Drop the Dead Donkey star Hayden Gwynn dies at age 66
English actress Hayden Gwynn, best known for roles in TV shows including Drop the Dead Donkey, Peak Practice, Merseybeat, and The Windsor, has died at the age of 66.
In a statement on Friday, her agent said: “It is with great sadness that we share with you that, after recently being diagnosed with cancer, stage and screen star Hayden Gwynne passed away in hospital in the early hours of Friday, October 20. Died in.” She is surrounded by her loving sons, close family, and friends.
Paying tribute to Hayden Gwynn
Among those paying tribute to Gwynne was Jack Thorne, in whose play When Winston Went to War with the Wireless, Gwynne had starred at London’s Donmar Warehouse that year. Thorne said: “Hayden was the kindest, sweetest soul, and an amazing artist. She gave everything for everything.” Author Jonathan Harvey called her “a talented and versatile all-rounder”. Helen King, a retired police officer who is now principal of St Anne’s College, Oxford, said that Gwynne hired her to play Superintendent Susan Blake in the TV series Merseybeat. “I remember her as an intelligent, hard-working, and funny person,” King said.
Gwynne achieved success in the TV drama Nice Work in the late 1980s, followed by widespread fame and a BAFTA nomination for playing the eccentric and stoic journalist Alex in the period satire Drop the Dead Donkey.
Hayden Gwynn’s journey and personal life
Hayden Gwynn is fluent in French and Italian. He studied modern languages at the University of Warwick before taking a five-year lectureship in Italy, where he taught English. She also traveled across the United States before becoming an actress in her mid-twenties. She first appeared on television, starring in the David Lodge campus comedy/drama Nice Work (1989), before joining Drop the Dead Donkey (1990), a sharp comedy series set in a television newsroom. She is also known for her roles in the medical series Peak Practice (1993) and the police drama Merseybeat (2001), although more recently she has starred in the stage musicals ‘Billy Elliot’ and ‘Ziegfeld’. She lives in London with her partner, Jason Phipps, a psychiatrist, and their two sons, Orlando and Harry. She also volunteers for Sightsavers, a group committed to combating blindness in underdeveloped countries.
Achievements of Hayden Gwynn
Hayden Gwynn, who played satirical assistant editor Alex Petts in Channel 4’s newsroom satire Drop the Dead Donkey, had a celebrated career on television and stage. She received Olivier and Tony Award nominations as the dance teacher in Billy Elliot the Musical (in London and New York) and three for the musical productions City of Angels, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (based on the film by Pedro Almodovar). Received other Olivier nominations and The Threepenny Opera.