{"id":742148,"date":"2026-08-18T19:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T19:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/742148\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T19:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T19:14:08","slug":"phyllida-law-actress-who-starred-with-daughters-emma-and-sophie-thompson-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/742148\/","title":{"rendered":"Phyllida Law: Actress who starred with daughters Emma and Sophie Thompson dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Born in Glasgow in 1932, Law attended the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, initially to become a stage designer but ended up studying acting instead &#8220;by happy accident&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She married fellow actor Eric Thompson &#8211; best known for The Magic Roundabout &#8211; in 1957.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The couple were together until he died of a heart attack aged 53, in 1982.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Throughout a career spanning eight decades, Law would go on to appear in numerous TV shows including Dickson of Dock Green and Rumpole of the Bailey before Midsomer Murders, Foyle&#8217;s War, Doc Martin and New Tricks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She was also known for her work on the big screen in films such as Anna Karenina, Saving Grace and Miss Potter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">On stage, Law appeared alongside Alec Guinness in John Mortimer&#8217;s A Voyage Round My Father in London&#8217;s West End in 1971, and in Alan Bennett&#8217;s Habeas Corpus at the Oxford Playhouse in 1973, which then transferred to the capital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She also played Jacqueline in the original London cast of La Cage Aux Folles at the London Palladium in 1986.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The actress starred alongside John Hurt in a short film entitled Love at First Sight which was shortlisted for an Oscar in 2012.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Law received an OBE in 2014 for services to drama and for charitable services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Her daughters have both gone on to enjoy success on screen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Emma was born in 1959 and has won two Oscars &#8211; one for acting in Howard&#8217;s End and another for writing the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility &#8211; and is also known for featuring in Love Actually and the Harry Potter film series.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Sophie was born in 1964 and has appeared in films including Gosford Park and Four Weddings and a Funeral, and been nominated for seven Olivier Awards on stage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Speaking about her daughters to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/women\/life\/phyllida-law-got-have-funeral-afternoon-curtain-230pm-people\/\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Telegraph in 2017, external<\/a>, Law said: &#8220;They are both my colleagues in a way. They didn&#8217;t follow in our footsteps, they rushed past us, trampling on us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The family acting dynasty has continued with Dame Emma&#8217;s daughter Gaia, who posted on Instagram about her grandmother: &#8220;Rest well my queen.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Speaking of her love of the arts to the same newspaper, Law joked: &#8220;I&#8217;ve got to have my funeral in the afternoon, curtain up 2.30pm, so people can get to the theatre afterwards.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Born in Glasgow in 1932, Law attended the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, initially to become a stage&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":742149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-742148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=742148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}