UK Actress, Haydn Gwynne Dies Aged 66
English actress Haydn Gwynne, known for roles in TV shows including Drop the Dead Donkey, Peak Practice, Merseybeat, and The Windsors, has lost her life at the age of 66.
She also had an acclaimed stage career, being nominated for both Olivier and Tony awards in the West End and on Broadway for Billy Elliot the Musical.
She was Queen Camilla in the TV royal spoof The Windsors and played ex-PM Margaret Thatcher on stage in The Audience.
Her co-star from that 2013 play, Dame Helen Mirren, led the tributes.
“Haydn was a delight as a person and a consummate dedicated actress,” she wrote on Instagram.
Referring to Gwynne’s performance in The Audience, Dame Helen added: “She was both funny and serious at the same time, a brilliant balancing act that her whole career exemplified.
“We will miss her very much.“
In a statement on Friday, her agent made it known that: “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.“
Gwynne broke through in the TV drama Nice Work in the late 1980s before finding wider fame and a Bafta nomination for playing cynical and stoical journalist Alex in the topical satire Drop the Dead Donkey.
Two decades later, she was back on Channel 4 in the comedy show, The Windsors, playing Camilla as “clearly the soap opera villainess“.
That was reflected in her costumes, which were designed “as if she were played by Joan Collins in a 1980s version”.
Another royal TV show came along when the actress portrayed Lady Susan Hussey, who resigned from the royal household following a racism row, in the fifth series of Netflix’s The Crown.
Her other TV parts included Dr Joanna Graham in Peak Practice, Supt Susan Blake in Merseybeat, and Julius Caesar’s wife Calpurnia in the BBC’s Rome.
