The actor Haydn Gwynne has died of cancer at the age of 66. In a statement on Friday, her agent said that Gwynne had died in hospital “surrounded by her beloved sons, close family and friends. We would like to thank the staff and teams at the Royal Marsden and Brompton hospitals for their wonderful care over the last few weeks.”
Among those paying tribute to Gwynne was Jack Thorne, whose play When Winston Went to War With the Wireless starred Gwynne at the Donmar Warehouse in London this year. Thorne said: “Haydn was the kindest, loveliest soul and a wonderful performer. She gave everything to everything.” The writer Jonathan Harvey called her “a gifted and versatile all-rounder”.
In September 2023, Gwynne withdrew from the West End revue Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, shortly before it was due to open. She had previously starred in a one-off version of the revue, celebrating Sondheim’s career in musicals. At the time of Gwynne’s withdrawal, producer Cameron Mackintosh said: “Haydn gave an unforgettable performance of Ladies Who Lunch during the Old Friends gala premiere in May 2022 and has been an integral part of this very close-knit company ever since.”
Gwynne’s prominent West End theatre roles included Margaret Thatcher in Peter Morgan’s 2013 play The Audience (starring Helen Mirren as the Queen), gilded matriarch Lady Wishfort in the Restoration comedy The Way of the World (at the Donmar in 2018) and a no-nonsense judge in The Great British Bake Off Musical in 2023. Her Shakespearean roles included Queen Elizabeth in Richard III (opposite Kevin Spacey at London’s Old Vic in 2011) and Volumnia in Coriolanus for the RSC in 2017.
Memorably seen as regal and noble characters, Gwynne played Camilla as what she called a “soap-opera villainess” in Channel 4’s comedy The Windsors and portrayed Lady Susan Hussey, lady-in-waiting to Imelda Staunton’s Queen, in Netflix’s The Crown. She was also a scheming gallerist in the BBC’s Sherlock and had recurring roles on Peak Practice and Merseybeat.
Born in West Sussex, Gwynne was involved in local amdram productions and studied sociology at the University of Nottingham, during which time she did student theatre at the Edinburgh fringe. After graduating, she lectured in English at the University of Rome. She did not attend drama school and got a crucial break in 1984 when Alan Ayckbourn directed her in Sandy Wilson’s musical play His Monkey Wife, based on John Collier’s novel, in Scarborough. Gwynne had two sons with her partner, Jason Phipps.