Alison Steadman in the late Mike Stott's "My Mad Grandad" on BBC Radio 4. In Manchester in 1972, shooting his television film "Hard Labour", director Mike Leigh drove over to Liverpool to see Ted Whitehead's play "The Foursome", (Steadman was in the Liverpool Everyman cast). He asked Steadman to be in his film. "During the preparation of the film, Mike and Alison, as they both say, 'got together.'" They married in 1973 and had two sons, Toby (b. February 1978) and Leo (b. August 1981). The couple separated in 1995 and divorced in 2001. Steadman's present partner is Michael Elwyn;the couple live
Alison Gates Alison Gates Alison Gates (born 1988 or 1989) is an American comedy writer and actress who is currently a staff writer for "Saturday Night Live". She previously lived in Chicago and worked with the Second City's touring company and an all-female iO Theater troupe. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Gates said she started doing improvisational theatre in high school, and then continued "in college sort of as a way to meet people". At Yale University Gates, who plays guitar and mandolin, performed in "Measure for Measure" among other shows. She was also a managing editor of "The Yale Record" humor