Elizabeth Shepherd

Last updated

Elizabeth Shepherd
Elizabeth Shepherd 2019.jpg
Shepherd in 2019
Born (1936-08-12) 12 August 1936 (age 87)
London, England
Other namesElizabeth Shephard, Elizabeth Sheppard
Years active1959–present
Spouse
(m. 1959;div. 1962)
[1]
Barry Boys
(m. 1965)
Website Official website

Elizabeth Shepherd (born 12 August 1936) is an English character actress whose long career has encompassed the stage and both the big and small screens. Her television work has been especially prolific. Shepherd's surname has been variously rendered as "Shephard" and "Sheppard".

Contents

Career

Shepherd began acting in television series in 1959. In 1960, she appeared in an adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel, The Citadel . She was the original choice to play Emma Peel in the 1960s television series The Avengers . However, after filming nearly two episodes, Shepherd left the production and was replaced by Diana Rigg. [2]

In 1970, she appeared on Broadway in Barry England's Conduct Unbecoming , a story of the British Army in Kipling's India, as Mrs Hasseltine. She was praised for her performance in Time magazine. [3] Shepherd was pictured in Time along with her co-stars, the pop singers Jeremy Clyde and Paul Jones, who began their roles as British subalterns in London during 1969.[ citation needed ]

In film she appeared as both Lady Rowena and Ligeia in Roger Corman's The Tomb of Ligeia (1964), [4] as well as in Damien - Omen II as the ill-fated reporter Joan Hart, The Kidnapping of the President , Deadly Companion and Amelia .

Her TV work includes the cult series The Corridor People (1966), the 1978 miniseries The Bastard , and The Cleopatras , a BBC historical drama.

Elizabeth Shepherd has acted in numerous stage plays in both Shakespearean and contemporary dramas. As well as teaching drama at the Stella Adler school, she starred in "December Fools" in 2006 at the Abingdon Theater in New York. In 2014, she starred in a Canadian production of Driving Miss Daisy.[ citation needed ]

An article in the Toronto Star reported an incident of Shepherd being a victim of identity theft and mortgage fraud in 2006. [5]

In 2019, she released an audiobook of Edgar Allan Poe's Ligeia along with other Poe tales. The CD has been met with critical acclaim.

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Rigg</span> English actress (1938–2020)

Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers (1965–1968); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969); Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones (2013–2017); and the title role in Medea in the West End in 1993 followed by Broadway a year later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Peel</span> Character in the television series The Avengers

Emma Peel is a fictional character played by Diana Rigg in the British 1960s adventure television series The Avengers, and by Uma Thurman in the 1998 film version. She was born Emma Knight, the daughter of an industrialist, Sir John Knight. She is the crime-fighting partner of John Steed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honor Blackman</span> British actress (1925–2020)

Honor Blackman was an English actress, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in The Avengers (1962–1964), Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964), Julia Daggett in Shalako (1968), and Hera in Jason and the Argonauts (1963). She is also known for her role as Laura West in the ITV sitcom The Upper Hand (1990–1996).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billie Whitelaw</span> English actress (1932–2014)

Billie Honor Whitelaw was an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and was regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works. She was also known for her portrayal of Mrs. Baylock, the demonic nanny in the 1976 horror film The Omen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia Syms</span> English actress (1934–2023)

Sylvia May Laura Syms was an English stage and screen actress. Her best-known film roles include My Teenage Daughter (1956), Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Award, Ice Cold in Alex (1958), No Trees in the Street (1959), Victim (1961), and The Tamarind Seed (1974).

Joan Leslie Freeman is a retired American actress.

<i>The Tomb of Ligeia</i> 1964 American horror film by Roger Corman

The Tomb of Ligeia is a 1964 British horror film directed by Roger Corman. Starring Vincent Price and Elizabeth Shepherd, it tells of a man haunted by the spirit of his dead wife and her effect on his second marriage. The screenplay by Robert Towne was based upon the short story "Ligeia" by American author Edgar Allan Poe and was the last in his series of films loosely based on the works of Poe. Tomb of Ligeia was filmed at Castle Acre Priory and other locations with a mostly British cast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazel Court</span> English actress (1926–2008)

Hazel Court was an English actress. She is known for her roles in British and American horror films during the 1950s and early 1960s, including Terence Fisher's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) for Hammer Film Productions, and three of Roger Corman's adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories for American International Pictures: The Premature Burial (1962), The Raven (1963) and The Masque of the Red Death (1964).

<i>The Omen</i> (2006 film) 2006 American film

The Omen is a 2006 American supernatural horror film directed by John Moore and written by David Seltzer. The fifth installment in The Omen series, it is a remake of the 1976 film of the same title, which was also written by Seltzer. This version stars Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael Gambon and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick in his feature film debut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek Francis</span> English actor (1923–1984)

Derek Francis was an English comedy and character actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracy Reed (English actress)</span> English actress

Tracy Reed was an English actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ligeia</span> Short story by Edgar Allan Poe

"Ligeia" is an early short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1838. The story follows an unnamed narrator and his wife Ligeia, a beautiful and intelligent raven-haired woman. She falls ill, composes "The Conqueror Worm", and quotes lines attributed to Joseph Glanvill shortly before dying.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moira Redmond</span> English actress (1928-2006)

Moira Redmond was an English actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Murray</span> British screen actress (1929-2014)

Barbara Ann Murray was an English actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosalba Neri</span> Italian actress (born 1938)

Rosalba Neri is a retired Italian actress.

The Omen is a media franchise centering on a series of supernatural horror films which began in 1976. The series centers on Damien Thorn, a child born of Satan and given to Robert and Katherine Thorn as a child. It is revealed among the families that Damien is in fact meant to be the Antichrist, and as an adult is attempting to gain control of the Thorn business and reach for the presidency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lois Smith</span> American actress

Lois Arlene Smith is an American character actress whose career spans eight decades. She made her film debut in the 1955 drama film East of Eden, and later played supporting roles in a number of movies, including Five Easy Pieces (1970), Resurrection (1980), Fatal Attraction (1987), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Falling Down (1993), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), Dead Man Walking (1995), Twister (1996), Minority Report (2002), The Nice Guys (2016), Lady Bird (2017), and The French Dispatch (2021).

<i>Bright Day</i> 1946 novel by J.B. Priestley

Bright Day is a novel by J. B. Priestley, first published in 1946. One of his better-known works, it combines nostalgia for the northern England that existed before the First World War with an optimism inspired by the conclusion of the Second.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Foy</span> British actress (born 1984)

Claire Elizabeth Foy is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayal of the young Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix drama series The Crown (2016–2023), for which she won a Golden Globe and two Primetime Emmy Awards.

<i>The Tomb</i> (2009 film) 2009 American film

The Tomb, also known as Edgar Allan Poe's Ligeia, is a 2009 horror film directed by Michael Staininger and starring Wes Bentley, Sofya Skya, Kaitlin Doubleday, Michael Madsen, and Eric Roberts. It is based on the short story "Ligeia" by Edgar Allan Poe.

References

  1. Hayward, Anthony (6 January 2009). "John Ringham: Actor best known as Penny's father in 'Just Good". The Independent .
  2. "The Avengers starring Elizabeth Shepherd". Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  3. Kalem, T.E. "Theater: The Thin Red Line". Time magazine, 26 October 1970, page 93
  4. "VINCENTENNIAL: Interview with Elizabeth Shepherd, Star of TOMB OF LIGEIA". We Are Movie Geeks. 3 May 2011. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  5. Levy, Harold (20 July 2006). "Actress taken in by tenants". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 27 March 2007.