Judy Campbell (born Judith Mary Gamble; 31 May 1916 – 6 June 2004) was an English film, television and stage actress. Her daughter was the actress and singer Jane Birkin, her son the screenwriter and director Andrew Birkin, and among her grandchildren are the actresses Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, the late poet Anno Birkin, the artist David Birkin and the late photographer Kate Barry.
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Early life
Campbell was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, on 31 May 1916, daughter of John Arthur Gamble and his wife Mary (née Fulton). She was educated briefly at Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School, then at St Michael's Convent, East Grinstead, Sussex. Both her parents were on the stage; her father was also the author of several plays under his professional name of J.A. Campbell.
In Grantham, her family was acquainted with the family of Margaret Roberts, later to become Margaret Thatcher, Conservative prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Career
Campbell made her stage debut in 1935 as a "Guest" in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney at the Theatre Royal, Grantham, and entered films in 1940 in the London-based thriller Saloon Bar.
In 1941, Campbell had a role in the stage musical Lady Behave. While touring with Coward from September 1942 to March 1943, she created the roles of Joanna in Present Laughter and Ethel in the stage production of This Happy Breed, and played Elvira in Blithe Spirit.
Campbell also appeared with him in twice-weekly troop concerts. In 1943 at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, she performed in Present Laughter and This Happy Breed on alternate nights under the umbrella title of Play Parade, before playing Elvira in the West End presentation of Blithe Spirit at the Duchess Theatre in 1943. During one performance on tour, she was surprised to feel Coward stroking her shoulder in an affectionate way that was not called-for in the script, and she began to wonder "Have I succeeded where so many women have failed?" In fact, he was just trying to keep his hands warm in an unheated theatre during fuel rationing.
In 1981, Campbell appeared in Andrew Birkin's BAFTA-winning and Academy Award-nominated short film Sredni Vashtar (1981), playing the fearsome Aunt Augusta. It was her last major film role, although she appeared regularly on British television throughout the remainder of her career.
In 1995, she appeared as Laura’s mother Caroline’s grandmother in ITV’s The Upper Hand.
In 2002, Campbell lent her patrician presence to a television remake of The Forsyte Saga.
In December 2002, at the end of a 67-year career as a boulevard actress and chanteuse, Campbell gave her farewell London performances at the King's Head Theatre with Where Are the Songs We Sung?, a nostalgic garland of songs, memories, and scenes from plays, accompanied by Stefan Bednarczyk at the piano, a programme they finally reprised at the Jermyn Street Theatre. The evening recalled her Grantham childhood, the 1950s with Sandy Wilson, by way of the Liverpool rep with Robert Helpmann, wintry tours and troop concerts with Noël Coward and cheering up West End audiences during the Blitz on London, including her unique renderings of "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square", the Eric Maschwitz standard that made her a star in the New Faces revue at the Comedy Theatre in 1940.
Personal life and death
She was married to Lieutenant-Commander David Birkin, , until his death in 1991. The couple had three children.
They bought the oldest house in Old Church Street, Chelsea, which was once a pub, "a few steps from the Chelsea Arts Club", in 1974, and Campbell lived there until her death in 2004.
Campbell died in London on 6 June 2004, aged 88. After her death, her name was commemorated on the actresses' dressing-room door at the Jermyn Street Theatre.
In March 2023, she was one of a number of notable women with a connection to Grantham honoured by South Kesteven District Council.
Theatre
'Guest' in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, Theatre Royal, Grantham (Easter 1935) followed by a season of repertory
Season of repertory, Opera House, Coventry (May 1935), followed by a further season at Theatre Royal, Brighton (1936)
London debut as Anna in Anthony and Anna, People's Palace (April 1937)
Natasha Malakoff in Bulldog Drummond Hits Out, People's Palace (July 1937) and Savoy Theatre (December 1937)
Shakespeare and Shaw season, Festival Theatre, Cambridge (1938)
Irene in Idiot's Delight, touring with Vic Oliver (July–December 1938)
Leading roles with Liverpool Playhouse Company (1939–40)
New Faces Revue, Comedy Theatre (April 1940, and again March 1941), "making a hit with the song A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square."
Lola Malo in Lady Behave, His Majesty's Theatre (July 1941)
Phyllis Tree in Ducks and Drakes, Apollo Theatre (November 1941)
Marthe de Brancovis in The Watch on the Rhine Aldwych Theatre (April 1942)
Touring with Noêl Coward (September 1942 – March 1943), creating the roles of Joanna in Present Laughter and Ethel in This Happy Breed, also playing Elvira in Blithe Spirit, "as well as appearing with Noël in twice-weekly troop concerts".
Play Parade: alternate nights in Present Laughter and This Happy Breed, Theatre Royal Haymarket (April 1943)
Selected filmography
Films
Convoy (1940) – Lucy Armitage
Saloon Bar (1940) – Doris
East of Piccadilly (1941) – Penny Sutton
Breach of Promise (1942) – Pamela Lawrence
The World Owes Me a Living (1945) – Moira Barrett
Green for Danger (1947) – Sister Bates
Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948) – Clementina Walkinshaw
There's a Girl in My Soup (1970) – Lady Heather
Mr. Forbush and the Penguins (1971) – Mrs. Forbush
Sredni Vashtar (1981) – Aunt Augusta
Kung-Fu Master (1988) – La mère
Future Force (1989) – COPS officer
Television and TV films
The Tamer Tamed (1956) – Katharina
Amphitryon 38
Don't Listen Ladies (1963)
Anna Karenina (1985) – Countess Vronsky
Inspector Morse (1987) – Mrs. Rawlinson
The Cater Street Hangman (1998) – Grandmama
The Forsyte Saga (Granada, 2002) – Aunt Ann