A star-studded sit down with Imelda Staunton and Jim Carter

20th February

These past two months have been filled with activity. 2024 started strong, featuring events with authors, coffee mornings, living well workshops, and most recently, a special Q&A with an Oscar nominee and Downton Abbey star. Read about our recent Q&A event below. 

In the latest instalment in our ‘In Conversation With’ series, we had the pleasure of welcoming two of the world’s most celebrated actors, Imelda Staunton and Jim Carter, to Riverstone Fulham and Kensington.

The speakers

An Oscar nominee and a 4-time Olivier Award winner, Imelda Staunton, CBE, is known for her versatility and depth in both stage and screen roles. Staunton rose to fame following her unforgettable role in Vera Drake in 2004 and went on to solidify her critical acclaim in her fearsome portrayal of Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films and with her role as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown.

Jim Carter - and his deep, dark and distinctive voice - has also had a prolific career both on stage and in film and television. Achieving widespread fame as Britain’s best-known butler, Carter earned an Emmy nomination for his role as Mr Carson in Downton Abbey.

The conversation

Sat with Julian Mercer, Co-Founder of Riverstone, the duo candidly shared their career highs, what challenges them on-stage and behind the camera, what they do to relax, and how, after more than 40 years of marriage, they still have an undeniable spark.

Q: Imelda, you’ve acted in classics, from Shakespeare to Jane Austen, Harry Potter and The Crown. Where do you feel most comfortable?

Imelda Staunton [IS]: I think it's my job to feel comfortable wherever I go. I started in theater and I love it to be absolutely honest. Theatre demands one thing, film another, and television, another. So they're all different mediums and they all demand you to use different disciplines. And that's always good for you to sort of chop and change. The minute you become too comfortable, I find that uncomfortable. I like to be challenged.

Jim Carter [JC]: I have to say that Imelda loves to be uncomfortable. She loves to take a challenge and without being maritally indiscreet, she starts rehearsing in May for Hello Dolly at the London Palladium in July. Whereas I'm very comfortable with being comfortable. I want an easy life!

Q: Imelda, we have to talk about The Crown. You've been nominated for BAFTAs and Golden Globe Screen Actor Guild Awards. How does it feel to play such an iconic figure? And do you feel that sort of added sense of responsibility?

IS: There's no doubt there was an added responsibility, especially when you are playing any real person and particularly such an iconic one. Not only are you trying to portray the Queen, but you are following in Helen Mirren's footsteps, Claire Foy, and Olivia Coleman. But you have to get rid of that and just do the job at hand. It was a huge, huge privilege to do. It was so challenging and also very difficult because the Queen died when we were filming. Of course, we stopped filming - then we knew we had to resume filming. I was filming the day after her funeral, and that was terribly difficult.

Q: Jim, let's turn to you. You've got a CV full of well-known films, but I guess the real fame came for you later in life in Downton Abbey. Would that be fair?

JC: Absolutely. I'd never done a TV series. I'd never wanted to be pigeonholed in a way, because if you’re in a television series, then you're in people's sitting rooms every Wednesday night or Sunday night. And you become very, very familiar and people feel they know you. I wouldn't have taken Downton Abbey if I had been 30, but being 60+ when I took it, I was happy to do that. I thought there was a mark of quality about it, especially knowing that Maggie Smith had accepted it. But what was amazing was the way it became a phenomenon.

After insights into their acting careers, the conversation moved on to their relationship.

Q: What is it like working together?

IS: Oh we love it. We got so excited about going to work together one day on Downton.

JC: It is good fun. As we have a daughter, we never sought to work together because sometimes it’s good to go out and do different things, and bring different things home, rather than being with each other 24 hours a day. And with a child that we wanted to bring up ourselves, we had to juggle. So if Imelda had been offered a fantastic job, she would take that, and I’d be at home. And vice versa.

IS: We have been married for 40 years and we met 42 years ago this year at the National Theatre, on the first day of rehearsal of Guys and Dolls. And we’re proud parents today as our daughter has just opened a play at the National Theatre, and has been rehearsing in the same room where we met all those years ago.

Finally, before taking questions from the audience, Imelda and Jim shared their view on retirement and positive ageing.

Q: So at Riverstone, we are ripping up the retirement rule book. A lot of residents, they still work, travel and exercise, and we support and encourage this. I know as actors, you don't retire per se, but you must have thought about the future. And what does that hold?

JC: Just more work. We never really think about retiring, but we are practised in retirement - I finished a job over 18 months ago. We make sure we have full lives. You can't sit around waiting for the phone to ring. 'cause then you become a dull person, then you're that dull person on screen. You have to be active. So we're active socially.

Q: At Riverstone, we are passionate about people's interests in later life. It’s a really important part of positive ageing. What are your interests? How do you relax?

IS: Well, we both love the garden. We like our little adventure holidays. We have a dog. We walk the dog. We like doing things together. And the rest of that, it's private! We love each other's company, and we feel very lucky to feel that.

Question from the audience: Question for both of you. Who is your favourite actor or actress in Harry Potter? And for yourself in downtown Abbey?

IS: Dan Radcliffe takes some beating. I think he did the most tremendous job. And I love working with younger actors and I think he’s a great actor. I have nothing but admiration for him.

JC: I'll be more generalised than that if I may. In Downton Abbey, we’ve got a little dining group. There's me and Mrs Patmore, the Cook, Mrs Hughes - my screen wife - Daisy the Maid, and Thomas Barrow, the naughty footman. We go out for dinner together as a little group, two or three times a year.