spanned almost five decades- and resulted in the actress
being garlanded with an
Academy Award nomination (for
Educating Rita) and a Damehood. Not
that the 67-year-old has let the success
go to her head. “After [the ceremony]
someone emailed me to ask how did
I celebrate – I weeded the garden!” the
star ofCalendar Girls,Billy Elliotand
Mamma Mia!says. “I also thought,
I wish my parents were here.”
Down-to-earth Julie doesn’t have
time for any rules around age either.
“I tend to think [now],Oh, frig it,
who cares,” she says. “I remember
reading in a magazine, ‘You shouldn’t
wear silver after 50’. That just makes
me want to wear only silver until I’m
bloody 90 – if I live that long.”
It’s this irrepressibility – and
sheer likeability, combined with her
undeniable talent to inhabit any role
almost completely – that’s meant Julie’s
worked continuously since her breakout
role inEducating Ritain 1983. Dozens
of TV and movie roles later, Julie has
a trio of new works set to hit the screen;
Paddington 2,Mary Poppins Returns
andMamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
“I got my first job on June 14, 1973,”
Julie says. “It feels like a long time ago.”
Julie often portrays mums,
housewives and grandmothers.
Why is she drawn to those parts?
“I think a lot of it was (from)
watching my grandmother,” she
says. “Granny O’Brien was my
first part really. She had vascular
dementia – which unfortunately
as children we found massively
entertaining! We all lived in this little
house, three kids, her, no washing
machine. How my mother dealt with
us all I don’t know.”
Julie observed her grandmother- and the other local women around
Birmingham, England, where she grew
up with her parents and
two siblings – and took
note. She says, “I did
mimic (Granny) a bit.
And all the ladies
from round about,
my mother’s friends,
Birmingham Irish.”
Julie worked closely
with her late best friend, comedian
Victoria Wood, for many years - often playing the downtrodden foil
to Victoria’s comic characters. The
pair met while treading the boards in
London in the 1970s.
“It is still so very strange,” Julie says
of the loss of her friend, who died from
cancer in 2016. “I have a picture of
Victoria at home and I turn to it and
say, ‘Where are you?’ She was a massive
presence in my life and certainly in my
career. We saw each other but we also
did a lot of emailing and texts.
“All that energy is gone. I’m like,
‘Give me a sign if you are around!’
Thankfully, Julie has
been able to lean on her
husband Grant Roffey
since losing Victoria.
Julie and Grant met
in a London bar in
1985 – and have been
together ever since.
“It was instant for
me.” Julie has said. “He moved in and
never moved out.”
Maisie, the couple’s only child,
battled lymphoblastic leukemia when
she was two, but survived and is now- “Having Maisie is by a million
miles the best thing that has happened
to me. I love her so much,” Julie says.
‘How did
I celebrate
my Oscar
nomination?
I weeded the
graden!’UNASSUMING STAR
Left: Julie with her mother Mary,
Maisie and Grant. Below Grant
‘moved in and never moved out’TEXT: EDITED CONTENT BY JIM WHITE/EVENT MAGAZINE/SOLO SYNDICAT ON PICTURES: ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES
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