Many actors transform from one version of themselves into another, like Al Pacino around the time of Scarface. Others approach their older selves unt
Many actors transform from one version of themselves into another, like Al Pacino around the time of Scarface. Others approach their older selves until they inhabit them, like Jim Broadbent. You have remained your same self: graceful, poised, elegant and persuasive. How do you do it? DrHugbine
One has absolutely no understanding of how one comes across. Well, I certainly don’t. I’m delighted [you] think that about me. I’ve never thought of myself as an older person. There are far more engaging things to think about – what’s going on in the characters’ minds, where they find themselves in the situation given by the playwright or the screenwriter. I think I’ve kept a naivety. Michael Grandage, a director who I know very well, saw Mrs Warren’s Profession on YouTube, which I did with Coral Browne a hundred years ago when I was 24, and said: “Physically, you’ve changed. But you haven’t changed.” I don’t know quite how to take that. Perhaps I’ve stayed the same.
I can’t imagine being in any situation so terrible that the words, “Don’t worry – Penelope Wilton’s here” wouldn’t make things better. But what makes you lose your temper? CHARISMATA and arch54lg
This morning, I was driving to do some shopping. I cannot bear people who hoot behind you before the lights have changed. Motorbikes do it a lot. Especially those Deliveroo people. When they do hoot me, I go even slower. On a wider scale, listening to the news – I’m in a furious temper before I even start the day. But you have to listen. You have to take note of what’s happening in Gaza. It makes me irate when politicians start to not do what the populace wants them to do.
Wilton as Isobel Crawley in Downton Abbey. Photograph: Nick Briggs/ITV
What’s the best perk of being Dame Penelope? Dr_J_A_Zoidberg
I don’t employ my title. It’s a private thing. I’ve been given it for the work I’ve done, not the work I’m doing. I’m delighted I was given it; I wished my parents had been alive to see it. What I can’t bear is when I get into an Uber and the driver says: “Hello Dame” – because they think my name is Dame. I’m too self-conscious to book into hotels as Dame, but I am rather annoyed when there is a list of titles – Mrs, Miss, Ms, Sir – but no Dame. Eileen Atkins and Maggie Smith used to feel the same.
I assume you’d like the chance to play an absolute stinker? packrat
I’ve always wanted to be a baddie in a Bond movie. I could be Rosa Klebb [in From Russia With Love]. A great friend of my father’s was a renowned bachelor. Very overdue on in life, he was very badly advised by my mother to get married. The woman turned out to be half Rosa Klebb, half Rose and Crown, as in she was never far from a bar. She was absolutely ghastly. I’d like to play that sort of part. If only people would cast me in these things, I can be absolutely frightening as anything.
Have you forgiven Simon Pegg for shooting you in Shaun of the Dead? TopTramp
I’ve forgiven him because he didn’t want to do it anyhow. When I rose up off the floor having turned into a zombie, he was stood there with a gun and said: “Oh, Penelope, I can’t do this.” I said: “You’ve got to. It’s in the film.” After I actually die, Edgar Wright said: “Penelope, you can’t do that.” I said: “Why not?” He said: “It’s too upsetting and frightening.” I said: “Look, I’ve turned into a zombie, for goodness sake. This is how they die.” They wanted me to tone it down a bit. I said: “Well, no, I’m sorry. I’m not going to tone it down. You’ll just have to cut it if you don’t like it.”
What was it like working with Ricky Gervais? MrSOBaldrick
It was wonderful. He’s such a talented man. My scenes, where we met in that churchyard on that bench [in After Life] … he had such empathy for people who’d lost loved ones. It came out at a time when a lot of people were losing friends and family because of the pandemic and it really struck a chord. I would work with him again at the drop of a hat. Steven Spielberg is another. I did the BFG with him, and I would work with him again tomorrow.
Small victories … Wilton with Ian Holm in The Borrowers. Photograph: Photo 12/Alamy
My favourite role of yours is Homily Clock in The Borrowers. I’m watching it again for the umpteenth time with my adolescent nieces. How did it feel to be a Borrower? DreadfulSpiller
Well, they were lovely stories by Mary Norton. I was doing a play at the RSC, staying not far from Stratford. I was doing some shopping and a little girl saw me, and nearly passed out. She said: “Are you Homily? How do you fit in the television?” She was all of six. She asked if she could come for tea so I said yes, she could come for tea. She came with her mother for tea later on in the day in full party dress with her dog to show me. It was very charming. Another time, I was walking down Portobello Road, got tapped on the shoulder, turned round and there was the tallest Rastafarian guy I’ve ever seen, two metres! He said: “Excuse me, were you a Borrower? I loved that when I was small.”
Wilton as the queen in Steven Spielberg’s The BFG. Photograph: Doane Gregory/Walt Disney Pictures/Allstar
You played the queen in the BFG and the queen mother in Backstairs Billy in 2023. How was it playing people who were so ingrained and loved by the public? CardiffSte
The queen was Roald Dahl’s Queen of England, although she did look similar. Her shoes, gloves: everything is for comfort because she had to stand for a long time. Her diadem had to fit so when she took it off, her hair didn’t look terrible. She had a sensible bag with a good clip so it closed. I put in a few dog biscuits because I thought that’s what the queen would do, for the corgis. The queen mother was shorter than me and had a much larger bust, so we had quite a lot of padding. When you start to look like the queen mother or the queen, it’s a lot easier to get into the mood.
What are your memories of appearing in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal at the National in 1978, with Michael Gambon?WomanofWolfville
I worked with Pinter six or seven times, so he became a good friend. Any recent play is nerve-racking; [doing] one of Harold’s plays was particularly nerve-racking because he had a reputation. He liked actors, which not all writers and directors do, but he was intimidating when you first met him.
Take your pick … Richard Briers, Wilton and Peter Egan in Ever Decreasing Circles. Photograph: AJ Pics/Alamy
Paul or Martin? davidabsalom
Oh, that’s so cruel. I think, out of loyalty, Ann [from sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles] would’ve chosen Martin [played by Richard Briers], but she will always have yearned after Paul [Peter Egan]. In real life, I don’t think I would have stayed with Martin and would have probably gone off with Paul in a rather terrible way.
Can you not persuade the producers to make one more Downton Abbey series or movie? Nicens_boi
I’m afraid not. They may have other ideas. Who knows, there may be a prequel? I do get recognised for Downton Abbey and After Life. It depends where I am. I can always tell what they’re going to ask. If it’s a middle-aged man, it’s After Life. Middle-aged ladies, it’s Downton Abbey. Young boys: Shaun of the Dead. And Rastafarians love The Borrowers.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is on digital platforms
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