Rita Davies

Acting

Born February 24, 1933, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Rita Davies (24 February 1933 – 19 January 2016) was a British character actress whose career spanned nearly six decades. She is best known for her cameo as the Historian's Wife in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and her sustained role as Sarah Frobisher-Smythe in House of Anubis (2011). Her other film credits include Children of Men (2006), The Da Vinci Code (2006), and Beauty and the Beast (2017, posthumous). On television she appeared in Brideshead Revisited (2008), Casualty, Doctors, Call the Midwife, Unforgotten, and Sherlock. She died of cancer at age 82 in Esher, Surrey. No major awards are on record.

Filmography

• 2017Beauty and the Beast — Old Woman
• Cuffs — Valerie Dukes
• Unforgotten — Mary White
• 2013Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa — Old Woman on Pier
• Southcliffe — Queenie
• 2013The Best Offer — Mrs. Derain
• 2013The List — Martha Rove
• 2012Acts of Godfrey — Saga Lady 1
• Call the Midwife — Pegeen
• Cuckoo — Mary
• 2012Lad: A Yorkshire Story — Bookshop Owner
• 2012Private Peaceful — Old Lady
• Starlings — Mrs. Wisley
• House of Anubis — Sarah Frobisher-Smythe
• 2011Reuniting the Rubins — Old Lady
• 2011The Trip — Dove Cottage Worker
• Vera — Sister Benedict
• Without You — Mrs Sutton
• Mongrels — Margaret
• Sherlock — Blind Lady
• Ashes to Ashes — Elsie Staines
• 2008Brideshead Revisited — Nanny Hawkins
• 2008Of Best Intentions
• 2008The Broken — Old Lady in Underground
• The Inbetweeners — Old Lady
• Lewis — Edna O'Brien
• 2006Children of Men — Café Customer
• 2006Driving Lessons — Mrs. Robottom (uncredited)
• 2006The Da Vinci Code — Elegant Woman at Rosslyn
• 2005Footprints in the Snow — Old Lady in Bar
• 55 Degrees North — Harriet Graham
• Murder in Suburbia — Minnie
• My Life in Film — Mary
• 2004The Last Horror Movie — Grandma
• 2003Tempo — Juliana
• 1998The Wolves of Kromer — Fanny
• Silent Witness — Mears' Mother
• Kavanagh Q.C. — Mrs. Harmer
• 1994O Mary This London — Picket at clinic
• 1994W.S.H.: The Myth of the Urban Myth
• 1992Deadly Obsession — Beth
• Heartbeat — Flo Chorley
• Teenage Health Freak — Auntie Pam
• Keeping Up Appearances — Mrs. Lomax
• 1987Claws — Mrs Morris
• Ladies in Charge — Mrs Blessed
• Screen Two — Picket at clinic
• The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ — Dr. Gray's Receptionist
• 1985What Mad Pursuit — Lady at Literary Luncheon
• Mr. Palfrey of Westminster — Miss Hewlett
• Number 10 — Mrs Hampton
• 1975Monty Python and the Holy Grail — Historian's Wife
• 1974Baby Love — 1st Policewoman
• 1972Doomwatch — Mrs. Murray
• Play for Today — Matron, 1st Policewoman
• 1969Liar! — Receptionist
• Monty Python's Flying Circus — Distraught Wife, Hostess / Black Spot Storyteller, Third Juror, Argument Secretary
• Nicholas Nickleby — Mrs. Lenville
• BBC Play of the Month
• Out of the Unknown — Receptionist
• Drama 61-67 — Woman in Station
• Ghost Squad — W.P.C
• Maigret — Germaine
• Sunday-Night Play — Penny
• The Men From Room 13 — Joyce
• Armchair Theatre — Nurse