Golden Globe and BAFTA-winning British actress Miranda Richardson delivered decades of stellar performances on stage and screen, becoming one of the most-respected international actresses of the late 20th century. With an exceptional versatility that staunchly deflected any attempts of "British actress" typecasting, Richardson starred as street toughs, gentile matriarchs and fairy tale queens (of both the good and evil variety) in American and UK film and television productions, earning Academy Award nominations for Louis Malle's "Damage" (1992) and the biopic of writer T.S. Eliot, "Tom & Viv" (1992). Richardson was a member of the stock company of Rowan Atkinson's eccentric "Blackadder" series, but equally at home at the center of character dramas like "The Hours" (2002) or delivering hilarious guest appearances on shows like the bawdy sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous" (BBC, 1992-96; 2001-05). An intelligent, intuitive actress unafraid of exploring emotional extremes and unglamorous reality, Richardson enjoyed steady success with critically-acclaimed projects well past the age when the telephones of one-dimensional fading beauties had stopped ringing.