Dame Janet Suzman (born 9 February 1939[1]) is a South African-born British actress who had a successful early career in the Royal Shakespeare Company, later replaying many Shakespearean roles on television.
[2][3] Her grandfather, Max Sonnenberg, was a member of the South African parliament, and her aunt was the civil rights and anti-apartheid campaigner Helen Suzman.
[4] After training for the stage at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art,[4] Suzman made her debut as Liz in Billy Liar at the Tower Theatre, Ipswich, in 1962.
The RSC gave her the opportunity to play many of the Shakespearean heroines, including Rosaline in Love's Labour's Lost, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Ophelia in Hamlet, Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Celia and Rosalind in As You Like It, Lavinia in Titus Andronicus and her Cleopatra, magisterial, ardent and seductive, in 1973, which is said to have been a definitive performance.
In addition to the 1974 television version of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, she also appeared as "Frosine" in the BBC's Theatre Night 1988 production of The Miser opposite Nigel Hawthorne as "Harpagon" and Jim Broadbent as Maitre Jacques.
Suzman has made few films since, including Don Siegel's The Black Windmill (1974), Nijinsky (1980), Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract (1982), Federico Fellini's E la Nave Va (And the Ship Sails On 1983), A Dry White Season (1989) with Marlon Brando and Nuns on the Run (1990; a rare comedic role).
The episode dealt with the rift between Buckingham Palace and Margaret Thatcher over the prime minister's refusal to back Commonwealth sanctions against South Africa.
[6][7] Suzman holds honorary DLitt degrees from the universities of Warwick, Leicester, London (QMW), Southampton, Middlesex, Kingston, Cape Town, Edge Hill and Buckingham.