Last updated June 2006
Category: The Archers
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Margot Boyd's career – before making the role of robust countrywoman Mrs Antrobus in BBC Radio 4's The Archers her own – has introduced her to the great names of theatre and film: George Bernard Shaw, Noel Coward, Michael Redgrave, Vivian Leigh, James Stewart and Kenneth More.
Margot traces her early interest in acting to one of her first childhood memories – that of soldiers marching by the front door of the family home in Bath.
The infant Margot used to run beside them, trying to make them laugh, until her mother would appear to gently usher her back indoors.
Her family loved the theatre and, at a time when families had to entertain each other, Margot was encouraged in her recitations.
The delighted response gave her the first thoughts of going into the theatre though she admits that, at first, her father would have preferred her to find a job where a pension would be guaranteed.
These early thoughts of acting were reinforced by her school. Regular visits to the Old Vic developed her love of Shakespeare, and she was inspired by watching the performances of Sir John Gielgud, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Michael Redgrave and Noel Coward, "a marvellous man" with whom she would subsequently work.
A gold medal for her work spurred on Margot's application to RADA – which was successful. Her shocked parents, she recalls, were very supportive and she soon found herself in a play produced by George Bernard Shaw.
She says he was "wonderful – very encouraging". He adored actors and acting and he worked hard to enable everyone to get the best from the opportunity.
On leaving RADA, Margot immediately got a job in rep at Leeds Theatre Royal, twice-nightly playing a leading lady which she recalls never seemed to involve a part under the age of 55.
Leeds gave her the opportunity to play in all the productions from the West End, and introduced her to that long–vanished institution – theatrical digs.
Margot's £2 10 shillings weekly lodgings provided her with four meals a day, a roaring fire lit three times a day and hospitality for her guests after the performance.
In 1984, as a member of the BBC Repertory Company, Margot had her first encounter with Mrs Antrobus of The Archers.
A note in her file asked her to travel to Birmingham for a one–off appearance, but not long after Margot received a telephone call asking if she would like to make Mrs Antrobus a regular part.
She knew, by her own admission, "not a lot" about Radio 4's famous drama of life in Ambridge, and she drew on personal experiences for the role.
Margot's father had looked after a big country estate in the Somerset countryside – where she says "every other woman was a Mrs Antrobus" – and at one time she had been a regular visitor to Crufts.
She says this is where much of the detail of the renowned Afghan breeding Mrs Antrobus came from.
Margot says that most of her major career moves have been down to luck.
After working with Michael Redgrave in Stratford in 1953, he put on Noel Coward's Waiting In The Wings and Margot, much to her surprise, was given the leading role.
When the production moved to Dublin, Coward – already in his late sixties – was there for four weeks and after such a short time the two became firm friends.
Her credits include her own series Our Miss Pemberton in the early days of television; Middlemarch; Dixon Of Dock Green with Jack Warner; and The Forty Nine Steps with Kenneth More.
She even stage managed The Ghost Train at The Criterion, where she admits she once pressed the button to move the train along before its due time, and caused chaos at the dress rehearsal!
