When it comes to Bessie Carter, talent truly runs in the family. With parents like Imelda Staunton and Jim Carter, who met while rehearsing at the National Theatre, how could it not? As the Bridgerton star makes her Tatler cover debut, delve into the first family of British thespians
Fortunately, Bessie Carter has some real-life experience to draw upon when it comes to famous families (though her own dynasty is far less scandalous than the Mitfords, more national treasures than morally dubious ladies of leisure). The daughter of Oscar-nominated actress Imelda Staunton and Downton Abbey star Jim Carter, Bessie comes from thespian royalty; the trio have even shared the screen together in 2007’s Cranford, with Carter fille playing the maid to her father’s Captain Brown and her mother’s Miss Octavia Pole. As Tatler heralds the reign of Bessie Carter, what better time to celebrate her parents – proof that talent truly does run in the family?….
‘I wasn’t aware of my parents being famous until my mum did Vera Drake and was nominated for an Oscar,’ Bessie once said of her actorly roots. ‘That would have been about when I was 11 or 12. Until then, they were just actors. That was their job. It was just normal.’ While Dame Imelda Staunton may have reached the upper echelons of the Academy with her 2004 turn in Mike Leigh’s tale of a woman who performs illegal abortions in 1950s London, some might consider it a little humble to describe her prior career as ‘just’ an actor…..