Jenny Agutter | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Agutter in 2014 | |
| Born | Jennifer Ann Agutter (1952-12-20)20 December 1952 (age 72) Taunton, Somerset, England |
| Years active | 1964–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | jennyagutter |
Jennifer Ann AgutterOBE (born 20 December 1952) is an English actress. She began her career as a child actress in 1964, appearing inEast of Sudan,Star!, and two adaptations ofThe Railway Children: theBBC's 1968 television serial and the1970 film version. In 1971 she also starred in the critically acclaimed filmWalkabout and the TV filmThe Snow Goose, for which she won anEmmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama.
She relocated to the United States in 1974 to pursue a Hollywood career and subsequently appeared inLogan's Run (1976),Amy (1981),An American Werewolf in London (1981), andChild's Play 2 (1990). During the same period, Agutter continued appearing in high-profile British films, such asThe Eagle Has Landed (1976),Equus (1977)—for which she won aBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role—andThe Riddle of the Sands (1979). In 1981, she co-starred inThe Survivor, an Australian adaptation of theJames Herbert novel by that name, and was nominated for anAACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
After returning to Britain in the early 1990s to pursue family life, Agutter shifted her focus to television, appearing in the 2000 version oftelevision adaptation ofThe Railway Children, this time as the mother, and since 2012 she has had an ongoing role in the BBC'sCall the Midwife. Her film work in recent years includesThe Avengers (2012) andCaptain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), and in 2022, Agutter returned to the world ofThe Railway Children once more by reprising her role from the 1970 film 52 years later in a sequel,The Railway Children Return.
Agutter is married, and has one adult son. She supports several charitable causes, mostly ones related tocystic fibrosis, a condition from which her niece suffers, and for her service to those causes was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the2012 Birthday Honours.
Agutter was born on 20 December 1952[1] inTaunton, Somerset, England.[2] She is the daughter of Derek Agutter (an entertainments manager in the British Army) and Catherine, and was raised Roman Catholic.[3] She has Irish ancestry on her mother's side.[4] As a child, she lived in Singapore,[5]Dhekelia (Cyprus) andKuala Lumpur (Malaya). She attendedElmhurst Ballet School,[6] a boarding school, from ages eight to sixteen.[5]
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Agutter became known to television audiences for her role in the twice-weekly BBC seriesThe Newcomers. (She played Kirsty, the daughter of the new managing director of Eden Brothers, the fictional firm that is at the centre of the series.) Agutter could appear only during school holidays. At this stage of her career, she was listed in credits as “Jennifer”. In 1966, she portrayed a ballet pupil in Disney's filmBallerina. In 1968, she was featured in the lavish big-budget20th Century Fox film musicalStar! which featuredJulie Andrews asGertrude Lawrence; Agutter played Lawrence's neglected daughter Pamela. Later, she played Roberta in a BBC adaptation ofThe Railway Children (1968) and inLionel Jeffries's1970 film of the book. She followed this with a more serious role in the thrillerI Start Counting (1969). She also won an Emmy as supporting actress for her television role as Fritha in a Britishtelevision adaptation ofThe Snow Goose (1971).
Agutter then moved into adult roles, beginning withWalkabout (1971), in which she played a teenage schoolgirl who is lost with her younger brother in the Australianoutback. She auditioned for the role in 1967, but funding problems delayed filming until 1969. The delay meant Agutter was sixteen at the time of filming, which allowed the director to include nude scenes.[7] Among them was a five-minuteskinny-dipping scene, which was cut from the original US release.[8] She said at the 2005Bradford Film Festival at theNational Media Museum that she was shocked by the film's explicitness, but remained on good terms with directorNicolas Roeg.[9]
Agutter moved to Hollywood at twenty-one and appeared in a number of films over the next decade, includingThe Eagle Has Landed (1976),Logan's Run (1976),Equus (1977) (for which she won aBAFTA as Best Supporting Actress),An American Werewolf in London (1981), and an adaptation of the James Herbert novelThe Survivor (1981). Agutter has commented that the innocence of the characters she played in her early films, combined with the costumes and nudity in later adult roles such asLogan's Run,Equus, andAn American Werewolf in London, are "perfect fantasy fodder".[10][11]
In 1990, Agutter returned to the UK to concentrate on family life and her focus shifted towards British television. During the 1990s, she was cast in an adaptation ofJeffrey Archer's novelNot a Penny More, Not a Penny Less and as the scandalous Idina Hatton in the BBC miniseriesThe Buccaneers, inspired byEdith Wharton's unfinished 1938 book, and made guest appearances in television series such asRed Dwarf andHeartbeat. In 2000, she starred in a third adaptation ofThe Railway Children, produced byCarlton TV, this time playing the mother.[12][13] Since then Agutter has had recurring roles in several television series includingSpooks,The Invisibles,Monday Monday andThe Alan Clark Diaries. In 2012 Agutter resumed her Hollywood career, appearing as a member of the World Security Council in the blockbuster filmThe Avengers; she reprised her role inCaptain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). Since 2012, Agutter has played Sister Julienne in the BBC television drama seriesCall the Midwife.
Agutter has appeared in numerous theatre productions since her stage debut in 1970, including stints at theNational Theatre in 1972–73, the title role in a derivation ofHedda Gabler at theRoundhouse in 1980 and with theRoyal Shakespeare Company in 1982–83, playing Alice inArden of Faversham, Regan inKing Lear and Fontanelle inLear. In 1987–88, Agutter played the role of Pat Green in theBroadway production of theHugh Whitemore playBreaking the Code, about computer pioneerAlan Turing.[14] In 1995 she was in an RSC production ofLove's Labour's Lost staged in Tokyo.[14] She is also a patron of theShakespeare Schools Festival, a charity that enables school children in the UK to perform Shakespeare in professional theatres.[15]
In 2008, she also guest-starred in theDoctor Whoaudio dramaThe Bride of Peladon[16] and played an outlawed scientist inThe Minister of Chance.[17] She has appeared as a guest star character ("Fiona Templeton") in the Radio 4 comedyEd Reardon's Week.[18]
Agutter appears on the 1990Prefab Sprout song "Wild Horses", speaking the words "I want to have you".[19]
At a 1989 arts festival inBath, Somerset, Agutter met Johan Tham, a Swedish hotelier[20] who was a director ofCliveden Hotel in Buckinghamshire.[21] They married in August 1990,[22] and their son Jonathan[4] was born on 25 December 1990.[20] Agutter lives in London, but has a keen interest inCornwall[23] and once owned a second home there on theTrelowarren Estate, in one of the parishes onthe Lizard peninsula.[24]
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She was appointed anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the2012 Birthday Honours, for her charitable services.[25] In August 2014, Agutter was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter toThe Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September 2014'sreferendum on that issue.[26]
Agutter has been attached to several causes throughout her career. She has been involved in raising awareness of the illness cystic fibrosis, which she believes was responsible for the deaths of two of her siblings. Her niece has the disease. At Agutter's suggestion, an episode ofCall the Midwife focused on cystic fibrosis.[citation needed] She has also worked in support of charities, in particular theCystic Fibrosis Trust, of which she is a patron (she is also a carrier of the genetic mutation).[4][27][28]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | The Newcomers | Kirsty Kerr | BBC TV series |
| Alexander Graham Bell | Grace Hubbard | BBC TV series | |
| 1966 | Ballerina | Ingrid Jensen | Two-part episode ofDisneyland; credited as Jennifer Agutter |
| 1967 | Boy Meets Girl | Joanna | BBC TV; Series 1, Episode 10: "Long After Summer" |
| 1968 | The Railway Children | Roberta Faraday | BBC TV series |
| 1970 | The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens | Young Maria Beadnall / Mary Hogarth / Ellen Ternan | TV film |
| 1971 | The Snow Goose | Fritha | Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama |
| 1972 | The Wild Duck | Hedvig | BBC TV "Play of the Month" broadcast on BBC 1 on 19 March |
| A War of Children | Maureen Tomelty | American (CBS) TV film set in Northern Ireland duringThe Troubles | |
| Shelley | Mary Shelley | BBC TV series | |
| 1974 | Thriller | Dominie Lanceford | Series 2, Episode 3: "Kiss Me and Die" |
| 1975 | Shadows | Sue | Season One, Episode Four: "The Waiting Room" |
| 1977 | The Six Million Dollar Man | Dr. Leah Russell | "Deadly Countdown" Parts 1 & 2 |
| 1980 | Beulah Land | Lizzie Corlay | TV mini-series |
| 1985 | Love's Labour's Lost | Rosaline | BBC TV film |
| Magnum, P.I. | Krista Villeroch | Season 5, Episode 96: "Little Games" | |
| Silas Marner | Nancy Lammeter | BBC TV film | |
| 1986 | The Twilight Zone | Morgan le Fay | Season 1, Episode 24: "The Last Defender of Camelot" |
| Murder, She Wrote | Margo Claymore | Season 3, Episode 4: "One White Rose for Death" | |
| 1987 | The Grand Knockout Tournament | Herself | TV special |
| The Twilight Zone | Jacinda | Season 2, Episode 13: "Voices in the Earth"[30] | |
| 1989 | The Equalizer | Lauren Demeter | Episode: "The Visitation" |
| 1990 | Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less | Jill Albery | BBC TV mini-series |
| 1991 | The Diamond Brothers: South by South East | Louise Meyer | CITV mini-series |
| 1992 | Dream On | Ellen | Season 3, Episode 22: "No Deposit, No Return" |
| 1993 | Red Dwarf | Professor Mamet | "Psirens" |
| 1994 | Heartbeat | Susannah Temple-Richards | Series 4, Episode 8:"Fair Game" |
| 1994 | Love Hurts | Jeanette Summers | Season 3, Episode 9 Season 3, Episode 10 |
| 1995 | The Buccaneers | Idina Hatton | BBC TV mini-series |
| 2000 | The Railway Children | Mother | ITV |
| 2002 | Spooks | Tessa Phillips | BBC TV series |
| 2003 | Britain's Finest | Presenter | Channel 5 Series 1, Episode 2: "Gardens" |
| 2004 | The Alan Clark Diaries | Jane Clark | BBC TV series |
| The Inspector Lynley Mysteries | Jemma Sanderson | BBC TV Series 3, Episode 3 | |
| Agatha Christie's Marple | Agnes Crackenthorpe | Series 1, Episode 3: "4.50 from Paddington" | |
| 2005 | New Tricks | Yvonne Barrie | BBC TV Series 2, Episode 1 |
| 2006 | Agatha Christie's Poirot | Adela Marchmont | Season 10, Episode 4: "Taken at the Flood" |
| 2007 | Diamond Geezer | Vanessa | ITV series |
| 2008 | The Invisibles | Barbara Riley | BBC TV series |
| 2009 | Monday Monday | Jenny Mountfield | ITV1 TV series |
| 2010 | Midsomer Murders | Isobel Chettham | ITV1 TV series, Episode 72: "The Creeper" |
| 2012–present | Call the Midwife | Sister Julienne | BBC TV series |
This sci-fi podcast is a gripping futuristic thriller – let's hope they get to make the final episodes.
