Monday 27 May 2013

Rosalyn Landor


Rosalyn Landor:

An English beauty, in a rather elongated and lugubrious manner, this haughty Hampstead-born actress has had numerous brushes with top billing, yet somehow always remained just a twinkle short of star status. Ms Landor began her career as a ten-year-old in 'The Devil Rides Out' (1968), an auspicious start which led to a few more bonnet-and-bloomers roles in the early '70s, such as the BBC series 'The Edwardians', and the film 'The Amazing Mr Blunden' (1972) which failed to become the children's classic its makers were hoping for. 

After a break for finishing school she began to appear in young woman roles requiring received pronunciation and maximum aloofness such as the bright young thing Polly in 'Love In A Cold Climate' and the classical drama 'The King of Argos'.       


In 'The Amazing Mr Blunden'
When the '80s came along she found herself much in demand to portray a bit of upper class glamour. Her slightly stern appearance saved her from the worst excesses of the period's posh-totty syndrome, instead appearing in middle-brow quality like 'Oxbridge Blues' and Rumpole of the Bailey' and the nonsensical 'C.A.T.S. Eyes' with Jill Gascoyne and Leslie Ash. She was also in the star-studded, yet truly abysmal, 'Arthur the King' (1980), which is so bad, you will need to see it to believe it.  

As Fiona Allways in 'Rumpole of the Bailey'

In her full '80s pomp in 'C.A.T.S. Eyes'

And of course, there was her part in Renault's lasting contribution to the horrible mental landscape of Thatcher's Britain:
'You're not being a bit... hasty about this, are you?' 

After all this she moved to the US, specialising in voiceover work in animation and latterly computer games, and narrating audio books. She put in a creditable outer-space Irish accent performance in a segment of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' before the Rob Lowe movie 'Bad Influence' (1990) sent her back to the voice booth for the next couple of decades.

Rosalyn Landor - imdb
 

2 comments:

  1. Beautifully written. Acidic but honest.

    ReplyDelete
  2. She follows me on Twitter. No idea why but I consider it an honour.

    ReplyDelete