Maureen Lipman

Dame Maureen Lipman was born on 10th May 1946 in Hull, Yorkshire, England. Her father was a Jewish tailor and she was pressed into acting by her mother Zelma, who used to take Maureen to the pantomime and push her onto the stage. She studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Since then, she has appeared in a number of West End productions, including “See How They Run” (1984); “Candide”; “Lost in Yonkers” and her one-woman show “Re Joyce” – her homage to her heroine Joyce Grenfell.

In 28 years in the profession, Maureen has only been out of work for four months – and that was when she needed major surgery to remove a tumor at the top of her spine, which was threatening to paralyze her. To many people, Maureen Lipman is “Beattie” from the British Telecom advertisements which won her an award for “You got an Ology?” but, in reality, she has done so much more.

She was awarded the C.B.E. (Commander of the British Empire) in the 1999 Queen’s New Years Honors List for her services to drama. Her husband, Jack Rosenthal, received a C.B.E. (Commander of the British Empire) in 1993. She was awarded the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to charity, Entertainment and the Arts.