English actress Francesca Annis, who has enjoyed a career
spanning seven decades in movies, television and the theater, was born
in London six days after V-E Day, on May 14, 1945. Her father, Lester,
was English, but her mother, Mariquita (aka
Mara Purcell), was of Brazilian-French
heritage. From the time she was a year old to the age of seven, the
family lived in Brazil. The young Francesca spoke Portuguese, that
country's language, as a child. Educated at a convent school, she
dreamed of becoming a nun but trained as a ballet dancer before
studying drama at the Corona Theatre School. She began acting in bit
parts in the 1950s, working her way up to better roles. In addition to
appearing on the big and little screens, she was a member of the Royal
Shakespeare Company.
Her most famous roles are as Lady Macbeth in
Roman Polanski's version of
Roman Polanskis Macbeth (1971),
in which she had a notorious nude sleepwalking scene, and as
Kyle MacLachlan (Paul
Atreides)' mother Lady Jessica in David Lynch's
adaptation of Frank Herbert's
Der Wüstenplanet (1984). A highly respected performer,
in 1979, she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress,
playing Lily Langtry in the miniseries
Lillie (1978). She appeared with
James Warwick as husband and
wife sleuths Tommy and Tuppence Beresford in the television series
Detektei Blunt (1983).
She also appeared as
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the
television movie
Onassis, der reichste Mann der Welt (1988).
