Dawn French: Difference between revisions

British actress, comedian and writer (born 1957)

Dawn Roma French^[2] (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show French and Saunders with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Saunders, and played the lead role as Geraldine Granger in the BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley. She has been nominated for seven BAFTA TV Awards and won a BAFTA Fellowship with Saunders in 2009.^[3]

Early life[edit]

Dawn Roma French was born on 11 October 1957 in Holyhead, Wales, to English parents Felicity Roma (née O’Brien; 1934 – 2012)^[4] and Denys Vernon French (5 August 1932 – 11 September 1977),^[5] who married in their home town of Plymouth in 1953. French has an older brother, Gary. Her father served in the Royal Air Force, stationed at RAF Valley and later RAF Leconfield, where Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother went to tea at French’s home when French was three years old. An RAF archive footage of this event was included in French’s comedy tour/video Thirty Million Minutes.

The RAF partly funded French’s private education.^[6] When her father was stationed at RAF Faldingworth, French attended Caistor Grammar School for one year. She later attended boarding school at St Dunstan’s Abbey School for Girls in Plymouth (since absorbed by Plymouth College), where she was a member of Downton house. After graduating, she spent a year studying at the Spence School in New York, due to a debating scholarship she won whilst attending boarding school.^[6]

French has said that her self-confidence and self-belief stem from her father, who told her how beautiful she was each day.^[7] She stated, “He taught me to value myself. He told me that I was beautiful and the most precious thing in his life.”^[8] Denys had a history of severe depression and made two suicide attempts, but managed to conceal his illness from Dawn and Gary.^[7] When French was nineteen years old, her father died by suicide.^[9]

In 1977, French began studying drama at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where she met her future comedy partner, Jennifer Saunders.^[7][10] Both came from RAF backgrounds. They had grown up on the same base, even having had the same best friend, although never meeting.^[11] Saunders recalled her first perception of French was that she was a “cocky little upstart”; French considered Saunders to be snooty and aloof.^[11] The comic duo originally did not like each other as French wanted to become a drama teacher^[10] whereas Saunders loathed the idea and thus disliked French for being enthusiastic and confident about the course.^[7]

French and Saunders shared a flat whilst at college and were influenced to do comedy by their flatmates as part of their projects for college. After talking in depth for the first time, they came to be friends.^[7] While at college, French broke up with her fiancé, a former Royal Navy officer. After French and Saunders graduated from the Royal Central School, they decided to form a double-act called the Menopause Sisters. Saunders has described the act, which involved wearing tampons in their ears, as “cringeworthy”.^[12] The manager of the club recalled, “They didn’t seem to give a damn. There was no star quality about them at all.”^[11] French and Saunders came to public attention as members of the Comic Strip, part of the alternative comedy scene in the early 1980s.

Television[edit]

1980s[edit]

French has had an extensive career on television, debuting on Channel 4‘s The Comic Strip Presents series in an episode called “Five Go Mad in Dorset” in 1982.^[10] Each episode presented a self-contained story and, in addition to French and Saunders, showcased Comic Strip performers Peter Richardson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Robbie Coltrane and Adrian Edmondson. She acted in 27 of the 37 episodes and wrote two of them.^[10] One episode featured a parody of spaghetti westerns and another a black and white film about a hopelessly goofy boy. Some of French’s first exposure to a wider audience occurred when comedy producer Martin Lewis recorded a Comic Strip record album in 1981 which featured sketches by French & Saunders. The album was released on Springtime!/Island Records in September 1981 and presented French and Jennifer Saunders to an audience outside London. In 1985, French starred with Saunders, Tracey Ullman and Ruby Wax in Girls on Top, which portrayed four eccentric women sharing a flat in London.^[10]

French has co-written and starred in her and Saunders’ comedy series, French & Saunders, which debuted in 1987.^[10] On their show, the duo have spoofed many celebrities such as Madonna, Cher, Catherine Zeta-Jones and the Spice Girls. They have also parodied films such as The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. After 20 years being on television together, their sketch series A Bucket o’ French & Saunders, began airing on 8 September 2007.^[7]

1990s[edit]

French…