Zena Walker

Who was Zena Walker?

Zena Walker was an English actress in film, theatre and television.

Walker was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, the daughter of George Walker, a grocer, and his wife Elizabeth Louise. She attended St. Martin's School in Solihull and then went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She starred in an adaptation of A.J. Cronin's novel, The Citadel. Her most memorable performance is considered that of a mother in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, a 1969 black comedy by Peter Nichols about a handicapped child. She was a memorable Opheilia opposite Paul Scofield's Hamlet, and she was Her Ladyship in the film version of Ronald Harwood's play The Dresser. Between 1970 and 1972 she appeared in the television series Man at the Top as Susan Lampton.

Walker married twice, both times to actors: Robert Urquhart and later Julian Holloway. She died in 2003 in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, aged 69, from undisclosed causes. Her last role was as the messenger in Oedipus.