WCW: Patricia Quinn – Frock Flicks

Patricia Quinn - The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Color me surprised when I realized Magenta from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (one of my very favorite movies ever) showed up in several frock flicks I was reviewing! That sent me to IMDB where I discovered Patricia Quinn’s long and varied career onscreen. Let’s look!

Wife in Up the Chastity Belt (1972)

Patricia Quinn, Up the Chastity Belt (1972) — Wearing an unfortunate biggins in a medieval edition of this silly British movie series.

Christabel Pankhurst in Shoulder to Shoulder (1974)

Patricia Quinn, Shoulder to Shoulder (1974) — With her mother Emmeline, Christabel founded the Women’s Social and Political Union suffrage organization, which is chronicled in this TV miniseries.

Joan Ellacott, Shoulder to Shoulder (1974) — Emmeline Pankhurst (Siân Phillips), Christabel (Patricia Quinn), & Sylvia (Angela Down).

Lizzie Siddal in The Love School (1975)

The Love School (1975) — Recreating how John Everett Millais painted his iconic “Ophelia.”

Patricia Quinn, The Love School (1975) — The miniseries also shows her tempestuous relationship with Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Livilla in I, Claudius (1976)

I, Claudius (1976) — Livillia has an affair with Sejanus (Patrick Stewart), & they poison her husband.

Patricia Quinn, I Claudius (1976) — Her scheming is ended when her own mother locks her away to starve to death.

Susan in Beauty and the Beast (1976)

Patricia Quinn, Beauty and the Beast (1976) — Quinn plays one of Belle’s sisters in this fairytale with 18th-century-ish costumes. Poor screencap from YouTube, but she’s in several scenes.

The Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol (1977)

Patricia Quinn, A Christmas Carol (1977) — The story has a Victorian setting, but no idea why the ghost is in a disco outfit (other than this was filmed in the ’70s).

Annette Vallon in “William and Dorothy,” Clouds of Glory (1978)

Patricia Quinn, Clouds of Glory (1978) — In this Ken Russell version of William Wordsworth’s life, the poet has an affair & a child with a French woman (played by Quinn), both of whom he abandons during the Napoleonic Wars.

Rose in Good Behaviour (1983)

Patricia Quinn, Good Behaviour (1983) — A weird & creepy story about an Irish family in the 1920s. Quinn plays a servant dealing with the bedridden father.

Sylvia Daisy Pouncer in The Box of Delights (1984)

Patricia Quinn, The Box of Delights (1984) — Apparently this is a beloved British TV movie set in 1934. Quinn’s character is one of the baddies & seems to get a smart outfit (black & pink piped suit & a tilt hat!), but I couldn’t find better screencaps.

Doris Tingley in Lost Empires (1986)

Patricia Quinn, Lost Empires (1986) — An early Colin Firth series set in the 1910s music-hall world.

Patricia Quinn, Lost Empires (1986) — I suspect this is a stage costume, hence the heavy makeup.

Mona Castlebar in Fortunes of War (1987)

Patricia Quinn, Fortunes of War (1987) — Her character is an entertainer during WWII.

Patricia Quinn, Fortunes of War (1987) — She finds out her husband is cheating on her, & ooo she’s pissed!

Bella Cohen in “James Joyce’s Ulysses,” Ten Great Writers of the Modern World (1988)

Patricia Quinn, Ten Great Writers of the Modern World (1988) — This docudrama episode recreates a scene in Ulysses where the book’s characters visit a brothel, & the madame is played by Quinn.

Patricia Quinn, Ten Great Writers of the Modern World (1988) — The book’s narrator also imagines the brothel keeper as a man.

Elizabeth Purcell in England, My England (1995)

Patricia Quinn, England, My England (1995) — As the mother of 17th-century English composer Henry Purcell, at the coronation of Charles II.

George Sand in The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka: The Mystery of Chopin (1999)

Patricia Quinn, The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka: The Mystery of Chopin (1999) — In a flashback, the movie shows the composer Chopin with the writer George Sand.

Patricia Quinn, The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka: The Mystery of Chopin (1999) — Quinn has only a few lines, but she’s glamorous & moody in Sand’s cross-dressed style.

Have you noticed Patricia Quinn in frock flicks before?

More Frock Flicks

Tags: 17th century 1810s 1830s 1850s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s adapted from books ancient Rome bitchy Romans Charles Dickens chic hats cross-dressing England My England (1995) fairy tales Fortunes of War (1987) I Claudius (1977-78) inspired by a true story James Joyce medieval movies about musicians Patricia Quinn Pre-Raphaelites servants suffragettes The Love School (1975) TV unfortunate bigginses Victorian World War II

2 thoughts on “WCW: Patricia Quinn”

MoHub says:

October 21, 2026 at 6:44 am

Linville, all day, every day!

Reply
ED says:

October 21, 2026 at 8:47 am

Fascinating how an actress can somehow fly under the radar whilst parading right in front of your eyes for many years – such is the power of a Character Actress!

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