Jennifer Kendal (28 February 1934 – 7 September 1984) was an English actress and the founder of the

Prithvi Theatre Prithvi Theatre is one of Mumbai's best known theatres. It was built by Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer Kapoor in memory of Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi's father, who had dreamt of having a "home" for his repertory theatre company, Prithvi Th ...

. She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the film ''

36 Chowringhee Lane ''36 Chowringhee Lane'' is a 1981 film written and directed by Aparna Sen and produced by Shashi Kapoor. It marked the directorial debut of Sen, who had until then been known as a leading actress of Bengali cinema. The film was very well receiv ...

'' (1981). Her other film appearances included '' Bombay Talkie'' (1970), '' Junoon'' (1978), ''

Heat and Dust ''Heat and Dust'' (1975) is a novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala that won the Booker Prize in 1975. The book was also ranked by ''The Telegraph'' in 2014 as one of the 10 all-time greatest Asian novels. Plot summary The initial stages of the nove ...

'' (1983), and '' Ghare Baire'' (1984).

Childhood

Jennifer Kendal was born in

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, but spent much of her youth in India. She and younger sister

Felicity Kendal Felicity Ann Kendal (born 25 September 1946) is an English actress, working principally in television and theatre. She has appeared in numerous stage and screen roles over a more than 70-year career, but the role that brought attention to her ...

were born to Geoffrey Kendal and Laura Liddell, who ran a travelling theatre company, "Shakespeareana", which travelled around India as depicted in the book and film, '' Shakespeare Wallah'' (1965) in which Kendal appeared, uncredited, and which starred her husband Shashi Kapoor, her parents and her sister.

Shashi Kapoor

Shashi Kapoor and Kendal met for the first time in Calcutta, in 1956, where he was part of the

company, while she was playing Miranda in the play '' The Tempest'', as part of Shakespeareana. Soon, Shashi Kapoor also began to tour with the Shakespeareana Company, and the couple married in July 1958. Kendal and her husband were also instrumental in the rejuvenation of Prithvi Theatre in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, with the opening of their theatre in the

Juhu Juhu (Pronunciation: ͡ʒuɦuː is a posh and upmarket neighbourhood of Mumbai. It is known for the sprawling Juhu Beach. It is surrounded by the Arabian Sea to the west, Versova to the north, Vile Parle to the east and Santacruz to the south ...

area of the city in 1978. Kendal and Kapoor also starred in a number of films together, particularly those produced by

Merchant Ivory Productions Merchant Ivory Productions is a film company founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant (1936–2005) and director James Ivory (b. 1928). Merchant and Ivory were life and business partners from 1961 until Merchant's death in 2005. During their ...

. Their first joint starring roles were in '' Bombay Talkie'' (1970), which was also one of the earlier films produced by Merchant Ivory.

Personal life

The Kapoors had three children: sons

Kunal Kapoor Kunal Kapoor may refer to: * Kunal Kapoor (actor, born 1959), Indian film actor * Kunal Kapoor (actor, born 1977), Indian actor, writer and entrepreneur * Kunal Kapoor (cricketer) (born 1987), Indian cricketer * Kunal Karan Kapoor (born 1982), In ...

and Karan Kapoor, and daughter

Sanjana Kapoor Sanjana Kapoor (born 1967) is an Indian theatre personality and former film actress. She is the daughter of actors Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kapoor. She ran the Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai from 1993 to February 2012. Biography Sanjna Kapo ...

; all are former Bollywood actors.Meet the Kapoors

Network 18 Network18 Media & Investments Limited, (formerly SGA Finance and Management Service and Network18 Fincap Limited) commonly referred to as the Network18 Group and sometimes as the Network18–Eenadu Group, is an Indian media conglomerate owned b ...

. She was

diagnose Diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in many different disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine " cause and effect". In systems engin ...

d with terminal colon cancer in 1982 and died of the disease in 1984.

Filmography

* '' Shakespeare Wallah'' (1965) – Mrs Bowen (uncredited) * '' Bombay Talkie'' (1970) – Lucia Lane * '' Junoon'' (1978) – Miriam Labadoor (Ruth's Mother) * ''

'' (1981) Miss Violet Stoneham * ''

'' (1983) – Mrs Saunders * ''

The Far Pavilions ''The Far Pavilions'' is an epic novel of British-Indian history by M. M. Kaye, published in 1978, which tells the story of an English officer during the British Raj. There are many parallels between this novel and Rudyard Kipling's '' Kim'' th ...

'' (1984) – Mrs Viccary * ''

Ghare-Baire ''The Home and the World'' (in the original Bengali, ঘরে বাইরে ''Ghôre Baire'' or ''Ghare Baire'', lit. "At home and outside") is a 1916 novel by Rabindranath Tagore. The book illustrates the battle Tagore had with himself, be ...

'' (1984) – Miss Gilby (''The Home and the World'')

Costume Design

*'' Mukti'' (1977) *'' Junoon'' (1978)

Awards

* 1980:

Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress The Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role. Although the Filmfare ...

– ''Junoon'' – Nominated *1982:

Evening Standard British Film Awards The Evening Standard British Film Awards were established in 1973 by London's ''Evening Standard'' newspaper. The Standard Awards is the only ceremony "dedicated to British and Irish talent," judged by a panel of "top UK critics." Each ceremony ...

–

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

: ''

'' – Won * 1983: BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role – ''

'' – NominatedBafta Awards Nominations 1982
British Academy Film Awards official website.

References

External links

Jennifer Kendal
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

*
Biography from The Kapoor Family website
*
She didn’t really look at me: Shashi Kapoor recounts his and Jennifer Kendal’s first, and lasting, meeting in Calcutta to Deepa Gahlot
' –

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kendal, Jennifer 1934 births 1984 deaths People from Southport English theatre managers and producers Women theatre managers and producers English film actresses English stage actresses British film actresses English emigrants to India Kapoor family Deaths from cancer in England Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Bengali cinema British expatriate actresses in India European actresses in India European actresses in Bollywood Actresses of European descent in Indian films Actresses of European descent in Bollywood films 20th-century English businesspeople 20th-century English actresses