Samantha Eggar

Samantha Eggar (born 5 March 1939) is an English-American film, stage, television, and voice actress. After beginning her career in Shakespearean theatre, she rose to fame for her performance in William Wyler's thriller The Collector (1965), which earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
She later appeared as Emma Fairfax in Doctor Dolittle (1967), and the American drama The Molly Maguires (1970). In the early 1970s, Eggar relocated to the United States and Canada, where she later starred in several horror films, including The Dead Are Alive (1972), The Uncanny (1977), and David Cronenberg's cult thriller The Brood (1979).
Eggar has also worked as a voice actress, as Hera in Walt Disney's Hercules(1997), and lent her voice to several video games, including Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned and 007: Nightfire. Her television work includes roles on Fantasy Island, and a recurring part as Charlotte Devane in the soap opera All My Children in 2000.[1]
== Early life ==
Samantha Eggar was born Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar[2][3] on 5 March 1939[4] in Hampstead, London, to Ralph (a brigadier in the British Army) and a mother (Muriel) of Dutch and Portuguese descent.[5] Soon after her birth her family relocated to rural Bledlow, Buckinghamshire, during World War II, where she spent her childhood.[2] There, she was a neighbour of Oliver Reed.[2]
Eggar was brought up as a Roman Catholic and educated at St Mary's Providence Convent in Woking, Surrey. Reflecting on her time in convent school, Eggar said: "The nuns didn't have too much success with me – I've always had a violent temper. In fact, once I almost killed one of the nuns."[3] At age sixteen, she began to go by the name Samantha.[2] Although Eggar expressed interest in acting at a young age, she was urged against a career in the theatre by her parents. She was offered a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, but instead studied fashion for two years at the Thanet School of Art.[3] After completing her studies, she enrolled at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.[6]
== Career ==
=== Theatre and early work ===
Eggar began her acting career in several Shakespearean companies, notably playing Titania in a 1962 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Tony Richardson.[7] She also appeared onstage in a production of Douglas Seale's Landscape with Figures, where she was noticed by a talent scout, and from there was cast in the biographical film Dr. Crippen (1962), opposite Donald Pleasence.[8] Her second film role was in 1962 in The Wild and the Willing; the same year, she appeared onstage again as Olivia in a production of Twelfth Night by George Devine.[7]
In 1965, Eggar appeared in the thriller The Collector, directed by William Wyler, playing a kidnap victim. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and won a Golden Globe award for her performance.[9] She was also awarded Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966.[10] 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."[11]
The following year, Eggar starred in the comedy Walk, Don't Run (1966) with Cary Grant (his last motion picture) and Jim Hutton, followed by a lead role as Emma Fairfax in Richard Fleischer's musical adaptation of Doctor Dolittle (1967). 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 co-starred with Yul Brynner in the television series Anna and the King (1972), 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. That same year, she played Phyllis Dietrichson in a TV remake of Double Indemnity.[12]
=== Move to United States and Canada ===
In 1973, Eggar relocated to the United States, settling in Los Angeles, and appeared first in television, guest starring on episodes of Starsky & Hutch and Columbo, the latter with Peter Falk and Theodore Bikel in the episode "The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case". She would go on to star in a number of horror films, including The Dead Are Alive (1972), A Name for Evil (1973), The Uncanny(1977), and David Cronenberg's cult sci-fi film The Brood (1979). In 1980, she filmed the Canadian slasher film Curtains, released in 1983.[13]
She also 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.[3] She appeared in the drama Dark Horse (1992), followed by the superhero film The Phantom (1996). In 1997, she provided the voice of Hera in Disney's animated film Hercules; she would also supply the voice for the subsequent television series. Eggar also had a role in the sci-fi thriller The Astronaut's Wife (1999), which starred Johnny Depp.
She has appeared as the wife of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's brother Robert on 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 the year 2000, she had a brief run as Charlotte Devane 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 ==
In 1964, she married actor Tom Stern, with whom she has a son, Nicolas Stern(b. 1965),[14] and a daughter, Jenna Stern (b. 1967).[15] Eggar and Stern divorced in 1971. She has citizenship of both the UK and the United States.[16] She resides in Los Angeles.[11]
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Roles 	Notes
1962	Dr. Crippen 	Ethel Le Neve 	
1962	The Wild and the Willing 	Josie 	
1963	Doctor in Distress 	Delia Mallory 	
1964	Psyche 59 	Robin 	
1965	Return from the Ashes 	Fabienne 'Fabi' Wolf 	
1965	The Collector 	Miranda Grey 	Also known as The Butterfly Collector
Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Sant Jordi Award for Best Performance in a Foreign Film
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress
1966	Walk, Don't Run 	Christine Easton 	
1967	Doctor Dolittle 	Emma Fairfax 	
1970	The Molly Maguires 	Miss Mary Raines 	
1970	The Walking Stick 	Deborah Dainton 	
1970	The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun	Danielle Lang ("Dany")	
1971	The Light at the Edge of the World 	Arabella 	
1972	The Dead Are Alive 	Myra Shelton 	
1973	A Name for Evil 	Joanna Blake 	
1974	All the Kind Strangers 	Carol Ann 	
1976	The Seven-Per-Cent Solution 	Mary Morstan Watson 	
1977	The Uncanny 	Edina Hamilton 	
1977	Welcome to Blood City 	Katherine 	
1977	Why Shoot the Teacher? 	Alice Field 	
1978	The Greatest Battle 	Annelise Ackermann 	
1979	The Brood 	Nola Carveth 	Nominated – Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress
1980	The Exterminator 	Dr. Megan Stewart 	
1981	The Hot Touch 	Samantha O'Brien 	
1981	Demonoid Messenger of Death 	Jennifer Baines 	
1983	Curtains 	Samantha Sherwood 	
1987	Love Among Thieves 	Solange 	
1991	Ragin' Cajun 	Dr. May 	
1992	Dark Horse 	Mrs. Curtis 	
1992	Round Numbers 	Anne 	
1994	Inevitable Grace 	Britt 	
1996	The Phantom 	Lily Palmer 	
1996	Everything to Gain 	Diana Keswick 	
1997	Hercules 	Hera 	Voice
1998	Loss of Faith 	Insp. Strong 	Television film
1999	The Astronaut's Wife 	Dr. Patraba 	
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Roles 	Notes
1961 	Rob Roy 	Diana Vernon 	Recurring
1963 	The Saint 	Claire Avery 	Episode: "Marcia"
1972 	Anna and the King 	Anna Leonowens 	Recurring
1973 	Love Story 	Ruth Wilson 	Episode: "The Cardboard House"
1973 	Double Indemnity 	Phyllis Dietrichson 	Miniseries
1977 	Columbo 	Vivian Brandt 	Episode: "The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case"
1977 	Starsky and Hutch 	Charlotte 	Episode: "Starsky and Hutch on Playboy Island"
1978 	Fantasy Island 	Helena Marsh 	Episode: "Return/The Toughest Man Alive"
1978 	Hawaii Five-O 	Episode: "Horoscope for Murder"	Agnes DuBois
1979 	Fantasy Island 	Helena Marsh 	Episode: "The Wedding"
1983 	For the Term of his Natural Life	Julie Vickers 	Miniseries
1983 	Hart to Hart 	Gillian Rawlings 	Episode: "Long Lost Love"
1984 	Murder, She Wrote 	Marta Quintessa 	Episode "Hooray for Homicide"
1984 	Magnum, P.I. 	Laura Bennett 	Episode "Fragments"
1990 	A Ghost in Monte Carlo 	Jeanne 	Miniseries
1990 	Star Trek: The Next Generation 	Marie Picard 	Episode "Family"
1991 	The Legend of Prince Valiant 	Queen Guinevere 	Voice; recurring
1993 	L.A. Law 	Camille Bancroft 	Episode "Where There's a Will"
1998–99	Hercules 	Hera 	Voice; 7 episodes
2000 	All My Children 	Charlotte Devane 	20 episodes
2005 	Commander in Chief 	Sara Templeton 	Recurring
2009 	Mental 	Margo Stroud 	2 episodes
2012 	Metalocalypse 	Whale 	(voice) Recurring