Sarah Crowden (born 8 May 1955) is a Scottish actress. She is best known for playing the role of Lady Manville in the British television series ''

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV (TV network), ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United St ...

'', as well as Miss Thimble in the detective series '' Sister Boniface Mysteries''.

Early life and education

Crowden was born on 8 May 1955 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, the daughter of actor

Graham Crowden Clement Graham Crowden (30 November 1922 – 19 October 2010) was a Scottish actor. He was best known for his many appearances in television comedy dramas and films, often playing eccentric scientist, teacher and doctor characters. Early life C ...

(1922–2010) and actress Phyllida Hewat. She attended

The Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree as well as a diploma in

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

. In 2010, she was awarded a Foundation Certificate in Bricklaying.

Career

Crowden started her acting career in 1974 when she joined The Actors' Company as a Student Assistant Stage Manager. One of her first notable role was as Helen in the movie adaption of Agatha Christie's ''

The Seven Dials Mystery ''The Seven Dials Mystery'' is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by William Collins & Sons on 24 January 1929 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. In this novel, Christie bri ...

'' (1981). She has played supporting roles in numerous television series and movies such as ''

A Dance to the Music of Time ''A Dance to the Music of Time'' is a 12-volume ''Book series#History, roman-fleuve'' by English writer Anthony Powell, published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim. The story is an often comic examination of movements and manners, power ...

'', ''

The Sarah Jane Adventures ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC s ...

'', ''Downtown Abbey'' and ''The Sister Boniface Mysteries''. She received favourable reviews for her portrayal of Dame Hilda in the 2010 production of ''If So, Then Yes'' by N. F. Simpson with critic Michael Billington calling her performance as "a Thatcherite supervisor" shining and Dominic Maxwell of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' praising her ability to "work wonders in restricted circumstances". In 2017, Crowden started performing

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

on the London circuit as her self-created character Dame Theresa Thomson's-Gazelle. Apart from her acting career, Crowden is also a professional writer. She has written pieces for '' The Lady'', '' TLS'', ''

Geographical Review The ''Geographical Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Routledge on behalf of the American Geographical Society. It covers all aspects of geography. The editor-in-chief is David H. Kaplan (Kent State University). ...

'' and ''

Literary Review ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years b ...

'', amongst others, and regularly contributes to ''

Slightly Foxed ''Slightly Foxed'' is a British quarterly literary magazine. Its primary focus is books and book culture. It was established by former John Murray editors Hazel Wood and Gail Pirkis. Notable authors to have written for the magazine include Pene ...

''.

Filmography

Stage

References

External links

*
Sarah Crowden
at Spotlight
Official Homepeage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowden, Sarah 1955 births Living people Alumni of the Open University Actresses from Edinburgh Scottish television actresses Scottish film actresses