Jean Marsh

Born in London Jean Marsh became interested in show business while taking dancing and mime classes as therapy for a childhood illness After attending a charm school and working as a model she started acting in repertory and took voice lessons Her repertory work was supplemented by a number of film appearances as a dancer She then spent three years in America appearing in Sir John Gielguds Broadway production of Much Ado About Nothing and numerous TV shows including an episode of The Twilight Zone1959 Returning to London she won roles on stage film and TV It was during this period that she appeared in Doctor Who 1963 first as Princess Joanna in The Crusade and then as Sara Kingdom in The Daleks Master Plan In the early 1970s she cocreated and starred in LWTs Upstairs Downstairs 1971 Since then she has maintained a very busy career in the theatre on TV including a starring role in the US sitcom 9 to 51982 and films such as Return to Oz 1985 and Willow 1988 She also cocreated another successful series The House of Eliott 1991