Sad news just a week after the death of Willow star Val Kilmer as we learn of the passing of Jean Marsh OBE, the Emmy-Award winning actress behind the films villain Queen Bavmorda. Born in Stoke Newington, London on 1st July 1934, Marsh would enjoy a sparkling and busy career, co-creating the ITV show Upstairs Downstairs, for which she won that 1975 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as Rose Buck and starring in such film and TV projects as Cleopatra, The Eagle Has Landed, Return to Oz (for producer Gary Kurtz) and on TV in Danger Man, The Twilight Zone, Doctor Who, UFO, The Waltons, The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote. She was 90 years old.
Jean Marsh, the stage and screen actress who has died at the age of 90, was best known for her role as a no-nonsense parlour maid in classic TV drama Upstairs, Downstairs.
The saga which chronicled the lives of a rich family in London and their servants through various historical events between 1903 and 1930, became a firm favourite of TV viewers when the costume drama aired between 1971 and 1975.
Marsh co-created the hit show along with friend and fellow actress Eileen Atkins, after they both realised in 1969 they had relatives in domestic service.
Years later Upstairs, Downstairs, set in the large townhouse of 165 Eaton Place, won Marsh an Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a limited series for her role as hard-bitten but ultimately kind-hearted maid Rose Buck.
She said: “I think Upstairs, Downstairs has a very special energy. There’s something about it that certainly brings out the best in people.”
