Career
Fielding began her acting career in 1954, concentrating on stage theatrical productions. She was given her first break by the actor Ron Moody, who had met her in an amateur production at the London School of Economics. Her performance in Sandy Wilson's musical version of Valmouth made her a star in the late 1950s. By 1959 she was appearing with Kenneth Williams in the comedy revue Pieces of Eight, written by Harold Pinter and Peter Cook.
She had occasional guest appearances in television programmes such as The Avengers (after being passed over as Patrick Macnee's regular partner in favour of Honor Blackman) and in Danger Man. She appeared in two of the Carry On films and three of the Doctor films (e.g. Doctor in Clover). She interspersed these with performances in plays by Ibsen, Shakespeare and Henry James, reputedly keeping an edition of Plato's writings by her bed.
Fielding was the uncredited Village announcer in The Prisoner (1967-68), and co-starred with Tom Poston and Robert Morley in the remake of The Old Dark House (1963). In Dougal and the Blue Cat, based on The Magic Roundabout, she voiced the character of the Blue Voice — referred to as "Madam" by both Buxton (the blue cat of the title) and Dougal at various stages throughout the film. In the late 1960s, she was approached by Federico Fellini to work on one of his films, but turned it down because she was already booked to perform on stage at the Chichester Festival Theatre.
She was a guest on The Morecambe and Wise Show on four occasions between 1969 and 1972. In the theatre, she was in, among other things, Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular at the Criterion Theatre, London, directed by Sam Walters, in 1974, and Fallen Angels at Watford, directed by Kim Grant.
Fielding appeared from 14 to 19 February 2011 at the Jermyn Street Theatre, London in an English Chamber Theatre presentation of Jane McCulloch's Dearest Nancy, Darling Evelyn, the dramatised letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh. Fielding worked with writer-performer Graham Roos performing the role of Sandalphon in Roos' verse cabaret Apocalypse Calypso at King's Place. and later provided a substantial cameo in his film about Byron - Darkness.
She is a patron of the theatre charity The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America. In 2011 she also appeared in the third series of the CBBC children's sitcom The Legend of Dick and Dom, in an episode called 'Land of the Luvvies', playing Lotte Lawoo, the head of the Luvvies.
Fielding wrote the foreword to Carry On Actors (The Complete Who's Who of the Carry On Film Series) by Andrew Ross in 2011.
In 2012, Fielding returned to television as the grandmother Miriam, in the sixth season of the Channel 4 teen drama Skins.
Read more about this topic: Fenella Fielding
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