It was TS Eliot who said the years between 50 and 70 are the hardest. “You’re always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down,” complained the American-English writer.
Miranda Harcourt – actor, acting coach, director, writer and newly-minted dame – puts a far more positive spin on it.
“I’ve really stepped into my power as I’ve aged,” says the 60-year-old. “As an older woman, you can lose value and become invisible. It’s something I’ve definitely experienced at bars and restaurants where my silver hair, which I actually love, makes me invisible.
“I’m always like, ‘Hello, barman, here I am!’ But it’s the opposite with my work – I have a huge amount of experience in the acting and coaching worlds, which makes me extremely useful.
“As I’ve got older, more opportunities have come my way, opportunities that I welcome and have no intention of turning down.”
The day before we speak, for example, Harcourt was in Australia, coaching Hollywood heavyweights Saoirse Ronan () and Irish actor Paul Mescal () on a sci-fi/thriller film. She and her husband, writer/director Stuart McKenzie, were
