Fortunes of War stars the actress Emma Thompson.
Emma Thompson ( born 15 April 1959 ) is a British actress , activist , author , comedienne and screenwriter . After appearing in several comedy programmes , she first came to prominence in 1987 in two BBC TV series , Tutti Frutti and Fortunes of War , winning the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her work in both series . Fortunes of War (TV series) . It stars Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle , lecturer in English Literature in Bucharest during the early part of the Second World War , and Emma Thompson as his wife Harriet . Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson met filming the TV series and married in real life . Sense and Sensibility (film) . Actress Emma Thompson wrote the script and stars as Elinor Dashwood , while Kate Winslet plays Elinor 's younger sister Marianne .