Connie Sachs is a fictional character created byJohn le Carré. Sachs plays a key supporting role in the Karla Trilogy,Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,The Honourable Schoolboy, andSmiley's People.
Sachs is an eccentric alcoholic with an incredible memory and intellect who works in the research department of the Circus. "Adon's daughter", her brothers were also dons, and she herself "some sort of academic".[1] Her family lived at Millponds, a "beautifulPalladian house" with "lovely grounds, nearNewbury", later owned by one of her brothers.[2] According to legend,Control met her while she was at university and was so impressed that he invented a job so as to hire her. Her personal and professional life is devoted to the study ofSoviet intelligence and most notably the Soviet spymaster known asKarla.
She is close to spymasterGeorge Smiley and forced into early retirement at the same time he is. From her vast memory, she provides him with important clues inTinker Tailor;[3] when he must rebuild the Circus after its betrayal, Sachs returns happily to her work despite her failing health. She is crucial to the unravelling of the paper trail at the centre ofThe Honourable Schoolboy and retires after their success against Karla, this time permanently.[4] When Smiley visits her for the last time inSmiley's People, she is dying from old age and alcoholism. She is taken care of by her female lover, a former Circus agent named Hilary; despite her objections, Connie agrees to speak with Smiley, and provides a key that leads to the eventual victory over Karla.[5]
Sachs was widely reputed (in outline at least) to be based on the legendary real-lifeMI5 Soviet watcherMilicent Bagot. Although she worked in domestic intelligence (unlike the fictional Connie), she was reportedly the first to alert British authorities thatdouble agentKim Philby had past associations as aCommunist. Bagot died, aged 99, in 2006.[6]
In the BBC's 1979 television adaptation ofTinker Tailor and the 1982 adaptation ofSmiley's People which followed it, Sachs was played byBeryl Reid.[7] Reid won two BAFTAs for her performance in each miniseries. InBBC Radio 4's 2009-10 adaptation of the Karla trilogy, Sachs was played byMaggie Steed.[8] In the 2011 film adaptationTinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Sachs was played byKathy Burke.[9]
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