Margaret Towner (actress)
Margaret Towner (1 October 1920 – 10 April 2017) was a veteran British stage, film, and television actress. Following decades of theatre work, Towner achieved fame among film audiences when she appeared in a small, but significant, role as Jira in the 1999 Star Wars prequel, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. In 2014, at the age of 93, Towner returned to screen acting for a 13-episode role as Edna on Ricky Gervais' television series, Derek, becoming one of the oldest working actresses in the United Kingdom. Biography Towner was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 1 October 1920. Her father, Eric Towner, a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Naval Reserve, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for courage and devotion by King George VI in 1943 for his service in support of Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery's Eighth Army during the North African Campaign during World War II. Margaret Towner was raised in Rio de Janeiro until she was five-years old, when her family returned to the United Kingdom and settled in a houseboat in Southampton. Margaret Towner enrolled at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1938, where her classmates included Australian actor John McCallum, Anglo-Irish