Anna Chancellor- Actor of the Week

Anna Chancellor

Forever Duckface, Anna Chancellor is probably best known as the woman Hugh Grant's character almost marries in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Anna Chancellor and Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral

Henrietta could not have been played by anyone else. Anna Chancellor is at her best in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Charles: Perhaps we should've got married.
Henrietta: No! I'd have had to marry your friends, and I'm not sure I could take Fiona.
Charles: Fiona loves you.
Henrietta: Fiona calls me Duckface.
Charles: Well, I never heard that. 

Anna Chancellor as Miss Bingley in P&P

As the catty and desperate Miss Bingley in Pride and Prejudice 1995, Anna Chancellor is just what Jane Austen would have wanted. There is some wonderful irony in the fact that Jane Austen is her eight times great-aunt. She was born to play Miss Bingley.

Miss Bingley: I believe I can guess your thoughts at this moment.
Mr. Darcy: I should imagine not.
Miss Bingley: You are thinking how insupportable it would be to spend many evenings in such tedious company.
Mr. Darcy: No, indeed, my mind was more agreeably engaged. I've been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow.
Miss Bingley: And may one dare ask whose the eyes that inspire these reflections?
Mr. Darcy: Miss Elizabeth Bennet's.
Miss Bingley: Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I am all astonishment.

Anna Chancellor with Amanda Bynes and Kelly Preston in What a Girl Wants

As if it isn't bad enough to lose Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice, she loses him again in What a Girl Wants. One might think there was some typecasting going on here!

Glynnis Payne: I know my daddy was naughty, but what about me?

Anna Chancellor as Questular Rontok in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

As Vice President of the Galaxy Questular Rontok in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, she tries unsuccessfully to hide her  love for Zaphod Beeblebrox. Poor Anna, she can't even land a guy with two heads and three arms!


 Questular Rontok: [about Trillian] She's lying. She's skinny, and she's pretty, and she's lying!

Anna Chancellor as Juliet Shaw with Peter Firth as Harry Pearce in Spooks

As ruthless right-wing Juliet Shaw in Spooks (MI5) we get to see Anna as a real ball buster. Juliet versus Ros is something to behold.

Fortysomething with Hugh Laurie, Anna Chancellor and Benedict Cumberbatch

One of the reasons I still love writing this blog after 2 years (other than the fact that I have some of the best readers & commenters on the internet) is that together we discover some unknown gems of film or television.

Fortysomething is a 6 episode TV series from 2003 starring Anna Chancellor as the sexy wife of Hugh Laurie, a slightly befuddled medical doctor. Sort the opposite of Dr. House if you can imagine. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the eldest of 3 rather horny male offspring in this hilariously dysfunctional abode.

If you want to give it a whirl, the first episode is on YouTube here. I am afraid I will be watching this all weekend now!!!

Anna Chancellor as Lix Storm in The Hour

The Hour is a behind the scenes drama about a Cold-War era investigative news program in England. I am dying to see this one, so someone who has already watched it, please tell us all how you liked it! Anna Chancellor, Ben Whishaw, Romola Garai, Domenic Cooper, Tim Piggot-Smith, Juliet Stevenson...I am drooling at the thought!

Well, I certainly do appreciate the talent of Anna Chancellor in her many varied roles. I also liked her in the girly film Crush and in the recently released Hysteria. She is always fun to watch. Which are your faves of hers?