![Rosalind Knight](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w185/7DwIKes09YxRsAIrKOxrmP9PtIH.jpg)
Rosalind Knight
Born in Marylebone, London, versatile character actress Rosalind Marie Knight was born to theatrical parentage. Her father was the accomplished thespian Esmond Knight. Her mother, the comedienne Frances Clare, often featured in Ivor Novello operettas. Rosalind's interest in theatre was first kindled at the age of six when she and her mother attended a staging of Novello's "The Dancing Years" at Drury Lane. Rosalind was evacuated to the countryside with her nanny during the war years. In 1949, she accompanied her father to the Old Vic Theatre and became enthralled by a production of "The Snow Queen", primarily performed by drama school novices. The following year she won an audition and spent two years at the Old Vic Theatre School. This was succeeded by a lengthy apprenticeship in repertory which led to her gaining further experience as assistant stage manager for the West of England Theatre Company, the Midland Theatre Company in Coventry and the Piccolo Theatre Company in Manchester.
In 1955, she made her first impact on screen as a lady-in-waiting in Laurence Olivier's Richard III (1955), which also featured her father in the cast. A year later, having come to the attention of a movie producer, she played Annabel, one of the schoolgirls, in Blue Murder at St. Trinian's (1957) (decades later, she would return as a teacher in the sequel The Wildcats of St. Trinian's (1980)). This set the tone for a number of subsequent comedic roles which included a couple of early Carry On's and the Tony Richardson-directed Tom Jones (1963), in which she played the giddy Mrs. Harriet Fitzpatrick. While doing the Carry On films she was not under any form of contract and was paid a mere $50 a week. In 1957, Rosalind joined her father in an early BBC adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby (1957) as the spiteful Fanny Squeers. In a later miniseries based on Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1964), she was a splendidly shrewish Charity Pecksniff.
During her prolific career, Rosalind relished every opportunity to portray a diverse range of characters, good and bad, from servants to princesses (Alice of Battenberg in The Crown (2016)) to old maids (Aspasia Fitzgibbon in The Pallisers (1974)) to wealthy socialites (Margot Asquith in Nancy Astor (1982)) and unpleasant aristocratic dowagers (Daphne Winkworth in Jeeves and Wooster (1990)). She even essayed a retired prostitute turned landlady in the sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme (1999). In addition to a staple of period dramas she guested in numerous episodic TV dramas, including Poirot (1989), Dalziel and Pascoe (1996), Heartbeat (1992), Marple (2004), Midsomer Murders (1997) and Sherlock (2010). All the while, she remained heavily engaged in theatrical work with the Old Vic, The Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court Theatre, her last appearance being the strict, incorruptible governess Mrs. Prism in Shaw's "The Importance of Being Earnest".
Rosalind was married to director/producer Michael Elliott from 1959. In 1976, she helped rebuild and re-open the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, of which her husband was involved as one of five artistic directors. She was also a patron of the Actor's Centre in London and the Ladies' Theatrical Guild (a charity founded in 1891). Rosalind Knight continued to perform as an actress right up to her death on December 19 2020, at the age of 87.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 15.334 |
Birthday | 1933-12-03 |
Place of Birth | Marylebone, London, England, UK |
Also Known As |
![About a Boy](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/optezspqJjHI9WyC8brY96zbcdt.jpg)
2002
![About a Boy](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/optezspqJjHI9WyC8brY96zbcdt.jpg)
About a Boy
6.673/2153
Will Freeman is a good-looking, smooth-talking bachelor whose primary goal in life is avoiding any kind of responsibility. But when he invents an imag...
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About a Boy
![The Lady Vanishes](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/xw0GhX9M3zjbFd7OeYdNHrmZSiH.jpg)
1979
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The Lady Vanishes
6/60
On the eve of World War II, zany heiress Amanda Kelly travels by train to Switzerland. While passing through Germany, she meets a sweet elderly lady,...
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The Lady Vanishes
![Carry On Teacher](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/qPSRjlPOcwhmTKZKVhLvclwe3P8.jpg)
1959
![Carry On Teacher](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/qPSRjlPOcwhmTKZKVhLvclwe3P8.jpg)
Carry On Teacher
6.2/48
Prepare for Six of the Best as the Carry On team cause chaos in the school yard. When a well-loved headmaster decides to retire, his scheming pupils h...
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Carry On Teacher
![Start the Revolution Without Me](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/z4gspFa639yUWLSyefP5yCxKgRi.jpg)
1970
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Start the Revolution Without Me
5.8/36
Two sets of identical twins are accidentally switched at birth. One pair, Phillipe and Pierre DeSisi, are aristocratic and haughty, while the other, C...
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Start the Revolution Without Me
![Eskimo Nell](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/Lk5PKUV77HkP2iUnMB6bqtARnu.jpg)
1975
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Eskimo Nell
3.944/18
Three young men, a scriptwriter, a producer and a director are called in by Benny U Murdoch, an exotic movie producer. He wants to make a new erotic m...
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Eskimo Nell
![The Old Curiosity Shop](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/hLazbtwKlrJi6k1x3DhGyt1iVdM.jpg)
1975
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The Old Curiosity Shop
4/1
A kindly shop owner whose overwhelming gambling debts allow a greedy landlord to seize his shop of dusty treasures. Evicted and with no way to pay his...
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The Old Curiosity Shop
![Carry On Nurse](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/5Na65YOj6s9HQM7e1YOhz0Upl13.jpg)
1959
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Carry On Nurse
6.314/51
Set in Haven Hospital where a certain men's ward is causing more havoc than the whole hospital put together. The formidable Matron's debut gives the p...
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Carry On Nurse
![The Alchemistic Suitcase](https://movieunlimited.net/assets/no-poster.png)
2009
![The Alchemistic Suitcase](https://movieunlimited.net/assets/no-poster.png)
The Alchemistic Suitcase
4.2/2
A nervous and unsettling young boy takes a mysterious old suitcase across London... to a twisted and surreal conclusion.
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The Alchemistic Suitcase
![The Lady in the Van](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/sqz4CGInI1bysFH674HYWtQSmYn.jpg)
2015
![The Lady in the Van](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/sqz4CGInI1bysFH674HYWtQSmYn.jpg)
The Lady in the Van
6.416/710
The true story of the relationship between Alan Bennett and the singular Miss Shepherd, a woman of uncertain origins who ‘temporarily’ parked her van...
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The Lady in the Van
![Doctor in Love](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/wgTv5Jfi8Bt4frYZeBTzNQU1ISa.jpg)
1960
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Doctor in Love
5.5/11
Doctors Burke and Hare leave the confines of St Swithins for the world of general practice, stopping off on the way as patients at the Foulness Anti-c...
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Doctor in Love
![As You Like It](https://movieunlimited.net/assets/no-poster.png)
1963
![As You Like It](https://movieunlimited.net/assets/no-poster.png)
As You Like It
0/0
One of the earliest hits for the newly established RSC, Michael Elliott’s sparkling version of Shakespeare's comedy is still remembered with joy by a...
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As You Like It
![The Wildcats of St. Trinian's](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/ucTA4b8CsNazrf2FwT5CI13Zmdq.jpg)
1980
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The Wildcats of St. Trinian's
4.4/8
The girls of St. Trinian's decide they are being asked to do too much work so they go on strike.
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The Wildcats of St. Trinian's
![The Shell Seekers](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/y7oxk0TY47vpJ1v2kcnYak0GKkX.jpg)
2007
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The Shell Seekers
7/5
Penelope Keeling, a sixty-four-year-old daughter of a famous artist, reflects on her life, and the fate and choices that defined it, when she arrives...
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The Shell Seekers
![It Could Happen to You](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/5QZGo6j9FyrctDotfH0OC6cr4wb.jpg)
1976
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It Could Happen to You
1/1
An educational film about the perils associated with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The drama is interspersed with scenes of a medical adviser...
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It Could Happen to You
![Claws](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/oOIDpUwzAV4hAlddFtNIZCvgmhq.jpg)
1987
![Claws](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/oOIDpUwzAV4hAlddFtNIZCvgmhq.jpg)
Claws
0/0
A tale of cat lovers, the social circle they inhabit and the power struggles between them.
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Claws
![Afraid of the Dark](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/vnMNulSEBYX6yE21SM8ZVnCrV3N.jpg)
1991
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Afraid of the Dark
5.333/30
A little boy, obsessed with blindness and violence, slowly gets trapped in his own delusions.
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Afraid of the Dark
![Prick Up Your Ears](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/yLrWxmqPqAQFjyefJtYjoaDxGpi.jpg)
1987
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Prick Up Your Ears
6.627/88
When the young, attractive Joe Orton meets the older, more introverted Kenneth Halliwell at drama school, he befriends the kindred spirit and they sta...
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Prick Up Your Ears
![Gunslinger's Revenge](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/jXhepFdn3VVNBFSKqsT6koH2XFy.jpg)
1998
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Gunslinger's Revenge
4.506/77
The idealistic lifestyle of an old West farmer, his Indian wife, and half-breed son is interrupted when the boy's old gunslinger father returns. They...
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Gunslinger's Revenge
![Pleasure](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/7n01qd5YVDbAwfoR1pye2HT5jcx.jpg)
1994
![Pleasure](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/7n01qd5YVDbAwfoR1pye2HT5jcx.jpg)
Pleasure
8/1
Alan Bleasdale's modern re-telling of Madame Bovary. A tale of passion, greed, revenge, and of course pleasure, set in France. Starring Line of Duty's...
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Pleasure
![Baby Blues](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/7v73ErGzncOUByZxfPQo1ByfeSQ.jpg)
1973
![Baby Blues](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/7v73ErGzncOUByZxfPQo1ByfeSQ.jpg)
Baby Blues
0/0
Lavinia has been yearning and trying for ten years to conceive, and finally gives birth to a live baby. However, she finds that things are not as she...
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Baby Blues
![Solitaire for 2](https://movieunlimited.net/assets/no-poster.png)
1995
![Solitaire for 2](https://movieunlimited.net/assets/no-poster.png)
Solitaire for 2
4/2
Katie can read minds. Being desirable, the male minds she reads are all thinking of one thing. She always responds by hitting them and storming off wi...
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Solitaire for 2
![Fortune Is a Woman](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/ilV1Twp8Yos9zMHSgaeXy8cc5Gb.jpg)
1957
![Fortune Is a Woman](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/ilV1Twp8Yos9zMHSgaeXy8cc5Gb.jpg)
Fortune Is a Woman
6.6/12
An insurance man discovers his ex-girlfriend and her husband's art-forgery/arson scam.
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Fortune Is a Woman
![The Kitchen](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/zab6ygCHwwsbbNjvzP4MPxqN58f.jpg)
1961
![The Kitchen](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/zab6ygCHwwsbbNjvzP4MPxqN58f.jpg)
The Kitchen
7/2
In the business end of a kitchen, a polyglot staff strives to cope with a superhuman task. A microcosm of the world, the kitchen looms around and encl...
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The Kitchen
![Blue Murder at St. Trinian's](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/k4Y96usEhUVQ46vmSuR7MB9XRgf.jpg)
1957
![Blue Murder at St. Trinian's](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/k4Y96usEhUVQ46vmSuR7MB9XRgf.jpg)
Blue Murder at St. Trinian's
6.4/21
With their headmistress under lock and key in her majesty's prison, the St Trinian's girls find themselves under the protection of the army. However,...
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Blue Murder at St. Trinian's
![The Lost World Cup](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/ySERaIUbIXXDmox6gx9X0nFCZtf.jpg)
2011
![The Lost World Cup](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/ySERaIUbIXXDmox6gx9X0nFCZtf.jpg)
The Lost World Cup
7.2/4
The film reconstructs the mysterious story of the 1942 Patagonia World Soccer championship, never acknowledged by the official sports organizations, a...
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The Lost World Cup
![On the Eve of Publication](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/i7hbDnK9O8UqCvvxlqkDNTxTO4z.jpg)
1968
![On the Eve of Publication](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/i7hbDnK9O8UqCvvxlqkDNTxTO4z.jpg)
On the Eve of Publication
0/0
TV play by David Mercer. First in a trilogy concerning Marxist novelist Robert Kelvin. The occasion is a dinner party, Kelvin is concerned with a summ...
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On the Eve of Publication
![Tom Jones](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/bX6t9s00uaQvj3onicwgIgEEbmn.jpg)
1963
![Tom Jones](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/bX6t9s00uaQvj3onicwgIgEEbmn.jpg)
Tom Jones
5.925/201
Tom loves Sophie and Sophie loves Tom. But Tom and Sophie are of differering classes. Can they find a way through the mayhem to be true to love?
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Tom Jones
![The Disappearance of Harry](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/3bpx22c3X9BXwP3OwYPkVvkzskm.jpg)
1982
![The Disappearance of Harry](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/3bpx22c3X9BXwP3OwYPkVvkzskm.jpg)
The Disappearance of Harry
0/0
Harry Webster (David Lyon) is an apparently normal husband and father who resides in contemporary Nottingham, England, which was once host to a flouri...
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The Disappearance of Harry
![Royal Celebration](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/zrzcFL7vcUHx2eG7oinsxc6IG2z.jpg)
1993
![Royal Celebration](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/zrzcFL7vcUHx2eG7oinsxc6IG2z.jpg)
Royal Celebration
6/1
A bittersweet drama about a street party held in a suburban London square to mark the 1981 Royal Wedding. After two years of the Thatcher administrati...
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Royal Celebration
![There Was a Crooked Man](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/cvN5e5QJN8zY4P7zVYCakwylEzn.jpg)
1960
![There Was a Crooked Man](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/cvN5e5QJN8zY4P7zVYCakwylEzn.jpg)
There Was a Crooked Man
6/6
When a law-abiding demolition expert is duped by a gang of criminals into helping them he is caught and jailed. When he is released he goes straight a...
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There Was a Crooked Man
![That's Carry On!](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/kvkjy9qN6p3CEtJnDZyUpTjB5az.jpg)
1977
![That's Carry On!](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/kvkjy9qN6p3CEtJnDZyUpTjB5az.jpg)
That's Carry On!
5.7/19
Celebrating twenty years of classic Carry On films, two of the films’ best-loved stars, Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor return to Pinewood film s...
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That's Carry On!
![Friday Night Dinner: 10 Years and a Lovely Bit of Squirrel](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/45jcmyNWo8Mftqxc8iGcr3obxzt.jpg)
2021
![Friday Night Dinner: 10 Years and a Lovely Bit of Squirrel](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/45jcmyNWo8Mftqxc8iGcr3obxzt.jpg)
Friday Night Dinner: 10 Years and a Lovely Bit of Squirrel
7.75/3
With exclusive interviews and outtakes, this anniversary special celebrates a decade of Robert Popper's iconic comedy, from celebrity fans to Paul Rit...
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Friday Night Dinner: 10 Years and a Lovely Bit of Squirrel
![Swords at Teatime](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/90z1gNvZ5FUXvuuPC5StI4J0uZM.jpg)
1992
![Swords at Teatime](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/90z1gNvZ5FUXvuuPC5StI4J0uZM.jpg)
Swords at Teatime
0/0
Michael climbs on to the roof of the block of flats where he lives with his mother, and finds a world of make-believe, duels, and chickens existing ov...
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