Person
Jeillo Edwards
Malta Street, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Jeillo Angela Doris Edwards was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, one of six children, and she attended the Annie Walsh Memorial School. Edwards moved to England in the late 1950s…
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Jeillo Angela Doris Edwards was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, one of six children, and she attended the Annie Walsh Memorial School. Edwards moved to England in the late 1950s and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She began performing at the age of four, reading from the Bible at her church. She was well known for her distinctive voice and imperious enunciation. She featured on the BBC World Service for Africa, which was broadcast in the UK. She became popular in the United Kingdom, appearing on television, where she was the first black woman to appear on British television as well as being the first African to appear on Dixon of Dock Green in 1972. She also appeared on television dramas such as The Professionals, The Bill and Casualty. She performed on British television, radio, stage and films for more than four decades. Edwards appeared in cameo roles in many British television comedy programmes, including The League of Gentlemen, Absolutely Fabulous, Red Dwarf, Black Books, Spaced and Little Britain, in which she had been planned to appear in the second series before her death. As well as acting she was a school governor and owned a restaurant called Auntie J's in Brixton. In the early 1970s, she married a Ghanaian, Edmund Clottey, and they had a daughter and two sons. Jeillo Edwards died in London on 2 July 2004, at the age of 61. She had suffered chronic kidney problems.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2003
Murder Investigation Team
TV show Agnes Welsh
-
2003
Anansi
Movie Aunt Vera
-
2002
Dirty Pretty Things
Movie Hospital Cleaning Lady
-
2001
Murder in Mind
TV show Phyllis
-
2000
Tough Love
Movie Irate Woman
-
2000
Black Books
TV show Midwife
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1999
Tube Tales
Movie Middle Aged Woman (segment "Steal Away")
-
1999
Spaced
TV show Tim's Benefit Clerk
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1997
Paris, Brixton
Movie
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1996
Beautiful Thing
Movie Rose
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1994
Pat and Margaret
Movie Tea Bar Lady
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1992
Absolutely Fabulous
TV show Jeillo
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1992
Black and Blue
Movie Mrs Jessop
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1988
Red Dwarf
TV show Second Ground Controller
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1987
Elphida
Movie Somali Woman
-
1986
Casualty
TV show Jean MacKenzie
More credits
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1984
Paint Me a Murder
Movie Landlady
-
1984
The Bill
TV show
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1984
Tripper's Day
TV show Dottie's Mother
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1984
Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense
TV show Landlady
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1981
Memoirs of a Survivor
Movie Woman at Newstand
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1980
Name for the Day
Movie Nurse
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1979
Room Service
TV show Mrs. McGregor
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1978
Betzi
Movie Sarah
-
1977
The Professionals
TV show West Indian Woman
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1977
Black Joy
Movie Auntie
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1977
The Sniffler and the Pug
Movie Nurse
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1976
A Kind of Marriage
Movie Aggie
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1975
Rumpole of the Bailey
TV show Lady Cashier
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1975
Through the Night
Movie Lucy
-
1973
Centre Play
TV show Aggie Arinze
