Suzy Kendall (born Freda Harriet Harrison; 1 January 1937 ) is a British retired
actress
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...
best known for her film roles in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Personal life
Born in
Belper
Belper is a town and civil parish in the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England, located about north of Derby on the River Derwent. As well as Belper itself, the parish also includes the village of Milford and the ha ...
,
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
, Kendall attended
Derby & District College of Art where she studied painting and design. She was a fabric designer at
British Celanese
British Celanese was a chemical company based in England. Formed in 1916, it survived as an independent company until 1957 when it became a subsidiary of Courtaulds.
History
The origins of the company lie with two brothers, Henri and Camille D ...
and then became a
photographic model
A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Though mo ...
before becoming an actress. She initially appeared in supporting roles before progressing to female leads in a number of British films in the late 1960s. In the early 1970s, she appeared in several Italian ''
giallo
In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, ...
'' thrillers before returning to Britain and played supporting roles in a few more films until her retirement from screen acting in 1977.
In 1968, Kendall married pianist, comedian and actor
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...
, and though they divorced in 1972, they remained friends until Moore's death in 2002.
Following the divorce she remarried shortly afterwards to musician Sandy Harper, whom Moore also befriended. Moore was
godfather to her daughter Elodie. In 2002 she hosted a memorial service for Moore attended by her second husband and daughter.
Kendall now lives in London with her second husband Sandy Harper. Their daughter Elodie Harper is a journalist (at
ITV Anglia
ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated ...
) and novelist.
In 2012, Kendall made her first film appearance in 35 years in ''
Berberian Sound Studio
''Berberian Sound Studio'' is a 2012 British psychological horror film. It is the second feature film by British director and screenwriter Peter Strickland. The film, which stars Toby Jones, is set in a 1970s Italian horror film studio.
Plot
B ...
'', billed in some sources as the mother of the lead character Gilderoy, played by
Toby Jones
Tobias Edward Heslewood Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 7 September 1966) is an English actor. Jones made his film debut in Sally Potter's period drama ''Orlando'' in 1992. He ...
, though the end credits on the film list her as "special guest screamer".
Berberian Sound Studio – review
''The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'', written by Philip French
Philip Neville French Order of the British Empire, OBE (28 August 1933 – 27 October 2015) was an English film critic and radio producer. French began his career in journalism in the late 1950s, before eventually becoming a BBC Radio prod ...
,2 September 2012.Retrieved 1 April 2013. The film is about a sound engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
working on an Italian horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
, which alludes to several appearances Kendall made in Italian genre film Genre film may refer to:
* A film conforming to a well-defined film genre
* Genre Films, aka Kinberg Genre, a television and film production company
* ''Genre'' (1996 film), a live-action/animated short by Don Hertzfeldt
See also
* Genre, the ge ...
s during the 1970s.
Filmography
* '' The Liquidator'' (1965) - Judith
* '' Thunderball'' (1965) - Prue (uncredited)
* '' Up Jumped a Swagman'' (1965) - Melissa Smythe-Fury
* ''Circus of Fear
''Circus of Fear'' (german: Das Rätsel des silbernen Dreieck / ''Mystery of the Silver Triangle''), also ''Scotland Yard auf heißer Spur'', also ''Circus of Terror'') is a 1966 Anglo-German international co-production thriller film starring C ...
'' (1966) - Natasha
* '' The Sandwich Man'' (1966) - Sue
* ''To Sir, with Love
''To Sir, with Love'' is a 1967 British drama film that deals with social and racial issues in an inner city school. It stars Sidney Poitier and features Christian Roberts, Judy Geeson, Suzy Kendall and singer Lulu making her film debut. Jam ...
'' (1967) - Gillian Blanchard
* '' The Penthouse'' (1967) - Barbara Willason
* ''Up the Junction
''Up the Junction'' is a 1963 collection of short stories by Nell Dunn that depicts contemporary life in the industrial slums of Battersea and Clapham Junction.
The book uses colloquial speech, and its portrayal of petty thieving, sexual encoun ...
'' (1968) - Polly
* ''30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia
''30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia'' is a 1968 British romantic comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Dudley Moore.
Plot
London jazz pianist and aspiring composer Rupert Street (Dudley Moore) is looking to have a 30th birthday to ...
'' (1968) - Louise Hammond
* ''Fräulein Doktor
''Fräulein'' ( , ) is the German language honorific for unmarried women, comparable to Miss in English and Mademoiselle in French.
Description
''Fräulein'' is the diminutive form of ''Frau'', which was previously reserved only for marrie ...
'' (1969) - Fraülein Doktor
* '' The Gamblers'' (1970) - Candace
* ''The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
''The Bird with the Crystal Plumage'' () is a 1970 giallo film directed by Dario Argento, in his directorial debut. The film has been credited with popularizing giallo, an Italian genre of thriller developed in the 1960s. It is the first in what ...
'' (1970) - Julia
* ''Darker Than Amber
''Darker than Amber'' (1966) is the seventh novel in the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald
John Dann MacDonald (July 24, 1916December 28, 1986) was an American writer of novels and short stories. He is known for his thrillers.
MacDo ...
'' (1970) - Vangie / Merrimay
* ''Assault
An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...
'' (aka ''In the Devil's Garden'') (1971) - Julie West
* '' Fear Is the Key'' (1972) - Sarah Ruthven
* ''Torso
The torso or trunk is an anatomical term for the central part, or the core, of the body of many animals (including humans), from which the head, neck, limbs, tail and other appendages extend. The tetrapod torso — including that of a human â ...
'' (1973) - Jane
* ''Tales That Witness Madness
''Tales That Witness Madness'' is a 1973 British anthology horror film produced by Norman Priggen, directed by veteran horror director Freddie Francis, written by actress Jennifer Jayne.
The film was one of several in a series of anthology f ...
'' (1973) - Ann / Beatrice (segment 2 "Penny Farthing")
* ''Story of a Cloistered Nun
''Story of a Cloistered Nun'' ( it, Storia di una monaca di clausura, released as ''Unholy Convent'' and ''Diary of a Cloistered Nun'') is a 1973 nunsploitation film directed by Domenico Paolella and starring Eleonora Giorgi, Catherine Spaak, Suzy ...
'' (1973) - Mother Superior
* ''Spasmo
''Spasmo'' is a 1974 Italian ''giallo'' film directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring Robert Hoffmann and Suzy Kendall.
Plot
A young couple on their nightly hormonal romp decide to go to the beach, where they first meet a mysterious man who is ...
'' (1974) - Barbara
* '' Craze'' (1974) - Sally
* ''To the Bitter End
''To the Bitter End'' (german: Bis zur bitteren Neige) is a 1975 West German-Austrian drama film directed by Gerd Oswald and starring Maurice Ronet, Suzy Kendall and Susanne Uhlen.Goble p.428
It was shot on location around Vienna.
Synopsis
A fo ...
'' (1975) - Joan Jordan
* ''Adventures of a Private Eye
''Adventures of a Private Eye'' is a 1977 British sex comedy film directed by Stanley Long and starring Christopher Neil, Suzy Kendall, Harry H. Corbett and Liz Fraser. It followed the 1976 film ''Adventures of a Taxi Driver'' and was followed ...
'' (1977) - Laura
* ''Berberian Sound Studio
''Berberian Sound Studio'' is a 2012 British psychological horror film. It is the second feature film by British director and screenwriter Peter Strickland. The film, which stars Toby Jones, is set in a 1970s Italian horror film studio.
Plot
B ...
'' (2012) - Special Guest Screamer
TV appearances
* '' The Spies'' (1 episode, 1966) - Polly Katt
* ''Further Adventures of Lucky Jim
''Further Adventures of Lucky Jim'' or ''The New Adventures of Lucky Jim'' is a comedy television series which first aired on BBC 1 in 1967. Inspired by the novel ''Lucky Jim'' by Kingsley Amis, it updates the story from the early 1950s of the nov ...
'' (1 episode, 1967)
* ''The Persuaders!
''The Persuaders!'' is an action-comedy series starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore, produced by ITC Entertainment, and initially broadcast on ITV and ABC in 1971. The show has been called 'the last major entry in the cycle of adventure serie ...
'' (1 episode, 1971) - Kay Hunter
* ''Van der Valk
''Van der Valk'' is a British television crime drama series produced for the ITV network. The first series ran from 1972 to 1992; followed by a remake in 2020. Created by Nicolas Freeling and based on his novels about a detective in Amsterd ...
'' (1 episode, 1977) - Marijka
References
External links
*
Suzy Kendall; Aveleyman.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kendall, Suzy
1944 births
Living people
English film actresses
People from Belper