box Theatre, New York City, 1977
• The Norman Conquests, 1978
• Ten Times Table, 1979
• Miriam Dervish,Outside Edge, Queen's Theatre, London, 1979
• Lily,On the Twentieth Century, Her Majesty's Theatre, 1980
• Maggie Hobson,Hobson's Choice, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London, 1981
• Anna Kopecka,Schweik in the Second World War, National Theatre, London, 1982
• Miss Adelaide,Guys and Dolls, National Theatre, 1982
• Susan,Woman in Mind, Vaudeville Theatre, London, 1986
• Sally Plummer,Follies, Shaftesbury Theatre, London, 1987
• Witch,Into the Woods, Phoenix Theatre, London, 1990
• Mrs Lovett,Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, National Theatre, 1993
• Ruella,Communicating Doors, Gielgud Theatre, London, 1995
• Kafka's Dick, Piccadilly Theatre, London, 1998^[19]
• The Royal Family, Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, 2001
• Fuddy Meers, Arts Theatre, London, 2004^[20]
• The Philadelphia Story, The Old Vic, London, 2005

• Stepping Out, Duke of York's Theatre, London, 1984
• Just So, Watermill Theatre, Newbury, Berkshire, 1989
• Steel Magnolias, Lyric Theatre, London, 1989
• Putting It Together, Manhattan Theatre Club Stage I, New York City, 1993
• Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh (stage direction, with Bob Avian), Lyceum Theatre, London, 1998
• A Little Night Music, Tokyo, 1999
• Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, Sondheim Theatre, London, 2023

• Julia McKenzie at theInternet Broadway Database(listed as "Julie N McKenzie" as a result of a previous Broadway actress called "Julia McKenzie")
• Julia McKenzie atIMDb

• 1941 births
• Living people
• Actresses from London
• Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
• English film actresses
• English musical theatre actresses
• English radio actresses
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• English stage actresses
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• 20th-century English singers
• 21st-century English actresses
• 21st-century English women singers
• 21st-century English singers
• People from Enfield, London

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