Drop The Dead Donkey and The Windsors star Haydn Gwynne dies aged 66 of cancer surrounded by family and friends
Actress Haydn Gwynne – known for her stints in Drop The Dead Donkey and The Windsors – has died aged 66.
The star- who was nominated for a Tony Award – played Billy Elliot’s dance teacher in both the West End and on Broadway. Gwynne also played Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Audience.
Gwynne was due to return to the West End last month but she received her cancer diagnosis.
She was also known for playing Camilla in The Windsors, which aired for a Coronation special in May. The episode saw Camilla, who is depicted as an evil stepmother, dressing herself in jewels and fur ahead of the ceremony.
A statement from her representatives said: ‘It is with great sadness we are sharing with you that, following her recent diagnosis with cancer, the star of stage and screen Haydn Gwynne died in hospital in the small hours of Friday 20 October, surrounded by her beloved sons, close family and friends.
‘We would like to thank the staff and teams at the Royal Marsden and Brompton Hospitals for their wonderful care over the last few weeks.’
Actress Haydn Gwynne – known for her stints in Drop The Dead Donkey and The Windsors – has died aged 66. Pictured in 2021
In 2015, Gwynne wrote about the day that ‘changed her life’ for the Daily Mail and detailed a moment when she was walking through New York in the mid-80s.
At the time she wrote that she had never considered acting as a career and was lecturing in English at Rome University for five years after graduating from Nottingham.
READ MORE: The one lesson I’ve learned from life: Actress Haydn Gwynne says do the thing that makes you joyful
Gwynne said she was worried about what her father would think of her if she went into acting and despite feeling ‘a pull’ to the industry, she continued to suppress it.
‘Partly I was unsure what my family would think. My father was a Barnardo’s boy and I was worried he’d think I was wasting my talents.
‘I also felt because I hadn’t been to drama school an acting career was impossible, and that if I didn’t work abroad after university then I never would, so I went to Italy.
‘Yet the notion wouldn’t go away and when I was offered two jobs simultaneously, I refused both and went to New York on a whim,’ she wrote for the paper.
The actress said that just after she watched the original production of Nine at the 46th Street Theatre, she felt a moment of calm and realised what she wanted to do with her life.
She said: ‘It was a huge relief and my father was very supportive.’
She first made her name in 1990 when she starred as icy Alex Pates in the comedy Drop The Dead Donkey, which also earned her a Bafta TV nomination in 1992.
Her role as Dr Joanna Graham in Peak Practice also propelled her to fame.
The actress also had a successful career on stage and received two Olivier Award nods for her performance in West End productions of City Of Angels and Billy Elliot The Musical.
She secured two further nominations for her roles in The Threepenny Opera and Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown.
Gwynne also featured in a number of royal series including former royal aide Lady Susan Hussey, who resigned from the royal household following a racism row, in the fifth series of The Crown.
Haydn Gwynne played Camilla in The Windsors alongside Harry Enfield as King Charles
Haydn Gwynne played Camilla, who is decpicted as an evil stepmother, in The Windsors
Her representatives said that she died in the small hours of Friday 20 October, surrounded by her beloved sons, close family and friends
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