Wendy Craig

For the psychologist, seeWendy Craig (psychologist).For the economist, seeWendy Craigg.

Wendy Craig CBE
Born	Anne Gwendolyn Craig (1934-06-20)20 June 1934 Sacriston,County Durham,England
Alma mater	Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1955–present
Spouse	Jack Bentley ​ ​ (m.1955; died 1994)​
Children	2

Anne Gwendolyn"Wendy"CraigCBE(born 20 June 1934)is an English actress who is best known for her appearances in the sitcomsNot in Front of the Children,...And Mother Makes Three,...And Mother Makes FiveandButterflies.She played the role of Matron in the TV seriesThe Royal(2003–2011).

Early life

Anne Gwendolyn Craig was born on 20 June 1934 inSacriston,County Durham,the daughter of farmer George Craig and his wife Anne (néeLindsay).She attendedDurham High School for Girls,initially as a day pupil and later as a boarder, which she revisited in October 2007 to open a new building that had been named after her.She passed the11+examination and went toDarlington High School.When she was twelve years old the family moved toPicton, North Yorkshireand she attended nearbyYarm Grammar School.She trained as an actress at theCentral School of Speech and Drama,then based in theRoyal Albert Hall,London.

In 1956, Craig appeared in theWest EndalongsideRobertson HareinJohn Dighton's farceMan Alive!.

Career

One of her early TV appearances was in an episode of theDanger Manseries called "The Gallows Tree" (1961).In the 1960s Craig appeared in British films such asThe Servant(1963) andThe Nanny(1965) withBette Davis,but it was her appearances inBritish sitcomsof the late 1960s/1970s which led to her becoming a household name, usually playing a scatty middle class housewife.She went from theBBC'sNot in Front of the Children(1967–1970) toITV's...And Mother Makes Three(1971–1973), in which she played a single parent, which evolved into its sequel...And Mother Makes Five(1974–1976).Then cameButterflies(1978–1983), a successful comedy onBBC2.

Craig returned to drama with the seriesNanny(1981–1983), a series she created, and wrote some episodes herself as Jonathan Marr,a pseudonym she had used before when writing episodes of...And Mother Makes Five.Twenty years later, she played Matron in ITV'sThe Royal(2003–2011)and she also made several appearances in the 2002 adaptation ofJohn Galsworthy's novelThe Forsyte Saga.However, she has continued to be associated with comedy, having taken one of the leading roles as Annie inBrighton Belles(1993–1994), the UK's short-lived version ofThe Golden Girls.She appeared as Reggie's mother in theBBC OnecomedyReggie Perrin(2009–2010), an update of the 1970s' seriesThe Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

In 2012 Craig appeared as a guest in an episode of the cookery seriesMasterChef,along with many other 1970s sitcom stars.In 2014 she appeared in an episode of theBBCpopular dramaWaterloo Road.

In 2016, Craig appeared as Mary Goodman in the BBC detective seriesDeath in Paradise.In 2017 she appeared in the second series of the ITV dramaUnforgotten.Also in 2017 she starred as Miss Bat in the first three series of the CBBC programmeThe Worst Witch.In 2018, she appeared in the ITV soapEmmerdale.In October 2019, she appeared in an episode ofDoctorsalongside formerButterfliesco-starBruce Montague.

Personal life

Craig was married toJack Bentley,atrombonist,scriptwriter and journalist, from 1955 until his death in 1994.During her marriage with Bentley, she had two sons: Alaster (later principal oboist for the Birmingham Royal Ballet Sinfonia)and (as the result of an affair withJohn Mortimer), Ross, an IT consultant.In 2004, having heard that the secret was out, Wendy visited Mortimer to reveal formally that their affair had resulted in a son, then 42.She was at the time of the leak appearing in an episode ofMidsomer Murders;series starJohn Nettleslater said one of his favourite memories of the series was picking up a copy ofThe Daily Telegraphon set during that filming with a headline revealing the secret, remarking that "It just seemed so absolutely Midsomer".

In the 1990s, Craig lived and still lives inCookhaminBerkshire.She was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire(CBE) in the2020 New Year Honoursfor services to drama and charity.

Selected filmography

• The Secret Place(1957)
• Room at the Top(1959)
• The Mind Benders(1963)
• The Servant(1963)
• The Nanny(1965)
• Just like a Woman(1967)
• I'll Never Forget What's'isname(1967)
• Joseph Andrews(1977)
• Run for Your Wife(2012)
• The Worst Witch(2017–2019)
• Emmerdale(2018)
• Doctors(2019)

External links

• Wendy CraigatIMDb
• Wendy Craigat theBFI'sScreenonline
• Wendy Craig at the Museum of Broadcast CommunicationsArchived23 January 2009 at theWayback Machine