Isla Blair Glover (born 29 September 1944) is a British actress and singer. She made her first stage appearance in 1963 as Philia in the London debut of ''
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''.
Early life and education
Isla Blair was born in
Bangalore
Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
, India, on 29 September 1944.
Her father, Ian Baxter Blair-Hill, was a British tea planter of Scottish descent. Blair's interest in performing arts first became apparent when, at the age of two, she gave an impromptu singing performance on the boat ride from India to England.
She went on to attend the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...
to prepare for a career in acting.
Career
Blair made her first stage appearance at the
Strand Theatre on 3 October 1963 playing the part of Philia in the London debut of ''
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''. She joined the
Royal Shakespeare Company for their 1971 season, during which she portrayed Emilia in ''
The Man of Mode'' and Aglaya in ''
Subject to Fits''. In 1973, Blair toured the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
with the
Prospect Theatre Company in the role of
Viola
; german: Bratsche
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, image=Bratsche.jpg
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, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
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*Violin family ...
in ''
Twelfth Night
''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...
''. Other venues at which Blair has performed include the
Old Vic
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
* Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...
and the
Nottingham Playhouse.
One of Blair's earliest experiences working in film was in a scene with
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
in the 1964 film ''
A Hard Day's Night''. McCartney offered to drive Blair home after the shoot, but upon exiting the building, the two were swarmed by fans who scratched and kicked Blair in an attempt to reach McCartney.
The following day, she declined a second offer of a ride from McCartney. The scene they had been filming, which was Blair's only scene in the movie, was eventually cut and lost.
Her first credited film appearance was in the 1965 horror film ''
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors
''Dr Terror's House of Horrors'' is a 1965 British anthology horror film from Amicus Productions, directed by veteran horror director Freddie Francis, written by Milton Subotsky, and starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
It was the fi ...
'' as an art gallery assistant. Her other film appearances include ''
A Flea in Her Ear
''A Flea in Her Ear'' (french: La Puce à l'oreille) is a play by Georges Feydeau written in 1907, at the height of the Belle Époque. The author called it a vaudeville, but in Anglophone countries, where it is the most popular of Feydeau's play ...
'' (1968), ''
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
'' (1969), ''
Taste the Blood of Dracula'' (1970), ''
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' (1989, as the wife of her real-life husband
Julian Glover
Julian Wyatt Glover (born 27 March 1935) is an English classical actor with many stage, television, and film roles since commencing his career in the 1950s. He is a recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award and has performed many times for the ...
, and credited as Mrs. Glover), ''
Valmont'' (1989), ''
The Monk
''The Monk: A Romance'' is a Gothic novel by Matthew Gregory Lewis, published in 1796. A quickly written book from early in Lewis's career (in one letter he claimed to have written it in ten weeks, but other correspondence suggests that he ha ...
'' (1990), ''
The House of Angelo'' (1997), ''
The Match'' (1999), ''
Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War'' (2002), ''
AfterLife'' (2003) and ''
Johnny English Reborn
''Johnny English Reborn'' is a 2011 spy action comedy film directed by Oliver Parker and written by Hamish McColl from a story by William Davies. A sequel to '' Johnny English'' (2003) and the second instalment in the ''Johnny English'' seri ...
'' (2011).
Blair guest starred in two episodes of ''
Space: 1999''; appearing in 1975, along with
Anthony Valentine, in ''
War Games'' and in 1976, along with
Freddie Jones
Frederick Charles Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (12 September 1927 – 9 July 2019) was an English actor who had an extensive career in television, theatre and cinema productions for a ...
, in ''
Journey to Where''. In 1976, Blair played Emma Antrobus in the ITV drama series ''
The Crezz''. She played a principal role (Sally) in the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'', first broadcast in 1978. One of her best known TV appearances was as Flora Beniform in ''
. Blair played Claire Carlsen,
'' (1995). In 2003, she played opposite
'' as a psychological profiler. She played Nanny Langton in ''The Star of Jacob'', ''
'' (S5:E1, 2016).
She played the part of a foreign agent, disguised as a bride, in ''The Avengers'' episode "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Station". (1967)
In 2010, she appeared at The
. She was nominated for an Off West End Award as Best Actress.
Blair has narrated many audiobooks. In 2014–15 she appeared in the stage musical ''
.
. She was vice president of TACT, the Actors' Children's Trust in 2015 and trustee in 2018.