Julia McKenzie

McKenzie has also starred in numerous musicals, receiving a 1977 Tony Award nomination for her work in the Broadway revue, Side by Side by Sondheim. A six-time Olivier Award nominee, she has twice won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical; for the 1982 revival of Guys and Dolls and the 1993 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. She also starred in the original London productions of the Sondheim musicals Follies (1987) and Into the Woods (1990). Her film appearances include Bright Young Things (2003) and Notes on a Scandal (2006).

Julia McKenzie studied at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The recorded working language is English. Residence is recorded at Enfield. Distinctions recorded are Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, Commander of the Order of the British Empire and Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress.

• Name — Julia McKenzie • Birth Name — Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie • Born — 17 February 1941 • Birthplace — Enfield, Middlesex, England • Occupation — * Actress • singer • presenter • theatre director, manager and producer • Years Active — 1966–present

McKenzie was born on 17 February 1941, in Enfield, Middlesex, England, the daughter of Kathleen Rowe and Albion McKenzie. She attended Tottenham County Grammar School. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

McKenzie's early West End musical credits include Maggie May (1966), Mame (1969), and Company (1971). She appeared in the West End revue Side by Side by Sondheim in 1976, and made her Broadway debut when the show transferred to New York in 1977, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She also received a Drama Desk Award nomination. For her role as Miss Adelaide in the 1982 West End revival of Guys and Dolls, she won the first of two Olivier Awards for Best Actress in a Musical. For her role in the 1986 West End production of the Alan Ayckbourn play Woman in Mind, McKenzie won the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress. She went on to appear in the original West End productions of two Stephen Sondheim musicals, playing Sally in Follies at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1987, and the Witch in Into the Woods at the Phoenix Theatre in 1990. She continued her association with Sondheim when she starred as Mrs Lovett in the 1993 London revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The role won her a second Olivier Award in 1994. McKenzie appeared in a National Theatre 80th birthday tribute to Laurence Olivier, Happy Birthday, Sir Larry, on 31 May 1987 in the presence of Olivier himself.

She is a radio performer with a long list of credits, including Blithe Spirit, The Country Wife and A Room with a View. As a director she has staged Stepping Out, Peter Pan, Hey, Mr. Producer!, Steel Magnolias, Putting It Together and A Little Night Music. Throughout the early mid 2000s she played Ariadne Oliver in radio adaptations of Agatha Christie novels starring John Moffatt as Hercule Poirot; one such novel was Elephants Can Remember. She also recorded an audio book of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. McKenzie also lent her voice to several animated works for Martin Gates Productions including three films The Snow Queen, Jack and the Beanstalk and The Snow Queen's Revenge and the TV series Bimble's Buckett. In 2018, Julia McKenzie was cast as The Twelve in a Big Finish production The Eighth Doctor – Time War 2 And 4. In 2012 she appeared in the short film Happy and Glorious, produced by Lisa Osborne for the BBC and directed by Danny Boyle as part of the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Summer Olympics, doubling for Queen Elizabeth II in the scene where Her Majesty boards a helicopter alongside Daniel Craig as James Bond as her escort to the Olympic Stadium.

In 1971 McKenzie married American actor-director Jerry Harte. He died in 2018. McKenzie was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to drama. She is a critic of fox hunting and was among more than 20 high-profile people who signed a letter to members of parliament in 2015 to oppose Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron's plan to amend the Hunting Act 2004.

• (London debut) Maggie May, Adelphi Theatre, London, 1966 • Gloria, Mame, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, 1969 • Girl in owl coat, Promises, Promises, Prince of Wales Theatre, London, 1970 • April, Company, Her Majesty's Theatre, London, 1971 • Cowardy Custard, Mermaid Theatre, London, 1973 • Cole, Mermaid Theatre, 1974 • (New York debut) Side by Side by Sondheim, Music Box Theatre, New York City, 1977 • The Norman Conquests, 1978 • Ten Times Table, 1979 • Miriam Dervish, Outside Edge, Queen's Theatre, London, 1979 • Lily, On the Twentieth Century, Her Majesty's Theatre, 1980 • Maggie Hobson, Hobson's Choice, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London, 1981 • Anna Kopecka, Schweik in the Second World War, National Theatre, London, 1982 • Miss Adelaide, Guys and Dolls, National Theatre, 1982 • Susan, Woman in Mind, Vaudeville Theatre, London, 1986 • Sally Plummer, Follies, Shaftesbury Theatre, London, 1987 • Witch, Into the Woods, Phoenix Theatre, London, 1990 • Mrs Lovett, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, National Theatre, 1993 • Ruella, Communicating Doors, Gielgud Theatre, London, 1995 • Kafka's Dick, Piccadilly Theatre, London, 1998 • The Royal Family, Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, 2001 • Fuddy Meers, Arts Theatre, London, 2004 • The Philadelphia Story, The Old Vic, London, 2005

• Stepping Out, Duke of York's Theatre, London, 1984 • Just So, Watermill Theatre, Newbury, Berkshire, 1989 • Steel Magnolias, Lyric Theatre, London, 1989 • Putting It Together, Manhattan Theatre Club Stage I, New York City, 1993 • Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh (stage direction, with Bob Avian), Lyceum Theatre, London, 1998 • A Little Night Music, Tokyo, 1999 • Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, Sondheim Theatre, London, 2023

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1975 — Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done — Rose Maybud • 1980 — The Wildcats of St. Trinian's — Miss Dolly Dormancott • 1986 — Hotel du Lac — Jennifer Pusey • 1989 — Shirley Valentine — Gillian • 1995 — The Snow Queen — Grandma, The Old Lady, Freda — voice • 1996 — Vol-au-vent — Audrey • The Snow Queen's Revenge — The Snow Queen, Freda and Proprietor — voice • 2003 — Bright Young Things — Lottie Crump • 2006 — These Foolish Things — Miss Abernethy • Notes on a Scandal — Marjorie • 2013 — Gangsta Granny — Granny • 2022 — Allelujah — Mrs Maudsley