Phyllida Law, Mother of Emma and Sophie Thompson, Dies Aged 94

She died supremely peacefully at home, surrounded by all of her family, on Monday 27th July.

Phyllida Law's career on stage and screen

Born in Glasgow in 1932, Law went to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School intending to train as a stage designer, only to study acting "by happy accident". She married the actor Eric Thompson, best known for The Magic Roundabout, in 1957; he died in 1982, aged 53.

Her television work ran from Dixon of Dock Green and Rumpole of the Bailey through to Midsomer Murders, Foyle's War, Doc Martin and New Tricks, while her films included The Time Machine (2002), Miss Potter (2006) and Albert Nobbs (2011). On stage she appeared alongside Alec Guinness in John Mortimer's A Voyage Round My Father in 1971. She was made an OBE in 2014 for services to drama.

Phyllida Law on screen with her daughters

Law worked repeatedly alongside both daughters. She and Emma appeared together in Peter's Friends (1992) and Much Ado About Nothing (1993), both directed by her then son-in-law Sir Kenneth Branagh, and played mother and daughter in The Winter Guest, the 1997 directorial debut of Alan Rickman. She later appeared in Nanny McPhee, which Emma wrote and starred in.

In the 1996 adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma she played Mrs Bates opposite Sophie as Miss Bates, and the pair also worked together on Poirot and Doc Martin, as The Hollywood Reporter noted. She is survived by both daughters, who followed her into acting.