The BBC website recently published two obituaries for actors who may not have gained notice otherwise. Character actors both, with a few leading and long-running roles, but nothing to make the world at large sit up and take notice of their passing. I'd like to afford them both the same tribute.Before I began wading through the credits for Elizabeth Spriggs, I thought I had never seen her before, as the name was unfamiliar to me. But I've found several productions in which I can remember her work - 'Jericho', 'The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles', "Victoria & Albert", and "Harry Potter And The Sorceror's Stone". (I've only seen the first episode of "Paradise Towers" from 'Doctor Who', so I haven't yet seen all of her performance as Taffy.
Here is a tally of her TV appearances:
STARRING/RECURRING ROLES
"Swiss Toni" .... Swiss Toni's Mother
"Nice Guy Eddie" (2002) .... Vera McMullen
"Playing the Field" (1998) TV series .... Mrs. Mullen
"Shine on Harvey Moon" .... Nan
"Takin' Over the Asylum" .... Grandma
"Watching" .... Aunty Peggy
"Simon and the Witch" (1987) .... The Witch
"The Haunting of Cassie Palmer" (1982) .... Mrs. Palmer
"Village Hall" (1974) )
MINI-SERIES
"Wives and Daughters" (1999) .... Mrs. Goodenough
"Martin Chuzzlewit" (1994) .... Mrs. Gamp
"Middlemarch" (1994) .... Mrs. Cadwallader
"The Old Devils" (1992)
"Frost in May" (1982) .... Mother Radcliffe
"We, the Accused" (1980) .... Eleanor Presset
"The Glittering Prizes" (1976) .... Lady Frances (unknown episodes)
"Prometheus: The Life of Balzac" (1975) .... Comtesse de Berny
GUEST ROLES
"Love Soup" .... Penny's mother
- Integrated Logistics (2008)
"Agatha Christie: Poirot" .... Mrs. Leadbetter
- Taken at the Flood (2006)
"Midsomer Murders"
- Dead Letters (2006) .... Ursula Gooding
- The Killings at Badger's Drift (1997) .... Iris Rainbird
"Jericho" .... Ellen Jericho
- The Hollow Men (2005)
"Heartbeat"
- The End of the Road (2005) .... Mrs. Andrews
- Rumours (1992) .... Rene Kirby
"Where the Heart Is" .... Maureen
- When All This Is Over (2005)
- Care (2005)
"The Royal" .... Dolly Smith
- For Better, for Worse (2004)
- If Not for You (2003)
"Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)" .... Mrs. Glauneck
- A Man of Substance (2000)
"Casualty" .... Barbara Thomas
- Eye Spy (1998)
"Tales from the Crypt"
- A Slight Case of Murder (1996)
"Performance" .... Mistress Quickly
- Henry IV (1995)
"The Tomorrow People" .... Milicent Rutherford
- The Rameses Connection: Part 5 (1995)
- The Rameses Connection: Part 2 (1995)
- The Rameses Connection: Part 1 (1995)
"Alleyn Mysteries" .... Lady Lacklander
- Scales of Justice (1994)
"Jeeves and Wooster" .... Aunt Agatha Gregson
- The Ex's Are Nearly Married Off (1993)
- Return to New York (1993)
"Lovejoy" .... Daphne Shotley
- Fly the Flag (1993)
"The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" .... Mrs. Mason
- The Last Vampyre (1993)
"Ruth Rendell Mysteries" .... Eva Peterlee
- The Mouse in the Corner: Part One (1992)
"The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" .... Schultz
- Austria, March 1917 (1992)
"Soldier Soldier" .... Mrs. Henwood
- Dirty Work (1991)
"Boon" .... Mrs. Whitfield
- The Tender Trap (1990)
"Young Charlie Chaplin" .... Madge Kendal
- Episode #1.5 (1989)
- Episode #1.4 (1989)
"Doctor Who" .... Tabby
- Paradise Towers: Part 3 (1987)
- Paradise Towers: Part 2 (1987)
- Paradise Towers: Part 1 (1987)
"Bergerac" .... Mary Lou Costain
- Return of the Ice Maiden (1985)
"Objects of Affection" .... Cora
- Our Winnie (1982)
"Play for Today"
- Intensive Care (1982) .... Alice Duckworth
- The Cause (1981) .... Olive James
- Love Letters on Blue Paper (1976) .... Sonia Marsden
- Leeds United (1974) .... Maggie
"Crown Court" .... Janet Godfrey
- Embers (1981)
"Cribb" .... Mrs. Gurney
- The Choir That Wouldn't Sing (1981)
"BBC2 Playhouse"
- The Kindness of Mrs. Radcliffe (1981)
- Fothergill (1981)
- The Enigma (1980)
"Tales of the Unexpected"
- The Way to Do It (1981) .... Aunt May
- The Orderly World of Mr. Appleby (1980) .... Martha
"Fox" .... Connie Fox
- It's All Them Psychia-Whatever-You-Call-It Books He Reads (1980)
"Play of the Month" .... Maud Lowder
- The Wings of the Dove (1979)
"The CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People" .... Kate
- The Secret of Charles Dickens (1978)
"Victorian Scandals" .... Hannah
- Hannah (1976)
"Black and Blue" .... Eleanor
- Rust (1973)
TV MOVIES
Wren: The Man Who Built Britain (2004) (TV) .... Queen Anne
Shackleton (2002) (TV) .... Janet Stancombe Wills
Victoria & Albert (2001) (TV) .... Actress in 'The Rivals'
Nice Guy Eddie (2001) (TV) .... Vera McMullen
The Sleeper (2000) (TV) .... Cath
A Christmas Carol (1999) (TV) .... Mrs. Riggs
Alice in Wonderland (1999) (TV) .... Duchess
A Pinch of Snuff (1994) (TV) .... Annabelle Andover
Anglo Saxon Attitudes (1992) (TV) .... Inge Middleton
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1990) (TV) .... May
The Devil's Disciple (1987) (TV) .... Mrs. Dudgeon
The Thirteenth Day of Christmas (1985) (TV)
Sakharov (1984) (TV) .... Nobel Presenter
The Cold Room (1984) (TV) .... Frau Hoffman
Strangers and Brothers (1984) (TV) .... Lady Muriel Royce
Those Glory Glory Days (1983) (TV) .... Mistress
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1982) (TV) .... Mistress Quickly
The Spider's Web (1982) (TV) .... Mildred Peake
Julius Caesar (1979) (TV) .... Calpurnia
Afternoon Off (1979) (TV) .... Miss. Beckinsale
Here is what the BBC obituary had to say about Elizabeth Spriggs:
"She held an ambition to act from childhood and, after cutting her teeth in rep, achieved her dream by joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s. She became well known to TV viewers as Nan, in Shine On Harvey Moon, and was a regular in costume dramas, including the BBC productions of Middlemarch and Our Mutual Friend."
May God Bless.....
BCnU....
Toby O'B
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