 Maureen Lipman was born on 10th May 1946 in Hull, Yorkshire, England. Her father was a Jewish tailor and she was press-ganged her into acting by her mother Zelma, who used to take Maureen to the pantomime and push her onto the stage. She studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and made her acting debut in The Knack in 1969. Since then she has appeared in a number of West End productions, including See How They Run (1984); Candide; Lost in Yonkers and her one-woman show Re Joyce - her homage to her heroine Joyce Grenfell. In 28 years in the profession Maureen has only been out of work for four months - and that was when she needed major surgery to remove a tumour at the top of her spine, which was threatening to paralyse her. To many people, Maureen Lipman is Beattie from the British Telecom advertisements which won her an award for "You got an Ology?", but in reality she has done so much more. She does not believe that she will be doing any more television as she does not consider herself a "ratings person". However, she has written several humorous books, including How Was It For You? (1985); Thank You For Having Me (1990); You Can Read Me Like a Book (1996) and Lip Reading (1999) which is another collection of random stories of a chaotic lifestyle. She also writes a monthly column for Good Housekeeping magazine. In 1996 Maureen released a video - Live and Kidding - which was filmed live at the Leeds City Variety Music Hall before a packed house and is a comical programme of anecdotes, observations, jokes and confessions - plus further homage to her heroine Joyce Grenfell. Maureen has been married to playwright Jack Rosenthal since 1973 and they have two children - Amy, who is the writer-in-residence at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre, and Adam, who has recently passed his finals at Cambridge. They have lived in an Edwardian house in Muswell Hill, North London for the last 16 years. In 1999 Maureen was awarded a CBE by the Queen - she was the second person in her family to receive this award, husband Jack was presented with his in 1993. An excellent choice for a truly memorable after dinner speech. |
