Julia McKenzie (born February 17, 1941, in Enfield, Middlesex, England) is a British actor and theatre director. In London’s West End her performing credits include Guys and Dolls (Miss Adelaide) and Sweeney Todd (Mrs Lovett), for both of which she won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and Woman in Mind for which she received the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress. She has also appeared successfully in Follies and Into the Woods. She appeared in Side By Side By Sondheim in the West End and on Broadway.
On television she was popular with British viewers in Fresh Fields and the sequel French Fields in the 1980s (she was voted TV Times Favourite Female Comedy Performance for five consecutive years) and for her Mrs Forthby in Blott on the Landscape. Film credits include Hotel du Lac, Shirley Valentine, Bright Young Things and These Foolish Things.
She is a consummate radio performer with a long list of credits including Blithe Spirit, The Country Wife and A Room With A View
As a director she has staged Stepping Out, Peter Pan, Hey Mister Producer, Steel Magnolias, Putting It Together, and A Little Night Music.
She is married to actor Jerry Harte.
