Marion Bailey


Marion Bailey is an English actress. She is best known for her work with her partner, filmmaker Mike Leigh, including the films Meantime, All or Nothing, Vera Drake, Mr. Turner, for which she was nominated Supporting Actress of the Year by the London Film Critics' Circle, and Peterloo. In 2019 and 2020, she portrayed Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in the third and fourth seasons of The Crown on Netflix, for which she won a Screen Actors Guild award winner for best ensemble in 2020 and 2021. In 2024 she was given an Achievement award from Filming Italy Sardegna.

Personal life

Bailey was born in Bushey Hospital, in Bushey, Hertfordshire, to Rose and William Bailey. She grew up in Harrow, Middlesex, and attended Pinner County Grammar School. She was a member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. With writer Terry Johnson, she has a daughter, the actress Alice Bailey Johnson.

Career

Film

As well as Leigh's films, Bailey has appeared as Mrs Peach in Debbie Isitt's Nasty Neighbours, Mary in the Craig Ferguson film I'll Be There and Mrs Adams in S.J.Clarkson's "Toast". Bailey starred as Mrs Booth in Mr. Turner and appeared in The Lady in the Van, Allied, Dead in a Week or Your Money Back, Lady Conyngham in Leigh's Peterloo and played Dinah in Stephen Cookson's "Brighton". She co starred with Ben Whishaw in the 2023 Short film Good Boy which was shortlisted for Best Live Action Short Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

Television

Bailey's television work includes Inspector Morse, Casualty, The Bill, Holby City, Midsomer Murders, Agatha Christie's Poirot, A Touch of Frost, Dalziel and Pascoe, Big Deal, Boon, The Bretts, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, No More Dying Then, Stay Lucky, Heat of the Sun, Micawber, New Tricks, Monday Monday, Being Human and Case Histories. In 1995, she had a recurring role as Avis in the long-running ITV series Shine on Harvey Moon. She also played leading roles in several popular 1980s TV series, including To Have and to Hold, Jury and Charlie.
In 2000, she played Wendy in Carlton's comedy-drama series The Thing About Vince. She has also appeared in many single TV dramas and films including Woyzeck, Way Upstream, Zackharov, Raspberry, Coppers, Derailed, Toast and Jane Austen's Persuasion. She played Jill in the BBC Three comedy series Him and Her, Sue in The Trials of Jimmy Rose, Ingrid in Temple, Cara in Britannia for Sky. She played Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in seasons 3 and 4 of international Netflix series The Crown, for which she was the recipient of a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Television Drama Series.
She has most recently appeared in Shakespeare and Hathaway, Endeavour and the Netflix dramas Obsession and All the Light We Cannot See.

Theatre

Bailey has worked extensively in British theatre, including London’s West End, the National Theatre, the Royal Court, the Old Vic, Chichester Festival Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, the Arts Theatre, the Kiln, Bristol Old Vic and the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
In 1981 she performed in Mike Leigh's West End theatre play Goosepimples, for which she received a Plays and Players Award nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. In 2007, with the Shared Experience company she received a TMA nomination as Best Supporting Performance for her role in Kindertransport.
Bailey appeared in Mike Leigh's Grief at the National Theatre. In 2013 she played the Queen in Handbagged at the Tricycle Theatre and in the production's subsequent West End transfer to the Vaudeville Theatre.
Her most recent appearances were in Dominic Cooke’s production of Medea at Soho Place Theatre and Richard Bean’s To Have and To Hold directed by Terry Johnson at Hampstead Theatre.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1975The Girls of Slender MeansDormitory GirlMiniseries
1983JuryChloe McCormackSeries 1, episodes 3 & 4
1983MeantimeBarbaraTV movie
1984All the World's a StageExtract from WoyzeckMiniseries
1984RaspberryChrisTV movie
1984Miracles Take LongerJuliet Arnold3 episodes
1984CharlieSusan AlexanderMiniseries
1984SakharovLudmilla KovalovTV movie
1984SceneMrs. PiperSeries 17, episode 3
1984Big DealAlison DiamondSeries 1
1985Summer SeasonJoanna PotterSeries 1, episode 17
1985Summer SeasonHotel ReceptionistSeries 1, episode 25
1986To Have and to HoldAnn FletcherMiniseries
1987Way UpstreamJuneTV movie
1988Worlds BeyondNorma MoranSeries 1, episode 12
1988CoppersJuliaTV movie
1988The BrettsAgnesSeries 2, episode 5
1989Inspector MorseFran PierceSeries 3, episode 4
1989The Ruth Rendell MysteriesRos SwanSeries 1,
1990Stay LuckyJane RowlandsSeries 2, episode 5
1990CasualtyJoy WaddingtonSeries 5, episode 5
1991Agatha Christie's PoirotJane MasonSeries 3, episode 4
1992The BillDorothy StraffordSeries 8, episode 26
1992BoonSheilaSeries 7, episode 10
1993The ChiefIsabelle MellySeries 3, episode 4
1994A Touch of FrostEileen GrantSeries 2, episode 3
1994The BillElizabeth DreyfonSeries 10, episode 17
1994CasualtyAnna LongfordSeries 9, episode 10
1995DangerfieldAngie MillwoodSeries 1, episode 3
1995Shine on Harvey MoonAvisSeries 5
1997Dalziel and PascoeLorraine WildgooseSeries 2, episode 2
1998Heat of the SunGwladys CarstairsMiniseries
1998The BillDelia ShawSeries 14, episode 32
2000The Thing About Vince...Wendy SkinnerMiniseries
2001ShadesCaroline MacIntyreSeries 1, episode 6
2001MicawberLady MacefieldSeries 1, episode 2
2005CherishedMarion HardingTV movie
2005DerailedDiana KellowTV movie
2007The BillJess ParkerSeries 23, episode 20
2007PersuasionMrs. CroftTV movie
2007New TricksBrendaSeries 4, episode 7
2008Holby CityLesley BinghamSeries 10, episode 13
2008Midsomer MurdersAlyssa BradleySeries 11, episode 3
2009Monday MondayClaraSeries 1, episode 6
2010–13Him & HerJillSeries 1–4
2010ToastMrs. AdamsTV movie
2011Being HumanRuthSeries 3, episode 6
2011Case HistoriesGloria HatterSeries 1, episodes 3 & 4
2015The Trials of Jimmy RoseSue AndersonMiniseries
2017SS-GBJoan WoodsMiniseries
2019TempleIngridSeries 1, episode 4
2019BritanniaCaraSeries 2
2019–20The CrownQueen Elizabeth the Queen MotherSeries 3–4
2021EndeavourHilda Bruce-PotterSeries 8, episode 3
2022This Is Going to HurtCallie's MotherSeries 1, episode 1
2022Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private InvestigatorsEdie BrosnanSeries 4, episode 7
2022DrømmerenLady IslingtonSeries 1, episode 2
2023All the Light We Cannot SeeMadame ManecSeries 1, episode 1-4
2023ObsessionElizabethMiniseries