Cherie Lunghi Biography

Cherie Mary Lunghi (born 4 April 1952) is an English film, television and theatre actress, well known to British audiences for her starring roles in many TV dramas. Her international fame stems from her role as Guinevere in the 1981 film Excalibur. Her long list of screen, stage and TV credits include football manageress Gabriella Benson in the 1990s television series The Manageress and a series of adverts for Kenco coffee. She also competed in the 2008 series of Strictly Come Dancing. She is the mother of the actress Nathalie Lunghi.

Early life

Lunghi was born in Nottingham. Her father, Alessandro Lunghi, was Italian, and her mother, Gladys Lee, was English. After her father returned to Italy, she was brought up in west London by her mother and her aunts.

Career

Educated at London's Arts Educational School, Lunghi played Hedvig in The Wild Duck and Alice in Alice in Wonderland on BBC radio while still at school. After graduating from Homerton College, Cambridge and London's Central School of Speech and Drama, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in the late 1970s, taking leading roles such as Perdita, Cordelia and Viola. She left the RSC to pursue a career in film, landing the role of Guinevere in the 1981 film Excalibur.

Lunghi has a daughter, actress Nathalie Lunghi (née Nathalie-Kathleen Mary Lunghi-Joffé), by director Roland Joffé. After the birth of her daughter and the breakdown of her relationship with Joffé she took various short-term parts, including playing the band members' mutual love interest in the music video for Level 42's song "Something About You".

She starred in the 1982 television serial Praying Mantis, based on the book (Les Mantes Religieuses) by Hubert Monteilhet. The thriller co-starred Pinkas Braun, Carmen du Sautoy and Jonathan Pryce. In the mid-1980s she relocated to Los Angeles for eight years, but returned to England to care for her mother. She took on the lead role in football drama The Manageress. As a result, in 1995 she was placed 92nd in the "100 Sexiest Women in the World" by the publishers of FHM magazine. In addition to film and television work, she is perhaps best known for appearing in a long-running advertising campaign on British television for Kenco coffee from the late 1990s onwards.

In 2006 Lunghi appeared on television in Casualty 1906, playing Matron Eva Luckes, and had a recurring guest role in the regular Casualty series as Professor Camille Windsor. In 2013, she narrated some episodes of the BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?.

Strictly Come Dancing

In 2008, she competed in the sixth series of BBC television's Strictly Come Dancing (14-week run), partnered by James Jordan. After her first dance, the Foxtrot on the Ladies Night in Week 2, she scored the highest points of the first two weeks (33). She beat this score with another series best score of 35/40 for the Rumba to finish week 4 top of the remaining 12 contestants with an average score of 34/40. The score for her third dance, the American Smooth was an impressive 34 to maintain her average, though she slipped to 31/40 for the Paso Doble, and further to 26/40 on her fifth outing, in the Salsa. She returned to form the following week with a Waltz, scoring 36/40 and was joint first on the leaderboard. She was voted off the competition on 16 November 2008, (Week 9) losing by 3 votes to 1 in the dance-off against model Lisa Snowdon after performing a Cha Cha Cha. In the January/February 2009 Strictly Tour, she danced an American Smooth and a Rumba with James Jordan.

Marriage

Lunghi was briefly married to South African student Ralph Lawson after the pair met while studying at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. The 1975 marriage was one of convenience so that Lawson could remain in the UK. The couple never lived together as man and wife, instead staying in separate digs in Newcastle. Lawson ended up moving back to South Africa two years later anyway to take a new job.

Filmography

• Diversion (1980)
• Excalibur (1981) Guinevere
• Timeslip (1982)
• King David (1985) Michal
• Lying Still (1985)
• The Mission (1986) Carlotta
• Letters to an Unknown Lover (1986) Helene
• Intrigue (1988) Adriana
• To Kill a Priest (1988) Halina
• Ransom (1990) Claire Stein
• Silent Cries / Guests of the Emperor (1993) Audrey
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) Baroness Frankenstien (Victor's Mother)
• Jack and Sarah (1995) Anna
• An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997) Myrna Smithee
• Back to the Secret Garden (2001) Lady Mary Craven
• Viper in the Fist (2004) Miss Chilton
• No Ordinary Trifle (2011)

Television

• Pat & Cabbage (2013)
• Who Do You Think You Are? (2013) Narrator
• Lewis (2011) Grace Orde
• Casualty 1909 (2009) Matron Eva Luckes
• Strictly Come Dancing (2008) herself
• Apparitions (2008)
• A Touch Of Frost, Episode Dead End (2008) Detective Sergeant Annie Marsh
• Casualty 1907 (2008) Matron Eva Luckes
• Casualty (2007, 2008) Camille Windsor
• The Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007-2011) Stephanie
• Hotel Babylon (2007) Mrs. Poldark
• Casualty 1906 (2006) Matron Eva Luckes
• Dalziel & Pascoe (2006) Kay Miclean
• Marple: A Murder is Announced (2005) Sadie Swettenham
• The Brief (2004) Cleo Steyn
• New Tricks (2003) Diane Loveless
• Midsomer Murders (2003) Lillian Webster
• Cutting It (2003) Zinnia Raggitt
• The Seasons Alter (2002) Titania
• The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: For the Sake of Elena (2002) Sarah Gordon
• EastEnders (2001) Jan Sherwood
• A Likeness In Stone (2000) Merie Kirschman
• David Copperfield (1999) Mrs Steerforth
• Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil (1999) Duchess of Wharfedale
• Little White Lies (1998) Julia
• Moloney (1996) Dr. Sarah Bateman
• The Canterville Ghost (1996) Lucille Otis
• Strangers (1996) Episode 1 of Canadian TV series - Joan
• The Buccaneers (1995) Laura Testvalley
• A Question of Guilt (1993) Helen West
• Covington Cross / Charing Cross (1992) Lady Elizabeth
• The Strauss Dynasty (1991) Jetti
• The Ruth Rendell Mysteries: Put on by Cunning (1990) Dinah Sternhold
• The Manageress: The Manageress (1989) Gabriella Benson
• The Man Who Lived at the Ritz (1988)
• The Lady's Not for Burning (1987) Jennet Jourdemayne
• Coast to Coast (1987) Susan
• The Monocled Mutineer (1986) Dorothy
• Harem (1986) Usta
• Music Video: "Something About You" - Level 42 (1985)
• Vicious Circle (1985)
• Bones (1984) Jenny Parker
• Much Ado About Nothing (1984) Beatrice
• Ellis Island (1984) Una Marbury
• Master of the Game (1984) Eve/Alexandra
• Strangers and Brothers (1984) Margaret Davidson/Eliot
• The Sign of Four (1983) Mary Morstan
• Praying Mantis (1982) Beatrice Manceau
• Oliver Twist (1982) Nancy
• The Manhood of Edward Robinson (1981) Noreen
• Tales of the Unexpected (1981) Karen Masterson
• Armchair Thriller: Dead Man's Kit (1980) Stephanie
• Tis Pity She's a Whore (1980) Annabella
• If Winter Comes (1980) Csöppi/Ilóna
• Prince Regent (1979) Princess Charlotte
• The Comedy of Errors (1978) Ephesus Townsperson
• Kean (1978) Anna Danby
• Edward and Mrs. Simpson (1978) Lady Thelma Furness
• Bill Brand (1976) Alex Ferguson
• The Brontes of Haworth (1973) Student