Susan Hampshire

Susan Hampshire was the youngest of five children born in London, England to George Kenneth Hampshire and his wife June. As a youngster, she had great difficulty learning to read and write; she was finally diagnosed with dyslexia at age 30. Her childhood ambition was to be a nurse, but she did not have the required qualifications in Latin, so she decided to become an actress. She made her film debut as a child, in The Woman In The Hall (1947). She performed on the radio and on stage before moving to more film and television work. Her most famous TV role was in the 1967 BBC adaptation of The Forsyte Saga, in which she played Fleur. Until the publication in 1981 of her autobiography, Susan's Story, few people were aware of her lifelong struggle with dyslexia. She also become a prominent campaigner in the UK on dyslexia issues and served as president of the Dyslexia Institute from 1995 to 1998. Her second book, The Maternal Instinct (1984) focused on women and fertility issues. Every Letter Counts: Winning in Life Despite Dyslexia, appeared in 1990. Susan has also written several children's books, including Lucy Jane at the Ballet, Lucy Jane and the Russian Ballet, Lucy Jane and the Dancing Competition, Lucy Jane on Television, Bear's Christmas, Rosie's First Ballet Lesson and Rosie's Ballet Slippers, as well as various books and videos about her lifelong hobby of gardening, including Easy Gardening, My Secret Garden and Trouble Free Gardening.
She is also patron of Mousetrap Theatre Projects in London, which supports disadvantaged and disabled children to enjoy theatre. In 1967, she married her first husband, Pierre Granier-Deferre, a French film producer, with whom she had two children; in 1981, she re-married to Sir Eddie Kulukundis, a theater producer. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1995, and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2018.