Felicity Kendal
Birthday: 25 September 1946, Olton, Warwickshire, England, UK
Birth Name: Felicity Ann Bragg
Height: 152 cm
British leading woman best known at one time for "cute" roles but a formidable actress in a wide variety of parts. Born in England, she was raised in India where her parents Geoffrey Kendal ...Show More
I've got a tattoo, and that's probably wrong! Don't worry. It's on my foot. It's a star, but it's ju Show more
I've got a tattoo, and that's probably wrong! Don't worry. It's on my foot. It's a star, but it's just the beginning, there's going to be other things. I'm looking for a turtle but I can't find one. Hide
The problem men seem to have, and women too, is that they have this very structured idea that we sho Show more
The problem men seem to have, and women too, is that they have this very structured idea that we should find a partner and settle down and be, you know, faithful. And yet clearly this is really, really hard for anybody to do! Hide
[Sister Jennifer Kendal] was incredibly good at everything. She was an amazing mathematician, she sa Show more
[Sister Jennifer Kendal] was incredibly good at everything. She was an amazing mathematician, she sang like an angel, she read all the important books, she knew everything about music. And she was gorgeous. She had a stream of boyfriends, each more glamorous than the one before [she married the Bollywood superstar Shashi Kapoor]. She was the image of what I couldn't be. Hide
Life is fragile and short. Don't waste it by being mean or greedy.
Life is fragile and short. Don't waste it by being mean or greedy.
[on getting a tattoo at age 63]: The thing is, I now know which bits won't go too wrinkly because th Show more
[on getting a tattoo at age 63]: The thing is, I now know which bits won't go too wrinkly because they've already gone. You know where there's a place left to put tattoos. Hide
[What does love feel like?] When it's happy, being alive 1,000 times. When unhappy, dying slowly.
[What does love feel like?] When it's happy, being alive 1,000 times. When unhappy, dying slowly.
[If you could edit your past, what would you change?] My sister's death.
[If you could edit your past, what would you change?] My sister's death.
[on moving from India to the UK at age 19]: At a party you'd say, 'I'm an actress', and the eyebrows Show more
[on moving from India to the UK at age 19]: At a party you'd say, 'I'm an actress', and the eyebrows would go and immediately you would get that look. It wasn't a respectable profession; they knew you were up for hire. Like a taxi! But even now, if you are on the stage, basically you are being paid to entertain. It's a deal: there's my ticket, and now you dance. And that isn't prostitution in the wrong way, but it isn't the same as writing a book. Hide
Wilson the kitten is making me re-evaluate love.
Wilson the kitten is making me re-evaluate love.
[What is the closest you've come to death?] Typhoid in Calcutta when I was 17.
[What is the closest you've come to death?] Typhoid in Calcutta when I was 17.
[In 2010]: George Bernard Shaw was a raving socialist. And mad for feminism, passionate that women s Show more
[In 2010]: George Bernard Shaw was a raving socialist. And mad for feminism, passionate that women should have a right to choose how they live and how and if they work. Also the play ['Mrs Warren's Profession'] is about hypocrisy, about that bubble of respectability. And we're exactly the same now: we seem to be obsessed with infidelity, and prostitution of one kind or another, and the role of women - whether they are naughty tarts who do things with their bodies they shouldn't, or whether they are married and therefore respectable and therefore honoured. Hide
Quite often you do know of a very happy partnership, married or not, but equally there seems to be t Show more
Quite often you do know of a very happy partnership, married or not, but equally there seems to be the same percentage of people in any walk of life who find it difficult to ... to be entirely, um, what is the word without getting too - ha! ha! - into detail ... who don't quite find that their life is sufficient without an extra excitement of some kind or another. The difficulty is we don't accept that, we're just not being honest. Hide
The Good Life (1975) was such fun, but during that period the people who were thought of as hugely s Show more
The Good Life (1975) was such fun, but during that period the people who were thought of as hugely successful were Julie Christie and Monica Vitti, the beautiful ones in the movies. So it quite tickled me that people thought I was ... quite fun. But it was the part as well, it was very funny and well written. When I look at The Good Life (1975) sometimes - I can't watch a whole one through, mostly because it makes me sad about Paul Eddington [who died in 1995] - the thing that I find weird is this slightly 1940s accent I've got. It doesn't belong anywhere. Hide
Unappealing habit? Moi?
Unappealing habit? Moi?
I don't take money seriously, so I can't keep any.
I don't take money seriously, so I can't keep any.
In a play the director is God, and I'm a great arguer. Rather boringly so, I think, about trying dif Show more
In a play the director is God, and I'm a great arguer. Rather boringly so, I think, about trying different things. And the only thing that is different working with Michael is I feel that I can only argue so much, otherwise it may appear to people that I am arguing only because I'm in a position where I can argue longer. It's also the balance of the other actors: like a football team, you are a team, and he is the coach. You can't start having tea with the coach and telling him about the team, you have to keep that separate. So we have a very boring time at home, two little silent people going slinking home after rehearsal. Hide
[To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why?]: My first husband - I gave him a hard time. And Show more
[To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why?]: My first husband - I gave him a hard time. And my second husband - I'm giving him a hard time. Hide
Happy is my natural state.
Happy is my natural state.
So the question is, do we have the freedom to make a life that we choose? Or do we have to stick by Show more
So the question is, do we have the freedom to make a life that we choose? Or do we have to stick by society's rules? And it seems to me we still have to stick by society's rules or we pay a penalty. Like any good play it's a question, not an answer. Hide
I don't treasure things much - just people. And pets.
I don't treasure things much - just people. And pets.
Felicity Kendal's FILMOGRAPHY
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as Actor (71)
Felicity Kendal'S roles
