Joanna Lumley (born May 1, 1946 in Srinagar, Kashmir, India) is a British actress and former model who is best known for her portrayal of the chain smoking, boozing, cocaine-sniffing and other drug-taking sexpot Patsy Stone on the British comedy television show Absolutely Fabulous. She is also a noted animal rights campaigner and vegetarian.

Tall, leggy, thin and blonde, she began her acting career as a Bond girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Her first major role was as Purdey in The New Avengers: a revival of the secret agent series The Avengers.

She has specialised in playing upper-class parts, and her distinctive plummy voice has reinforced this. However, following her rise to fame, she revealed that she had been an unmarried mother during the 1960s when it was socially unacceptable. The first of her two subsequent marriages was to comedy writer, Jeremy Lloyd.

Lumley was awarded an OBE in 1995.

She is also a car enthusiast, whose favourite TV programme is Top Gear. Her favourite car is a Triumph Stag convertible.

Television includes:

• Coronation Street
• The New Avengers
• Sapphire & Steel
• A Rather English Marriage
• Up In Town

Films include:

• The Breaking of Bumbo
• Curse of the Pink Panther
• Don't Just Lie There, Say Something
• Funny Bones
• Games That Lovers Play
• Innocent Lies
• James and the Giant Peach
• Mad Cows
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service
• Parting Shots
• Prince Valiant
• The Satanic Rites of Dracula
• Shirley Valentine
• Some Girls Do
• Sweeney Todd
• Tam Lin
• Trail of the Pink Panther

External links

• BBC biography