Rosemary Leach (1935-2017) was another of those British actors who played supporting roles in what seems like everything. For me, she was the ultimate mom in A Room With A View — caring and kind, even if slightly distracted. But her career spans many other roles! Let’s track ’em down.
As per usual, there’s a chunk of projects that I can’t find photos of Leach in:
- Maheude in Germinal (1970)
- Anna Petrovna in A Question of Faith (1979)
- Esther in The 17th Bride (1985)
- Mrs. Walker in Once in a Life Time (1988)
- Violet in Theatre Night: “The Winslow Boy” (1989)
- Jane Audeby in Dark River (1990)
- Mrs. Tope in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1993)
- Margaret in The Baroness and the Pig (2002)
- Hester Hindmarch in The Royal (2008)
- The Queen in The Great Ghost Rescue (2011)
Kitty Winter in Sherlock Holmes (1965)
A TV series of the popular detective stories.
Giulia Lazzara in Court Martial (1966)
Set during World War II, British military judicial who’s-y-what’s-it’s (the Judge Advocate General’s office) investigate crimes.
Mother in Cider with Rosie (1971)
An adaptation of a coming-of-age novel set just after World War I in a small English town.
Mrs. MacLaine in That’ll Be the Day (1973)
Another coming-of-age story, this time a film set in the 1950s-60s. And Ringo Starr was in it!
Dulcinea/Aldonza in BBC Play of the Month: “The Adventures of Don Quixote” (1973)
A BBC TV adaptation of the famous early 17th century Spanish-set story.
Kate in Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1974)
A British comedy film set in the 17th century and starring Peter Sellers. It was never released theatrically due to Sellars’ “erratic” behavior (he was getting over a bad breakup).
Lizzie Borden in Second Verdict (1976)
A combo police procedural/docudrama in which classic criminal cases and unsolved crimes from history were re-appraised by fictional police officers.
Queen Victoria in Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic (1978)
A TV miniseries about the Victorian prime minister.
Mrs. Odgen in S.O.S. Titanic (1979)
She shows up as a woman from another ship trying to comfort Titanic survivors near the end of the film.
Widow of Florence in All’s Well That Ends Well (1981)
A TV adaptation of the Shakespeare play.
Emilia in Othello (1981)
A BBC TV adaptation of the Shakespeare play.
Mrs. Dangle in BBC Play of the Month: “The Critic” (1982)
An adaptation of a Richard Sheridan, mid-18th century, society-set play.
Mrs. Barrable in Swallows and Amazons Forever!: Coot Club (1984) & The Big Six (1986)
Adaptations of a series of children’s novels.
Aunt Fenny in The Jewel in the Crown (1984)
She plays the aunt of one of the central characters in this World War II era, colonial India-set miniseries.
Mrs. Honeychurch in A Room with a View (1985)
As the super loving, but kind of spacey, mom in this E.M. Forster novel adaptation.
Joan Plumleigh-Bruce in The Charmer (1987)
A TV series about a conman set in the 1930s.
Clara Soppitt in When We Are Married (1987)
“Three couples celebrating their 25th anniversaries have quite a surprise waiting for them,” per IMDB.
Miss Scope in The Children (1990)
An adaptation of a 1928 novel by Edith Wharton.
Lady Brightlingsea in The Buccaneers (1995)
She plays the mother of one of the British aristocrats who marry rich American girls in this adaptation of the 1870s-set Edith Wharton novel.
Nanny Collins in Berkeley Square (1998)
She’s the aging nanny who needs extra help in this Edwardian-set miniseries.
Mrs Forefoot Meadows in Catherine Cookson’s Tilly Trotter (1999)
An adaptation of a romance novel, set in the 1850s, I think, based on the images. But then I’m seeing 1830s on various online sources.
Mrs. Dickinson in Back Home (2001)
A young woman was sent to America during World War II for her protection, now she’s back home in Britain.
Dorothy Plum in Heartbeat (2004-05)
A British police procedural set during the 1960s.
What’s your favorite of Rosemary Leach’s frock flick roles?
A British actor from that time period who never starred in an Agatha Christie work? I didn’t know such a thing was possible lol
LOLOLOL
Well! I’ve just been listening to a superb Miss Marple audiobook read by Rosemary Leach, so, no way!
It was so nice to see the actress’s name on my mail feed, and I rushed to the website to read this WCW entry :)
“All’s Well” was one of the best of the BBC Shakespeare productions, “Othello” was one of the worst.
Aunt Fenny forever.
I loved the Swallows and Amazons books as a child and she’s perfect as Mrs. Barrable. Bonus- you also get a young Julian Fellowes being an insufferable upper class twit in Coot Club.