Phyllida Law, mother of Emma Thompson, dies at 94
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- Phyllida Law died at 94 at home, "surrounded by all her family," according to her personal manager Jacky Leggo, who called the death "supremely peaceful."
- Born in Glasgow in 1932, Law trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School — where she met her future husband, actor Eric Thompson — after initially intending to be a stage designer rather than a performer.
- Law's stage career included appearing alongside Alec Guinness in the first run of John Mortimer's A Voyage Round My Father (1971), the original London cast of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1967), and the first London run of the English-language musical version of La Cage aux Folles.
- From the late 1980s, Law achieved film prominence, appearing with daughter Emma Thompson in Kenneth Branagh's Peter's Friends and Much Ado About Nothing, and alongside Sophie Thompson in the 1996 Gwyneth Paltrow-led adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma.
- Law's later screen work included a recurring role as Stephen Fry's Aunt Auriel in the comedy-drama Kingdom, guest spots in Foyle's War, Doc Martin and Agatha Christie's Poirot, and her final role in the 2020 romance Then Came You.
- Law is survived by daughters Emma and Sophie Thompson; her husband Eric Thompson died in 1982.
Why it matters: Phyllida Law's death at 94 closes a six-decade British acting career that stretched from Bristol Old Vic and the National Theatre through the golden age of British TV drama. Her passing leaves her daughters Emma and Sophie Thompson — who built their own theatrical careers, often appearing alongside her on stage and screen — without a parent who was both a frequent collaborator and a formative influence on their craft.
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