Miriam Margolyes has reunited with fellow actor Alan Cumming in the new documentary Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland and Beyond – but who is her partner?
How old is the Call the Midwife actress and where is she from?
Here’s everything you need to know about Miriam, her friendship with Alan Cumming, and her new Channel 4 series.
What is Miriam Margolyes famous for?
Actress Miriam Margolyes OBE is known for her work in theatre, TV and film.
She’s been acting since 1965, when she was 24 years of age.
Early roles included
She even voiced Monkey in the bizarre TV show of the same name from 1978 to 1980.
Other notable TV roles include The Life and Loves of a She-Devil,
Her famous TV roles include numerous parts in Blackadder, including Queen Victoria – a role she was born for in our opinion!
She also appeared in an episode of Doc Martin in 2011!
Readers of a certain age will also remember the famous Cadbury’s Caramel adverts featuring a rabbit voiced by Miriam!
More recently, she’s played Rose in Trollied, Aunt Prudence in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, and Queen Victoria (again!) in The Windsors.
In January 2016, she appeared in The Real Marigold Hotel, a travel documentary in which a group of eight celebrities travelled to India.
Since 2018, Miriam Margolyes has portrayed Mother Mildred in the BBC One drama, Call the Midwife.
What films has she been in?
Miriam has starred in dozens of films over her six decades in the industry.
She won a BAFTA Award for her role in Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence in 1993, and is known for playing Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter franchise.
She played Flora Finching in the film Little Dorrit, and Nurse in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.
Other famous film roles include Anita in The Guilt Trip,
Miriam Margolyes partner: Who was Miriam in Happy Potter?
In 2002, Miriam played Professor Pomona Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
She reprised the role in the 2011 sequel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Professor Pomona Sprout was a British witch who worked as Head of Hufflepuff House and Head of the Herbology department at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
She attended the school in her youth, where she was Sorted into Hufflepuff and excelled at Herbology.
Who did she play in Blackadder?
Miriam played numerous memorable roles in the acclaimed Blackadder series.
In 1983, she played I
In 1986, she returned as a different character.
She portrayed Lady Whiteadder in one episode of Blackadder II.
Miriam also played Queen Victoria in the movie Blackadder’s Christmas Carol in 1988.
Miriam Margolyes partner: How old is Miriam?
Miriam Margolyes was born on May 18 1941.
She is currently 81 years of age.
What nationality is Miriam Margolyes? Where was she born?
Miriam was born in Oxford, but her family heritage is based in Scotland.
In Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland, the actress visits a Glasgow building where her Jewish family laid down its Scottish roots.
Miriam’s mum was an English property investor and developer, while her dad Joseph Margolyes was a Scottish physician from the Gorbals area of Glasgow.
Her Jewish ancestors moved to the UK from Belarus and Poland.
Margolyes has spent many years dividing her time between the UK, Australia, and Italy.
She became an Australian citizen in 2013, and her long-term partner Heather is a native Aussie.
Who is Miriam Margolyes’ partner Heather Sutherland? Is she married?
Miriam is openly gay and has been in a relationship with Heather Sutherland since 1968.
Heather is a now retired Australian professor of Indonesian studies, and they met via a mutual friend.
They divide their time between homes in London and Kent in England, Robertson in Australia, and Montisi in Italy.
Earlier this year, Miriam claimed she only sees her partner eight times a year – something she thinks has kept their relationship strong.
In her memoir This Much is True, Miriam wrote: “We have now been together for 53 years.
“It is a big achievement.
“An academic and a scholar, Heather is my polar opposite: reticent, incredibly private and reserved.
“We’ve probably lasted this long because we have always led completely separate lives.”
She added: “Normally we see each other about eight times a year, but speak every day on the phone.
“We have never lived together for long periods, except when we had holidays.”
The larger-than-life star also revealed that they have thought about living together, but think they’ll only do that when they move into an old people’s home.
Miriam Maygolyes partner: Does Miriam have a daughter?
Miriam Margolyes does not have any children.
Nor does she want any!
Speaking to the Mirror, she recently laughed off a question about whether she regretted not having kids.
The actress revealed: “God no! I am delighted not to have any children.
“I think they are such a nuisance.”
What did Miriam Margolyes say on This Morning?
Actress Miriam is perhaps just as famous for her career as she is for being totally outrageous during public appearances.
Just recently, the actress FARTED rather loudly during an appearance on This Morning.
Hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were left in hysterics as a result of the unfortunate moment.
On previous appearances on live TV, she has sat eating an ice cream, and admitted she eats onions on the set of Call the Midwife.
Controversially, she dished the dirt on the late actor Terry Scott, describing him as the nastiest person she has ever worked with.
Former PM Bojo is also often at the end of her scathing attacks – not least when Miriam wished Boris Johnson dead.
Author and comedian David Walliams says he used Miriam Margolyes as a model for the title character in his children’s book Awful Auntie after a rude exchange with her during a stage production.
However, he stressed that he has nothing against her and is a fan of her work.
She recently called Hollywood legend Leonardo Di Caprio “stinky”, and even admitted her regret at hitting her mum while caring for her.
The eccentric actress often swears on live TV, too, which just adds to her funny moments!
Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland on Channel 4
Miriam Margolyes and Alan Cumming teamed up for a three-part series in 2021.
The duo took off on a camper-van adventure to rediscover their Scottish roots.
They started out in their one-time mutual home of Glasgow.
Although Miriam was born in Oxford, the actress visited the street where her Jewish family first lived in Scotland.
The pair then journeyed north into the Highlands.
Alan, 57, learnt about his ancestral past at Cawdor Castle, and they met up with fellow actor Bill Paterson.
Later, Alan took us to his childhood home in Carnoustie where he remembered his abusive childhood.
He remembered the traumatic moment his bullying father cut his hair with a pair of shears.
The unlikely duo return in Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland and Beyond.
This time, Miriam and Alan continue their travelogue, riding the Harry Potter steam train and meeting up with Succession actor Brian Cox.
Are Miriam and Alan Cummings friends?
The two actors have known each other for years.
Of course, the both have their roots in Scotland, and the pair have been moving in showbiz circles for decades.
However, they can’t quite remember where they first met.
Alan says: “Well we can’t quite remember exactly [how we met]!
“It must have been in the early 90s because I shot this film with Ian Holm about FR Leavis (The Last Romantics) and that was who Miriam was taught by at Cambridge.
“At some point around that time, I was with Ian and we chatted to Miriam about FR Leavis so that was probably the first time.
“But we’ve met a lot over the years at various backstage things.”
He continued: “We’re sort of like showbiz friends who meet over the years at various things and can’t quite place it.
“I shot that film in 1991 so it’s been a long time ago!”
The pair decided to team up to film Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland after they shared a sofa on The Graham Norton Show.
Alan says: “I’d been talking to Blink Films [the production company behind the series] about doing something about Scotland.
“They suggested perhaps I did it with someone else, so I suggested Miriam as I thought we’d make a good oddball couple!
“And then they had the idea of the van and it all went from there.”
Why is Miriam Margolyes in a wheelchair?
During the three-part documentary series Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland, Miriam was often seen using a wheelchair.
The actress also relied on the aid of a cane while investigating her Scottish roots in Glasgow.
But why?
In the past, Miriam has admitted that she has difficulty with stairs after a knee operation.
She told the Guardian: “It’s irritating. I have to say to a director: if you want me to run upstairs, you’ll have to get another actress.”
She also said she has to ask for a wheelchair at the airport.
A wheelchair-bound Miriam portrayed Nell, a cantankerous East End pensioner, in Samuel Beckett’s play Endgame.
Miriam Margolyes partner: Is Miriam a dame?
Miriam Margolyes is not yet a Dame like veteran actresses Maggie Smith and Judi Dench.
However, she is Miriam Margolyes OBE.
Margolyes was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2002 New Year Honours for Services to Drama.
In 2019, Miriam admitted that she’d suffered an awkward encounter with the Queen – which might explain why a damehood has been slow in coming…
Maybe she’ll have more luck with King Charles III!
Are Miriam and Mike Margolis related?
Many Miriam fans have wondered if the actress is related to singer Mike Margolis – despite the different spellings of the surname.
Mike Margolis is Anita Harris’ husband.
He’s a director and writer, known for the 1970 film Jumbleland, and This Is Your Life in 1955.
Mike, who has been married to Anita Harris since 1973, is not related to Miriam Margolyes.
Miriam Margolyes partner: What is Miriam’s net worth?
Miriam has nothing to worry about in the cost of living crisis.
After nearly 6 decades of film and TV appearances, she has a very comfortable net worth.
The actress is said to be worth £6million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
That’s around £4.9million.
How tall is she?
Miriam is 1.55 metres tall.
That’s just over five foot.
To put things in perspective, her Lost in Scotland co-star Alan Cumming is 1.78m, which is 5 foot 8.
Does Miriam Margolyes have siblings?
Miriam does not have any siblings.
She has no brothers and sisters as a result of being an only child.
She’s the sole child of Scottish physician and GP Joseph Margolyes, and property-developer Ruth,
Miriam Margolyes partner: Was Miriam Grotbags?
Despite some public opinion, Miriam Margolyes did not play Grotbags in the 90s.
Grotbags was a children’s television programme which ran for three series between 1991 and 1993.
It followed a fictional witch named Grotbags.
The series was a spin-off of multiple earlier Rod Hull and Emu shows.
In fact, actress Carol Lee Scott played the green-faced Grotbags.
Has Miriam Margolyes written any books?
Miriam has written two books.
Her first, Dickens’ Women, was published in 2012.
Her autobiography This Much is True followed in 2021.
Read more: Loose Women today: Miriam Margolyes divides fans with habit
Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland and Beyond starts on Tuesday November 08 2022 at 9.15pm on Channel 4.
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