English actress Haydn Gwynne, known for roles in TV shows including Drop the Dead Donkey, Peak Practice, Merseybeat and The Windsors, has died aged 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 TV royal spoof The Windsors, and played ex-PM Margaret Thatcher on stage in The Audience, reports BBC.
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 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.”
Gwynne broke through in TV drama Nice Work in the late 1980s before finding wider fame and a Bafta nomination for playing cynical and stoical journalist Alex in topical satire Drop the Dead Donkey.
Two decades later, she was back on Channel 4 in comedy 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”.
“In a way that was very freeing, because it meant I didn’t have to go off and do serious research,” Gwynne said. “I could just have full fun with it.”
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.
Paying tribute, playwright Jonathan Harvey described her as “a gifted and versatile all rounder”.
Fellow writer Jack Thorne said she was “the kindest, loveliest soul and a wonderful performer”, adding: “She gave everything to everything.”
Musical star and radio presenter Elaine Paige called Gwynne “so young, so talented”, adding she had known the actress for 30 years. “There’ll be a bright star in heaven tonight. RIP dear Haydn.”
Hercule Poirot actor David Suchet worked with Gwynne in an episode of the ITV detective show, and called her “an extraordinary person and brilliant actor” .
Actor Samuel West also paid tribute, saying: “This is a terrible loss. One of the nicest and one of the best.”
National Theatre artistic director Rufus Norris, who directed her in The Threepenny Opera in 2016, said she was “an amazing woman and artist” who was “universally beloved and respected”.
He said: “Her unique combination of wit, wickedness, grace and fearless craft was a complete joy to be in a room with.”
