Hetty Baynes


Henrietta Sara Louise Baynes is an English film, television and theatre actress. She began her career in ballet by training from the age of 10 at the Royal Ballet School and made her professional debut, at the age of 12, in Rudolf Nureyev's The Nutcracker followed by The Sleeping Beauty at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In her mid-teens she moved from dance to acting.
She began her acting career at 17, as an acting ASM in repertory theatre. She was married to film director Ken Russell from 1992 to 1999; they had one son.

Early life and education

Baynes was born in Boscombe Hospital, Bournemouth, the daughter of aeronautical engineer Leslie Baynes, who designed what is believed to be the oldest flying glider in the United Kingdom, and Margot. Baynes attended the Elmhurst Ballet School in Camberley in Surrey, where a contemporary was the actress Laura Hartong. Hetty graduated with a Creative Writing MA in 2015 from Birkbeck College London University, where she also took a BA in Philosophy in the late 1980s.

Career

Acting career

Her stage career has involved many roles: in 1979 in John Osborne's Inadmissible Evidence at the Royal Court Theatre, and in 1984, a comic performance alongside Maureen Lipman and Lionel Jeffries in the Theatre of Comedy’s See How They Run. In 1991, she appeared with Edward Fox, in The Philanthropist at Wyndham's Theatre and in 1997, she appeared as Lady Fidget in William Wycherley's The Country Wife . Her most recent stage performance was in 2004, as Shirley in Revelations by Stephen Lowe at the Hampstead Theatre.
During her career she has received three best actress nominations for her performances: in 1991, as Rita in Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf, in 1992, as Maddy in Michael Wall's Women Laughing and as Marilyn Monroe in Marilyn Bowering's Anyone Can See I Love You.
Baynes has also appeared on television including, in 1976, as a missing underage girl in Z-Cars, in 1981, Agatha Christie's The Seven Dials Mystery, in 1985, with Pauline Collins and Michael Gambon in The Tropical Moon Over Dorking, in 1990, as the wife of Stephen Fry in Simon Gray's Old Flames, in 1993, as Hilda in Ken Russell's Lady Chatterley’s Lover and in The Secret Life of Sir Arnold Bax. She appeared as Vera Rowley in the BBC series The Hour in 2011, and was also in BBC1's The Casual Vacancy in 2015.

Art and paintings

She studied a fine art BA degree at Central St Martins. She had an exhibition at the Strand Gallery, London entitled Betsy and Blapsy.

Personal life

She was married to film director Ken Russell from 1992 to 1999; their son, Rex, was born on 7 January 1993 and is a film director.

Selected theatre appearances