This feisty, forthright actress with a tart essence first came to attention in her Oscar-nominated turn opposite Michael Caine in "Educating Rita" (1983). Instantly beloved by audiences after the film, in which she played an adult hairdresser who goes against her husband, family and the class structure to get an education, Walters eschewed a Hollywood career to return to Britain where she quickly became a popular character player and lead in numerous film and TV productions. Many of the latter have been released theatrically in the USA partly because of her drawing power.

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