Charlotte Coleman, actress, 33

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Saturday November 17 6:24 AM ET 

Actress Charlotte Coleman Dies at 33

LONDON (AP) - Charlotte Coleman, an actress best known for her
portrayal of Hugh Grant's oddball, foul-mouthed roommate in the movie
``Four Weddings and a Funeral,'' has died at 33. 

Coleman's mother, actress Ann Beach, found her body in her north London
apartment on Wednesday, her family said. She had suffered a massive
asthma attack, they said. 

Beach had gone to her daughter's home after she was unable to reach her
by telephone. 

Charlotte Coleman suffered from asthma for years, but had never
experienced a major attack before, said her father, Francis Coleman.
She was rushed to Whittington Hospital in north London, but was
pronounced dead on arrival, he added. 

Francis Coleman said he and his wife had seen their daughter on
Tuesday, when she visited them at their London home. 

``She had been on great form and in good spirits,'' he said. ``When she
left, she said she was feeling a little ill and I told her to stay with
us but she wanted to go home. The family is devastated. We loved her
and she was a rare creature who the camera loved.'' 

Coleman acted professionally for most of her life, but she won the
greatest fame for her role as Scarlett in the hit 1994 film ``Four
Weddings and a Funeral.'' She and Grant's character Charles, who
oversleep on the day of a friend's wedding, rush frantically to get to
the ceremony in one of the movie's early scenes, spewing a stream of
obscenities as they go. 

Her portrayal of the offbeat, orange-haired Scarlett won Coleman a
nomination for a BAFTA, Britain's top film award. 

``I'm always the kooky girl,'' the actress once said. ``I don't think I
have ever played someone my age, straight, together, who wears normal
clothes and does not turn out to be a murderer.'' 

Coleman first gained prominence at the age of 11, when she won a role
in the children's sitcom ``Worzel Gummidge.'' 

She later played a lesbian teen-ager in a 1990 British Broadcasting
Corp. television adaptation of the novel ``Oranges Are Not the Only
Fruit.'' 

Coleman is survived by her parents and her sister, Lisa Coleman. 

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