Marion Bailey (born 5 May 1951) is an English actress. She is best known for her work with her partner, filmmaker
Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English screenwriter, producer, director and former actor with a film, theatre, and television career spanning more than 60 years. His accolades include prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin In ...
Vera Drake
''Vera Drake'' is a 2004 British period drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and starring Imelda Staunton, Phil Davis, Daniel Mays and Eddie Marsan. It tells the story of a working-class woman in London in 1950 who performs illegal ...
'' (2004), '' Mr. Turner'' (2014), for which she was nominated Supporting Actress of the Year by the
London Film Critics' Circle
The London Film Critics' Circle is the name by which the Film Section of The Critics' Circle is known internationally.
The word London was added because it was thought the term Critics' Circle Film Awards did not convey the full context of the ...
, and '' Peterloo'' (2018). In 2019 and 2020, she portrayed
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...
in the
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system
Places
* 3rd Street (di ...
The Crown
The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
'' on
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
Bushey
Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It had a population of 25,328 in the 2011 census, rising to 28,416 in the 2021 census, an increase of 12.19%. This makes Bushey the second most populated town ...
,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
, to Rose (née Timberlake) and William Bailey. She grew up in Harrow, Middlesex, and attended
Pinner County Grammar School
Pinner County Grammar School was a grammar school in Pinner, Middlesex, from 1937 to 1974. From 1974 to 1982 it became Pinner Junior College and then Pinner Sixth Form College.
Pinner County Grammar School was built to accommodate 508 boys and g ...
. She was a member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and trained at the
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...
. With writer Terry Johnson, she has a daughter, the actress Alice Bailey Johnson.
Career
Film
As well as Leigh's films, Bailey has appeared as Mrs Peach in Debbie Isitt's ''Nasty Neighbours'' (2000), Mary in the
Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson (born 17 May 1962) is a Scottish-American actor, comedian, writer and television host. He is best known for having hosted the CBS late-night talk show ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' (2005–2014). He is the winner of ...
film '' I'll Be There'' and Mrs Adams in S.J.Clarkson's "Toast" (2010). Bailey starred as Mrs Booth in '' Mr. Turner'' (2014) and appeared in '' The Lady in the Van'' (2015), '' Allied'' (2016), '' Dead in a Week or Your Money Back'' (2018), Lady Conyngham in Leigh's '' Peterloo'' (2018) and played Dinah in Stephen Cookson's "Brighton"(2019). She co starred with Ben Whishaw in the 2023 Short film Good Boy which was shortlisted for Best Live Action Short Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
Television
Bailey's television work includes ''
Inspector Morse
Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England.
On television he was portrayed by John ...
'', ''
Casualty
Casualty may refer to:
*Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster
**Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare
* The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...
'', ''
The Bill
''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...
'', ''
Holby City
''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a Spin-off (media), spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' ...
'', ''
Midsomer Murders
''Midsomer Murders'' is a British Mystery fiction, mystery television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the ''Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series created by Caroline Graham (writer), Caroline Graham. ...
'', ''
Agatha Christie's Poirot
''Agatha Christie's Poirot'', or simply ''Poirot'' (), is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2020. The ITV show is based on many of Agatha Christie's famous crime fiction series, wh ...
New Tricks
''New Tricks'' is a British television police procedural comedy drama, created by Nigel McCrery and Roy Mitchell, produced primarily by Wall to Wall (until its final year, when it was handled by Headstrong Pictures), and broadcast on BBC On ...
'', '' Monday Monday'', '' Being Human'' and '' Case Histories''. In 1995, she had a recurring role as Avis in the long-running ITV series '' Shine on Harvey Moon''. She also played leading roles in several popular 1980s TV series, including '' To Have and to Hold'', ''Jury'' and ''Charlie''.
In 2000, she played Wendy in Carlton's comedy-drama series '' The Thing About Vince''. She has also appeared in many single TV dramas and films including ''Woyzeck'', ''Way Upstream'', ''Zackharov'', ''Raspberry'', ''Coppers'', Derailed, ''Toast'' and
Jane Austen
Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...
's ''
Persuasion
Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for influence. Persuasion can influence a person's beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviours.
Persuasion is studied in many disciplines. Rhetoric studies modes of persuasi ...
''. She played Jill in the
BBC Three
BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...
comedy series Him and Her, Sue in '' The Trials of Jimmy Rose, Ingrid in Temple, Cara in Britannia for Sky.'' She played
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...
in seasons 3 and 4 of international Netflix series ''
The Crown
The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
'', for which she was the recipient of a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Television Drama Series.
She has most recently appeared in Shakespeare and Hathaway, Endeavour and the Netflix dramas Obsession and All the Light We Cannot See.
Theatre
Bailey has worked extensively in British theatre, including London’s West End, the National Theatre, the Royal Court, the Old Vic, Chichester Festival Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, the Arts Theatre, the Kiln, Bristol Old Vic and the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
In 1981 she performed in Mike Leigh's West End theatre play ''Goosepimples'', for which she received a Plays and Players Award nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. In 2007, with the
Shared Experience
Shared Experience is a British theatre company. Its current joint
< ...
company she received a TMA nomination as Best Supporting Performance for her role in ''
Kindertransport
The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children from Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, total ...
''.
Bailey appeared in Mike Leigh's ''Grief'' at the National Theatre (2011/12). In 2013 she played the Queen in '' Handbagged'' at the
Tricycle Theatre
The Kiln Theatre (formerly the Tricycle Theatre) is a theatre located in Kilburn, in the London Borough of Brent, England. Since 1980, the theatre has presented a wide range of plays reflecting the cultural diversity of the area, as well as n ...
and in the production's subsequent West End transfer to the
Vaudeville Theatre
The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. Opening in 1870, the theatre staged mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. The theatre was rebuilt twice, although each new buildin ...
.
Her most recent appearances were in Dominic Cooke’s production of Medea at Soho Place Theatre and Richard Bean’s To Have and To Hold directed by Terry Johnson at Hampstead Theatre.