# Isabel Dean

Isabel Dean (born Isabel Hodgkinson, 29 May 1918 – 27 July 1997) was an English stage, film and television actress.

## Life and career

Born in Aldridge, Staffordshire, Dean studied painting at Birmingham Art School. In 1937, she joined the Cheltenham Repertory Company as a scenic artist. She was soon involved in acting with some small parts.
She appeared on stage in London in Agatha Christie's Peril at End House in 1940. Her stage appearances included The Deep Blue Sea, Breaking the Code and John Osborne's The Hotel in Amsterdam, at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. In 1949 she appeared in The Foolish Gentlewoman at the Duchess Theatre in London.
By 1953, she was also appearing on British television in The Quatermass Experiment and over her career appeared in television series such as I, Claudius (1976) and Inspector Morse (1990). She appeared with Paul Scofield in an ITV Saturday Night Theatre production of The Hotel in Amsterdam broadcast on 14 March 1971.
Among her film appearances are roles in The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953) and the film version of Inadmissible Evidence (1968).

## Personal life

In 1953, Dean married writer William Fairchild; the couple had two daughters, Caroline and Angela. The marriage was later dissolved.

## Radio

* Paul Temple and the Spencer Affair (1957)
* Paul Temple and the Geneva Mystery (1965)
* Home at seven (1966) by RC Sherriff
* The Reluctant Peer by William Douglas-Home broadcast on BBC (1967)
* Have His Carcase (1981)
* The Bird Table (1982)
* A Photograph of Lindsey Mowatt (1986) by Ellen Dryden
* Summer Attachment (1986) by Michael Sharp

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1949 | The Passionate Friends | Pat Stratton | |
| 1952 | The Last Page | May Harman | US title: Man Bait |
| 1952 | The Woman's Angle | Isobel Mansell | |
| 1952 | 24 Hours of a Woman's Life | Miss Johnson | AKA, Affair in Monte Carlo |
| 1953 | The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan | Mrs. Gilbert | |
| 1953 | Twice Upon a Time | Miss Burke | |
| 1955 | Out of the Clouds | Mrs. Malcolm | |
| 1955 | Handcuffs, London | Doris Tedford | |
| 1958 | Davy | Helen Carstairs | |
| 1958 | Virgin Island | Mrs. Lomax | |
| 1962 | Light in the Piazza | Miss Hawtree | |
| 1965 | A High Wind in Jamaica | Alice Thornton | |
| 1966 | A Man Could Get Killed | Miss Bannister | |
| 1968 | Inadmissible Evidence | Mrs. Gamsey | |
| 1971 | To Catch a Spy | Celia | |
| 1975 | Ransom | Mrs. Palmer | AKA, The Terrorists |
| 1976 | The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones | Bridget | |
| 1980 | Rough Cut | Mrs. Willis | |
| 1982 | Five Days One Summer | Kate's Mother | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1948 | Afterglow | Ilona | TV film |
| 1948 | Berkeley Square | Helen Pettigrew | TV film |
| 1949 | The Happiest Days of Your Life | Joyce Harper | TV film |
| 1950 | Man of Two Minds | Madrigal Grey | TV film |
| 1950 | Sunday Night Theatre | Antistia | "The Tragedy of Pompey the Great" |
| 1951 | Nocturne in Scotland | Jane Stirling | TV film |
| 1952 | The Man with the Gun | Martha Graham | TV film |
| 1952 | Sunday Night Theatre | Alison Parrilow | "The Morning Star" |
| 1952 | Another Language | Stella Hallam | TV film |
| 1953 | The Quatermass Experiment | Judith Carroon | TV series |
| 1953 | Sunday Night Theatre | Celia / Mary Drew | "As You Like It", "The Return of Peggy Atherton" |
| 1954 | Patrol Car | Mrs. Regis | "The Extra Bullet" |
| 1955 | Patrol Car | Doris Tedford | "Nell Gwynn's Tear" |
| 1955 | Sunday Night Theatre | Anne Eilers | "The Devil's General" |
| 1955 | Saber of London | Sylvia Pemberton | "Code Name: Murder" |
| 1956 | Sunday Night Theatre | Mrs. Seddon | "The Seddons" |
| 1957 | Dixon of Dock Green | Mrs. Dyce | "The Silent House" |
| 1957 | ITV Play of the Week | Rona | "Accolade" |
| 1958 | Armchair Theatre | Helène Madinier | "The Web of Lace" |
| 1959 | ITV Television Playhouse | Rose Hanbury | "A Bit of Happiness" |
| 1959 | ITV Play of the Week | Gabrielle Broadbent / Liz Heyward | "Sugar in the Morning", "The Signal" |
| 1960 | A Life of Bliss | Anne Fellows | TV series |
| 1960 | Barnaby Rudge | Mrs. Rudge | Regular role |
| 1961 | Sunday Night Play | Evelyn Hunter | "Off Centre" |
| 1961 | ITV Play of the Week | Margaret Adams | "Faraway Music" |
| 1961 | The Bun House Wedding | Miss Cushing | TV film |
| 1961 | No Hiding Place | Gretel Naunton | "Caught and Bowled" |
| 1963 | ITV Play of the Week | Elizabeth Hollis / Enid | "The Eve of St. Marks", "Three Roads to Rome" |
| 1965 | 199 Park Lane | Stella Graham | Recurring role |
| 1965 | Armchair Theatre | Gwen Timwood | "A Cold Peace" |
| 1966 | Public Eye | Jean Clayton | "I Could Set It to Music" |
| 1966 | Blackmail | Lady Belmont | "A Man of Reputation" |
| 1968 | A Man of our Times | Lydia Laing | "Someone I Knew", "Long Time Since You've Got My Breakfast" |
| 1969 | ITV Sunday Night Theatre | Peggy | "The Comic" |
| 1970 | The Wednesday Play | Mrs. Hammond | "The Italian Table" |
| 1970 | Husbands and Lovers | Eva Muller | TV miniseries |
| 1971 | Sense and Sensibility | Mrs. Dashwood | Recurring role |
| 1971 | Shadows of Fear | Gwen | "Sour Grapes" |
| 1971 | Play of the Month | Empress Alexandra | "Rasputin" |
| 1971 | ITV Saturday Night Theatre | | "The Hotel in Amsterdam" |
| 1972 | The Man Outside | Hilda Frisby | "Eric" |
| 1972 | Kate | Miss Wren | "People Depend on You" |
| 1973 | The Man in the Wood | Mrs. Farren | TV film |
| 1973 | Orson Welles Great Mysteries | Christine Kaye | "Money to Burn" |
| 1973 | Play for Today | Mrs. Richardson | "Jack Point" |
| 1974 | The Aweful Mr. Goodall | Alexandra Winfield | TV series |
| 1974 | Centre Play | Fay Casaubon | "Mutinies" |
| 1974 | Dial M for Murder | Jean Browning | "Should Anyone Answer" |
| 1975 | Churchill's People | Anne, Lady Rochester | "A Bill of Mortality" |
| 1975 | Ten from the Twenties | Mrs. Garthorne | "Motherlove" |
| 1975 | Against the Crowd | Lady Peggy Frobisher | "Blind Man's Buff" |
| 1975 | Couples | Mrs. Brierley | TV series |
| 1976 | Life and Death of Penelope | Lady Cartwright | "The Affair" |
| 1976 | I, Claudius | Lollia | "Queen of Heaven" |
| 1977 | Supernatural | Charlotte Gall | "Ghost of Venice" |
| 1977 | Ripping Yarns | Lady Chiddingfold | "Murder at Moorstones Manor" |
| 1979 | The Old Crowd | Betty | TV film |
| 1980 | Company and Co | Barbara Harris | TV series |
| 1983 | The Weather in the Streets | Mrs. Curtis | TV film |
| 1986 | The Understanding | Eva | TV film |
| 1986 | A Dangerous Kind of Love | Mrs. Walker | TV film |
| 1989 | Mystery!: Campion | Donna Beatrice | "Death of a Ghost: Parts 1 & 2" |
| 1990 | Inspector Morse | Isobel Radford | "The Sins of the Fathers" |