Lalla Ward
Encyclopedia
Sarah Ward known as Lalla Ward, is an English
actor
, author
and illustrator
. As an actor, she is known for playing the part of Romana
in the BBC
science fiction television series Doctor Who
. She is married to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins
.
on her own. After spending a few years painting, Ward auditioned at London drama schools "as a sort of dare" to herself:
Ward studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama
from 1968 to 1971.
She began her acting career in the Hammer horror film Vampire Circus
(1972), and played the teenage daughter of The Duchess of Duke Street
in the popular BBC
drama series of the 1970s. She appeared in films such as Matushka, England Made Me (1972), Rosebud (1974), and The Prince and the Pauper
(1977) and on television featured in Van der Valk (1973), The Protectors
(1973), Quiller (1975), Who Pays the Ferryman?
(1977), The Professionals
(1978) and Hazell
(1979). She acted in a film called Got It Made in 1974 which was later recut with sex scenes featuring other actresses and reissued as Sweet Virgin. Club International magazine ran nude pictures from the film, claiming they were of her and Ward successfully sued the magazine. In 1980, she played Ophelia to Derek Jacobi's
Hamlet
in the BBC television production.
Romana
(Romanadvoratrelundar) in Doctor Who
. After a guest appearance as Princess Astra in the Doctor Who story The Armageddon Factor
in 1979, Ward was chosen to replace Mary Tamm
, who had decided against continuing in the role. She appeared in all of Season 17's stories and then her character was written out in the third to last story of Season 18 in the story entitled Warriors' Gate
.
After Doctor Who
, she appeared in Schoolgirl Chums (1982) and The Jeweller's Shop and The Rehearsal on stage.
Ward decided to end her acting career after marrying Dawkins. However, she has since reprised the character of Romana in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time
, the 2003 webcast version of Shada
, and in several Doctor Who and Gallifrey audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions
. She also played the 'Mistress' opposite John Leeson's 'K-9
' in two audio plays from BBV
. In addition, she has appeared at a number of Doctor Who conventions and related special events.
's The Language Instinct
. She co-narrates The Selfish Gene
, The Ancestor's Tale
, The God Delusion
, The Blind Watchmaker
and The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
with her husband.
whilst working on Doctor Who, and they lived together in a flat in Chelsea. The couple married in December 1980, but the marriage lasted only sixteen months. Ward attributed the separation to work commitments, different lifestyles and conflicts of interest. Regarding her marriage to Tom Baker, Ward is quoted as saying:
Ward said in 2004 that her long friendship with Douglas Adams
, with whom she worked on Doctor Who, meant more to her and was "more valuable and more enduring" than her marriage to Baker. In 1992, at his 40th birthday party, Adams introduced her to his friend Richard Dawkins
(biologist and author of such books as The Selfish Gene
, The Blind Watchmaker
and, later, The God Delusion
). Ward and Dawkins married later that year.
Aside from acting, her other talents include book illustration, and she is particularly adept at sketching animals. One example of this was the 1985 Shell Calendar, which features embroidered pictures of sea birds. Ward also illustrates Dawkins's books, and has also been known to help create material for his lectures.
In the 1980s, she also wrote two books on knitting
and one on embroidery
. Ward is a keen chef, and she contributed a recipe to The Doctor Who Cookbook which was edited by the late Gary Downie
.
For almost twenty years, Lalla Ward has served on the committee of the Actors' Charitable Trust, TACT, and as a trustee for ten years. Alongside Richard and Sheila Attenborough, she led a successful £7.5 million redevelopment of the actors' care home, Denville Hall.
, and his fourth wife Marjorie Alice Banks; as such, she is entitled to use the courtesy title
"The Honourable". Her father was the BBC's war correspondent in Finland at the beginning of World War II, while her mother was a writer and BBC producer specialising in dramatised documentaries.
She has a brother Edward, two years her junior; and a half-brother, William, who is the 8th Viscount Bangor
, three years her senior.
Through her father she is descended from George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence
, brother of Edward IV, via John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough
, John, 1st Viscount Mordaunt, and Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor
.
Her great-grandmother Mary Ward
was a talented illustrator and amateur scientist, and is documented as the first person in the world to die in a motor vehicle accident.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
. As an actor, she is known for playing the part of Romana
Romana
Romana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. She is married to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
.
Early career
Ward's stage name, "Lalla", comes from her attempts as a toddler to pronounce her own name. She left school at the age of 14 because she "loathed every single minute of it", and took her O-levelsOrdinary Level
The O-level is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education . It was introduced as part of British educational reform in the 1950s alongside the more in-depth and academically rigorous Advanced Level in England, Wales and Northern Ireland A-level...
on her own. After spending a few years painting, Ward auditioned at London drama schools "as a sort of dare" to herself:
Ward studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama
Central School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
from 1968 to 1971.
She began her acting career in the Hammer horror film Vampire Circus
Vampire Circus
Vampire Circus is a 1972 British horror film directed by Robert Young for Hammer Film Productions. It stars Adrienne Corri, Thorley Walters and Anthony Higgins . The story concerns a travelling carnival whose vampiric artistes prey on the children of a 19th-century Austrian village...
(1972), and played the teenage daughter of The Duchess of Duke Street
The Duchess of Duke Street
The Duchess Of Duke Street is a BBC television drama series set in London between 1900 and 1935. It was created by John Hawkesworth, the former producer of the highly successful ITV period drama Upstairs, Downstairs...
in the popular BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
drama series of the 1970s. She appeared in films such as Matushka, England Made Me (1972), Rosebud (1974), and The Prince and the Pauper
The Prince and the Pauper
The Prince and the Pauper is an English-language novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada before its 1882 publication in the United States. The book represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction...
(1977) and on television featured in Van der Valk (1973), The Protectors
The Protectors
The Protectors is a British television series, an action thriller created by Gerry Anderson. It is Anderson's second TV series using live actors as opposed to electronic marionettes, and also his second to be firmly set in the present day...
(1973), Quiller (1975), Who Pays the Ferryman?
Who Pays the Ferryman?
Who Pays the Ferryman? was a television series produced by the BBC in 1977. The title of the series refers to the ancient religious belief and mythology of Charon the ferryman to Hades...
(1977), The Professionals
The Professionals (TV series)
The Professionals was a British crime-action television drama series produced by Avengers Mk1 Productions and London Weekend Television that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon...
(1978) and Hazell
Hazell (TV series)
Hazell is a British television series that ran from 1978–1979, about a fictional private detective named James Hazell.-Overview:James Hazell was a cockney private detective character created by journalist and novelist Gordon Williams and footballer-turned-manager Terry Venables...
(1979). She acted in a film called Got It Made in 1974 which was later recut with sex scenes featuring other actresses and reissued as Sweet Virgin. Club International magazine ran nude pictures from the film, claiming they were of her and Ward successfully sued the magazine. In 1980, she played Ophelia to Derek Jacobi's
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
in the BBC television production.
Doctor Who
She is best remembered as the second actress to play the Time LadyTime Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
Romana
Romana
Romana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
(Romanadvoratrelundar) in Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. After a guest appearance as Princess Astra in the Doctor Who story The Armageddon Factor
The Armageddon Factor
The Armageddon Factor is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 20 January to 24 February 1979...
in 1979, Ward was chosen to replace Mary Tamm
Mary Tamm
Mary Tamm is an English actress. She is best known for being the first actress to play the character of Romana in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, opposite Tom Baker as the Doctor, from the 1978–1979 season known collectively as The Key to Time.-Early life:Mary Tamm was born in...
, who had decided against continuing in the role. She appeared in all of Season 17's stories and then her character was written out in the third to last story of Season 18 in the story entitled Warriors' Gate
Warriors' Gate
Warriors' Gate is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was written by the English author Stephen Gallagher and first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1981...
.
After Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, she appeared in Schoolgirl Chums (1982) and The Jeweller's Shop and The Rehearsal on stage.
Ward decided to end her acting career after marrying Dawkins. However, she has since reprised the character of Romana in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time
Dimensions in Time
Dimensions in Time is a charity special crossover between the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and the soap opera EastEnders that ran in two parts on 26 and 27 November 1993. It was filmed on the EastEnders Albert Square set, and features several of the stars of that programme...
, the 2003 webcast version of Shada
Shada
Shada is an unaired serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was intended to be the final serial of the 1979-80 season , but was never completed due to a strike at the BBC during filming...
, and in several Doctor Who and Gallifrey audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
. She also played the 'Mistress' opposite John Leeson's 'K-9
K-9 (Doctor Who)
K-9, or K9, is the name of several fictional robotic canines in the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who, first appearing in 1977...
' in two audio plays from BBV
BBV
BBV is a video and audio production company specialising in science fiction drama, known for its links with the British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
. In addition, she has appeared at a number of Doctor Who conventions and related special events.
Audiobooks
She has also recorded audio books, including Steven PinkerSteven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...
's The Language Instinct
The Language Instinct
The Language Instinct is a book by Steven Pinker for a general audience, published in 1994. In it, Pinker argues that humans are born with an innate capacity for language. In addition, he deals sympathetically with Noam Chomsky's claim that all human language shows evidence of a universal grammar...
. She co-narrates The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene is a book on evolution by Richard Dawkins, published in 1976. It builds upon the principal theory of George C. Williams's first book Adaptation and Natural Selection. Dawkins coined the term "selfish gene" as a way of expressing the gene-centred view of evolution as opposed to the...
, The Ancestor's Tale
The Ancestor's Tale
The Ancestor's Tale is a 2004 popular science book by Richard Dawkins, with contributions from Dawkins' research assistant Yan Wong. It follows the path of humans backwards through evolutionary history, meeting humanity's cousins as they converge on common ancestors...
, The God Delusion
The God Delusion
The God Delusion is a 2006 bestselling non-fiction book by British biologist Richard Dawkins, professorial fellow of New College, Oxford, and inaugural holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that...
, The Blind Watchmaker
The Blind Watchmaker
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design is a 1986 book by Richard Dawkins in which he presents an explanation of, and argument for, the theory of evolution by means of natural selection. He also presents arguments to refute certain criticisms made on...
and The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution is a 2009 book by British biologist Richard Dawkins, which was released on 3 September 2009 in the UK and on 22 September 2009 in the U.S...
with her husband.
Personal life
Ward was in a relationship with her co-star Tom BakerTom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...
whilst working on Doctor Who, and they lived together in a flat in Chelsea. The couple married in December 1980, but the marriage lasted only sixteen months. Ward attributed the separation to work commitments, different lifestyles and conflicts of interest. Regarding her marriage to Tom Baker, Ward is quoted as saying:
Ward said in 2004 that her long friendship with Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
, with whom she worked on Doctor Who, meant more to her and was "more valuable and more enduring" than her marriage to Baker. In 1992, at his 40th birthday party, Adams introduced her to his friend Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
(biologist and author of such books as The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene is a book on evolution by Richard Dawkins, published in 1976. It builds upon the principal theory of George C. Williams's first book Adaptation and Natural Selection. Dawkins coined the term "selfish gene" as a way of expressing the gene-centred view of evolution as opposed to the...
, The Blind Watchmaker
The Blind Watchmaker
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design is a 1986 book by Richard Dawkins in which he presents an explanation of, and argument for, the theory of evolution by means of natural selection. He also presents arguments to refute certain criticisms made on...
and, later, The God Delusion
The God Delusion
The God Delusion is a 2006 bestselling non-fiction book by British biologist Richard Dawkins, professorial fellow of New College, Oxford, and inaugural holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that...
). Ward and Dawkins married later that year.
Aside from acting, her other talents include book illustration, and she is particularly adept at sketching animals. One example of this was the 1985 Shell Calendar, which features embroidered pictures of sea birds. Ward also illustrates Dawkins's books, and has also been known to help create material for his lectures.
In the 1980s, she also wrote two books on knitting
Knitting
Knitting is a method by which thread or yarn may be turned into cloth or other fine crafts. Knitted fabric consists of consecutive rows of loops, called stitches. As each row progresses, a new loop is pulled through an existing loop. The active stitches are held on a needle until another loop can...
and one on embroidery
Embroidery
Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....
. Ward is a keen chef, and she contributed a recipe to The Doctor Who Cookbook which was edited by the late Gary Downie
Gary Downie
Gary Downie was a production manager on many 1980s episodes of the long running science fiction television series Doctor Who, and partner of its producer John Nathan-Turner. His own analysis of the role of a production manager can be found on the BBC DVD release of The Two Doctors...
.
For almost twenty years, Lalla Ward has served on the committee of the Actors' Charitable Trust, TACT, and as a trustee for ten years. Alongside Richard and Sheila Attenborough, she led a successful £7.5 million redevelopment of the actors' care home, Denville Hall.
Family background
She is the daughter of Edward Ward, 7th Viscount BangorViscount Bangor
Viscount Bangor, of Castle Ward, in the County Down, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1781 for Bernard Ward, 1st Baron Bangor, who had previously represented Down in the Irish House of Commons. He had already been created Baron Bangor, of Castle Ward in the County of Ward, in...
, and his fourth wife Marjorie Alice Banks; as such, she is entitled to use the courtesy title
Courtesy title
A courtesy title is a form of address in systems of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer. These styles are used 'by courtesy' in the sense that the relatives do not themselves hold substantive titles...
"The Honourable". Her father was the BBC's war correspondent in Finland at the beginning of World War II, while her mother was a writer and BBC producer specialising in dramatised documentaries.
She has a brother Edward, two years her junior; and a half-brother, William, who is the 8th Viscount Bangor
Viscount Bangor
Viscount Bangor, of Castle Ward, in the County Down, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1781 for Bernard Ward, 1st Baron Bangor, who had previously represented Down in the Irish House of Commons. He had already been created Baron Bangor, of Castle Ward in the County of Ward, in...
, three years her senior.
Through her father she is descended from George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence
George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence
George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, 1st Earl of Salisbury, 1st Earl of Warwick, KG was the third son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the brother of kings Edward IV and Richard III. He played an important role in the dynastic struggle known as the Wars of the...
, brother of Edward IV, via John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough
Earl of Peterborough
Earl of Peterborough was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1628 for John Mordaunt, 5th Baron Mordaunt . He was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry, the second Earl. He was a soldier and courtier. Lord Peterborough had two daughters but no sons...
, John, 1st Viscount Mordaunt, and Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor
Viscount Bangor
Viscount Bangor, of Castle Ward, in the County Down, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1781 for Bernard Ward, 1st Baron Bangor, who had previously represented Down in the Irish House of Commons. He had already been created Baron Bangor, of Castle Ward in the County of Ward, in...
.
Her great-grandmother Mary Ward
Mary Ward (scientist)
Mary Ward was an Irish amateur scientist who was killed when she fell under the wheels of an experimental steam car built by her cousins. As the event occurred in 1869, she is the world's first known motor vehicle accident victim...
was a talented illustrator and amateur scientist, and is documented as the first person in the world to die in a motor vehicle accident.
External links
- Photos of Ward and information on her knitting books
- http://www.quiltingarts.com/blogs/pippa/archive/2010/02/05/from-television-to-textiles-an-interview-with-artist-and-actress-lalla-ward.aspx Interview with Lalla Ward about her textile art.
- http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/how-we-met-richard-dawkins-and-lalla-ward-1423554.html Article in the Independent about Lalla Ward and Richard Dawkins