BARBARA JEFFORD

(26 July 1930 - 12 September 2020)

The British actress Barbara Jefford, who has died aged 90, was one of the greatest actors of her time. Born and educated in Devon, she trained at Rada before joining the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre and then the Old Vic, the Oxford Playhouse, the National Theatre and the West End. She excelled in Shakespeare, appearing in more of his plays than any other actor, as well as taking on Pirandello, Turgenev, Racine, Shaw and many more. On TV her debut was as Tess in Tess of the D’Urbervilles in 1952 and her first film role (in 1967) was as Molly in Joseph Strick’s controversial Ulysses, based on James Joyce’s novel. It was cut by the British censor and given an X certificate. Jefford’s other films included The Bofors Gun with Nicol Williamson, The Shoes of the Fisherman with Anthony Quinn, Peter Hall’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lust for a Vampire with Ralph Bates, Hitler: The Last Ten Days with Alec Guinness, and Stephen Frears’ Walter with Ian McKellen, the film that opened Channel 4 in 1982. Jefford also appeared in Fellini’s And the Ship Sails On, When the Whales Came with Paul Scofield, Where Angels Fear to Tread, based on E.M. Forster’s novel, Roman Polanski’s The Ninth Gate with Johnny Depp, Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea, from Terence Rattigan’s play, and Stephen Frears’ Philomena with Judi Dench, her last film, in 2013. She dubbed voices on three James Bond films, From Russia With Love, Thunderball and The Spy Who Loved Me. Her TV appearances included The Canterbury Tales, Porterhouse Blue, The Visitors, The House of Eliott and Midsomer Murders. She was first married to the actor Terence Longdon and then the actor John Turner. My abiding memory of the actress is her Saint Joan at the Old Vic in 1960: she was magnificent. She was awarded the OBE in 1965, the youngest-ever civilian recipient of the honour. But, considering her amount of superb classical theatre work, a damehood would not have gone amiss.

MICHAEL DARVELL