Gabriella Licudi (born Gabrielle Carmen Stuttard, 14 September 1941 – 18 September 2022) was a British actress.

Biography

Born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Licudi was the daughter of Northern Ireland-born naval engineer Wilfred James Stuttard and Olga Maria Licudi of Gibraltar. She was educated in England, France and Spain before settling permanently in England at the age of fifteen. Initially planning to teach elocution, she studied at the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

, where she was spotted by an agent while performing in a class production in 1961. Her first major role on stage was John Mortimer's ''Two Stars for Comfort'', starring

Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...

which ran for nine months in London's West End. Film producer

Samuel Bronston Samuel Bronston (March 26, 1908 – January 12, 1994) was a Bessarabian-born American film producer, film director, and a nephew of socialist revolutionary figure, Leon Trotsky. He was also the petitioner in a U.S. Supreme Court case that set a ...

attended a performance and offered her a small role in '' The Fall of the Roman Empire'' (1964). Other roles included the part of a widowed expatriate opposite Patrick McGoohan in the 1965 episode of

Danger Man ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again b ...

titled "English Lady Takes Lodgers". Licudi also appeared in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

spoof '' Casino Royale'' (1967) opposite Deborah Kerr, the

Henry Hathaway Henry Hathaway (March 13, 1898 – February 11, 1985) was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Westerns, especially starring Randolph Scott and John Wayne. He directed Gary Cooper in seven films. Backgrou ...

film '' The Last Safari'' (1967), and a lead role in Don Levy's experimental feature ''

Herostratus Herostratus ( grc, Ἡρόστρατος) was a 4th-century BC Greek, accused of seeking notoriety as an arsonist by destroying the second Temple of Artemis in Ephesus (on the outskirts of present-day Selçuk). The conclusion prompted the creat ...

'' (1967). She also starred in the 1968 BBC production of the Conan-Doyle classic 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' alongside

Peter Cushing Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage, and radio roles. He achieved recognition ...

as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson. Licudi made her last film appearances in the early 1970s. She and her South African husband ran a

safari lodge {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A safari lodge (also known as a game lodge) is a type of tourist accommodation in southern and eastern Africa. Lodges are mainly used by tourists on wildlife safaris, and are typically locate ...

for several years before she eventually returned to London to run her own production company. Licudi died on 18 September 2022, four days after her 81st birthday.

Selected filmography

* '' All Night Long'' (1962) - Girl (uncredited) * ''

Edgar Wallace Mysteries The ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries'' is a British second-feature film series mainly produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated. There were 48 films in the series, which were released between 1960 and 1965. The series was screened as ''The E ...

'' (''Candidate for Murder)'' (1962) - Party Guest * '' Unearthly Stranger'' (1964) - Julie Davidson * '' The Fall of the Roman Empire'' (1964) - Tauna (uncredited) * '' You Must Be Joking!'' (1965) - Annabelle Nash * '' The Liquidator'' (1965) - Corale * '' Casino Royale'' (1967) - Eliza * ''

The Jokers ''The Jokers'' is a 1967 British comedy film written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and directed by Michael Winner. The film stars Michael Crawford and Oliver Reed as brothers who hatch a plot to steal the Crown Jewels. Very much of i ...

'' (1967) - Eve * ''

'' (1967) - Clio * '' The Last Safari'' (1967) - Grant * '' The Hound of the Baskervilles'' (1968) TV serial - Beryl Stapleton * ''

Madame Sin ''Madame Sin'' is a 1972 British thriller film directed by David Greene and starring Bette Davis, Robert Wagner, Denholm Elliott and Gordon Jackson. The screenplay was written by Greene and Barry Oringer. Plot summary The title character is ...

'' (1972) - Nun * ''

Soft Beds, Hard Battles ''Soft Beds, Hard Battles'' is a 1974 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting, starring Peter Sellers (in several roles), Curt Jurgens, Lila Kedrova and Jenny Hanley. Sellers reunited with the Boulting brothers for this farce, in which the ...

'' (1974) - Simone

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Licudi, Gabriella 1941 births 2022 deaths Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama British film actresses English people of Gibraltarian descent English people of Northern Ireland descent People from Aylesbury