Barbara Jefford | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Barbara Mary Jefford (1930-07-26)26 July 1930 |
| Died | 12 September 2020(2020-09-12) (aged 90) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1949–2013 |
| Spouses | |
Barbara Mary Jefford,OBE (26 July 1930 – 12 September 2020) was a British actress, best known for her theatrical performances with theRoyal Shakespeare Company, theOld Vic and theNational Theatre and her role asMolly Bloom in the 1967 film ofJames Joyce'sUlysses. ForUlysses, Jefford was nominated for theBAFTA Award for Best British Actress.[1] She was alsoOliviernominated in1991 for playingVolumnia inCoriolanus at theBarbican.[2]
Mary Barbara Jefford was born inPlymstock, Devon, the daughter of Elizabeth Mary Ellen (née Laity) and Percival Francis Jefford.[3] She was brought up primarily inSomerset, and attendedWeirfield School inTaunton.[3] She attended the Hartly-Hodder School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art before training at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art in London,[4] where she was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal. In 1946, whilst still a student, she obtained small parts in the radio production ofWestward Ho! and otherradio plays, but her stage debut came in 1949, when she played the part of Viola inTwelfth Night at the Dolphin Theatre,Brighton.[3]
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After spending just one year working inrepertory theatre she was given the part of Isabella in 1950 inPeter Brook's production ofMeasure for Measure at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, (later the base of the Royal Shakespeare Company) inStratford-upon-Avon, playing oppositeJohn Gielgud (Angelo) andHarry Andrews (Vincentio).[3]
Over the next four years she played many more major Shakespearean roles:Anne Boleyn inHenry VIII in 1950;Calpurnia inJulius Caesar oppositeAnthony Quayle andMichael Langham in 1950; Hero, opposite John Gielgud andPeggy Ashcroft in 1950; Lady Percy inHenry IV, opposite John Kidd, Anthony Quayle andMichael Redgrave in 1951; Isabel oppositeRichard Burton inHenry V, in 1951; Desdemona to Anthony Quayle'sOthello in 1952; Rosalind inAs You Like It (New Zealand Tour, 1953); Lady Percy inHenry IV, Part 1 ( New Zealand Tour and International Tour, 1953); Hippolyta inA Midsummer Night's Dream in 1954; Kate toKeith Michell's Petruchio inThe Taming of the Shrew in 1954; and Helen inTroilus and Cressida in 1954.
After leaving Stratford she co-starred with Michael Redgrave inTiger at the Gates in theWest End and onBroadway, before returning to work at the Old Vic. Amongst other roles she played there were Portia inThe Merchant of Venice; Imogen inCymbeline;Beatrice inMuch Ado About Nothing; Julia inThe Two Gentlemen of Verona; Tamora inTitus Andronicus; Lady Anne inRichard III; Viola inTwelfth Night; Queen Margaret inHenry VI 1–3; Isabella inMeasure for Measure; Regan inKing Lear; Rosalind inAs You Like It; and Viola inTwelfth Night. In 1978 she played Gertrude toDerek Jacobi'sHamlet.
She also played Gwendoline inThe Importance of Being Earnest, Beatrice inShelley'sThe Cenci and Joan inGeorge Bernard Shaw'sSaint Joan, emulating her mentor and friend, DameSybil Thorndike. Many of these productions toured the United States, theUSSR, the Middle East and Europe.[3]
Jefford entered a period of acting withFrank Hauser'sOxford Playhouse which included the first of her threeCleopatras,Racine'sPhèdre and Lina inMisalliance which transferred to theCriterion Theatre.[3] In the early 1970s she played Katherine Stockman inIbsen'sAn Enemy of the People at the Chichester Theatre Festival.
Other West End productions includedRide A Cock Horse,Filumena,Mistress of Novices andThe Dark Horse, as well as theAlmeida Theatre's Racine Season at theAlbery Theatre. With this company she also played her second Volumnia inCoriolanus, oppositeRalph Fiennes in London, New York City and Tokyo, her first being at Stratford withCharles Dance.[3] In 1976 she was in the opening production at the Olivier Theatre playing Zabina inTamburlaine the Great withAlbert Finney.[3]
She repeated many Shakespearean roles in her long career, appearing in 54 productions of all but four of his plays. The last of these wasMichael Grandage'sRichard III withKenneth Branagh in 2002, at theCrucible Theatre,Sheffield in which she played Queen Margaret.
In July 2007, she played Mrs Higgins (the mother of Henry Higgins) inPeter Hall's acclaimedTheatre Royal, Bath production ofGeorge Bernard Shaw'sPygmalion, which transferred to theOld Vic in May 2008.[3]
In 1959, she appeared as Ophelia in a TV production ofHamlet. For theJames Bond filmFrom Russia with Love (1963) she provided the uncredited voice of Tatiana Romanova, played byDaniela Bianchi. Jefford provided additional voice work in later Bond films, dubbingMolly Peters inThunderball (1965) andCaroline Munro inThe Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Her first major film role was as Molly Bloom inUlysses (1967), for which she was nominated for aBritish Academy Award. This was followed byA Midsummer Night's Dream (1968),The Bofors Gun (1968),The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) andLust for a Vampire (1971). She playedMagda Goebbels inHitler: The Last Ten Days (1973). Other films includeNelly's Version (1983),Fellini'sAnd the Ship Sails On (E la nave va) (1983),Claudia (1985),When the Whales Came (1989),The Saint,Roman Polanski'sThe Ninth Gate (1999) andTerence Davies'sThe Deep Blue Sea. In 2013, she played Sister Hildegard, a small but crucial part, inStephen Frears'sPhilomena withJudi Dench andSteve Coogan.[3]
Jefford appeared in several television dramas in thePlay For Today series (Edna, the Inebriate Woman, 1971); and in several other series. These includeJourney to the Unknown, which also aired in the US, in 1968;Walter and June (1986);Porterhouse Blue (1987); Mrs Herriton inWhere Angels Fear to Tread (Charles Sturridge, 1991);The House of Eliott (1991);Midsomer Murders (2000, 2009) andMadame Bovary (2000). She has also appeared in episodes ofTheRuth Rendell Mysteries,Campion and theInspector Alleyn Mysteries. She also appeared inThe Creeper, a 2010 episode ofMidsomer Murders.
Selected radio roles included:
In 1953, Jeffords married actor Terence Longdon; the marriage was dissolved in 1961.[3] In 1967, she married actorJohn Turner.[3]
Jeffords died fromoesophageal cancer at her home inMousehole, Cornwall, on 12 September 2020.[3][21]
In 1965, Jefford was awarded the Officer ofOrder of the British Empire for her service to the theatre, becoming the youngest civilian recipient of the award to that date.[22]
In 1977 she was also awarded theJubilee Festival Medal.
