Biography

Jean Marsh

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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 Gielgud's Broadway production of "Much Ado About Nothing" and numerous TV shows, including an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959). 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 co-created and starred in LWT's 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 Nine to Five (1982) and films such as Return to Oz (1985) and Willow (1988). She also co-created another successful series, The House of Eliott (1991).
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous

Co-created (with actress Eileen Atkins), her most memorable series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971) which ran from 1971 to 1975. The two actresses later co-created The House of Eliott (1991) for BBC TV.
She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.
A cabaret singer and photo model in her early years while studying acting and mime.
Suffered a stroke and minor heart attack in 2011, causing her to miss much of the second series of the revival of Upstairs Downstairs (2010).
She played two different versions of Morgan Le Fay, the half-sister of King Arthur, in 1989: Morgana in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1989) and Morgaine in Battlefield: Part One (1989).

[on Downton Abbey (2010)] I think we were all surprised. The new Upstairs, Downstairs had been in the works for about three years. We were trying to sort out... 40 years of rights and then it also started - Downton Abbey - in the Edwardian era, which Upstairs, Downstairs did. So it might be a coincidence and I might be the queen of Belgium.
[asked if she owns a piece of Upstairs, Downstairs (1971)] I get a residual for the idea as much as I get a residual for the acting. It's a very low fee. I think I got something like $100 an episode initially for the idea, and my royalty is based on that rate. I've got a saying: "If it had been made in America I'd be Mary Tyler Moore. As it is, I'm Mary Tyler Less."

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