“Willow,” “Oz” Actress Jean Marsh Has Died

Famed British actress Jean Marsh, who both co-created and starred in the servant drama “Upstairs, Downstairs” and played the witchy villains in fantasy features “Willow” and “Return to Oz,” had died. She was 90.

The New York Times reported the news with close friend and filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg revealing that Marsh passed away on Sunday at her home in London from complications of dementia.

Marsh scored an Emmy for her work on “Upstairs, Downstairs” as parlourmaid Rose Buck on the acclaimed ITV drama which ran for several years in the early 1970s. She also participated in the revival in the early 2010s. Marsh co-created the television series “The House of Eliott” in 1991.

Marsh had plenty of films under her belt including playing the wife of Richard Burton’s Mark Antony in “Cleopatra,” a secretary in Hitchcock’s “Frenzy,” a Nazi collaborator in John Sturges’ “The Eagle Has Landed,” a waitress in “Charlie Bubbles,” and films like “Dark Places,” “Unearthly Stranger,” “The Changeling,” and telemovies like “The Pale Horse” and “Fatherland”.

For many she’s best known for her mid-1980s work in two key roles. One as the evil sorceress Queen Bavmorda of Nockmaar in Ron Howard’s fantady epic “Willow” determined to kill a newborn child that will bring about her downfall. The other as the head-switching Princess Mombi who, in league with the Nome King, has devastated Oz and imprisoned the land’s ruler Princess Ozma.

On TV, she appeared multiple times in “Doctor Who” including as companion Sara Kingdom in the William Hartnell-era of the program before returning as the villain Morgaine in the Sylvester McCoy-era serial “Battlefield”. She had a personal connection with the franchise as she was married to the Third Doctor Jon Pertwee for five years.

Other TV work included being a regular in ABC’s “9 to 5,” ITV’s “The Informer,” a recurring role on “The Saint,” and guesting on shows like “Danger Man,” “Gideon’s Way,” “I Spy,” “The Tomorrow People” and “The Twilight Zone”. She also frequently acted on West End stages.

Marsh was awarded an OBE in 2012.

Source: THR

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