Samantha Eggar

Samantha Eggar (born 5 March 1939) is an English film, television and voice actress.[1]

Contents [hide] 1 Early life and education 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Selected filmography 4.1 Film 4.2 Television

5 References 6 External links

Early life and education[edit]

She was born Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar[2] in Hampstead, London, to Ralph (a brigadier in the British Army) and a mother (Muriel) of Dutch and Portuguese descent.[3]

Eggar was brought up as a Roman Catholic and educated at St Mary's Providence Convent, Woking, Surrey.

Career[edit]

She began her acting career in several Shakespearean companies, and debuted on film in 1962 in The Wild and the Willing. Also in 1962, she played Ethel Le Neve in the film Dr. Crippen, alongside Donald Pleasence. Eggar starred in the comedy Walk, Don't Run (1966) with Cary Grant (his last picture) and Jim Hutton. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Collector (1965), directed by William Wyler. She won a Golden Globe award for this performance and was also named Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival.[4]

On her role as Miranda in The Collector, Eggar has said: "My biggest relationship on set was with William Wyler. The tension on set was real. And if the tension wasn't there – if I didn’t exude precisely what he wanted – well, Willie just poured cold water over me."[5]

In 1963, she played the title character in "Marcia", a second-season episode of The Saint. After her appearance in The Saint, Eggar did not appear in television for 10 years, instead focusing exclusively on feature films. Although she costarred with Yul Brynner in the 1972 television series Anna and the King, she did not make another television guest appearance until 1973, when she starred in the episode "The Cardboard House" of the romantic anthology series Love Story. From the late 1970s to the 2000s, the bulk of Eggar's screen work would be on the small screen.

Eggar appeared in the films Curtains, Doctor Dolittle, The Molly Maguires, Dark Horse, The Brood, and The Light at the Edge of the World. In 1976, she costarred with Peter Falk and Theodore Bikel in the Columbo episode "The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case". She appeared as Maggie Gioberti in "The Vintage Years", the pilot for the drama Falcon Crest, but was replaced by Susan Sullivan when the series went into production.

In 1997, she provided the voice of Hera in Disney's animated film Hercules. Eggar also had a role in a 1999 picture, The Astronaut's Wife, which starred Johnny Depp.

She has appeared as the wife of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's brother Robert in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, and as Sarah Templeton, the wife of Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland), on the short-lived television series Commander in Chief, which starred Geena Davis. In 2000, she had a brief run in the American soap opera All My Children. In 2003, she appeared in the first season of Cold Case, episode 14 ("The Boy In The Box") as Sister Vivian. In 2009, she played the mother of Jack and Becky Gallagher in season 1, episode 11 ("Lines in the Sand") of the FOX television series Mental.

Personal life[edit]

In 1964, she married actor Tom Stern, with whom she has a son, Nicolas Stern, and a daughter, Jenna Stern. Eggar and Stern divorced in 1971.