ACTOR · BORN 1946
Joanna Lumley
- Born
- 1 May 1946
35 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
All facts (35)
- #001
In April 2009, Joanna Lumley became the spokesperson for the Gurkhas in the United Kingdom and was instrumental in persuading the British government to grant Gurkhas who had served in the Army the right to settle in the UK. When she visited Nepal in July 2009, crowds in the street treated her as a hero and a goddess, and she was thanked by Nepal's President and Prime Minister for her work in championing the Gurkhas' cause.
- #002
Although she had a very small role in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Joanna Lumley spent two months on the production and dubbed the voices of a number of international beauties in German, Chinese and a Norwegian accent.
- #003
Despite never having trained as an actress, Joanna Lumley is one of the most respected British actresses.
- #004
For her services to drama and to charities, Joanna Lumley was appointed OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1995 Queen's New Year Honours List.
- #005
Joanna Lumley has a son, Jamie Lumley (born 1967), from her relationship with the photographer Michael Claydon.
- #006
In an episode of Absolutely Fabulous (1992), Joanna Lumley's character claims to have been a Bond Girl and then says "Julian Bond". Lumley had in fact been a Bond Girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
- #007
Through her son Jamie Lumley, Joanna Lumley is the grandmother of Alice Daisy Lumley (born April 2003) and Emily Kate Lumley (born October 2004).
- #008
Joanna Lumley admits that she is a great fan of James Bond and of his creator Ian Fleming, and that she is very proud of her Bond Girl role.
- #009
Girl Friday (1994), the BBC programme in which Joanna Lumley was forced to fend for herself alone on a desert island for 10 days, heralded a new reality television genre that produced "Shipwrecked", "Survivor" and the like.
- #010
As Patrick Macnee's female sidekick in The New Avengers (1976), Joanna Lumley mentioned Honor Blackman as Macnee's favourite among his partners in the original The Avengers (1961) series.
- #011
Joanna Lumley wanted to be a ballet dancer, but when she realised she would grow too tall she decided to go into modelling, and at the age of 18 she modelled in Paris.
- #012
After failing the audition at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), Joanna Lumley took up modelling. She was told she was "Too fat and too ugly!"
- #013
Joanna Lumley's father was a major in the Gurkha Rifles.
- #014
Joanna Lumley received an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Kent at Canterbury "for her contribution to the entertainment industry and her active charitable work".
- #015
In 1991, a college at Oxford University renamed its common room from Nelson Mandela to Joanna Lumley.
- #016
Joanna Lumley is of Scottish, English, Danish (through a maternal great-great-grandfather) and Irish descent.
- #017
Joanna Lumley was the inspiration for Glenn Close's 'vocal' performance as Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians (1996).
- #018
Joanna Lumley was a member of the 1985 Booker Prize jury. When Keri Hulme's "The Bone People" won, she publicly distanced herself from the decision (the book caused controversy for its depiction of child abuse).
- #019
Joanna Lumley received honorary doctorates from Oxford Brookes University (2002), the University of St Andrews (2006), Queen's University Belfast (July 2008) and the University of Chester (March 2019).
- #020
In July 2021, Lumley joined an international group of actors supporting calls for the Great Barrier Reef to be placed on the list of World Heritage sites currently in danger.
- #021
She is a vegetarian and an active campaigner for animal rights.
- #022
On 6 May 2023, Lumley attended the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. On 3 July 2023, she announced that she suffers from prosopagnosia, a condition that impairs face perception.
- #023
She played the English Girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and Irma Bunt in the 2014 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". She also read the novel on Radio 4's "Book at Bedtime" in 1989.
- #024
She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 Queen's New Year Honours for her services to drama, entertainment and charity.
- #025
Lumley designed the controversial Garden Bridge project, a planned memorial to Princess Diana intended to take the form of a tree-covered bridge between the north bank of the River Thames and the South Bank. First approved by London Mayor Boris Johnson, the project was terminated in 2017 by his successor Sadiq Khan, who cited "multiple serious issues". £37 million of public money was spent without any building being constructed.
- #026
Her grandfather was Colonel Leslie Weir, CIE, a political officer in British India in the India where she was born. In Joanna Lumley in the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon (1997), Joanna recreated the journey he and his wife made in 1931 to visit the King of Bhutan.
- #027
She cuts and dyes her own hair.
- #028
She is the daughter of James (1917–1999) and Thyra (née Weir) Lumley (1920–2005).
- #029
Her husband, Stephen Barlow, is an opera conductor.
- #030
She wrote a regular column in The Times for more than a year.
- #031
She writes journalistic articles.
- #032
Her father is a retired major in the Indian Army.
- #033
She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Kent.
- #034
In October 1985, she was writing a novel.
- #035
In 1967, she appeared in a Nimble Bread advertisement.
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