Jacqueline Pearce
Jacqueline Pearce | |
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Born | |
Died | 3 September 2018 Lancashire, England | (aged 74)
Alma mater |
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Occupations |
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Years active | 1964–2018 |
Known for | |
Spouse |
Jacqueline Pearce (20 December 1943 – 3 September 2018) was a British film and television actress. She was best known for her portrayal of the principal villain
Pearce studied at both the
She suffered from clinical depression during periods of her life, which she discussed in her memoir, From Byfleet to the Bush (2012). Pearce spent five years working at the Vervet Monkey Foundation in South Africa, before returning to the UK in 2015.
Early life
Jacqueline Pearce was born in
Career
After graduating from RADA in 1963,
She married Henley in 1963, after they met when he directed her in a short film while they were at RADA.[2][6] She divorced him in 1967 after he left her for Felicity Kendal.[1] Pearce left for America in 1967 following her divorce and stayed there until 1971. She worked for Sammy Davis Jr., answering his fan mail, and trained at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio in Los Angeles.[6][1] In 1974, she appeared in the role of Rosa Dartle in the BBC dramatisation of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield (1974).[2] In a 1975 television version of Christopher Hampton's stage play The Philanthropist, Pearce played Araminta. The show was criticised by Ann Sheldon Williams of The Stage, who felt that the production was not appropriate for a transfer to television as it should rely on some distancing from the audience, but felt that Pearce's performance "had the right blend of softness and predatoriness".[11]
Pearce remains best known for her role as
She said of Servalan that "I saw her as a woman who was very damaged and driven by pain ... what drove her was not a desire to be evil but a desire to escape from pain."[17] In a 2000 interview for The Observer, Pearce said that, given her own low self-esteem, the role had affected her personal life for years, as she had been attracted to the character's power and taken on some aspects of Servalan's personality, telling the interviewers that it had taken "the best years of my life to recover from Servalan".[18]
The
Other film roles include the
As well as appearing in the BBC children's programmes
In 1980 Pearce played Ruth on stage in Tom Stoppard's Night and Day, a performance that Ann Fitzgerald in The Stage praised as she felt that Pearce had "an enviable range of tone and mood at her command".[30] For the 1984/85 pantomime season, Pearce appeared in Cinderella at the Gaumont Theatre, Southampton, alongside Doctor Who actors Colin Baker, Mary Tamm, Anthony Ainley and Nicola Bryant.[31] Pearce and her fellow Blake's 7 actor Paul Darrow (Avon) were voice actors for the 1996 videogame Gender Wars.[32]
Her obituarist in The Daily Telegraph wrote that Pearce possessed "considerable depth and emotional range" which "was not often exploited",[4] whilst her obituary in The Times read that "She could and should have achieved so much more. At Rada she was considered one of the most promising thespians of her generation by contemporaries such as Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt" but that her mental illness had "blighted her career".[1]
Personal life
Pearce suffered from clinical depression during periods of her life.[1] She recounted in her memoir what she regarded as a profound personal and spiritual renaissance while volunteering at the Vervet Monkey Foundation in South Africa, where she had gone for a short stay, but ended up staying five years.[1][33] She described "the joy of family which hadn't proved possible with human beings".[1] Paul Owens of Starburst praised the book, which he described as a "tortured, agonized memoir of a woman battling with insecurity, mental illness, poverty, homelessness and disillusionment".[34]
In addition to her marriage to Drewe Henley, from 1963 until their divorce in 1967, Pearce was married a second time, which also ended in divorce.[2] Pearce returned to the UK in 2015.[1] She was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2018 and died on 3 September 2018 at her home in Lancashire.[12][2]
Filmography
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
1964 | A Question of Happiness | girl in cafe | episode "Watch me I'm a bird" | [7][35] |
1964 | A Question of Happiness | Frances | episode "Fred" | [7][35] |
1964 | Danger Man | Jeannie | episode "Don't Nail Him Yet" | [9] |
1965 | Giants on Saturday | girl in pub | [7] | |
1966 | Public Eye | Jill | episode "Tell Me About the Crab" | [29] |
1966 | The Avengers |
Marianne Gray | episode "A Sense of History" | [36] |
1967 | Haunted | Jenny Bryce | episode "I Like It Here" | [7] |
1967 | Theatre 625 | Eva Franzia | episode "The Magicians: The Incantation of Casanova" | [7] |
1967 | Man in a Suitcase | Miss Brown | episode "Sweet Sue" | [7] |
1968 | Armchair Theatre | cast member | episode "The Glove Puppet" | [7] |
1968 | The Root of All Evil? | Connie | episode "West of Eden" | [7] |
1968 | Man in a Suitcase | Ruth Klinger | episode "Somebody Loses, Somebody...Wins?" | [7] |
1969 | Callan | Eva | episode "Once a Big Man, Always a Big Man" | [7] |
1971 | The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes | Jenny Pryde | episode "The Case of the Dixon Torpedo" | [7] |
1972 | New Scotland Yard | Leonie Peters | episode "The Banker" | [7] |
1972 | Dead of Night | Sarah Hopkirk | episode "Bedtime" | [7] |
1973 | The Edwardians | Countess Halecka | episode "Lloyd George" | [7] |
1973 | Hadleigh | Sue | episode "Second Thoughts" | [7] |
1974–1975 | David Copperfield | Rosa Dartle | [7] | |
1974 | The Aweful Mr. Goodall | Madame Prigent | episode "Clara" | [7] |
1974 | Vienna 1900 | Anna Rupius | 2 episodes | [7] |
1974 | Special Branch | Helga Moritz | episode "Catherine the Great" | [7] |
1975 | Churchill's People | Mrs Parker | episode "Mutiny" | [7] |
1975 | Couples | Claudia Haswell | 5 episodes | [7] |
1975 | Spy Trap | Helen Machin | episode "With Friends Like You" | [7] |
1975 | The Philanthropist | Araminta | [7] | |
1977 | Leap in the Dark | Dorothy McEwan | episode "The Ghost of Ardachie Lodge2 | [7] |
1978–1981 | Blake's 7 | Servalan | [7] | |
1978 | Shadows | hostess | episode "And for My Next Trick" | [7] |
1979 | Measure for Measure | Mariana | [7][37] | |
1980 | Star Games | on-screen participant | [7] | |
1985 | What Mad Pursuit? | cast member | [7] | |
1985 | Doctor Who | Chessene | serial The Two Doctors | [26] |
1985 | The Bourne Identity | Madame Jacqui | [26][37] | |
1988–90 | Moondial | Miss Vole/Miss Raven | 5 episodes | [7] |
1991 | Dark Season | Miss Pendragon | 3 episodes | [7] |
1993 | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | Annabelle Levi | episode "Paris October 1916" | [7] |
1999 | Mrs. Pollifax | cast member | [7] | |
2002 | Daniel Deronda | Baroness Langen | [7] | |
2006 | Casualty | Elspeth Lang | episode "No Place Like..." | [7] |
2016 | Pointless Celebrities | on-screen participant | [38] |
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1965 | Changes | cast member | short | [7] |
1965 | Genghis Khan | Shah's Daughter[citation needed] | [3] | |
1966 | Sky West and Crooked | Cammellia | [7] | |
1966 | The Plague of the Zombies | Alice Tompson | [7] | |
1966 | The Reptile | Anna Franklyn | [7] | |
1967 | Don't Lose Your Head | Third lady | [7][37] | |
1968 | Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River | Pamela Lester | [7] | |
1980 | Weekend | cast member | student film | [7] |
1988 | White Mischief | Idina | [7] | |
1989 | How to Get Ahead in Advertising | Maud | [7] | |
1994 | Princess Caraboo | Lady Apthorpe | [7] | |
1995 | The Contract | cast member | short | [7] |
1998 | Guru in Seven | Joan, 'The oyster lady' | [7] |
Theatre
Dates | Title | Role | Venue | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1964 | The Judge | Pat Dean | Cambridge Theatre | author: John Mortimer, director: Stuart Burge | [39] |
1968 | Smile Boys, That's the Style | Kate Wood | Citizens Theatre | author: John Hale, director: Michael Blakemore | [40] |
1975 | Otherwise Engaged | Queen's Theatre | director: Harold Pinter | [2] | |
1977 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Titania | Northcott Theatre, and tour of Devon and Cornwall | director: Geoffrey Reeves | [41] |
1980 | Night and Day | Ruth | Belgrade Theatre | author: Tom Stoppard, director: Robert Hamlin | [42][30] |
1981 | Witness for the Prosecution | Essex Hall, London | author: Agatha Christie, director: Robert Henderson | [43] | |
1981 | Wait Until Dark | Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke | Author: Frederick Knott, director: Cyril Frankel | [23] | |
1983 | Outlaw | Haymarket Studio, Leicester, and national tour | author: Michael Abbensetts, director: Robert Gillespie | [44] | |
1992 | Shadowlands | Ruth | Belgrade Theatre | author: William Nicholson, director: Rumu Sen-Gupta | [45] |
1997 | When God wanted a Son | New End Theatre | author: Arnold Wesker, director: Spencer Butler | [46] | |
1999 | A Star is Torn | Co-writer and performer | Gilded Ballroom (Edinburgh Festival Fringe) | Co-writer and director: Spencer Butler | [47] |
2000 | Deception | Marlborough Pub and Theatre | [18] | ||
2001 | Aphrodite Blues | New End Theatre | [48] | ||
2001 | Dangerous Corner | Garrick Theatre | Maud Mockridge | [49] |
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Jacqueline Pearce obituary". The Times. 20 September 2018. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Hadoke, Toby (4 September 2018). "Jacqueline Pearce obituary – Actor who brought a perfectly judged level of camp to the role of the vampish, villainous Servalan in the TV sci-fi series Blake's 7". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
- ^ ISBN 9781526111968. Archivedfrom the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020 – via Google Books.
- ^ from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
- ^ ISBN 9781848562295.
- ^ a b c d Fleming, John (1981). "Jacqueline Pearce". Starburst. Vol. 3, no. 8. pp. 22–27.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az "Jacqueline Pearce". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
- ISSN 0957-3844.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78840-046-6. Archivedfrom the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Reptile, The (1966)". screenonline.org.uk. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
- ^ Williams, Ann Sheldon (6 November 1975). "Too stagey for the medium". The Stage. p. 13.
- ^ a b c d "Jacqueline Pearce, Blake's 7 and Doctor Who actor, dies aged 74". The Guardian. Press Association. 3 September 2018. Archived from the original on 5 September 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
- ISBN 978-0786406005.
- ^ ISBN 9780813125688.
- ISBN 0753500442.
- ^ Carter, Meg (16 January 1998). "Return of '70s Seven". The Times. p. 36.
- ISBN 9781476665528.
- ^ a b c Thorpe, Vanessa; Phillips, Jakki (1 October 2000). "How evil Servalan took over my life". The Observer. p. 14.
- ^ Lynch, Tom (12 January 1980). "This soap will was away the blues". Aberdeen Press and Journal. p. 9.
- ^ West, Roy (17 March 1980). "TV Guide". Liverpool Echo. p. 5.
- ISBN 9780141975276. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
- ^ "A 'bride' for Jerry Lewis". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 10 July 1967. p. 7.
- ^ a b Cole, Celia (20 March 1981). "How Jacqui shocked her old convent". Reading Evening Post. p. 9.
- ^ "The Bourne Identity (1988) – Roger Young – Cast and Crew". AllMovie. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
- ^ "Jacqueline Pearce played Chessene… – The Two Doctors: Miscellaneous – The Two Doctors, Season 22, Doctor Who – BBC One". BBC. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
- ^ a b c Smith, Mark (5 September 2018). "Jacqueline Pearce". The Herald. Glasgow. p. 17.
- ISSN 0953-3303.
- ^ Lazarus, Susanna (15 October 2015). "John Hurt to return as The War Doctor in new Doctor Who audio plays". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 24 July 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
- ^ a b Amos, Bill (27 August 1966). "And still some say 'no TV'". Liverpool Echo. p. 2.
- ^ a b Fitzgerald, Ann (25 September 1980). "Coventry: Night and Day". The Stage. p. 29.
- ^ "Dr Who". pantoarchive.com. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
- ISSN 1354-2907.
- ISBN 978-1906-26387-4.
- ^ Owens, Paul (21 March 2012). "Book Review: From Byfleet to the Bush". Starburst. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
- ^ a b "Four plays on happiness from Granada". The Stage. 23 April 1964. p. 9.
- ^ "The Avengers: A Sense of History". BBC. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
- ^ ISSN 0953-3303.
- ^ "Pointless Celebrities". BBC. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
- ^ Marriott, R.B. (9 March 1967). "The Judge with a guilty conscience". The Stage. p. 13.
- ^ "Mixed up emotions". The Stage. 2 May 1968. p. 15.
- ^ "On this week in...". The Stage. 7 July 1977. p. 23.
- ^ "Production News". The Stage. 4 September 1980. p. 22.
- ^ "Theatre Week". The Stage. 22 January 1981. p. 10.
- ^ "Production News". The Stage. 6 October 1983. p. 24.
- ^ "Production News". The Stage. 15 October 1992. p. 11.
- ^ "Theatre Week". The Stage. 6 February 1997. p. 47.
- ^ "Fringe listings". The Stage. 5 August 1999. p. 34.
- ^ Thaxter, John (15 March 2001). "Theatre review: Aphrodite Blues". The Stage. p. 14.
- ^ Wolf, Matt (18 February 2002). "Dangerous Corner". Variety. Vol. 386, no. 1. Los Angeles. p. 43.
External links
Media related to Jacqueline Pearce at Wikimedia Commons
- Jacqueline Pearce at IMDb