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Iconic actress Barbara Leigh-Hunt has died aged 88.
The English star, known for her role as the ill-fated Brenda in Alfred Hitchcock’s epic film Frenzy, died peacefully on September 16 at her home in Warwickshire – according to her family’s statement.
The Olivier Award winner is also well remembered for his playing Lady Catherine de Bourgh in the 1995 series adaptation of Pride and Prejudice alongside Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.
Some may even remember that she played the Vice Principal in the blockbuster Billy Elliott (2000).
Stunning audiences on both big and small screens for decades, more of her appearances include films such as Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), Bequest to the Nation (1973), Joe Camp’s Oh Heavenly Dog (1980), Paper Mask ( 1990), A Merry War (1997), Billy Elliot (2000) and Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair (2004).
Iconic actress Barbara Leigh-Hunt has died aged 88
The English star, known for her role as the ill-fated Brenda in Alfred Hitchcock’s epic film Frenzy, died peacefully at her home in Warwickshire on September 16 – according to her family’s statement (pictured in the 1972 film).
But Barbara’s brilliant career spans much more than that, as she devoted much of her life to theater, including Broadway productions of Hamlet, Sherlock Holmes and Justice.
She also received an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1993 for the National Theater production of An Inspector Calls.
She graduated in 1953 and was named ‘most promising student’.
The iconic performer trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theater School and later joined the Old Vic company in London, and in 1968 she achieved great success with the West End production of ‘Mrs Mouse Are You Within’.
After her theater debut in 1954, the beloved actress traveled with the company on tour to the US and Canada in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night.
Her very first television debut was in 1956 on The Recording Angells – which opened her doors to a string of show appearances including Callan (1967), Special Branch (1969), A Perfect Hero (1991) and many more.
The actress’s first film debut was Hitchcock’s Frenzy (1972), and in the same year she starred in Henry VII And His Six Wives, playing Catherine Parr.
The following year she appeared in Bequest The Nation alongside acting legends Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch.
Stunning audiences on both big and small screens for decades, more of her appearances include films such as Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), Bequest to the Nation (1973), Joe Camp’s Oh Heavenly Dog (1980), Paper Mask ( 1990) and more; pictured in 1967
But Barbara’s brilliant career spans much more than that, as she devoted much of her life to theater – including Broadway productions of Hamlet, Sherlock Holmes and Justice; depicted in the 1995 play The Importance of Being Earnest
The actress’s first film debut was Hitchcock’s Frenzy (1972, photo)
Barbara – born in Bath on December 14, 1935 – had been happily married to late husband and TV star Richard Pasco since 1967 – when the Mrs Brown actor finally passed away in 2014.
The A Marry War sensation is also a long-time friend of Dame Judi Dench and her ex-husband Michael Williams, as she became godmother to the former couple’s daughter, Finty Williams.