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British-Australian actress Margolyes has become known over the years for her outspoken and often risqué TV and radio appearances.
The Oxford-born actress, 81, dropped the F-bomb during her performance in the first series of University Challenge in 1963 – possibly one of the first times the word was said on British television.
She represented Newnham College, Cambridge, where she studied English and developed her craft as an actress.
Margolyes had a broad career spanning decades, starting in the 1970s with voiceover work before appearing in her first comedy series, The Betty Witherspoon Show, on BBC Radio 2 in 1974.
She was quickly recognized for her wit and comedic timing and went on to appear in movies and TV shows, including Blackadder opposite Rowan Atkinson.
Margolyes’ most famous role is that of Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series, in which she starred alongside her late friend Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid.
She won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in Martin Scorsese’s 1993 The Age of Innocence.
British-Australian actress Margolyes has become known over the years for her outspoken and often risqué TV and radio appearances
Since 2018, Margolyes has played Mother Mildred in the BBC One drama Call The Midwife.
The actress makes no secret of her political views and is a PvdA member.
Before going to college, she said, she was “always voting… [from] a very bourgeois Jewish background’.
While studying, she joined the Workers’ Revolutionary Party, along with actress Vanessa Redgrave, and has previously said that she “has shifted sharply to the left with age.”
She was a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn and publicly defended him against accusations of anti-Semitism.
She was also an outspoken opponent of Boris Johnson’s strategy during the Covid-19 pandemic, which she described as “a disgrace”.
After the then Prime Minister fell ill with Covid, the comedian faced backlash after saying on Channel 4’s Last Leg: “I had a hard time not wanting Boris Johnson to die, I wanted him to die, and then I thought that that reflects badly on me and I don’t want to be the kind of person that wants people to die So then I wanted him to get better, which he did, he did get better, but he didn’t get better as a person and I’d really rather that to have.”
Her comments led to an “initial investigation” by Ofcom, but no official investigation was launched.
In January 2018, she surprised journalist Robert Peston with the F-bomb on his ITV Sunday morning show, despite warning the presenter that she was about to use ‘a bad word’.
In 2002 Margolyes was awarded an OBE for services to Drama.
She released her memoir, This Much is True, in 2021.