Angela Baddeley facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Angela Baddeley CBE
Angela Baddeley (1938)
Born	Madeleine Angela Clinton-Baddeley (1904-07-04)4 July 1904 West Ham, Essex, England
Died	22 February 1976(1976-02-22) (aged 71) Grayshott, Hampshire, England
Occupation	Actress

Angela Baddeley (born July 4, 1904, died February 22, 1976) was a famous English actress. She acted on stage and television for over 60 years! Many people remember her best as Mrs. Bridges, the kind cook in the popular TV show Upstairs, Downstairs. She was also given a special award, the CBE, for her amazing work in theatre.

Early Life and First Roles

Angela Baddeley was born Madeleine Angela Clinton-Baddeley in West Ham, Essex (which is now part of London) in 1904. Her family was quite wealthy. She later said that she based her famous character, Mrs. Bridges, on one of the cooks her family used to employ. Angela also had a younger sister, Hermione Baddeley, who became an actress too.

In 1912, when Angela was eight years old, she and her sister Hermione started attending Margaret Morris's dancing school in Chelsea. Angela felt this school gave her a great start for her acting career. That same year, she made her very first appearance on stage. It was in a play called The Dawn of Happiness in Dalston.

When Angela was nine, she tried out for a role at the famous Old Vic Theatre. In November 1915, she made her debut there in a play called Richard III. After that, she appeared in many other plays by William Shakespeare.

Teenage Years and Early Career

As a teenager, Angela was called a "consummate little actress" by a newspaper when she was only 10. She starred in many musicals and pantomimes. For a short time, she stopped acting when she was 18.

Angela got married twice. Her first marriage was to Stephen Thomas, and they had one daughter. On July 8, 1929, she married actor and stage director Glen Byam Shaw. They had two children together, a son and a daughter.

After touring Australia with some comedies by J. M. Barrie, Angela became a very popular stage actress. In the early 1930s, she also appeared in two films. One was a Sherlock Holmes story called The Speckled Band (1931). The other was The Ghost Train (also 1931), which was based on a popular stage thriller. Throughout the 1940s, she played many strong female characters on stage, like Miss Prue in Love for Love.

Later Acting Career

In 1958, Angela played a character called the bawd in a play called Pericles, Prince of Tyre at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. She also played Mistress Quickly in several episodes of the BBC Shakespeare series An Age of Kings (1960). In this series, she acted alongside her sister Hermione, who played Doll Tearsheet.

Her most famous role was Mrs. Kate Bridges, the cook, in the original TV series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971–75). Her character, Mrs. Bridges, eventually married the butler, Mr. Angus Hudson (Gordon Jackson), when the show ended. There were plans for a new show about their married life, but it didn't happen because Angela passed away. After Upstairs, Downstairs finished, Angela took over a role in the London production of A Little Night Music.

Awards and Final Years

Angela Baddeley received a special award, the CBE, in 1975 for her "services to the theatre." This award recognized her great contributions to acting.

She died in Grayshott Hall in 1976, at the age of 71. She passed away from influenza (the flu) and bronchitis shortly after Upstairs, Downstairs ended its successful run.

Family Connections

Angela Baddeley was the grandmother of Charles Hart. Charles Hart is a famous lyricist who wrote the words for the well-known Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, The Phantom of the Opera. As mentioned before, she was also the sister of actress Hermione Baddeley. She had a half-brother too, a clergyman named Bill Baddeley.

Filmography

Angela Baddeley appeared in several films during her career. Here are some of them:

See also

In Spanish: Angela Baddeley para niños