Alison Steadman was born on the 26th of August 1946 in Liverpool, the daughter and youngest of three sisters of George Percival Steadman and Marjorie Evans. Educated at Childwall Valley High School, she toiled as a secretary at the Liverpool Probation Service before deciding on a full-time acting career. One of the teachers at Liverpool Youth Theatre, a guy called Jim Wiggins had said to her, "You should go to drama school and become an actor. I'd hate the thought of you in 20 years’ time, stirring your pan of stew, saying to yourself, 'Oh, why didn’t I do it'?" So she studied at the East-15 Acting School in Loughton, Essex from 1966-1969 where she met Mike Leigh during her second year. Leaving drama school in July 1969 she went straight to Lincoln Theatre Royal and then Bolton Octagon and made her professional stage debut as the schoolgirl Sandy in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' at the Theatre Royal in 1968, where she also played Ophelia in 'Hamlet'. Staying with her parents in 1972, she went to the Everyman Theatre and was cast with Jonathan Pryce in Ted Whitehead's play 'The Foursome', also set in Liverpool. It was about two young couples who go off to Freshfield and spend a day on the sand dunes. The stage was covered in sand and the play had a lot of nudity and rude language. Mike Leigh drove to Liverpool to see her in the play and asked her to be in his film 'Hard Labour', during which, both have said, they "got together". They married in 1973 and had two sons, Toby (born 1978) and Leo (born 1981) and lived in Wood Green, London. Having appeared in Mike's plays 'The Jaws of Death' and 'Wholesome Glory', the latter making her London debut in 1973, her breakthrough came aged 30, with the 1976 BBC film 'Nuts in May', written and directed again by Mike, as was 'Abigail’s Party', shot the following year, when she was pregnant with their first son, Toby. She won the London Evening Standard Theatre Award in 1977 playing the lead role Beverley, in 'Abigail's Party' and appeared in a definitive TV version of the play directed by her husband that same year.
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| as Beverley in 'Abigail's Party' |
Besides being the 'star' in many film, television and theatre productions she has also enhanced others in such works as 'A Private Function' (1984), 'Coming Through' (1988), 'Clockwise' (1986), 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen' (1988) and 'Shirley Valentine' (1989). Then there was her director-husband's critically lauded pictures, 'Life Is Sweet' (1990), for which she won the National Society of Film Critics Award, 'Secrets & Lies' (1996), and 'Topsy-Turvey' (1999). Over the years she has come to be known for her quirky roles and dazzling stage work in such as 'The Rise and Fall of Little Voice' (winning an Olivier Award in 1992), 'The Memory of Water ' (1999), Joe Orton's 'Entertaining Mr. Sloane' (2001) and 'The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband' (2002), playing a wronged wife who does the unthinkable, only served to prove the extent of her versatility.
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| The Shipman family in 'Gavin & Stacey' |
BAFTA TV Award nominations followed for the 1986 BBC serial 'The Singing Detective', and in 2001 for the ITV drama series 'Fat Friends' (2000–05). Other television roles include 'Pride and Prejudice' (1995), and 'Orphan Black' (2015–16). Other film appearances include 'A Private Function' (1984), 'Clockwise' (1986), 'Shirley Valentine' (1989), 'Topsy Turvy' (1999), and 'The Life and Death of Peter Sellers' (2004). However it was in the successful comedy series 'Gavin & Stacey' (2007–10, 2019) that brought her a new generation of admirers as she and Larry Lamb starred as the parents of titular character Gavin Shipman in all three series. Alison was behind the persona of charismatic Pamela ( 'Pamelar' ) Shipman, doting mother to Gavin (Mathew Horne) and supportive wife to Mick (Larry Lamb). The show also reunited writers James Corden and Ruth Jones with their 'Fat Friends' co-star Alison who, in James's opinion, is one of the country's best actors, saying, "She stands toe-to-toe with the greats. We set out to write a great part for Alison, because we both knew her and both look up to her and idolise her as an actor. Alison's never anything but brilliant and we wanted her to play the role of Pam more than anyone." Ruth adds, "When she rang us and said she'd just read the script and loved it, we were over the moon!". Alison recalled to The Mirror newspaper, 'I think it is the only show that I have ever done when everyone cried. On the final shot they said, "Ladies and Gentleman, that is a final wrap for Alison Steadman", and everyone applauded and bowed their heads and cried.'
In a 2007 Channel 4 poll, the '50 Greatest Actors' voted for by other actors, she was ranked No. 42. Alison and Mike Leigh lived together in Wood Green in North London before they separated in 1995 and divorced in 2001. In the late 1990s Alison began a relationship with actor Michael Elwyn who is now her partner and they both share a flat in Highgate, London, one of eight in two Victorian houses.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/12/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians_18.html
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