Meet and Greet: 2017 Cincy Comic Expo Guest Miriam Margolyes

Miriam – I love you and I want to be the closest of friends. If ever this reaches your bubble, give me a shout and I will come over and we can talk genealogy, the world or how Arnold Schwarzenegger is an ass for farting in your face.

I have attended a handful of Cincy Comic Expo weekends. 2017 was one of those years. When I looked through the lineup, I was pleased to see Miriam Margolyes on the guest list. Well, I was MORE than pleased. I love her. I truly do. HUGE fan. During recovery from my 2017 surgery, I watched a ton of Graham Norton. It made me happy. She was a constant companion, I felt as if I shared the couch with her. She made me laugh (that was painful with all the stitches and recovery and all) but I didn’t care!

This is Ben, Al and me in line…well, it is our obligatory foot pic:

My notes from her talk:

I was disappointed with the venue. They did not have it set up as a proper panel. They basically set her down and immediately opened it to the floor for questions. Someone should have been more prepared with questions. Holy fuck, had they called me I would have GLADLY been the Q&A dude.
So…I asked questions. Q#1: How much money did you donate to the curse jar while filming Harry Potter (HUGE LAUGH – A: Cannot remember. But, the money was donated to the World Wildlife Fund). Q#2 How many turnips did she eat while filming Black Adder? (A: Cannot recall – then explained to those in the audience who were unfamiliar what I was talking about re Black Adder.) Here I am asking those questions:

She hates Disney and especially Epcot.
She spoke of her love of Genealogy (in retro I am utterly pissed at myself for not catching any video of this – she was brill!). The family had lost track of one of its members when he moved to America. She was able to track down a grandson in Boston and called them to say “Hey, I am a British actor and your Grandfather was related to me.” In the conversation she mentioned her Jewish heritage (and the Grandfather’s) to which she was point blank told “Not possible, not my Grandfather. If anything he did not like Jews.” She told the Grandson that she would like to email him what she had (pics, docs, etc) and would call back in a few days and if at that time he still did not believe they were related she would go her own way. A few days pass, she calls and he answered “Shalom!” What I w not give to have her call and tell me she was related!!
She was charming, funny and I love her even more! A pic of me and my new best friend, notice my tshirt:

Some of my fave clips of her: WARNING: most are foul and wonderfully offensive!

She also tells a great story about Arnold Schwarzenegger – who, while standing over her “dead” body in End of Days, farted in her face and thought it was just hilarious.

IMDB Facts:

For her IMDB page, click: HERE
Is of Belarussian-Jewish descent.
Major credits during her long and celebrated career include Yentl (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), I Love You to Death (1990), End of Days (1999), Sunshine (1999), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Cats & Dogs (2001), Magnolia (1999) and she was Prof. Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).
Works and has homes in the US, UK and Australia.
She took time out of her career to nurse her mother and spent a quarter of a million pounds on full-time care for her father. She supports charities for disabled people and their carers. Her mother Ruth died in 1974 and her father Joseph died in 1995.
She has been with her partner, an Australian academic, since 1968.
She is a huge admirer of the works of Charles Dickens and has toured the world in a one-woman show, Dickens’ Women, inspired by the females in his works.
Playing Madame Morrible in the London production of Wicked. [December 2006]
Voiced the Cadbury’s Caramel Bunny in the British adverts.

Quotes:

I’m not the sort of woman men boast of having slept with.
As you certainly know, Queen Victoria did not believe in lesbianism. So that was why it was never a criminal offense, in the way homosexuality was, because she thought it was impossible.
Early patterns are very important. They are the paradigm for relationships, since they are the earliest ones you observe. I am a clone of my mother, whereas my partner is like my father in that she’s a thoughtful person, a scholar, who is extremely quiet, not demonstrative.
I used to sleep around and be silly because I thought I was an ugly, fat little person and couldn’t believe that anyone would want me. So I did it to prove I could get someone.
[on her mother] She took centre-stage in our lives. She was the star. And when I hear pieces of music that my mother liked, I weep. I think it’s true that the people you’ve loved in your life never leave you, because seeds of that love always remain flowering somewhere.