Actress Phyllida Law Dies at 94, Surrounded by Family

Phyllida Law, a distinguished British actress whose career spanned decades and whose daughters Emma Thompson and Sophie Thompson followed her into the performing arts, has died at age 94.

Law died peacefully at her home on Monday, July 27, with her family by her side, according to an announcement made Tuesday, August 18.

"It is with great sadness we have to announce that Phyllida Law died supremely peacefully at home, surrounded by all of her family, on Monday 27th July," Law's manager Jacky Leggo said in a statement to BBC News. "We had worked together for over fifty years and she was a beautiful person inside and out."

Law built a formidable acting career beginning in the 1960s, appearing in numerous television series including Play School, A Picture of Katherine Mansfield, That's Love, and Kingdom. Her film debut came in 1968 with Otley.

The actress married Eric Thompson in 1957, and the couple remained together until his death in 1982 at age 53. They had two daughters together: Emma, now 67, and Sophie, now 64.

Emma Thompson, who won an Oscar for her acting work, has spoken publicly about how her father's death when she was 21 years old strengthened the bond between her, her sister, and their mother.

"Now I think if my father was still alive, it would be very different," the Love Actually actress told the Hollywood Foreign Press in May 2021. "I mean, we know mum so much better because we spent so much time together, we started going on holidays and traveling together, and we all live on the same street, within three doors of each other."

"We're far closer-knit because of that event in our lives, also we're three actresses who always had to earn our own living, we've never been supported by anyone," Emma Thompson told the Hollywood Foreign Press. "My mum always worked, I always worked when I was married, and my sister works. So that's created quite a strong kind of triumvirate. It's a little alarming, actually."

Law frequently shared the screen with her daughters throughout their careers. She appeared alongside Emma in Peter's Friends in 1992, Much Ado About Nothing in 1993, and The Winter's Guest in 1997. The mother-daughter pair also collaborated on Nanny McPhee in 2005, with Emma writing and starring in the project while Law voiced the character Mrs. Partridge.

Law and Sophie portrayed a mother and daughter in the 1996 film Emma, which starred Gwyneth Paltrow.

"They are both my colleagues in a way," Law said of her daughters in a 2017 interview with The Telegraph. "They didn't follow in our footsteps, they rushed past us, trampling on us."

The close-knit family ultimately settled on the same street, living within three doors of one another, creating what Emma Thompson described as a strong triumvirate of working actresses who supported themselves throughout their careers.