Eileen Atkins

Eileen Atkins, Actress: Gosford Park. Eileen Atkins was born in a Salvation Army Women's Hostel in north London. Her father was a gas meter reader; her mother, a seamstress and barmaid. A drama teacher taught her how to drop her Cockney accent, and she studied Shakespeare and Greek tragedies. Her breakthrough role in "The Killing of Sister George" took her to Broadway.

Dame Eileen June Atkins, DBE (born 16 June 1934) is an English actress and occasional screenwriter. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953.

She may now be 83 but Dame Eileen Atkins still works just as often as she likes.

The renowned actress and star of ITV's Doc Martin talks about her six decades as an actor

Doc Martin star Dame Eileen Atkins reveals what it’s like filming the popular ITV show and how her character, Aunt Ruth, has become an unexpected role model

At 81 Dame Eileen Atkins could be forgiven for turning down scripts and putting up her feet but the renowned star of stage and screen says that just like her Doc Martin alter ego Dr Ruth Ellingham, she has no plans to retire. Talking to What’s on TV on the set of Doc Martin, Dame Eileen said: “I’m obviously not looking so hot because they’ve given [Ruth] an illness, and they’re trying to make me retire. Which is really good, because it is a difficult thing for most people. I don’t know how people enjoy their retirement so much – I’m glad that some people can, but it would be a dread thing for me to retire and it’s a dread thing for Ruth, too.” While filming the current series of Doc Martin, Dame Eileen celebrated her 81st birthday. She said: “It’s rather a relief being 81, you stop being ‘the milestone’… One has to stop thinking it’s all over at 80!” She added: “I enjoy work. People say to me ‘why don’t you just go out and have a good time?’ And I say ‘the good time is working!’ That’s how I feel about it.” Eileen also sang the praises of Martin Clunes and the Doc Martin cast: “It’s always wonderful here. I love working with Martin. I love all the cast. Martin has surrounded himself with first-rate actors. So that makes it much more fun to play. You’re not working with a dodo ever… Somebody who just can’t do it. Which sometimes does happen! “Everything’s nice about Doc Martin and it’s come at a perfect time in my life. Martin is wonderful and makes a wonderful atmosphere, all the actors in it are extremely good, it’s a heavenly location, I’ve loved Cornwall ever since I came down here as a teenager, and it’s beautifully run. The whole atmosphere down here is just lovely.” For the full interview with Dame Eileen Atkins, watch the video above.

Learning lines is always agony Anyone who tells you anything different is lying. Sit down tonight and learn 14 lines – a sonnet – and see how long it takes. I once dried when playing with Maggie Smith in A Delicate Balance in the West End. When the curtain went up, I had a three-page speech, but the whole thing had flown totally out of my head. I asked for a prompt, which didn't work, so I turned to the audience and said, "I'm terribly sorry, we are going to have to start again." And I asked [the production crew] to take down the curtain. It was terrifying.

Jonathan Kent will direct Florian Zeller’s new play.

The actor talks to Susannah Clapp about getting older, her working-class roots – and what fun it was to work with Woody Allen…

Eileen Atkins full list of movies and tv shows in theaters, in production and upcoming films.

On “Doc Martin,” there are very few characters capable of connecting with Martin better than his Aunt Ruth. She is smart, opinionated, independent, fierce and not concerned with sugar-coating the truth.

Actress Dame Eileen Atkins decides not to appear in the next series of Upstairs Downstairs, the period drama she helped create.

She can convey her utter disgust with a single haughty look. And Dame Eileen Atkins is not so bad at the withering verbal putdown either.

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