Elisabeth Sladen

Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen (1 February 1946 – 19 April 2011) was an English actress. She became best known as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series ''Doctor Who'', appearing as a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprising the role many times in subsequent decades, both on ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-offs, ''K-9 and Company'' (1981) and ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' (2007–2011).

Sladen was interested in ballet and theatre from childhood, and began to appear on stage in the mid-1960s, although she was more often a stage manager at this time. She moved to London in 1970 and won several television roles, with her acting in the police drama ''Z-Cars'' leading to her being recommended for the role in ''Doctor Who''. After leaving the series, she had other roles on both television and radio before semi-retiring to bring up a family in the mid-1980s.

Sladen returned to the public eye in the 2000s with more ''Doctor Who'' related appearances, which culminated in taking a regular lead role in ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''. In 2010, the show earned the Royal Television Society Award for Best Children's Drama. She also made regular guest appearances on the main television series and provided voice-over commentaries and interviews for its releases to DVD. She died of cancer on 19 April 2011.

Early life

Elisabeth Clara (or Claira) Heath-Sladen was born 1 February 1946 in Liverpool, England. Sladen was the only child of Tom Sladen (1900–1994), who fought in the First World War and served in the Home Guard during the Second World War, and Gladys (1902–1978) (née Trainer).

She developed an interest in performing at an early age, beginning dance lessons when she was five, and dancing in one production with the Royal Ballet. She was a primary school contemporary of future politician Edwina Currie, appearing in at least one school production with her. She went on to secondary school and attended Aigburth Vale High School for Girls.

Career

Early career

Sladen attended the Elliott-Clarke Drama School.
In 1965, she made her first film appearance in ''Ferry Cross the Mersey'' as an uncredited extra. Sladen then joined the Hillbark Players, for their open-air production of ''Much Ado About Nothing'', playing Hero.

After two years at drama school, Sladen began work at the Liverpool Playhouse repertory company as an assistant stage manager. Her first stage appearance at the Playhouse was as a maid in ''Twelfth Night''. A few months later, she played a corpse in ''The Physicists''. However, she was scolded for giggling on stage due to her future husband Brian Miller whispering the words "Respiration nil, Aston Villa two" in her ear while he was playing a doctor. Sladen was such a good assistant stage manager that she did not get many acting roles, a problem that was solved when she accidentally made a mistake on one occasion. An earlier interview indicated that she deliberately made mistakes on several occasions. As a result, she began to get on-stage roles again. She eventually moved into weekly repertory work, travelling to various locations in Britain. Sladen and Miller moved to Manchester, in 1966, spending three years there. They married on 8 June 1968. She appeared in numerous roles, most notably as Desdemona in ''Othello'', her first appearance as a leading lady. She also got the occasional part on Radio Leeds and Granada Television, eventually appearing as barmaid Anita Reynolds in 1970 in six episodes of the long-running soap opera ''Coronation Street''.

In 1969, she and her husband appeared in the play ''How the Other Half Loves''; when in the autumn of 1970 the play moved to London, the couple also moved there. Her first television role in London was in a two-part story of ''Z-Cars''. These two episodes of Z-Cars have since been wiped and are listed as missing episodes by the BBC
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