I’m sure many of you won’t care about this, but these photos just make me happy. Emma Thompson and her mother, Phyllida Law, were both given honorary doctorates in drama from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow yesterday. Phyllida is beautiful, isn’t she? And Emma too. You can take all of the Kardashians, Bosworths, et al and just leave Emma for me. Emma is one of my favorite people in the world. She’s funny and talented and cool, and her graduate garb is lovely. Unfortunately, Emma’s new honorary doctorate just means that she feels like a fraud:
Emma Thompson has admited feeling like a fraud as she collected an honorary degree in Glasgow alongside her mother Phyllida Law. She said her son quizzed her on how many essays she had actually written for the degree and joked she will now demand to be addressed as doctor.
The acting duo were awarded honorary doctorates in drama from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) in Glasgow and later posed for photos in their graduation robes and signed autographs for fans. Nanny McPhee star Thompson won an Oscar for her lead role in 1992’s Howards End and a second Academy Award in 1996 for best adapted screenplay for Sense And Sensibility.
The pair have starred in several films together, including The Winter Guest, but sharing a stage at the RCS graduation topped the bill.
Thompson said: “We’ve not received anything like this before and we both feel slightly fraudulent because when I told my son he asked ‘how many essays did you have to [write] to get that?’ So we feel really lucky that we now get to put ‘doctor’ in front of our names and pretend we’re important. We’ve both had so much work as actors and are still working so to get a degree for it is great. I suppose in a sense it’s a reward for hanging in there. So many actors fall by the wayside so maybe this is recognition because we’re still going.”
Law joked: “It’s certainly not for our looks. It’s a dreadful mistake to be born exquisitely beautiful because it wears off by 28. Thankfully we didn’t need to worry about that.”
Law, who was born in Glasgow and was married to actor Eric Thompson from 1957 until his death in 1982, has appeared in many documentaries and interviews concerning her late husband’s narration on The Magic Roundabout and was in the original London cast of La Cage Aux Folles at London Palladium. The 81-year-old will receive a second degree when she becomes honorary doctor of letters from Glasgow Caledonian University later in the week.
“It’s great fun to be able to do this together, much better than collecting it on your own. And to get it in Glasgow is great,” Law said. “It’s quite silly that I’m getting another one but it means I’ll have two and Emma will be in the audience this time to see me.”
Thompson is married to Royal Conservatoire alumnus Greg Wise and said she is delighted to keep up the family tradition, even if her husband is not.
“Greg graduated from here in the 80s or 90s and he’s fit to be dead and spitting feathers at home because he had to do so much work and exams to get his degree and we just had to turn up to become doctors.”
The honours for the mother and daughter see them join the likes of singer Annie Lennox, comedian Billy Connolly and actor Tilda Swinton, who have all received honorary doctorates from the Conservatoire, previously the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Also receiving honorary doctorates were opera singer Patricia MacMahon and Jenny Sealy, a producer for the London 2012 Paralympics opening ceremony.
Emma is so English! That interview was a study in how not to take yourself too seriously, which should be make the list of “Very British Problems”. Anyway, I always forget that Emma’s husband Greg Wise is so Scotland-friendly. I believe he’s part Scottish, he went to school in Scotland, and when he and Emma married, he wore a traditional kilt. Sigh… I love them. I love Emma most of all.
PS… You better comment on this post if you want more stories about Emma rather than the Kardashians!
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
I love her!! More Emma!!! Where is her hot husband? I love them so much. One word: Willoughby!
+1!!!
I love her, but I hate honorary degrees so I’m torn. ..
Well, She graduated from Cambridge [English] so this isn’t entirely fraudulent in the way that they hand these to people who’ve never graduated high school….
and oh yes…Willoughby!
I’ve been a fan ever since her variety show was shown her on PBS (it was in the late 80s If I remember correctly). Please LOTS MORE EMMA!! 🙂
And if it’s made she better be in the new Bit of Fry & Laurie.
more thompson, less kardashian!
+1000!
I really do love both of them. I especially loved Phyllida Law as Aunt Auriel in Kingdom 🙂
I love this post!
Please, more Emma and less Kardashians/LeAnn Rimes/Lindsay Lohan.
Emma and her mom are both delightfully cute and funny.
x infinity!
x infinity +1. More Emma, Cate, people with true talent and who are actual celebrities!
very adorable indeed! I loved Sense and Sensibility, still get sucked in every time it’s on tv..
I will take them over the Kardashians any day..
Oh, how I adore Sense and Sensibility.
It is one of those movies if I find it on TV, I stop to watch it. And it has been on Starz a lot in the last couple of months. 🙂
What I did recently watch was Emma in “Stranger than fiction…” and I really enjoyed that odd little movie.
@hautie – wasn’t “Stranger Than Fiction” wonderful? I thought I was the only person who actually saw it!!! Glad to find I wasn’t.
Those are my two favourite Emma Thompson movies!!!
Please, there are great actors who also are amazing pleople, post about their projects more often!
I’ve never understood the point of an honorary degree… it seems unfair for the people who actually worked hard for theirs…
From what I can gather, it’s the way that university administrators get famous people to come and visit them. I guess it’s good for photo ops like this.
Mmm.. it just seems press related… a bit desperate on the part of a University?
haha. I was thinking the same thing.
I thought, “I paid $50,000-ish for my degree and they get it in a flash for no cash.”
It is just symbolic, so all in fun.
PS – Love Emma.
I love Emma, I really do. I could live with Emma posts every day and will comment on all of them, I promise. And her mother looks like a mess of fun.
But, in addition to the comments above, although I am sure she is trying to be clever and show that she understands she didn’t earn this degree, she almost sounds as if she is mocking it.
*comment* I don’t have anything to say except I love them too, particularly Phyllida, but you did say. Comment. So comment.
+1
This is cute beyond the words!!!
Also: more Emma less kardashassholes!
Yes! And I’m loving how Emma can actually move her face.
The photos of them are just lovely. She was great with Alan Rickman in Love Actually. So comment, comment, comment.
That one brief scene is worth the whole film.
*comment*
+ 1
Yeah – love her.
Emma Thompson is SO adorable and such a great actress!
These pics are so cute and sweet… Yay, they made my day 🙂
I adore Emma, these pictures are so lovely!
I hope Saving Mr Banks is awesome because how cool will it be to have Emma during Awards season again?!
I’ve loved Emma’s acting forever, ever since I first saw her in Dead Again. She’s wonderful.
That was the movie that started my love affair with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. She’s such an amazing actress – Remains of the Day, Howard’s End, Much Ado About Nothing, In the Name of the Father – I could watch Emma Thompson movies every day and not get tired of them (except Junior – that movie sucked, but that wasn’t her fault).
Em and Ken were fabulous together! I’m so annoyed that he broke up the marriage by stepping out on her with Helena Bonham Carter!
I did not know that. And I really liked Helena too!
I am sure that Branaugh kicks himself for his foolishness often-they were stellar together!
I have only started liking him again because of PBS’ “Wallander”. He plays a driven, emotionally battered man. That may not be far from the truth, and I appreciate his skill in the role and the fact that he might be showing us a bit of himself.
Oh! They look so good!
I would have loved photos of her son and daughter at the ceremony. Her little girl must be quite grown up by now….
When did she have a son? A quick Wiki check says she “informally adopted a 16 y/o Rwandan refugee” in 2003 – which is very strange wording. Of course it’s Wiki.
Emma is one of my fave celebs in the world along with Meryl Streep.
Oh, the cuteness! More Emma, please, always and forever!
have to post… doing my part to have more of anyone as long as it means less k’dashians
Great post, great pics – love love LOVE!
great pics! Thanks!
+1 to every comment that proclaims undying devotion to Emma!
Thanks for posting. Emma has had such a interesting career.
I love her! She is great actress and deserves this. Her mother is lovely too, would love to have that mother daughter relationship!
So lovely ! This makes me happy 🙂
The scene in Love Actually when she discovers her husband (Alan Rickman…sigh) has been cheating kills me every time! I LOVE her!! Please more Emma posts. And Alan Rickman posts as well would be very welcome.
This! I’ve recently seen a video of Alan Rickman drinking tea in slow-motion. I think it deserves a post… or two since it was about a million times more interesting than anything involving Kardashians, West or anything related to them 😉
Found it! Thank you!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwVf8b2Skgs
+1
I’m going to have to seek out that Alan Rickman video now . . .
also, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman in BBC’s “The Song of Lunch”! which convinces me that somewhere out there, Snape is still alive and takes semi-regular lunches with Nanny McPhee whilst drinking tea steeped in distilled unicorn tears.
I love Emma Thompson!!! More please!
Wow, they look soooo much alike, don’t they?
Beautiful.
An honorary degree is fine with me, if it’s for your life’s work / school of hard knocks. If you are top of your game, they you’ve obviously been studying your whole life for this.
And it may not be essays, but she did write Sense and Sensibility and the Nanny McPhee screenplays, so it’s not like she didn’t work for it.
Also, I shall be using the phrase “spitting feathers” all the time now.
The honorary doctorates make sense here. It’s for a body of work, right? Also, they’re not taking it seriously, like so many Hollywood celebs do. Emma and her mum should get one every year.
I love Emma! She will always be Nanny G (spot) from Cheers to me!!
But I also love her in Love Actually and, of course, Harry Potter, among others. More Emma stories, please!!
Ha! I’m thrilled that someone else remembers Nanny G! That was the first time I saw Emma Thompson, & fell in love with her.
She had so much spirit & was so hilarious & memorable in that character I never forgot her.
Ahh. A breath of fresh air, these two.
Love!!!!!
Awesome, Nanny McPhee forever!
Agreed! Nanny McPhee was the greatest! (She will never replace Mary Poppins, but McPhee ranks up at the top of the list.)
More Emma and her mom, please! They’re both wonderful and lovely.
I absolutely loved Nanny McPhee. It’s a close second to Mary Poppins! I didn’t watch the sequel though. Only because I didn’t care for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s squishy face (sorry but her face annoys me to no end for some reason. She may be a good actress but her face is the deal breaker for me).
Emma ALL DAY ERRY DAY. I love her in Nanny McPhee!
I am commenting! Please more EMMA! She is so inspiring….
They are both beautiful.
Emma is brilliant! Her mother is quite the talent also, and it is high time these two wonderful women were celebrated!
Love them and would always welcome more posts on them!
Emma’s comment on her husband having to work hard and do essays for his degree while Emma gets an honorary one, reminds me of Billy Connolly’s remark about him receiving the same honorary doctorate from the same institution. something about his wife having to work hard on her essays for her degree while all he has to do is travel the world and get paid for swearing a lot.
More Emma!!!! Or anyone other than a Kartrashian!
Emma is WONDERFUL! She’s a living proof that you can be smart, beautiful, FUNNY and talented at the same time.
I like Emma so much. She is truly a wonderful woman and so talented in both writing and acting. She keeps herself out of the tabloids and she just keeps on keeping on without all the media and press in her face all the time! What is not to like about her?
LOVE Emma Thompson! Stranger than Fiction is one of my favourite films. More Emma please!
More Emma! comment comment comment! I’m not sure if it’s okay to post links, so, just in case: If you haven’t seen her acceptance speech re Sense & Sensibility, it’s on youtube, and it utterly charming & entertaining – highly recommend.
Here is the transcript:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emma_Thompson
I will add my name to the list of people who want to hear more about Emma. I promise to comment every time.
She is so wonderfully funny & smart. Let’s pay more attention to the people who are actually doing something in show biz & not just walking around showing their asses in 6-inch stiletto heels.
Also, her husband Greg Wise is *gorgeous*.
This article made my day. More Emma, please! (Especially if it means fewer Kardashian posts…)
If commenting on someone with actual talent keeps others at bay, then count me in. Plus, she and her mom are adorable.
They’re so cute. I could read/listen to Emma’s wit all day. Throw in Hugh Laurie, and I’d be in heaven!
No. Just no. There is nothing adorable in receiving a degree that you did not study for. I don’t care if you are fraking Hello Kitty!
It’s merely honorary and she has an actual degree from Newnham College, Cambridge.
Huge fan of both Emma and Phyllida for many years.
Sooo cute! I love Emma, she’s a wonderful actress, very funny too and a talented writer as well. Also, she introduced Fry and Laurie! On youtube there are clips of all of them when they were in the Cambridge footlights, very funny.
If Emma introduced Stephen Fry to Hugh Laurie, I say give her every honorary doctorate you’ve got.
Amen to that.
We need a Black Adder reunion!
That’ll be Sir Baldrick to the lot of them!!!
First time post EVER. Love Emma and her lovely mother. They were absolutely fantastic in The Winter Guest. One of my favourite movies ever.
speaking of which (and yes, a blatant “another comment to try and keep this post on page 1 of celebitchy and thus encourage more Emma Thompson posts in the future)
i’m currently (because of this post) engaged in a light banter with my better half regarding honorary degrees because i’m of two minds. firstly, degrees are conferred because a person has spent X amount of time studying and essaying and testing and jumping through hoops for ABC subjects.
but a serious artist (i think we can safely say that Emma can be considered one such person–through her devotion and her achievements)… can they be considered as also having done their homework?
certainly to be able to write several screenplays is more than just writing but actually understanding source materials, knowing history, studying it to capture the essence of the material being adapted or written, not to mention doing the homework about the target audience etc.
regarding tests and passing it… usually in uni we write exams and essays and thesis and are judged by a team of invigilators. writing a screenplay and presenting it… isn’t it similar? only she’s actually being judged by the hundreds of critics, the thousands of moviegoers, the hundreds thousands of DVDbuyers and netflickrs. plus, isn’t getting Oscars or whatever constitute recognition from peers? (much like peer-reviewed journals).
plus, many textbooks actually cite her work in their texts, don’t they? and surely she can ably teach some of the stuff being taught at those courses, can’t she?
i know that some of the people receive degrees that are not within their purview, or that they bought degrees of the internet or the blackmarket for instance.
but maybe honorary degrees aren’t so bad at all.
i know an actress can’t be compared directly to “weightier” figures. but say for instance, would it be okay to give Emeline Pankhurst a honorary doctorate in Feminism, even though she didn’t study for it; or Emily Davison?
I totally agree with your analysis of a well earned honorary degree!
Btw: Much ado about Nothing will always be my favourite Emma movie!
I’ve been reading for years but I’ve never commented until today. Emma! Love her!
I just watched Nanny McPhee with my daughter on the weekend and she loved it so much. 🙂
YES!! MORE EMMA THOMPSON!!
This is how it’s done! Age with grace and style! Self deprecation, intelligence and humility paired with actual talent!
Love that last pic of her and the “degree”. She is wonderful. My first comment here. Count me in with the pro-Emma (and other people with talent and substance) crowd.
I love Emma so much. One of my favorites. I’ve lost track of how many times I have watched Sense and Sensibility. Also, her husband is hot.
Love them both to bits – you know Emma and Greg adopted an African boy when he was in his teens, they’d met and fallen in love with him doing charity work for African war orphans. He’s now graduated Oxford and is going on to a career in international child law or something like that. So they’re not only talented but CHARITABLE – hear me Kartrashians???
Also, Phyllida is screamingly funny in ‘Saving Grace’ where she plays a shop owner who mistakenly makes tea out of a neighbour’s pot stash, so I can see where Emma gets her great sense of silliness.
I care!!!
Ahhhhh! So cute!!!!!!
Emma eating grapes in the opening shot of MAAN.
Emma in pretty much everything, especially the Potters, Dead Again, Peter’s Friends, Love Actually…
Having actually put in the work for a PhD in Neuroscience, I often don’t get why certain people will be made honorary doctors just like that, be it celebs or politicians.
Emma, on the other hand, has proven herself as a successful screenwriter, so congrats to her and her mum.
They are adorable. Is it true that the higher the degree, the weirder the sleeve on the gown?
I adore Emma Thompson! I especially love her in Henry V when she was Kenneth Branagh’s muse. He went way downhill after he left her. She however, soared. I love her with Alan Rickman in anything. They should be in all the movies. I would also love vintage gossip about her and Branagh and Helena Bonham-Carter and Emma and Hugh Laurie.
Emma Thompson is one of my favorite actresses – she is so fabulous. She seems so down to earth and funny and clever. To my mind she started the current “Jane Austen love fest” trend when she adapted Sense & Sensibility and anyone who brings my beloved JA to screen cannot be anything but wonderful.
Her sister is also a really good actress – Sophie Thompson. Phyllida and Sophie played Miss and Mrs. Bates in GOOP’s Emma and she was wonderful in the Box Hill scene. It still makes me squirm when I watch that.
I had *no idea* Emma wrote the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility! Now I just love her even more.
Love her, will always love her. Such a talented actor and writer.
Add me to the Emma and also, anyone but Kardashian, train.
But you have to write stories about her otherwise there’s nothing to comment about. I want to hear about her son who went to Oxford and will be pursuing international child law.
And Phyllida Law looks amazing for 81.
More Emma!
Also, funny clip here about her near-disaster with script writing… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J71EaybVMA
No problem, Kaiser. I would be thrilled if we never had another Kartrashian post, even though I’m wishing for the impossibe. That’s ok, now you’re tapping into my fangirl crush base. Not only the incomparable Emma Thompson, but mum Phyllida Law, too?
Please tell me, how many more comments do you need to justify threads like this in the future? I’ll do my best to twist arms.
I love it when people with honorary doctorates acknowledge that they didn’t have to do much to get them (I mean in the normal doctorate-getting sense.) It’s a classy move.
pleeeeeeease keep the Emma Thompson articles coming! she is so lovely and refreshing. she, and obviously her mother too, are ageless in my adoring eyes.
bias: i also have a huge crush on her. my Emma crush actually caused a row between my girlfriend and myself!
I think this is a beautiful moment, both as a mother-daughter triumph and a score for brainy women everywhere. I ADORE Emma Thompson, to the point where I’ve forgiven her for the Polanski thing (it took her taking her name off of it, but still). She’s so talented and amazing and smart. Everyone who’s ever worked with her seems to adore her, and she’s lasted. Her portrayal of Beatrice totally shaped me. “Better a bird of my tongue than a beast of yours!” Pure awesomeness! She worked on the Sense and Sensibility script for something like five years, devotion like that is beautiful. Has she been made a Dame yet?
Nope. Yet, somehow, her douche bag ex-husband has been knighted. sickening. (I have a very strong dislike for that man. He just… gets on my nerves…)
How is it that Emma is getting older without aging? She looks terrific. Bet she’s a blast to hang around.
I would kill for a relationship like that with my mother. Kill.
I adore Emma anyway. And her mum. And her husband. And her life. And her brains….endlessly so. Emma, call me.
Yes!! Love Emma!
Would love to be a part of that family…
MORE EMMA ALWAYS!
I love Emma too! Such a classy lady. Favorites roles – Much Ado About Nothing and Professor Trelawny 🙂
Love her!!!!
Emma may be the Oscar game this year. So excited.
I know right? It makes me giddy just thinking about it.
Yay! More Emma Stories Please!
Honourary degrees are such bullsh-t.
comment comment comment (love her!)
Honorary comment for the cause!!
So cute!
I don’t normally leave comments, okay I’ve only ever left one before I think. But I love Emma Thompson and would love to see more articles about her
I read Celebitchy daily. Have almost commented a million times, but just never have before. But for Emma ….yes, yes, yes.
I could fan girl all day, every day !!!
My first comment: I love Emma! Please keep the Emma-related content coming!
More Emma (and her mum) ALWAYS.
She looks fantastic!! She’s barely aging, but she still makes it look so good. Such brains and humor. If only Kim Kardashian had been born to Emma Thompson.
Emma’s mum’s hair is the greatest! Makes me look forward to gray and white!
Emma, Emma, Emma!
It’s (sadly) refreshing to see people who aren’t playing into the game of ‘celebrity’ or fame. It’s lovely that she is accepting that there was no work involved on her part, yet she’s grateful. Imagine James Franco receiving something like this..
Down-to-earth and just the kind of person you’d like to have as your neighbour!
ALWAYS more Emma, hopefully next to no Kardashian.
More Emma!!! Less Kardash/Kan!!
I love her and especially love her son’s comments! I love how we never knew about their son for the longest time and how that all came about. Emma and Greg are awesome!
More Emma, please! Please. Please. Pretty please. Love her.
Less Kardashians, mora Emma, yes.
Emma is the best! From a bygone era of celebrity when you actually had to be talented and charismatic to become famous.
Yes! More Emma. Her mom sounds just as witty as her daughter and they look so much like. Gah, I’d move to England if I could and stalk her. Love her to bits.
Commenting because… “PS… You better comment on this post if you want more stories about Emma rather than the Kardashians!”
And i do!
I ADORE EMMA!!! More please!
More Emma! The Kardashians are pointless attention whores. Emma is a true acting goddess.
EMMA THOMSON is love.
She’s so fantastic. I can’t wait to see her in the new film Saving Mr. Banks 🙂 She’s a treasure. MORE EMMA!!
I love them both! Got to introduce “Much Ado about Nothing” to my daughter the other night, and we both laughed, criedm and sand “Hey nonny nonny…”
More Emma and less Kardashian, for sure. Yes, please.
She is amazing. More Emma please !!!
More Emma and others like her, please.
I can never get enough Emmma Thompson posts, she’s delightful.
More Emma! She’s the best.
I love her and her mother is beautiful. More stories about Emma always. She is my soul sister. We are both lefties and born on the same day. I am a year younger, though. I wish I could be just like her! Funny, smart, self-deprecating but with a full sense of self-worth.
I often skim through the articles but have never left a comment, so thanks for the encouragement.
Echoing just about everyone else, I admire Emma Thompson and would love to read more about her and anyone with intelligence and talent.
Yes. More uplifting stories about lovable people, please.
Add in my endorsement of the Drs. Thompson & Law. And Mazal Tov to both of them!
Long time reader though I’ve never posted. I thought I was the only one with a girl crush on both Emma and Phyllida. Love them enough to take the time to comment.
More Emma, please please please!
Love and adore Emma Thompson. Always have. I would buy a ticket to go watch her read the phone book. I love stories about authentically talented people. People who DO things rather than just let a camera follow them around.
More, please.
Love Emma Thompson- don’t know much about her mom, though!