Jean Marsh

 

Jean Marsh 

† July 31 1934 – April 13 2025

Well, yes, another not-so-unknown face. In fact, if you were watching television in the 1970s, the image at the top of this post will be very recognisable, almost iconic. 'Upstairs, Downstairs' was an award-winning television sensation, and Jean Marsh was its co-creator and star, in the role of put-upon housemaid, Rose Buck. A precursor to, and undoubted influence on, 'Downton Abbey' and other period social dramas, it was a massive hit in the UK and abroad, particularly on PBS in America. Although it helped lift her and many of her fellow cast-members to stardom, (Anthony Andrews, Pauline Collins and Jon Alderton for example), she was not a producer of the programme and received only a small residual payment for developing the original concept with fellow actress Eileen Atkins.

Just about recognisable in this press shot from the Laurence Olivier 
movie for television, 'The Moon & Sixpence' (1959)

Before 'Upstairs, Downstairs', Jean Marsh had been a successful actress as a child and starlet. Her elegant figure and pert, yet slightly disconcerting, good looks led to her appearing in several films in the '50s and early '60s, such as 'The Rebel' (1961) - as one of the Juliette Greco-clone beatniks, and as a South Seas beauty in 'The Moon & Sixpence (1959) with Lawrence Olivier. She also crossed the Atlantic to play a uncanny companion android in an excellent episode of 'The Twilight Zone', 'The Lonely'.            

As Alicia the realistic robot, a moral dilemma for Jack Warden
in a classic episode of 'The Twilight Zone' from 1959    

As the '60s progressed Marsh's sophisticated style was in demand for the new wave of slick spy and cop shows of the era, including 'Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre', 'Danger Man', 'The Saint', 'Department S', 'Adam Adamant Lives!' and another trip over the ocean to appear in NBC's 'I Spy'. She also appeared in the increasingly popular 'Doctor Who', first in the crusades adventure 'The Knight Of Jaffa', and later as quasi-companion Sara Kingdom. She would make a further return as sorceress Morgaine in the 1989 story, 'Battlefield'. (Trivia: In real life, she was married to the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, from 1955-1960.)    

As Sara Kingdom in mid-'60s 'Doctor Who',
she would return in another role in the '80s   

The '70s, we now know, was the decade of 'Upstairs, Downstairs' and it's enormous popularity and success. This parlayed into a plethora of higher profile roles for Jean Marsh. There's Hichcock's 'Frenzy' (1972) and she has a shrilly neurotic performance in the schlocker 'Dark Places' (1973) with its surprisingly starry cast of Joan Collins, Christopher Lee, Robert Hardy, Jane Birkin and Herbert Lom. And then there's 'The Eagle Has Landed' (1976), a proper star-studded wartime caper, with Michael Caine and Robert Duvall. 

In an episode of 'UFO'

By the '80s Jean Marsh was much in demand on both sides of the Atlantic. Hollywood beckoned with a run of evil-queen roles that begins with Mombi the Witch in 'Return To Oz' (1985), Bavmorda in 'Willow' (1988) and Morgana in 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' (1989), while the US small screen saw her in episodes of 'Hawaii 5-0', The Waltons' and 'The Love Boat', with a regular role in the TV '9 to 5'. 

More UK productions feature as we move into the '90s and 2000s: the villainous Dr Culex in the rebooted 'Tomorrow People'; a return to the Who-niverse in 'An Adventure In Space And Time'; classic serials 'The Mayor Of Casterbridge' and (the BBC 2008) 'Sense & Sensibility'; and as the portmanteau ghost of all Henry VIII's wives in 'Monarch' with TP McKenna.

As Mrs Ferrars in 'Sense & Sensibility'

Sadly, a mild stroke in 2011 affected her ability to work. Although not completely unable to act, she was only able to appear in a few scenes of the new 1930s-set 'Upstairs, Downstairs', which also had the misfortune to coincide with its mega-budget clone 'Downton Abbey'.         

Jean Marsh-imdb

Sally Geeson

Sally Geeson:

Ah yes. The almost impossibly pert Sally Geeson, always giving Sid James attacks of fatherly apoplexy in 'Bless This House' with her mini skirts and innocent entendres. Perhaps of all the dolly-bird era stars, Sally Geeson has most consciously elected to preserve her image in amber, having vanished from our screens in 1976.   

In 'Man In A Suitcase'

The younger sister of Judy Geeson, she was in three Carry On films - although just a nameless extra in Carry On Regardless (1963) - being more memorable in 'Carry On Girls' (1974) and 'Carry On Abroad' (1972), two of the coarser late efforts in which she shines as the wholesome variety of 'crumpet'. I can hardly bring myself to recall the dreadful Norman Wisdom vehicle 'What's Good for the Goose' (1967), with the middle-aged star as a supposedly urbane married businessman who is drawn into the 'bewildering amoral world of free love'. The period detail is interesting - including R&B wildmen The Pretty Things in a club scene - but you still expect him to start shouting 'Mr Grimsdale!' despite the ponderous soul-searching and Carnaby Street clobber. Hats off to Miss Geeson for her gleeful performance in the face of such a challenge. And while we're on the subject of horrors, she also appears in 'The Oblong Box' (1969) and more fleetingly in 'The Cry of the Banshee' (1970), both featuring Vincent Price.     

One of the excruciating bedroom scenes in the painfully awkward Norman Wisdom
meets Swinging London comedy 'What's Good for the Goose' (1967)

As the rather reckless maid in 'The Oblong Box (1969)

On the small screen, it's mostly sunny smiles and hot pants to the fore in 'Bless This House', after a few roles in things like 'Man In A Suitcase', The Strange Report' 'Z-Cars', and 'Softly, Softly'.  She still looks lovely and, according to her website, she's planning a comeback - hopefully something even more substantial than her current role as the face of Anglian Home Improvements. Let's hope so.    

A sweet young thing in 'The Strange Report'

Sally Geeson-imdb

Maurice Roëves

Maurice Roëves 

† Mar 19 1937 – July 15 2020

With his dark chiselled features, Maurice Roëves has something of the malevolent Sean Connery about him, perhaps tempered with a touch of veteran footballer Ian St John. And like those two, he is proud to consider himself a Scotsman, albeit one who was accidentally born in Sunderland. 

One of his early accomplishments was taking on the role of Stephen Dedalus in Joseph Strick's film version of 'Ulysses'. Surrounded by prodigious Irish acting talent and thrown into the midst of Joyce's complex writing, he pulls off quite a coup. The film was considered an artistic success, with no attempt made to disguise the actors' wardrobe and Dublin locations of 1966, but showing a determination to stick to the word and spirit of the 1904-set novel. Milo O'Shea's star turn as Leopold Bloom, and the unflinching commitment to the original's earthy language (including the first screen use of the word 'fuck') and extended sexual themes were what made the headlines in the end.             

In the film version of James Joyce's 'Ulysses' (1967) with
veteran Irish actor David Kelly

Other feature film appearances include a lot of war movies: 'Oh! What A Lovely War' (1969), 'When Eight Bells Toll' (1971), 'Young Winston' (1972), 'The Eagle Has Landed' (1976), 'Escape To Victory' (1981), 'Who Dares Wins' (1982), an exception to the war theme was  Roman Polanski's ill-fated 'A Day At The Beach' (1970).  

In the silly world cup/war movie 'Escape To Victory' (1981)  

While all this film work was coming in during the '70s and '80s, Roëves also found himself in demand for television, appearing in 'Jason King', 'The Sweeney', 'Doomwatch', 'Family At War', 'Warship', 'Target', 'Danger UXB', 'The Chinese Detective' and the final Peter Davison 'Doctor Who' story 'The Caves Of Androzani'. He was also a regular storyteller on 'Jackanory' during its heyday between 1971 and 1979.

As a revolutionary in an episode of 'Jason King'
with the unmistakable Peter Wyngarde   

In '70s crime-boss mode in an episode of 'The Sweeney'

    

It seems that around this time his acting talents and televisual good looks were attracting the attention of producers across the Atlantic and parts started to be offered in US shows, such as 'Magnum PI', 'Hunter', 'Remington Steele', long-running US soap opera 'Days Of Our Lives', Civil War drama 'North & South', and later in the '80s adding 'Cheers', 'Jake & The Fatman' and 'Murder She Wrote' to the mix.

Bringing down the St Patrick's Day vibe at the bar in 'Cheers'
with his grim repertoire of rebel songs and massacre ballads    

Meanwhile, back in the UK things were also going along nicely, with roles in steady fare like 'Lytton's Diary', 'Bergerac', 'Rumpole Of The Bailey', and starring in the STV drama 'Bookie'. Possibly the highlight of this period was the densely written, but engaging John Byrne comedy drama 'Tutti Frutti' with Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson, and Richard Wilson. 

Channelling some Gene Vincent into the TV drama 
'Tutti Frutti', perhaps via Alvin Stardust

Roëves plays the ageing rocker Vincent Diver with a mix of brooding aggression and sadness that contributes greatly to a memorable slice of '80s TV, particularly as lead man Coltrane gives the impression of punching a little above his weight, theatrically speaking.     

As prison warden Miller in 'Judge Dredd' (1995)

 Since the '90s, Maurice Roëves has straddled the film and TV worlds, working in Hollywood and the UK. Television work includes 'Baywatch' and 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' (making him a member of the exclusive club of actors to have been in 'Star Trek' and 'Doctor Who'), alongside some stuff a lot closer to home. UK shows include 'Rab C Nesbitt', 'The New Statesman', 'A Touch Of Frost', 'Waking The Dead', and the BBC's prestigious 'Vanity Fair', as well as some bread-and-butter work on 'EastEnders', 'The Bill', 'Casualty' and 'Skins'. 

Colonel Munro parleys for terms of surrender in 'Last Of The Mohicans' (1992)

Movie work stretches from his impressive portrayal of redcoat Colonel Munro in 'The Last Of The Mohicans' (1992), to 'The Big Man' (1992), 'Judge Dredd' (1995), 'The Acid House' (1998), 'Beautiful Creatures' (2000), 'Hallam Foe' (2007), Welsh horror 'The Dark' (2005), 'The Damned United' (2009), 'Brighton Rock' (2010) and 'Macbeth' (2015).

All in all, quite an impressive career for a distinctive and familiar face yet one to which too few of us could put a name. I hope this small salute can redress that a little.         

Maurice Roeves-imdb


Post script, regarding pronunciation. I found this in an interview online. 

MR: No, it's Row-eaves. There's two dots above the "e", indicates the beginning of the second word. The two dots are called a dialysis* ... The name goes back to Prussian times. It's a Prussian name, I guess. It's like Noël.

* He means diaeresis.