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Jane Merrow

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Jane Merrow
Merrow in 2020
Born
Jane Meirowsky

1941 (age 83–84)
Hertfordshire, England
Alma materRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art
OccupationActress
Years active1960–present
Websitehttps://janemerrow.com

Jane Meirowsky (born 1941),[1] known professionally as Jane Merrow, is an English actress who has been active from the 1960s in both Britain and the United States.

Early years

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Merrow was born in 1941[1] in Hertfordshire to an English mother and German-Jewish refugee father.[2][1][3] "My father’s side of the family were ethnically Jewish, but not practising," she would later state.[2] She is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[1][3] She also was active in the British National Youth Theatre and won the Shakespeare Cup at the Kent Drama Festival.[4]

Film and television career

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In 1963, Merrow was cast in the lead role of a BBC adaptation of Lorna Doone and subsequently had roles in British ITC TV series such as Danger Man, The Saint, The Baron, The Prisoner (in the 1967 episode "The Schizoid Man" as Alison, a mind reader), Gerry Anderson's UFO, and The Avengers where, having appeared in the penultimate episode of the 1967 series ("Mission ... Highly Improbable"), she was considered as the replacement for a departing Diana Rigg. The role went to Linda Thorson instead.[1]

She also appeared as Lollo Romano in the 1965 "Gang War" episode of Gideon's Way. She featured in a new version of the Nigel Kneale adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1965) which was broadcast in the Theatre 625 series. David Buck was Winston Smith with Merrow as his lover, Julia.[5]

In 1966 she appeared in The Saint (series 5, episode 7: "The Angel's Eye") as Mabel, the unwilling partner of her father's bid to steal a famous diamond: The Angel's Eye.

Merrow starred in the British science fiction film Night of the Big Heat (1967) with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, prior to her most prominent role as Alais, the mistress of Henry II (played by Peter O'Toole) in The Lion in Winter (1968), for which she received a 1969 Golden Globe nomination in the category of actress in a supporting role,[6] losing to Ruth Gordon who won for Rosemary's Baby. She appeared in Adam's Woman with Beau Bridges in 1970. She also appeared as the blind Laura in the Hammer film Hands of the Ripper (1971).[1] She appeared in an episode ("Who Killed Cock Robin?", 1969) of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). In 1971, she played Anne Hepton in Hadleigh, becoming the romantic interest of the lead character.

Around this time, she moved to the U.S., where she guest-starred on television in dramas, mysteries and adventure programmes, including Mission: Impossible; Bearcats!; Mannix; Emergency!; Police Woman; The Six Million Dollar Man; Cannon; Barnaby Jones; The Eddie Capra Mysteries; Airwolf; MacGyver; Hart to Hart; Magnum, P.I.; The Incredible Hulk; Once an Eagle; The Greatest American Hero; and The Magician.[citation needed]

Later life

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In the 1990s, Merrow returned to Britain to run a family business.[1] In 2006, she took part in a Prisoner-related event in Portmeirion, North Wales,[7] and in 2008, she was a guest there for the annual convention for The Prisoner TV series organised by the Prisoner Appreciation Society.[8]

The summer of 2009 saw Merrow return to the stage, playing Emilia in Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors with the Idaho Shakespeare Company.[9]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1961 Don't Bother to Knock Girl in Gallery Uncredited
1962 The Phantom of the Opera Chorus Girl Uncredited
1962 The Wild and the Willing Mary Parker
1964 The System Nicola USA: The Girl-Getters
1965 Catacombs Alice Taylor
1967 Night of the Big Heat Angela Roberts
1968 Assignment K Martine
1968 The Lion in Winter Alais
1970 Adam's Woman Bess
1971 Hands of the Ripper Laura
1972 The Hound of the Baskervilles Beryl Stapleton TV movie
1973 The Horror at 37,000 Feet Sheila O'Neill TV movie
1974 A Time for Love Janice
1975 Diagnosis: Murder Mary Dawson
1981 The Appointment Dianna
2010 Be Careful of What You Wish For Mrs. White
2016 Almosting It Gladys
2020 The Haunting of Margam Castle Edith Withers

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1961 The Angry Gods Perdita 2 episodes
1961 Deadline Midnight Dilys Jones Episode: "An Eye for Detail"
1962 Oliver Twist Oliver's Mother Episode: #1.1
1962 Compact Anna Episode: "Pets Corner"
1962 This Time Next Year Joyce TV film
1962 Man of the World Nurse Episode: "Blaze of Glory"
1962 BBC Sunday-Night Play Jean Skelton Episode: "A Suitable Case for Treatment"
1962 Harpers West One Ruth Leigh Episode: #2.11
1962 Call Oxbridge 2000 Joan Price Episode: #2.12
1963 Moonstrike Vicky Episode: "Message Received"
1963 The Birth of a Private Man Frances Waring TV film
1963 The Plane Makers Sue Collins Episode: "Point of Contact"
1963 About Religion Girl Episode: "The Night Before the Execution"
1963 24-Hour Call Moira Singleton Episode: "The Confession"
1963 Jane Eyre Rosamund Oliver Episode: #1.5
1963 The Human Jungle Penny Branch Episode: "Fine Feathers"
1963 Corrigan Blake Mary Episode: "Love Bird"
1963 Lorna Doone Lorna Doone Title role, nine episodes
1963 Festival Susan Episode: "I Want To Go Home"
1964 Festival Giselle Episode: "Justin Thyme"
1964 Love Story Jane Cleveland Episode: "The End of the Line"
1964 Detective Eve Gill Episode: "The Hungry Spider"
1964 Danger Man Juana Romero Episode: "A Date With Doris"
1965 Gideon's Way Lollo Romano Episode: "Gang War"
1965 Story Parade Erika Hacker Episode: "The World That Summer"
1965 Theatre 625 Julia Episode: "The World of George Orwell: 1984"
1965 Danger Man Susan Turnbull Episode: "A Room in the Basement"
1965 Danger Man Lydia Greshnova Episode: "The Man Who Wouldn't Talk"
1965 The Saint Lois Norroy Episode: "The Happy Suicide"
1966 The Baron Savannah Olmira
1965 Danger Man 1965 Episode: "Red Horse, Red Rider"
1966 The Saint Mabel Episode: "The Angel's Eye"
1966 Mystery and Imagination Carmilla Episode: "Carmilla"
1967 The Prisoner Alison Episode: "The Schizoid Man"
1967 The Avengers Susan Rushton Episode: "Mission: Highly Improbable"
1967 Man in a Suitcase Susan Fenchurch Episode: "The Bridge"
1968 BBC Play of the Month Sorel Bliss Episode: "Hay Fever"
1969 Strange Report Jill Crowley Episode: "REPORT 1553 RACIST 'A most dangerous proposal'"
1969 Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) Sandra Joyce Episode: "Who Killed Cock Robin?"
1970 Mission: Impossible Lady Cora Weston Episode: "Lover's Knot"
1971 UFO Jo Fraser Episode: "The Responsibility Seat"
1971 Hadleigh Anne Hepton Eight episodes in season 2
1971 Bearcats! Samantha Burke Episode: "Conquerer's Gold"
1971 Alias Smith and Jones Sister Isabel Episode: "The Reformation of Harry Briscoe"
1972 Mannix Clarissa Colburn Episode: "The Sound of Murder"
1972 Love, American Style Miranda/Jeannie Zambini Episode: "Love and the Happy Medium/Love and the Jinx/Love and the Little Black Book/Love and the Old Swingers" (segment "Love and the Happy Medium")
1973 Mannix Leona Kellaway Episode: "Carol Lockwood, Past Tense"
1973 Emergency! Lady Rossman Episode: "The Professor"
1973 Love, American Style Pamela Episode: "Love and the Golden Memory/Love and the Heavy Set/Love and the Novel/Love and the See-Through Mind/Love and the Seven Year Wait" (segment "Love and the Golden Memory")
1973 The Magician Carol Spain / Lorna Hackett Episode: "Man on Fire"
1973 Cannon Gretchen Calloway Episode: "Murder by the Numbers"
1974 Police Woman Linda Episode: "Requien for Bored Wives"
1974 Barnaby Jones Hillary Padgett Episode: "Web of Deceit"
1974 The Six Million Dollar Man Irina Leonova Episode: "Doomsday, and Counting"
1977 Once an Eagle Hallie Burns Episode 7
1977 The Six Million Dollar Man Irina Leonova Episodes: "Death Probe, Parts 1 and 2"
1977 Van der Valk Diane Episode: "Diane"
1978 The Eddie Capra Mysteries Unknown Episode: "Murder Plays a Dead Hand"
1981 The Incredible Hulk Dr Jane Cabot Episode: "Bring Me the Head of the Hulk"
1981 The Greatest American Hero Betty Episode: "The Beast in the Black"
1982 Romance Theatre Magda Episodes: "Escape to Love, Parts 1 - 5"
1985 Hart to Hart Margaret Chumley Episode: "Rich and Hartless"
1983 Magnum, P.I. Vivien Brock Jones, Lady Wilkerson, Duchess of Whitt Episode: "Letter to a Duchess"
1984 Rituals Harriet Winslow Episode: "Unaired pilot"
1985 St. Elsewhere Landlady Episode: "Tears of a Clown'
1985 Days of Our Lives Mrs. Pierpoint Episode: "#1.5121"
1986 Airwolf Mrs Eleanor Haines Episode: "Break-In at Santa Paula"
1986 MacGyver Dr Natalia Petrovitsh Episode: "A Prisoner of Conscience"
1993 Lovejoy Stella Episode: "Taking the Pledge"
1996 Accused Janet Walsh Three Episodes: "Carol", "Kirkpatrick", "Mukesh"
1997 Sharpe Duchess of Richmond Episode: "Sharpe's Waterloo"

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Cotter, Robert Michael "Bobb" (2013). The Women of Hammer Horror: A Biographical Dictionary and Filmography. McFarland. pp. 134–135. ISBN 9781476602011. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Jane Merrow Blog". www.janemerrow.net.
  3. ^ a b "Jane Merrow Biography Page". www.janemerrow.net.
  4. ^ "Katharine Out to Repeat History". The Ottawa Journal. Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. 2 March 1968. p. 62. Retrieved 18 July 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ Wake, Oliver. "1984 (1965)". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  6. ^ "Golden Globe Nominees". Archived from the original on 12 September 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  7. ^ "PM2006 Patrick McGoohan / Prisoner / Portmeirion Convention". www.theunmutual.co.uk.
  8. ^ "Portmeirion".[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ "Jane Merrow Film Reviews - Comedy of Errors". Archived from the original on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
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