Harriet Walter

Dame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE (born 24 September 1950) is an English actress of stage and screen, best known for her performance in Downton Abbey as the deliciously arch Lady Prudence Shackleton. Her film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), The Governess (1998), Villa des Roses (2002), Atonement (2007), and Man Up (2015). On television, she starred in the ITV drama series Law & Order: UK (2009–14). She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2011 for services to drama.

Walter starred in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of All's Well That Ends Well in 1981, and made her Broadway debut when the production transferred to New York in 1983. For her work in various RSC productions, including Twelfth Night (1987–88) and Three Sisters (1988), she won the 1988 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Revival. Other notable roles for the RSC include Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (1999) and Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra (2006). She won the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth I in the 2005 London revival of Mary Stuart, and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play when she reprised the role on Broadway in 2009.