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Penny Downie

Acting Born Jan 1, 1954 Queensland, Australia 24 credits

Biography

Penny Downie is an Australian actress known for her stage and television appearances in the United Kingdom. From 2017 until 2021 she played Ellen in the British TV sitcom Back. She plays the US ambassador’s house manager Frances Munning in the 2023 Netflix political thriller series The Diplomat.

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Known for

The Crown

as Duchess of Gloucester

Agatha Christie's Poirot

as Frances Cloade

The Diplomat

as Frances Munning

Full filmography

  • The Crown (2016) as Duchess of Gloucester
  • Vera (2011) as Veronica
  • Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989) as Frances Cloade
  • Downton Abbey (2010) as Lady Sinderby
  • Father Brown (2013) as Rev. Mother Augustine
  • Minder (1979) as Dee Rogers
  • Spooks (2002) as Prosecution QC
  • Silk (2011) as Helen Guthrie
  • Waking the Dead (2001) as Bonnie Yorke
  • Absentia (2017) as Valerie Chandris
  • Inspector Morse (1987) as Nurse Wendy Hazlitt
  • The Diplomat (2023) as Frances Munning
  • Ripper Street (2012) as Flora Gable
  • Screen One (1989) as Sheila
  • The Chelsea Detective (2022) as Hilary Carmichael
  • Kavanagh Q.C. (1995) as Mrs. Rosalind McEnery
  • Timewatch (1982) as Caecilia
  • Whitstable Pearl (2021) as Izzy
  • London Has Fallen (2016) as Home Secretary Rose Kenter
  • Dalgliesh (1983) as Kate Miskin
  • Invictus (2009) as Mrs. Pienaar
  • Back (2017) as Ellen
  • Houdini & Doyle (2016) as Mrs. Sulzbach
  • Murder in Suburbia (2004) as Zenith