English actress Kelly Reilly has apparently gotten some notice starring in modern-set TV series Yellowstone, but she’ll always be the redheaded Caroline Bingley from the feature film version of Pride & Prejudice to me. She’s also got a key role in Branagh’s next Poirot film, A Haunting in Venice, so I thought it was time to run down her frock flicks resume!
Kathleen Le Saux in Bramwell (1996)
A late 19th-century fictional female doctor; Reilly guest starred in one episode.
Clowance Poldark in Poldark (1996)
A one-off adaptation of the Poldark books.
Nancy Miller in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1997)
The TV miniseries adaptation of the classic novel. It’s been too long, I can’t remember anything about her character!
Patience Heatherstone in Children of the New Forest (1998)
During the English Civil War, four children of a Royalist are hidden in a forest and have adventures.
Mary Gerrard in Poirot: “Sad Cypress” (2003)
Reilly guest-starred in one episode of the David Suchet version.
Jane in The Libertine (2004)
A dark and depressing biopic about the real-life 17th-century Earl of Rochester, who made a lot of bad choices. Again it’s been too long; I’m guessing she’s a prostitute? Or an actress?
Caroline Bingley in Pride & Prejudice (2005)
She did a good turn as Queen Bitchface in the feature film adaptation of the Jane Austen classic.
Maureen in Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)
She plays an actress/showgirl in this 1930s-theater-set story.
Jeannie in He Kills Coppers (2008)
A TV movie set in 1966 about some policemen who are murdered.
Muriel Brassler in Me and Orson Welles (2008)
Set in 1937, during Orson Welles’s stage adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
Mary Morstan in Sherlock Holmes (2009)
She’s Watson’s love interest in this action-film take on the classic detective.
Doreen Boyd in Citizen Gangster (2011)
About a post-World War II gangster.
Mary Watson in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
Again as Watson’s love interest!
Caitlin in Set Fire to the Stars (2014)
Poets in the 1950s.
Kerra in Britannia (2017-18)
Romans invade Britain.
Isabelle Laurent in The Cursed (2021)
A gothic horror film set in 1916 and 1881.
Rowena Drake in A Haunting in Venice (2023)
The newest Kenneth Branagh take on Poirot, as the detective solves a murder at a séance.
What’s your favorite of Kelly Reilly’s frock flick roles?
The only frock flick I have seen her in is Pride and Prejudice, which is a film whose clothing I have many opinions on (none of which are complimentary–except for the gentlemen). Is it just me, or are her stays way too loose in Poldark? I see obvious boning that appears to be billowing out around her waist when it should be flush, which makes her look like she’s expecting.
I adore Mrs. Henderson Presents!!!! It’s such a cheerful movie, despite the actual setting etc. Kelly Ryan is so incandescently beautiful in this movie. It’s one of my go-tos when I need something fun to watch.
(Also, the actress who was the female musical singing star was so talented and popping with star quality and it’s a bit of a bummer she never became a bigger thing. )
I’m not going to lie, one has had a Monstrous Crush on Ms. Reilly since first being introduced to her in SHERLOCK HOLMES (I suspect that Doctor Watson being depicted as intelligent enough to have such impeccable judgement when it comes to picking a future spouse is a key part of the reason I love these two films): I still find it deeply, deeply amusing that one review of her onstage work described her as ‘Theatrical viagra’.
I am a man with a deeply warped sense of humour.
On the other hand they might have been on to something, since Ms. Reilly is so magnificently attractive they cast her as the younger version of a character played by DAME HELEN MIRREN herself (In LAST ORDERS) which suggests that she has several lifetimes
worth of Sex Appeal on tap.
…
Holy Moley, “Helen Mirren, redhead” is quite a thought.
Just saw Haunting in Venice. I was actually surprised to enjoy it, contrary to the two previous ones, which Brannagh completely butchered!
I really do quite like and admire Ms Kelly as an actress and she has shown quite a versatility in the roles she’s played. As Jane, in The Libertine, she was playing an infamous prostitute who frequents the theatres and only takes to the stage once in the raunchy, royal performance of Rochester’s play Sodom… such a subtle title! I do wonder what she is wearing on her feet when she played Caroline Bingley though. You especially notice her shoes in the outside image when she is wearing the wind-blown, rather limp looking green pelisse. It looks like her shoes are platformed!!! Surely this can’t be so, am I going mad? Or did the seamstress simply mis-measure and forgot to re-hem her frock? I think though that my favourite of her roles was in Mrs. Henderson Presents. She possessed a worldly sexiness and yet a sweet vulnerability.
I first remember seeing her in the early aughts non-Frock Flick, L’Auberge Espagnole, which I loved. I haven’t seen much of her work, but overall I’ve enjoyed her in everything. Although, I must admit that every time I see her in something I always want to re-watch L’Auberge Espagnole. I haven’t yet seen Miss Henderson Presents, but the goodwill expressed above toward the movie has given it a nudge on my “to watch” list. Good WCW choice.
She’s lovely in a rather unusual way.
I’m tempted to describe it as “Sleek, carroty goodness” but am worried that might be impudent.
Some valiant makeup artist somewhere sometime is going to have to say “no” to smoky eyes on this woman. It’s just wildly wrong.