After 57 years with her partner Heather Sutherland, BAFTA-winner Miriam Margolyes says they are ready to move in together. The prolific and outspoken actress, known for her roles in everything from Harry Potter to Scorsese’s the Age of Innocence, says that at 84, and with her health declining, she’s keen to relocate somewhere warm and welcoming.
She told The Observer that she and her university professor partner are planning a move to Tuscany: “The world around us has lost its charm. And we just want each other in a beautiful place which we know.”
Although she recently dismissed claims that she was “at death’s door” as “b******s,” Miriam accepts that multiple health issues – including spinal stenosis, a condition that causes narrowing of the spinal canal, as well as osteoarthritis and recent knee surgery – have limited her mobility.
But she’s optimistic about Heather and herself enjoying a relaxed retirement under the Tuscan sun: “We can toddle along and laugh and just quietly subside into old age. But together.”
With a philosophical attitude to the inevitably of death she says: “We’re here for such a short time. It’s gone so fast.”
“Mentally,” she says, “I’m still fairly crisp.” She’s voiced support for assisted dying in the past, saying she’d definitely consider it if a stroke left her unable to speak, doubly incontinent, or cognitively impaired
She has little time for cosmetic surgery, saying: “When you kiss someone, you don’t want ‘filler’. You want the mouth. You want the subtle yielding of skin that belongs to someone you love or desire.”
Miriam has few illusions about her own looks: “I’ve never been beautiful,” she admits “yet I’ve managed.”
“I’ve managed with the force of my personality and the energy of my intelligence,” she added. “And that will have to do.”
After her knee replacement surgery in 2016, Miriam told Arthritis Digest that after a five-week stay in a dedicated rehabilitation facility post-surgery, she worked with a personal trainer to help build up muscles around her knee, but she also moved house so that she wouldn’t have to go up and down stairs as much.
She added that she has no plans to have her other knee replaced: “This knee needs to be done. It will not be done. I will not have any more operations.”
Miriam underwent heart surgery back in 2023 to have her aortic valve replaced – a procedure that luckily meant she avoided a much more invasive open heart surgery, joking afterwards: “I’ve got a cow’s heart now.”
Her spinal problems mean that she’s now registered disabled: “I can’t walk very well, and I’m registered disabled,” she told Closer.
“I use all kinds of assistance. I’ve got two sticks and a walker and they’re such a bore, but I’ve just got a mobility scooter, which is a lot of fun.”
“It’s like having a new toy,” she enthused. “It’s very good for shopping because it’s got a basket on it – and I do enjoy whizzing around on it immensely.”