Maria Aitken is a British actress and director, born 12 September 1945 in Dublin to Sir William Aitken (Conservative MP) and Penelope Aitken, daughter of John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby. She is a great-niece of newspaper magnate and war-time minister Lord Beaverbrook. As a student at Oxford University in the mid-1960s she was cast in a small part in Richard Burton's production Faustus that was also filmed. Portal:Currentevents September 12 is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years). ... 1945 (MCMVL) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ... The Honourable Penelope Loader, Lady Aitken, MBE (2 December 1910–7 February 2005), nicknamed Pempe, was an English socialite. ... John Loader Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby, GCMG, KCB, KCVO, CSI, CIE (1 July 1877–20 April 1969) was a British civil servant. ... Sir William Maxwell Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (May 25, 1879 - June 9, 1964) was a Canadian–British business tycoon and politician. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Richard Burton CBE (November 10, 1925 – August 5, 1984) was a Welsh actor. ...

She played Lady Edwina Mountbatten in the critically acclaimed movie Jinnah, which highlighted the life and times of Pakistan's founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. She also appeared with John Cleese in both A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures. More recently she has concentrated on directing. Her most recent production is The 39 Steps, originally at The Tricycle, Kilburn, and now at the West End's Criterion Theatre until April 2007.^[1]
The Honourable Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, CI, GBE, DCVO (28 November 1901 – 21 February 1960) was an English heiress, socialite, relief-worker and the wife of the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. ... The movie Jinnah was made on the life of founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. ... office: 1st Governor-General of Pakistan Term of office: August 14, 1947 – September 11, 1948 Succeeded by: Khawaja Nazimuddin Date of birth: December 25, 1876 Place of birth: Wazir Mansion, Karachi Wives: Emibai 1892–1893, Rattanbai Petit 1918–1929 Children: daughter Dina Wadia Date of Death: September 11, 1948 Place... John Marwood Cleese (born October 27, 1939 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England) is an English comedian and actor best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for co-writing the TV series Fawlty Towers in which he played Basil Fawlty. ... A Fish Called Wanda is a movie released in 1988 by MGM. It was written by John Cleese and directed by Charles Crichton. ... Fierce Creatures is a 1997 comedy movie, John Cleese and companys follow-up to the widely popular A Fish Called Wanda. ... The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by John Buchan, first published in 1915. ...

She is the sister of politician and convicted perjuror Jonathan Aitken (see that article for more on her family), and the mother of actor Jack Davenport from her marriage to Nigel Davenport. She is married to the novelist Patrick McGrath. They live together in New York and London. Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born August 30, 1942) is a former Conservative Member of Parliament, British government minister and convicted perjurer. ... Jack Davenport at Pirates of the Caribbean premiere in LA Jack Davenport (born March 1, 1973) is an English actor. ... |Nigel Davenport (born 1928) is a British actor. ... Patrick McGrath (born February 7, 1950, London) is a British novelist whose work has been categorized as gothic fiction. ...

In 1983, Aitken was arrested arriving at Heathrow Airport in possession of a small amount of cocaine leading to a charge of drug smuggling. Her defence counsel was George Carman who would also act for her brother. The charges were eventually dropped. 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... London Heathrow Airport (IATA airport code: LHR, ICAO airport code: EGLL, and often simply Heathrow) is the United Kingdoms busiest and best-connected airport. ... Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. ... George Carman (6 October 1929 – 2 January 2001), a leading barrister (lawyer) of the 1980s and 1990s, first came to prominence when he successfully defended the former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe when he was charged with attempted murder. ...

She is the author of Style: Acting in High Comedy, published in 1996, which contends that “High comedies are not bloodless, refined, wordy plays—their themes are sex, money and social advancement. Their contain splendid a contradiction: wit and elegance at the service of man's basest drives.”

External links

• Maria Aitken at the Internet Movie Database

References: The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about actors, films, television shows, video games and production crew personnel. ...

1. ^ http://www.thisistheatre.com/londonshows/39steps.html