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Barbara Leigh-Hunt - Wikipedia

  • ️Sat Dec 14 1935

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Barbara Leigh-Hunt

Born14 December 1935

Bath, Somerset, England

Died16 September 2024 (aged 88)
OccupationActress
Years active1954–2004
Spouse

(m. 1967; died 2014)​

RelativesRonald Leigh-Hunt
(cousin)

Barbara Leigh-Hunt (14 December 1935 – 16 September 2024) was an English actress.[1] Her numerous theatre credits included Broadway productions of Hamlet (1958), Sherlock Holmes (1973) and Justice (1974), and she won the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for the National Theatre production of An Inspector Calls. Her film appearances included Frenzy (1972), Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), Bequest to the Nation (1973), and Billy Elliot (2000).

On stage, Leigh-Hunt appeared in many productions as well those with the Bristol Old Vic, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. Her early film roles included Catherine Parr in Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), Bequest to the Nation (1973) and Oh Heavenly Dog (1980). Her most famous movie role was probably in Alfred Hitchcock's penultimate film Frenzy (1972), as a woman raped and strangled by a serial killer, that included the first graphically violent scene featuring visible nudity of Hitchcock's career.

In 1983 Leigh-Hunt appeared as the Queen of Bavaria in the mini-series Wagner, sharing her scenes with Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud as court ministers. Richard Burton played the composer Richard Wagner. Her husband, Richard Pasco, whom she married in 1967, appeared also.

Leigh-Hunt played Jean Lawrence in the controversial BBC drama Tumbledown (1988), and Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice (1995), and provided the voices of the farmer's wife in The Plague Dogs (1982), and Captain Mildred and Mary the Hover Fairy in the 1987 Children's BBC series Charlie Chalk. In 1999, Leigh-Hunt starred as Lady Cumnor in BBC's four-part series adaptation of the novel Wives and Daughters (1999). More recently she appeared in such films as Paper Mask (1990), Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1997), Billy Elliot (2000), The Martins (2001) and Vanity Fair (2004), and had much work on television, mainly in guest character parts.

Personal life and death

[edit]

Leigh-Hunt's cousin was the actor Ronald Leigh-Hunt.[2]

Leigh-Hunt was married to Richard Pasco from 1967 until his death in 2014. She died in Aston Cantlow, Warwickshire, on 16 September 2024, aged 88.[3][4][5]

  1. ^ Noble 1982, p. 492
  2. ^ "Ronald Leigh-Hunt | Obituaries". The Stage. 3 October 2005. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  3. ^ "The obituary notice of Barbara PASCO (née Leigh-Hunt)". funeral-notices.co.uk. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  4. ^ Coveney, Michael (26 September 2024). "Barbara Leigh-Hunt obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  5. ^ Mike Barnes (27 September 2024). "Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Actress in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Frenzy,' Dies at 88". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  • Noble, Peter, ed. (1982). 1982–1983 Screen International Film And TV Year Book. London: King Publications.