Francesca Annis (born May 14, 1944 in Brazil) is a British actress, particularly well known for her film and television appearances, most recently the BBC series Wives and Daughters and Deceit. She was in a long relationship with fellow actor, Ralph Fiennes, who left his younger wife (Alex Kingston) for the considerably older Annis. However on February 7, 2006, Fiennes and Annis announced their separation after 11 years together. Francesca Annis was born in Brazil, but moved to the UK as a child, and was convent educated. She began acting professionally in her teens, and made her film debut in the 1950s. In 1967 she played Estella in a television adaptation of Great Expectations. She also presented children's television programmes.
While becoming an increasingly well known face on screen, she has enjoyed a successful stage career, playing many leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her performance as Lady Macbeth in Roman Polanski's controversial 1971 film of Macbeth gained her notoriety.
She continued to be a leading television actress throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, appearing in series such as Edward the Seventh (as Lillie Langtry, a role she reprised in Lillie (1978)), Madame Bovary and Parnell and the Englishwoman, in which she played Kitty O'Shea. Her films have included Dune (1984).
In late 2005, she appeared in Epitaph for George Dillon alongside Ralph Fiennes' brother Joseph Fiennes.
Dune (1984)
