Phyllida Law, mother of Emma Thompson, dies at 94
Veteran actress Phyllida Law, mother of Emma Thompson, has died aged 94. Her manager said she died peacefully at home surrounded by family on July 27. Law enjoyed a five-decade career spanning theatre, television and acclaimed films.
Los Angeles: Hollywood actress Phyllida Law, the mother of actress Emma Thompson, has died at the age of 94. The veteran actress passed away at the end of last month, but the news was only announced on August 18, 2026.
The news was shared by her personal manager, Jacky Leggo, who said she had “died supremely peacefully at home, surrounded by all her family”, reports ‘Female First UK’.
Jacky told the BBC, “It is with great sadness we have to announce that Phyllida Law died supremely peacefully at home, surrounded by all of her family, on Monday July 27. We had worked together for over fifty years and she was a beautiful person inside and out”.
The actress, who married actor Eric Thompson in 1957, had a vast range of roles in theatre, TV and film over the year, including projects with her two daughters, Dame Emma Thompson and Sophie Thompson.
As per ‘Female First UK’, she starred with Emma in films including ‘Peter’s Friends’ and ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, which were both directed by Emma’s then-husband Sir Kenneth Branagh, and they played mother and daughter in ‘The Winter Guest’, which the late Alan Rickman directed in 1997.
She appeared with younger daughter Sophie in Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’ (1996), as well as working with her on TV series including Midsomer Murders, Doc Martin Timeshift and Poirot. Phyllida, also had movie roles in ‘The Time Machine’, ‘Miss Potter’, and ‘Albert Nobbs’, and TV parts in the likes of Waking the Dead, Foyle’s War, Rosemary + Thyme, a recurring part in ITV series Kingdom. Her notable stage roles included an appearance alongside Alec Guinness in A Voyage Round My Father in London’s West End in 1971, and Habeas Corpus at the Oxford Playhouse in 1973.
She also played Jacqueline in the original London cast of La Cage Aux Folles at the Palladium in 1986. The actress received an OBE in 2014, and starred with John Hurt in the Oscar-nominated short film Love at First Sight in 2012.
