Jane Merrow

Jane Josephine Meirowsky (born 26 August 1941), known professionally as Jane Merrow, after a suburb of Guildford, is a British actress who has been active from the 1960s in both Britain and the United States.

Jane Merrow
Born
Jane Josephine Meirowsky

(1941-08-26) 26 August 1941
Hertfordshire, England
Years active1960–present
Spouse(s)Richard Bullen (1970–?)

Early years

Merrow was born in Hertfordshire to an English mother and German refugee father. She is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[1][2] She also was active in the British National Youth Theatre and won the Shakespeare Cup at the Kent Drama Festival.[3]

Film and television career

In 1963, Merrow was cast in the lead role of a BBC adaptation of Lorna Doone and subsequently had roles in British TV series such as Danger Man, The Saint, The Baron, The Prisoner in the episode "The Schizoid Man" (1967) as Alison, a mind reader, Gerry Anderson's UFO, and The Avengers where, having appeared in the penultimate episode of the 1967 series, she was considered as the replacement for a departing Diana Rigg. The role went to Linda Thorson instead.[1] She also appeared as Lollo Romano in the 1965 'Gang War' episode of Gideon's Way. Merrow featured in a new version of the Nigel Kneale adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1965) which was broadcast in the Theatre 625 series. David Buck was Winston Smith with Merrow as his lover, Julia.[4]

Merrow starred in the British science fiction film Night of the Big Heat (1967) with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, prior to her most prominent role as Alais, the mistress of Henry II (played by Peter O'Toole) in The Lion in Winter (1968), for which she received a 1969 Golden Globe nomination in the category of actress in a supporting role,[5] losing to Ruth Gordon who won for Rosemary's Baby. She appeared in Adam's Woman with Beau Bridges in 1970. She also appeared as the blind Laura in the Hammer film Hands of the Ripper (1971).[1]

She also appeared in an episode of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) ("Who Killed Cock Robin?", 1969). In 1971, she played Anne Hepton in Hadleigh, becoming the romantic interest of the lead character. Around this time, she moved to America where she guest starred in many American television dramas, mysteries and adventure programmes. They included Mission: Impossible, Bearcats!, Mannix, Emergency!, Police Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, The Eddie Capra Mysteries, Airwolf, MacGyver, Hart to Hart, Magnum, P.I., The Incredible Hulk, Once an Eagle, and The Greatest American Hero, The Magician, working with William Shatner , Roy Thinnes, Bill Bixby and Ed Bishop among others.

Later life

In the 1990s, Merrow returned to Britain to run a family business.[1] In 2006, she took part in a Prisoner-related event in Portmeirion, North Wales,[6] and in 2008, she was a guest there for the annual convention for The Prisoner TV series organised by the Prisoner Appreciation Society.[7]

The summer of 2009 saw Merrow return to the stage, playing Emilia in Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors with the Idaho Shakespeare Company.[8]

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1961Don't Bother to KnockGirl in GalleryUncredited
1962The Phantom of the OperaChorus GirlUncredited
1962The Wild and the WillingMary Parker
1964The SystemNicolaUSA: The Girl-Getters
1965CatacombsAlice Taylor
1967Night of the Big HeatAngela Roberts
1968Assignment KMartine
1968The Lion in WinterAlais
1970Adam's WomanBess
1971Hands of the RipperLaura
1972The Hound of the BaskervillesBeryl StapletonTV movie
1973The Horror at 37,000 FeetSheila O'NeillTV movie
1974A Time for Love
1975Diagnosis: MurderMary Dawson
1981The AppointmentDianna
2016Almosting ItGladys

Notes
  1. Cotter, Robert Michael "Bobb" (2013). The Women of Hammer Horror: A Biographical Dictionary and Filmography. McFarland. pp. 134–135. ISBN 9781476602011. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  2. "Jane Merrow Biography Page". www.janemerrow.net.
  3. "Katharine Out to Repeat History". The Ottawa Journal. Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. 2 March 1968. p. 62. Retrieved 18 July 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Wake, Oliver. "1984 (1965)". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  5. "Golden Globe Nominees".
  6. "PM2006 Patrick McGoohan / Prisoner / Portmeirion Convention". www.theunmutual.co.uk.
  7. "Portmeirion".
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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