Harriet Walter

Dame Harriet Mary Walter DBE (born 24 September 1950) is a British actress. She has performed on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has received an Olivier Award, a Tony Award, five Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2011, Walter was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to drama.

Quotes

• I had that accent which prejudices people against you so instantly, or makes them respect you so falsely.
  • From an interview, as cited in "From sexual high jinks to strangulated vowels", The Independent on Sunday (22 September 1991), p. 24
  • Walter was then appearing on stage in Three Birds Alighting on a Field by Timberlake Wertenbaker at the Royal Court. For her performance, Walter had to re-familiarize herself with the upper class accent she had managed to lose.

• When asked which parts I would most like to play, I always say Richard III and Hamlet. But everyone expects me to say St Joan.
  • Cited in "Women call for fair play on the stage", The Daily Telegraph (26 February 1992), p. 7

• I approach every character with the intention of making them as complicated as we all are.
  • From an interview, as cited in "An Amazing Lack of Conceit", Sunday Telegraph (The Sunday Review: Arts section, 21 July 1996), p. 8
  • Walter was then appearing in the eponymous lead of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler at the Chichester Festival Theatre. She was unwilling to comment on whether her portrayal treated the character sympathetically.