English actress Diana Quick was one of THE leading ladies in British TV in the 1970s-80s, particularly because of her role as Julia Flyte in Brideshead Revisited. She’s done theater, film, TV, and been in a LOT of frock flicks, so let’s count her down!
Of course, there’s several roles I can’t find any images of (and trust me I looked), including:
- Minor Role (uncredited) in The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
- Tullia in Screenplay: “Cariani and the Courtesans” (1987)
- Olga Knipper in The ITV Play: “Chekhov in Yalta” (1988)
- Anaïs Nin in Drug-Taking and the Arts (1993)
- Marion Glassford-Gale in Dandelion Dead (1994)
- Emily in Vigo (1998)
- Polina Molotova in The Death of Stalin (2017)
Various/Damsel in Distress in Complete and Utter History of Britain (1969)
A comedy sketch show created by two members of Monty Python, so we can guess it was fabulous!
Lenio in Christ Recrucified (1969)
A TV series in which “The citizens of a Greek village in the 1920s prepare to stage their annual Passion Play about the life and death of Jesus Christ,” per IMDB.
Sonya in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
I think she must be a revolutionary in this tale of the last tsar of Russia.
Eleonore in Napoleon and Love (1974)
She plays a mistress of Napoleon, set up by one of Napoleon’s sisters to distance him from Josephine.
Peg Woffington in Private Affairs: “Mr. Garrick and Mrs. Woffington” (1975)
A TV movie about the two famous 18th-century British actors who had a torrid love affair.
Laura in The Duellists (1977)
Set in Napoleonic France, the film is about a series of duels between two officers. Quick plays the former mistress of one of the duelists.
Mary Hannay in The Three Hostages (1977)
A TV movie involving spies and hostages and set in 1924.
Julia Mottram/Flyte in Brideshead Revisited (1981)
One of THE great TV miniseries, this adaptation of an Evelyn Waugh novel follows two university friends who become enmeshed in each others’ lives. Plus some other stuff. Julia is the sister of one of the friends and a love interest of the other.
Marian Halcombe in The Woman in White (1982)
An adaptation of an 1850s gothic novel.
Madame Bianchi in The Phantom of the Opera (1983)
What seems to be a low-budget TV movie with Maximilian Schell and Jane Seymour, and set in Budapest. Bianchi seems to be the current opera star, who will be replaced by the ingenue.
Gwenda Vaughan in Ordeal by Innocence (1984)
An adaptation of a 1950s-set Agatha Christie mystery.
Anna in Nineteen Nineteen (1985)
“Two former patients of Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud meet again and discuss their psychiatric treatment 65 years earlier, reopening the wounds of the past, and questioning whether they were healed,” per IMDB.
Madam in The Orchid House (1991)
“A white, plantation-owning family in Dominica waits for the return of the patriarch from WWI, but things change when he does,” per IMDB.
Lady Betty in Clarissa (1991)
An adaptation of a 1748 novel, it tells the story a virtuous young woman and the rake who ruins her. This is one I have to watch for my 18th Century Quest!
Lady Evelyn Carrados in Alleyn Mysteries (1993)
A British detective series set in the 1950s.
Diane de Poitiers in Nostradamus (1994)
A feature film about the physician/astrologer/apothecary and the 16th-century French court in which he operated. Based on the fact that there’s very little visual evidence, I strongly hope that it’s terrible and that Trystan or Sarah reviews it! Maybe for Snark Week?
Grand Duchess Ella in Rasputin (1996)
A TV movie about the “mad monk” and the fall of the last Russian tsar; I swear to god, Quick has zero lines in this. Were they edited out?
Aristocratic mother in Rag Nymph (1997)
An adaptation of a Catherine Cookson novel, which sounds amazing: “In 1854 Newcastle, 10-year-old Millie’s mother dies in a brothel, leaving her to be taken in by ‘Raggie Aggie.’ On the streets, spirited Millie faces the city’s corrupting influences again” (IMDB).
Older Lady Louisa in Aristocrats (1999)
A fabulous bio-series about four aristocratic British sisters. Quick plays the older version of one.
Madame Pomfré in The Affair of the Necklace (2001)
She’s barely in this, but Quick shows up as the older woman romancing/sugar mama-ing the main love interest at the beginning of the film.
Mrs. Welman in Poirot: “Sad Cypress” (2003)
Her character appears to be disabled in some way in this episode of the 1930s-set Agatha Christie mystery.
The Queen in The Queen (2009)
Okay technically not historical enough for us, but I felt like I needed to include her turn as Elizabeth II in a TV docudrama.
Cecilia Weiss in Houdini and Doyle (2016)
A TV series about the friendship between magician Harry Houdini and Sherlock author Arthur Conan Doyle.
Lady Cecily in Father Brown (2022)
Yet another TV detective series, this one set in the 1950s.
What’s your favorite of Diana Quick’s frock flicks after Brideshead?
She’s so brilliant as Julia in Brideshead, that first photo of her with the cloche hat is chef’s kiss perfection!
Love love love the What’s Opera,Doc reference!
I love that she wasn’t a pretty Marian Halcombe. Casting agents/directors can’t quite bring themselves to cast a plain/unconventional looking woman, even though it is very clear how she looks in the novel.
I never understood why Clarissa is a fave among frock flickers. The main gal is kind of drippy and fatalistic, and the film just reinforces the old fashioned mentality that a woman loses her value when violated.
On the other hand, the Catherine Cookson movies (e.g., Rag Nymph) are hilariously bad. Recommend for comedic value alone.
I loved her for “The Duelists” which was one of the most influential movies of my youth. It’s the atmosphere, the landscape, camps, streets and Diana Quick as Laura is a very interesting and deep character. She’s excellent in “Aristoctrats” too.