Joanna Lumley says she’s ‘had no career’ and has been acting to ‘pay the rent’
Joanna Lumley says she didn’t get into acting ‘for stardom’
- Joanna Lumley has claimed she didn’t get into acting “for stardom” and has instead been “trying to earn money to keep myself alive”.
- Despite being turned away from drama school, she began acting in the late 1960s, securing her first speaking role in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
- Lumley is well-known for her roles as Purdey in The New Avengers and Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous, and is joining the cast of Netflix's Wednesday for its second season.
- She said actors are “no different” from painters and decorators and most have never longed for fame: “I’ve just done anything to keep my head above water.”
- She praised the availability of "wonderful parts" for older women nowadays, noting a positive shift away from the pressure to always appear attractive.