Francesca Annis
Francesca Annis (born 14 May 1945)[1] is an English actress. She is known for television roles in Reckless (1998), Wives and Daughters (1999), Deceit (2000), and Cranford (2007). A six-time BAFTA TV Award nominee, she won the 1979 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the ITV serial Lillie. Her film appearances include Krull (1983), Dune (1984), The Debt Collector (1999), and The Libertine (2004).
Francesca Annis
14 May 1945
Actress
1959–present
Patrick Wiseman (1976–1997)
Ralph Fiennes (1995–2006)
3
Early life and education[edit]
Annis was born in Kensington, London in 1945, to an English father, Lester William Anthony Annis (1914–2001) and a Brazilian-French mother, Mariquita (Mara) Purcell (1913–2009). Both were sometime actors and Mara a sometime singer.[2] Mara was from a wealthy Brazilian family.[2] The Annises moved to Brazil when Francesca was one year old, and spent six years there,[2] returning to England when she was seven.[2] In recollecting the years in Brazil, she described her parents as running "a nightclub on Copacabana beach", and her mother Mara "performing as a blues singer".[2]
Annis was educated at a convent school, and trained in her early years as a ballet dancer,[2][3] with training in the Russian style at the Corona Stage Academy.[4]
Personal life[edit]
Annis was in a relationship with photographer Patrick Wiseman that began in 1974, raising three children, Charlotte, Taran, and Andreas.[2] Annis began a relationship with Hamlet co-star Ralph Fiennes in 1995, ending her 23-year relationship with Wiseman in 1997; Fiennes in turn divorced his wife of four years, Alex Kingston.[2][14] Annis is said to have "apologised to Wiseman" over their parting.[2] Annis and Fiennes announced their separation on 7 February 2006, after 11 years together, in a parting described as "acrimonious", following rumours that he had had an affair with the Romanian singer Cornelia Crisan.[2][15][16]
At age 64, in an interview with Tim Auld of The Telegraph in 2009, Annis described herself as being one that tends "to forget the bad things – I don't dwell on them. I think, 'Oh, f– it, life's too short'" and that though single, she "believes it is better to be with someone than alone", stating "I think you live a fuller life... to have someone else's input on anything – a book, a meal, your children, life, a walk – is fantastic" and expressing optimism as she looked to her future, stating "'I like to have a big open canvas. I am a glass-half-full person. Something will turn up, you know, and whatever it is it'll be fine'".[2]