{{Short description|English actress and director}} {{EngvarB|date=February 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}} {{more footnotes needed|date=April 2009}}

'''Celia Bannerman''' (born 3 June 1944) is an English actress and director.

==Career== Celia Bannerman was born at Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and trained at the London Drama Centre. She started her professional career with Ralph Richardson as Dolly in Bernard Shaw's ''You Never Can Tell'' and Lucy in Sheridan's ''The Rivals'' followed by Cecily in ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London. At the Royal Shakespeare Company she played Lady Anne in ''Richard III'', Katherine in ''Perkin Warbeck'', Mrs Galy Gay in ''Man Is Man'', and much later, Phebe in ''As You Like It'' (2023).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/person/4an/celia-bannerman|title=Celia Bannerman &#124; Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}</ref>

She played a number of major television roles early on in her acting career, notably Elizabeth Bennet in ''Pride and Prejudice''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1012588/|title=BFI Screenonline: Pride and Prejudice (1967)|website=www.screenonline.org.uk}}</ref> (1967), Cecily in ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' and Lady Diana Newbury in ''Upstairs, Downstairs''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=37886|title=Celia Bannerman|website=www.aveleyman.com}}</ref>

She starred in the films ''The Tamarind Seed'' (1974), ''Biddy'' (1983) for which she received an award from the Moscow Film Festival, ''Little Dorrit'' (1987) and ''The Land Girls'' (1998).<ref name=bfi>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba02a093c|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231141412/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba02a093c|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 December 2018|title=Celia Bannerman|website=BFI}}</ref>

Bannerman was Associate Director at the Bristol Old Vic directing ''The Price'', ''Translations'', ''Quartermaine's Terms'', ''The White Devil'', ''Good Fun'' and ''La Ronde''. At Stratford East she directed ''Sleeping Beauty'' and ''The Proposal.'' She was the Staff Director at the Royal National Theatre on ''The Passion'', ''Larkrise'', ''Fruits of Enlightenment'' and ''Strife''. She also devised and directed a programme of erotic poetry called ''Making Love'', and was the first woman to direct a play at the National Theatre, ''Lies in Plastic Smiles'' devised by the company and written by Gawn Grainger. In the West End she directed ''September Tide'' at the Comedy Theatre, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' at the Shaw Theatre and three world premieres: ''Beached'', ''Sinners and Saints'' and ''Bet Noir'' at the New Vic and Warehouse Theatre.

Bannerman has a long association with Sands Films, starting by playing the title character Biddy in Christine Edzard's film ''Biddy'' followed by setting up Edzard's first big feature film ''Little Dorrit'' and casting the 200 actors. ''Little Dorrit'' was nominated for two Oscars and won the LA Film Critics Award. Also for Sands Films she cast ''The Fool'', ''As You Like It'' and ''A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia'' which won an Emmy for Best Drama.

She has been a dialect coach and a children's acting coach on several movies including ''Seven Years in Tibet'', ''Two Brothers'', ''The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'' and ''Nanny McPhee''.<ref name=bfi/>

In September 2025, Bannerman was cast as one of the 'Mermaids of Manningtree' in the upcoming film ''The Man with the Plan'' about the Beveridge Report, directed by Christine Edzard for Sands Films.

==Family== Bannerman is married to Edward Klein. Her parents were Hugh Bannerman and Hilda Bannerman, née Diamond. Her brother is Julian Bannerman.

==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Title !Role !Notes |- |1974 |''The Tamarind Seed'' |Rachel Paterson | |- |1983 |''Biddy'' |Biddy | |- |1987 |''Little Dorrit'' |The Milliner | |- |1992 |''As You Like It'' |Celia | |- |1998 |''The Land Girls'' |District Commissioner | |- |2026 |''The Man with the Plan'' |a Mermaid of Manningtree | |}

== Television == {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Film ! Role ! Notes |- | rowspan="1" | 1965 | ''Object Z'' | Diana Winters | 6 episodes |- | rowspan="2" | 1967 | ''Blandings Castle'' | Jane | Episode: "Lord Emsworth and the Crime Wave at Blandings" |- | ''Pride and Prejudice'' | Elizabeth Bennet | 6 episodes |- | rowspan="1" | 1968 | ''Thirty-Minute Theatre'' | The Actress | Episode: "The Bishop and The Actress" |- | rowspan="2" | 1969 | ''W. Somerset Maugham'' | Iris Maitland | Episode: "Louise" |- | ''Albert!'' | Lucy | Episode: "The Good Samaritan" |- | rowspan="1" | 1970 | ''Vile Bodies'' | Nina Blount | TV movie |- | rowspan="2" | 1971 | ''ITV Sunday Night Theatre'' | Sue Quarry | Episode: "Tales of Piccadilly: The Way Out" |- | ''Crime of Passion'' | Agathe Bernois | Episode: "Justine" |- | rowspan="1" | 1972 | ''Armchair Theatre'' | Miss Arrowroot | Episode: "The Folk Singer" |- | rowspan="2" | 1973 | ''The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes'' | Milly Revell | Episode: "The Missing Q.C.s" |- | ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' | Diana Newbury/Lady Diana Russell | 4 episodes |- | rowspan="2" | 1974 | ''Play of the Month'' | Cecily Cardew | Episode: "The Importance of Being Earnest" |- | ''Affairs of the Heart'' | Cora Prodmore | Episode: "Grace" |- | rowspan="2" | 1975 | ''Ten From the Twenties'' | Grace Peddley | Episode: "Two or Three Graces" |- | ''Shades of Greene'' | The Girl | Episode: "The Invisible Japanese Gentleman" |- | rowspan="1" | 1977 | ''Wings'' | Kate Gaylion | 3 episodes |- | rowspan="2" | 1982 | ''For the Love of Egypt'' | Kate Bradbury | TV movie |- | ''Chronicle'' | Kate Bradbury | Episode: "For the Love of Egypt" |- | rowspan="1" | 1985 | ''Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV'' | Pippa | Episode #1.4 |- | rowspan="1" | 1988 | ''Screenplay'' | Mrs. Ansell | Episode: "No Further Cause for Concern" |- | 1992 | ''Performance'' | Miss Potter | Episode: "After the Dance" |- | rowspan="1" | 2006 | ''Bad Girls'' | Mrs. Fisk | Episode #8.8 |- | rowspan="1" | 2007 | ''Hindenburg: The Untold Story'' | Margaret Mather | TV movie documentary |- | rowspan="1" | 2014 | ''14 Tagebücher des Ersten Weltkriegs'' | Sarah Macnaughtan | 2 episodes |}

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{IMDb name|0052348}} * [http://www.actingforcamera.co.uk/cbannerman.htm Celia Bannerman - Acting & Dialogue Coach] * [http://www.filmreference.com/film/56/Celia-Bannerman.html Celia Bannerman Biography (1946–)] * [http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=37886 Celia Bannerman](Aveleyman) * [http://www.spotlight.com/1530-1200-8247 Spotlight]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannerman, Celia}} Category:English television actresses Category:English film actresses Category:English film directors Category:English television directors Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:British women television directors Category:People from Abingdon-on-Thames Category:Actresses from Oxfordshire Category:Actors from Vale of White Horse