Jacqueline Pearce obituary
She was not on the list.
The actor Jacqueline Pearce, who has died of lung cancer aged 74, was well known to a generation of television viewers thanks to the smouldering intensity and depth she brought to her role as the vampish space villain Servalan in the popular BBC science fiction series Blake’s 7 (1978-81). Created by Terry Nation, Blake’s 7 concerned a morally ambiguous bunch of rebels led by Roj Blake (Gareth Thomas) pursued by the forces of a totalitarian government known as the Federation.
Initially brought in for a single episode, Pearce did such a good job as the evil regime’s coolly calculating supreme commander that she became a recurring character and the show’s main villain. With her striking looks, cropped jet black hair and propensity to stride across the universe in glamorous attire (which the naturally elegant Pearce carried off effortlessly and with a perfectly judged level of camp), Servalan was no stereotypical evildoer. Pearce augmented the character’s ruthlessness with a damaged sensuality and an undercurrent of vulnerability. Years later she was delighted to receive letters from (now grown-up) viewers telling her that Servalan had been the object of their first teenage crush.
She was born in Woking, Surrey, the daughter of Stella and Reginald Pearce. Her father worked at the Vickers Armstrong aircraft factory nearby in Weybridge, and Jacqueline was brought up in Byfleet, where the family shared their home with another couple, May and George Wilcox. Stella walked out when Jacqueline was 16 months old, and the Wilcoxes shared parental responsibility with Reginald.
Jacqueline was educated at the Marist Convent, West Byfleet. Although she found her schooldays traumatic, a lay teacher at the convent opened her eyes to drama by giving her elocution lessons and taking her to the theatre. After an unsuccessful stint at secretarial college, she won a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada) in London where her contemporaries included John Hurt (who became a friend for life) and Anthony Hopkins.
On graduation, she secured the services of a good agent and television parts came quickly – the first in a 1964 ITV Play of the Week starring Ian McShane and Hurt. It also featured her husband, the actor Drewe Henley, whom she had met when he directed her in a short film while she was at Rada: they had married within nine months, in 1963.
Pearce quickly broke into films, featuring prominently in the Hammer horrors The Plague of the Zombies (1966 – her character’s rise from the grave memorably ended in decapitation by shovel at the hands of André Morell) and The Reptile (1966, playing the title role). Other films included Don’t Lose Your Head (1967, from the Carry On… team), Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968, in which she starred alongside Jerry Lewis, Bernard Cribbins and Terry-Thomas), White Mischief (1987), Bruce Robinson’s How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) and Princess Caraboo (1994).
After her marriage to Henley ended in 1967 (and he subsequently married Felicity Kendal), she took an impetuous sabbatical in Hollywood. She studied at the Lee Strasberg Actors Studio in Los Angeles and worked as a receptionist for her friend Sammy Davis Jr (whom she had met when they worked on adjacent sound stages while he was filming in the UK). When she returned home, she felt her career had stalled, but her extensive body of television work in the UK included guest spots in The Avengers (1966), Public Eye (1966), Man in a Suitcase (1967-68), Callan (1969), Hadleigh (1973), Special Branch (1974), the BBC Shakespeare series (Measure for Measure in 1979), Doctor Who (1985) and Casualty (2006).
Recurring roles included a performance of sad beauty as Rosa Dartle in the BBC’s 1974-75 production of David Copperfield and a pair of memorable fantasies aimed at a younger audience – Moondial (1988, in which she played a dual role) and Dark Season (1991, an early success for Russell T Davies that starred Kate Winslet).
Her theatre work included West End appearances in Harold Pinter’s production of Simon Gray’s Otherwise Engaged (Queen’s theatre, 1975) and JB Priestley’s Dangerous Corner (Garrick theatre, 2001), and an Edinburgh fringe run of her one woman show A Star Is Torn (1999).
During a break in her career she moved to South Africa for several years, initially to care for orphaned monkeys. In her autobiography From Byfleet to the Bush (2012), she was candid about her struggles with mental health. She nevertheless remained a glamorous force of nature – even when hard up and between jobs she would cash her dole cheque and immediately head to the West End to buy champagne.
She maintained her links with cult fiction by reprising the
role of Servalan for CD releases of Blake’s 7 (2012-18) and starring alongside
Hurt in a series of Doctor Who adventures (2015-17), both for the audio company
Big Finish.
A second marriage also ended in divorce.
Actress
Doctor Who: Time War (2017)
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8.4
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Cardinal Ollistra (voice)
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5 episodes
Doctor Who: The Lost Stories (2009)
Doctor Who: The Lost Stories
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Queen Zafira
2011
1 episode
Casualty (1986)
Casualty
6.1
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Elspeth Lang
2006
2 episodes
Doctors (2000)
Doctors
4.6
TV Series
Henrietta Fosdyke
2005
1 episode
Soldiers of Love
TV Series
Madame Deephole
1999–2003
8 episodes
Challenging Behaviour
Video
Jill
2002
Hugh Bonneville, Hugh Dancy, Romola Garai, and Jodhi May in
Daniel Deronda (2002)
Daniel Deronda
7.2
TV Mini Series
Baroness Langen
2002
2 episodes
Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time (2001)
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6.4
TV Mini Series
Admiral Mettna (voice)
2001
1 episode
Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures (1999)
Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures
8.8
Podcast Series
Sherilyn Harper (voice)
2000
1 episode
Angela Lansbury in The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1999)
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
6.2
TV Movie
Jacqueline
1999
Written Off
Video
Barbara Giller
1998
Guru in Seven (1998)
Guru in Seven
6.9
Joan - The Oyster Lady
1998
Queen: The eYe (1998)
Queen: The eYe
Video Game
(voice)
1998
Parents In Partnership
Video
Mrs. Travis
1997
Ghostlands
TV Movie
Charlotte Elliott
1996
Gender Wars (1996)
Gender Wars
Video Game
Professor Sarah Muchly Jones
1996
The Contract
6.2
Short
1995
Phoebe Cates in Princess Caraboo (1994)
Princess Caraboo
6.0
Lady Apthorpe
1994
Sean Patrick Flanery and Corey Carrier in The Young Indiana
Jones Chronicles (1992)
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
7.2
TV Series
Mrs. Annabelle Levi
1993
1 episode
Peter Ustinov in Peter Ustinov on the Orient Express (1991)
Peter Ustinov on the Orient Express
7.5
TV Movie
Duchess of Windsor
1991
Dark Season (1991)
Dark Season
6.4
TV Series
Miss Pendragon
1991
3 episodes
Richard E. Grant in How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
6.8
Maud
1989
Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith in The Bourne Identity
(1988)
The Bourne Identity
6.8
TV Mini Series
Madame Jacqui
1988
2 episodes
Moondial (1988)
Moondial
7.3
TV Mini Series
Miss Vole & Miss Raven
Miss Vole
1988
4 episodes
Greta Scacchi and Charles Dance in White Mischief (1987)
White Mischief
6.4
Idina
1987
What Mad Pursuit? (1985)
What Mad Pursuit?
7.2
TV Movie
Luella Rosen
1985
Paul McGann, Colin Baker, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, William
Hartnell, Sylvester McCoy, Jon Pertwee, and Patrick Troughton in Doctor Who
(1963)
Doctor Who
8.4
TV Series
Chessene
1985
3 episodes
Jan Chappell, Paul Darrow, David Jackson, Michael Keating,
Sally Knyvette, Jacqueline Pearce, and Gareth Thomas in Blake's 7 (1978)
Blake's 7
8.0
TV Series
Servalan
Supreme Commander Servalan
President Servalan
1978–1981
29 episodes
The BBC Television Shakespeare (1978)
The BBC Television Shakespeare
8.0
TV Series
Mariana
1979
1 episode
Shadows (1975)
Shadows
6.8
TV Series
Hostess
1978
1 episode
Eustace and Hilda
8.0
TV Series
Nancy Alberic
1977
1 episode
Leap in the Dark (1973)
Leap in the Dark
7.6
TV Series
Dorothy McEwan
1977
1 episode
The Venetian Twins
7.5
TV Movie
1976
Couples
6.2
TV Series
Claudia Haswell
1975–1976
7 episodes
Helen Mirren in Caesar and Claretta (1975)
The Philanthropist
6.8
TV Movie
Araminta
1975
Churchill's People (1974)
Churchill's People
5.6
TV Series
Mrs. Parker
1975
1 episode
Julian Glover and Paul Daneman in Spy Trap (1972)
Spy Trap
8.8
TV Series
Helen Machin
1975
1 episode
David Copperfield (1974)
David Copperfield
7.6
TV Mini Series
Rosa Dartle
1974–1975
4 episodes
Brian Keith, John Mills, Barry Morse, and Lilli Palmer in
The Zoo Gang (1974)
The Zoo Gang
7.5
TV Series
Brigitte Gautier
1974
1 episode
Robert Urquhart in The Aweful Mr. Goodall (1974)
The Aweful Mr. Goodall
TV Series
Madame Prigent
1974
1 episode
Special Branch (1969)
Special Branch
7.4
TV Series
Helga Moritz
1974
1 episode
Susan Littler and Robert Stephens in Vienna 1900 (1973)
Vienna 1900
7.9
TV Mini Series
Anna Rupius
1974
2 episodes
Gerald Harper in Hadleigh (1969)
Hadleigh
7.3
TV Series
Sue
1973
1 episode
Anthony Hopkins and Timothy West in The Edwardians (1972)
The Edwardians
6.8
TV Mini Series
Countess Halecka
1973
1 episode
Anna Cropper in Dead of Night (1972)
Dead of Night
7.3
TV Series
Sarah Hopkirk
1972
1 episode
John Carlisle and John Woodvine in New Scotland Yard (1972)
New Scotland Yard
7.3
TV Series
Leonie Peters
1972
1 episode
The Challengers
TV Series
Sue Marden
1972
1 episode
Derek Jacobi, Ronald Fraser, Charles Gray, Bernard Hepton,
John Thaw, and Douglas Wilmer in The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971)
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
7.2
TV Series
Jenny Pryde
1971
1 episode
Edward Woodward in Callan (1967)
Callan
8.3
TV Series
Eva Watt
1969
1 episode
Horst Janson and Jacqueline Pearce in The Root of All Evil?
(1968)
The Root of All Evil?
TV Series
Connie
1968
1 episode
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968)
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River
4.7
Pamela Lester
1968
Armchair Theatre (1956)
Armchair Theatre
7.6
TV Series
Daphne
1968
1 episode
Man in a Suitcase (1967)
Man in a Suitcase
7.7
TV Series
Miss Brown
Ruth Klinger
1967–1968
2 episodes
Theatre 625 (1964)
Theatre 625
7.4
TV Series
Eva Franzia
1967
1 episode
Patrick Mower and Jane Jordan Rogers in Haunted (1967)
Haunted
TV Mini Series
Jenny Bryce
1967
1 episode
Carry on Don't Lose Your Head (1967)
Carry on Don't Lose Your Head
6.5
Third Lady
1967
Alfred Burke in Public Eye (1965)
Public Eye
8.5
TV Series
Jill
1966
1 episode
The Avengers (1961)
The Avengers
8.3
TV Series
Marianne Gray
1966
1 episode
The Reptile (1966)
The Reptile
6.1
Anna Franklyn
1966
Gypsy Girl (1966)
Gypsy Girl
6.8
Cammellia
1966
The Plague of the Zombies (1966)
The Plague of the Zombies
6.6
Alice
1966
Anthony Hopkins in Changes (1965)
Changes
6.1
Short
Monica (as Jackie Pearce)
1965
ITV Play of the Week (1955)
ITV Play of the Week
7.3
TV Series
Frances
Girl in Cafe
Girl in pub ...
1964–1965
4 episodes
Genghis Khan (1965)
Genghis Khan
5.8
Shah's Daughter (uncredited)
1965
Patrick McGoohan in Secret Agent (1964)
Secret Agent
8.2
TV Series
Jeannie (as Jackie Pearce)
1964
1 episode
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