Jennifer Ann Seagrove is an English actress. She trained at the
Bristol Old Vic Theatre SchoolThe Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, opened by Laurence Olivier in 1946, is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, an organisation securing the highest standards of training in the performing arts, and is an associate school of the Faculty of Creative Arts of the University of the...
and rose to fame playing the lead in a TV dramatisation of
Barbara Taylor BradfordBarbara Taylor Bradford OBE is an English novelist, and one of the world's most beloved storytellers. Her debut novel, A Woman of Substance, was published in 1979 and has sold over 32 million copies worldwide. To date, she has written 27 novels -- all bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic...
's
A Woman of SubstanceA Woman of Substance is a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford, and was published in 1979.This novel is the first of a saga about the fortunes of a retail empire and the machinations of the business elite across three generations....
and the 1983 film
Local HeroLocal Hero is a 1983 Scottish comedy-drama film starring Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster. It was directed by Bill Forsyth and produced by David Puttnam....
. She is now well known in the character of Jo Mills in the long-running
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
drama series
Judge John DeedJudge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove...
(2001–07). Her credits as a voiceover artist include a series of
WaitroseWaitrose Limited is an upmarket chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom and is the food division of the British retailer and worker co-operative the John Lewis Partnership. Its head office is in Bracknell, Berkshire, England...
television advertisements.
Theatre
Jenny Seagrove's theatre work includes the title role in
Jane EyreJane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published in London, England, in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre. An Autobiography under the pen name "Currer Bell." The first American edition was released the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York...
at
Chichester Festival TheatreChichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
(1986); Ilona in
The GuardsmanThe Guardsman is a 1931 film based on the play Testőr by Ferenc Molnár. It stars Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Roland Young and ZaSu Pitts...
at Theatr Clwyd (1992); and Bett in
King Lear in New York, again at
ChichesterChichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
(1992).
She played opposite
Tom ContiThomas "Tom" Conti is a Scottish actor, theatre director and novelist.-Early life:Born Thomas Conti in Paisley, Renfrewshire, he was brought up Roman Catholic, but he considers himself anti-religious...
in
Present LaughterPresent Laughter is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1939 and first staged in 1942 on tour, alternating with his lower middle-class domestic drama This Happy Breed...
at the
Globe TheatreThe Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613...
(1993); Annie Sullivan in
The Miracle WorkerThe Miracle Worker is a cycle of 20th century dramatic works derived from Helen Keller's autobiography The Story of My Life. Each of the various dramas describes the relationship between Keller—a deafblind and initially almost feral child—and Anne Sullivan, the teacher who introduced her to...
at the Comedy Theatre (1994);
Dead Guilty with
Hayley MillsHayley Mills is an English actress. The daughter of John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and sister of actress Juliet Mills, Mills began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising newcomer, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Tiger Bay , the Academy Juvenile Award...
at the
Apollo TheatreThe Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...
(1995);
HurlyburlyHurlyburly is a dark comedy play by David Rabe, first staged in 1984.-Plot:More than three hours long, Hurlyburly focuses on the intersecting lives of several low- to mid-level Hollywood players in the 1980s. Fueled by massive amounts of drugs, they attempt to find some meaning in their isolated,...
for the Peter Hall Company when the production transferred from the Old Vic to the
Queen's TheatreThe Queen's Theatre is a West End theatre located in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It opened on 8 October 1907 as a twin to the neighbouring Gielgud Theatre which opened ten months earlier. Both theatres were designed by W.G.R...
(1997); co-starred with
Martin ShawMartin Shaw is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in shows such as The Professionals, The Chief, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently.-Theatrical background:...
in the Parisian thriller
Vertigo (Theatre Royal Windsor October 1998) and then with
Anthony Andrews-Life and career:Andrews was born in London, the son of Geraldine Agnes , a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, a musical arranger and musical conductor. He grew up in the North Finchley district of London...
(also Windsor,1998).
In 2000 she appeared in
Brief EncounterBrief Encounter is a 1945 British film directed by David Lean about the conventions of British suburban life, centring on a housewife for whom real love brings unexpectedly violent emotions. The film stars Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey...
at the
Lyric TheatreThe Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...
; followed by
Neil SimonNeil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
's
The Female Odd CoupleThe Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...
at the Apollo (2001). Again at the Lyric Theatre in 2002 she played the title role in Somerset Maugham's
The Constant WifeThe Constant Wife, a comedy of manners, was written by W. Somerset Maugham in 1926 and later published for general sales in April 1927.- Plot :...
, followed by a revival of David Hare's
The Secret RaptureThe Secret Rapture is a 1988 British play by David Hare. Its premiere in the Lyttelton auditorium of the Royal National Theatre was directed by Howard Davies. British revivals of the play have included one at the Salisbury Playhouse in 2001 and at the Lyric Theatre, London in 2003...
in 2003, and
The Night of the IguanaThe Night of the Iguana is a stageplay written by American author Tennessee Williams, based on his 1948 short story. The play premiered on Broadway in 1961. Two film adaptations have been made, including the Academy Award-winning 1964 film of the same name....
two years later in 2005.
Coming to the
West EndWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
from a UK tour, she played Leslie Crosbie in Maugham's
The Letter- Film :* The Letter , a 1929 film directed by Jean de Limur starring Jeanne Eagels, adapted from the Somerset Maugham play* The Letter , a 1940 film directed by William Wyler starring Bette Davis, also adapted from the Somerset Maugham play* The Letter , a 1997 South Korean film, also known as...
at
Wyndham's TheatreWyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by the actor/manager Charles Wyndham . Located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, it was designed by W.G.R. Sprague about 1898, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916...
(2007), again co-starring with Anthony Andrews.
In December 2007, she played Marion Brewster-Wright in the
Garrick TheatreThe Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster. It opened on 24 April 1889 with The Profligate, a play by Arthur Wing Pinero. In its early years, it appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama, and today the theatre is a...
revival of
Alan AyckbournSir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
's dark, three-act comedy
Absurd Person SingularAbsurd Person Singular is a 1972 play by Alan Ayckbourn. Divided into three acts, it documents the changing fortunes of three married couples...
.
Film
Seagrove's first major international film appearance was in the 1983 release,
Local HeroLocal Hero is a 1983 Scottish comedy-drama film starring Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster. It was directed by Bill Forsyth and produced by David Puttnam....
in which she played a mysterious environmentalist with webbed feet. Roles in a number of films including
Nate and HayesNate and Hayes, also known as Savage Islands , is a 1983 swashbuckling adventure film set in the South Pacific in the late 19th century...
opposite
Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
and
Appointment with DeathAppointment with Death is a 1988 mystery film, made by Golan-Globus Productions and produced and directed by Michael Winner. It is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel Appointment with Death featuring the detective Hercule Poirot...
followed. One of her lead starring roles was in 1990s
The GuardianThe Guardian is a 1990 American horror film directed by William Friedkin and starring Jenny Seagrove, Dwier Brown and Carey Lowell. A cable television version of the film was credited to "Alan Von Smithee", indicating that Friedkin wished to disassociate himself from its release.This ended up as...
directed by the cult director
William FriedkinWilliam Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
, in which she played a villain.
Television
Jenny Seagrove first came to mass public attention in the 10-episode series of the BBC production "Diana"
Diana (TV series)Diana is a British television drama series first broadcast by the BBC in 1984. It was adapted from two R. F. Delderfield books by Andrew Davies....
(adapted from an
R. F. DelderfieldRonald Frederick Delderfield was a popular English novelist and dramatist, many of whose works have been adapted for television and are still widely read.-Childhood in London and Surrey:...
novel) in which she played the title role as the adult Diana Gayelord-Sutton (the child having been played in the first two episodes by
Patsy KensitPatricia Jude Francis "Patsy" Kensit is an English actress, singer, model and former child star, known for her television and film appearances. Her films include Lethal Weapon 2 and she has been married to rock stars Jim Kerr and Liam Gallagher, as well as herself fronting the band Eighth Wonder...
). Seagrove starred in two American-produced television miniseries based upon the first novels of
Barbara Taylor BradfordBarbara Taylor Bradford OBE is an English novelist, and one of the world's most beloved storytellers. Her debut novel, A Woman of Substance, was published in 1979 and has sold over 32 million copies worldwide. To date, she has written 27 novels -- all bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic...
: as
Emma HarteEmma Harte is the protagonist of the novel A Woman of Substance. In the 1984 TV mini-series, the character was played by actresses Deborah Kerr and Jenny Seagrove....
in
A Woman of SubstanceA Woman of Substance is a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford, and was published in 1979.This novel is the first of a saga about the fortunes of a retail empire and the machinations of the business elite across three generations....
(1984) and Paula Fairley in
Hold the DreamHold the Dream is a British two-part miniseries made in 1986, based on the novel of the same name by Barbara Taylor Bradford. It is the second book in the Emma Harte series, following A Woman of Substance...
(1986). In 1991, she portrayed stage actress
Lillie LangtryLillie Langtry , usually spelled Lily Langtry when she was in the U.S., born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton, was a British actress born on the island of Jersey...
in a made-for-UK television adaptation of the
Sherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
story,
Incident at Victoria Falls.
In 1985 she starred as the female lead, Melanie James, in the film
Magic Moments, together with
John SheaJohn Victor Shea III is an American actor and director who has starred on stage, television and in film. He is best known for his role as Lex Luthor in the 1990s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and also starred in the short lived 1990s TV series WIOU as Hank Zaret...
, who played the magician Troy Gardner with whom she falls in love.
Most of Seagrove's filmed work since 1990 has been for television. Between 2001 and 2007, she appeared as
QCQueen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
Jo Mills in the series
Judge John DeedJudge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove...
.
In 1987 she and
John ThawJohn Edward Thaw, CBE was an English actor, who appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles, his most popular being police and legal dramas such as Redcap, The Sweeney, Inspector Morse and Kavanagh QC.-Early life:Thaw came from a working class background, having been born in Gorton,...
guest starred in
The Sign of Four, part of
The Return of Sherlock HolmesThe Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle.-History:...
television series, which starred
Jeremy BrettJeremy Brett , born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, was an English actor, most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series.-Early life:...
and
Edward HardwickeEdward Hardwicke , sometimes credited as Edward Hardwick, was an English actor.-Early life and career:...
in the lead roles.
Personal life
Seagrove is an animal rights activist. She is also an advocate for
deregulationDeregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
of the herbal remedy industry in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and promotes a vegetarian diet.
Her partner since 1994 is the theatrical producer
Bill KenwrightBill Kenwright CBE is a leading West End theatre producer and film producer.He is also the Chairman of Everton Football Club, an English professional football club from the city of Liverpool....
, chairman of Everton Football Club. The pair appeared together as contestants on a charity edition of
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds...
, shown on
ITV1ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
on 25 August 2007. They live in
SuffolkSuffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
.
Seagrove was married to British and Indian actor
Madhav SharmaMadhav Sharma is an Indian born British actor and theatre director. He was educated at the St. Joseph's College, Bangalore, the Scottish Church College, Calcutta, and Fergusson College, Poona, before winning a merit scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London.-Early life:He was born...
from 1984 and divorced in 1988.
Seagrove used to date film director
Michael WinnerMichael Robert Winner is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic for the Sunday Times.-Early life and early career :...
.
Selected filmography
- A Chorus of Disapproval
A Chorus of Disapproval is a 1988 British film adapted from the Alan Ayckbourn play of the same title, directed by Michael Winner. Among the movie's cast are Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Irons, Richard Briers, and Alexandra Pigg....
(1988)
- Appointment with Death
Appointment with Death is a 1988 mystery film, made by Golan-Globus Productions and produced and directed by Michael Winner. It is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel Appointment with Death featuring the detective Hercule Poirot...
(1988)
- Local Hero
Local Hero is a 1983 Scottish comedy-drama film starring Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster. It was directed by Bill Forsyth and produced by David Puttnam....
(1983)
- Nate and Hayes
Nate and Hayes, also known as Savage Islands , is a 1983 swashbuckling adventure film set in the South Pacific in the late 19th century...
(1983)
- Moonlighting
Moonlighting is a 1982 British drama film written and directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. It is set in the early 1980s at the time of the Solidarity protests in Poland...
(1982)
External links