Phyllida Law

Phyllida Ann Law (1932-07-06 to 2026-07-27) was a Scottish actress of stage, television and film whose career spanned more than six decades, and a memoirist whose late books turned family care and theatre life into wry literature. She was widely known as the mother of Dame Emma Thompson and Sophie Thompson, yet Michael Coveney's Guardian obituary insisted she was "supremely gifted herself" as actor, costume designer and writer.

She was born in Glasgow, the daughter of William Law, a journalist on the Glasgow Herald, and Meg ("Mego" / Megsie). During the Second World War her father served in the Royal Air Force and separated from her mother; the couple later divorced, and Phyllida did not see her father again until she was about 18. She grew up with an elder brother, James, and a maternal grandmother she later described as a fierce Presbyterian. After early schooling at Glasgow Girls High and wartime evacuation to East Dunbartonshire, Ayrshire and the Clyde, she boarded from age 13 at Badminton School in Bristol. She briefly tried university French and literature, left, and auditioned for the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School intending to train as a stage designer. By what she called a "happy mistake" or "happy accident," she discovered she wanted to act. She could draw well (she named Quentin Blake a hero) and later designed costumes for Scottish Ballet and the Bristol Old Vic.

At Bristol and then London's Old Vic she met actor Eric Thompson. They married in 1957 (IMDb gives 1957-05-25) and remained together until his death from a heart attack in 1982, aged 53. Thompson became famous as the writer and narrator of The Magic Roundabout. Their daughters Emma (born 1959) and Sophie (born 1964) both became leading actresses. The family settled in West Hampstead, where the girls attended local schools; Emma later recalled a "penniless" but close, theatrical household. After Eric's death, Law lived alone nearby; Guardian reported that most evenings one of her daughters would ring at 6pm to "declare the bar open," and that there was also a family cottage in Argyll.

Law's television work began in the late 1950s and early 1960s (Dixon of Dock Green, Dr Finlay's Casebook, Play School presenter credits among many). Stage highlights included transferring to the West End in Peter Nichols's A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1967), appearing with Alec Guinness in John Mortimer's A Voyage Round My Father (1971), Alan Bennett's Habeas Corpus (1973), Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends (1975), National Theatre revivals under Michael Rudman, and Jacqueline in the original London cast of La Cage aux Folles at the Palladium (1986). Alan Rickman directed her on stage in Sharman Macdonald's The Winter Guest (1995); she and Emma then played mother and daughter in Rickman's 1997 film.

Film visibility rose in the 1990s: Vera in Peter's Friends (1992), Ursula beside Emma's Beatrice in Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Mrs Bates opposite Sophie's Miss Bates in Emma (1996), Elspeth in The Winter Guest (1997), plus Junior, Anna Karenina, Saving Grace, The Time Machine, Miss Potter, Albert Nobbs, A Little Chaos, and a voice role as Mrs Partridge in Emma's Nanny McPhee (2005). Television continued with Rumpole of the Bailey, Kingdom (Aunt Auriel opposite Stephen Fry), Foyle's War, Doc Martin, Poirot, Midsomer Murders, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and others. Her last listed feature credit includes Then Came You (2020). Wikipedia lists years active into the 2020s.

As a writer she published Notes to my Mother-In-Law (2009), How Many Camels Are There in Holland?: Dementia, Ma and Me (2013), and Dead Now of Course (2017). In 2013 she received an honorary doctorate from Glasgow Caledonian University and an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (collected with Emma; BBC coverage). In the 2014 Birthday Honours she was appointed OBE for services to drama and for charitable services; she was a prominent supporter of the Theatrical Guild charity for theatre workers. She joked to the Telegraph that her funeral should be an afternoon "curtain up 2.30pm, so people can get to the theatre afterwards," and that her daughters "didn't follow in our footsteps, they rushed past us, trampling on us."

On 2026-07-27 she died "supremely peacefully at home, surrounded by all of her family," aged 94, according to manager Jacky Leggo's statement to BBC News, publicly reported on 2026-08-18. Leggo said they had worked together for over fifty years and called her "a beautiful person inside and out." Granddaughter Gaia Wise paid tribute on Instagram Stories: "Rest well my queen." Cause of death and resting place were not made public in the BBC, Variety, Deadline, or THR statements reviewed. Wikipedia notes she developed Parkinson's disease in later life (citing reporting that is health history, not a confirmed published cause of death). She is survived by Emma and Sophie and by four grandchildren: Gaia Wise, Tindyebwa (Tindy) Wise, Ernie Lumsden, and Walter Lumsden (Guardian; Hollywood Reporter).

This memorial is for Phyllida Law (1932-2026), the Scottish actress OBE. Do not confuse her with her daughters Dame Emma Thompson or Sophie Thompson, or with unrelated people surnamed Law.