Anneke Wills
{{Short description|British actress}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anneke Wills
| image = Anneke Wills, The Capitol 3, 2018 (cropped).jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Wills in 2018
| birth_name = Anna Katarina Willys
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|10|20|df=y}}
| birth_place = Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, England{{cite book|last=Wills|first=Anneke|date=2007|title=Self Portrait|publisher=Hirst Books|page=15|isbn=978-0-9557149-0-0}}
| occupation = Actress
| television = Doctor Who (1966–1967)
| years_active = 1952–1970, 1998–present
| spouse = {{marriage|Michael Gough|1965|1979|end=div}}
| children = 2
| website = {{URL|http://www.annekewills.com}}
}}
Anneke Wills ({{IPAc-en|'|æ|n|ɪ|k|ə}}; born Anna Katarina Willys, 20 October 1941) is an English actress, best known for her role as the companion Polly in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba82942dc|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622005051/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba82942dc|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 June 2018|title=Anneke Wills}}
Biography
Wills's father, Alaric Willys, was a captain in the British Army. Her mother, Anna, was Dutch, born in Rotterdam.{{cite book|last=Wills|first=Anneke|date=2007|title=Self Portrait|publisher=Hirst Books|page=12|isbn=978-0-9557149-0-0}} Anneke is the granddaughter of Richard Raymond Willis VC.’Self Portrait’ Anneke Wills, Autobiography 2007
Career
Deciding she wanted to be an actress she studied drama at the Arts Educational School and RADA in London and quickly became one of the busiest actresses of her generation, early roles included an appearance as Roberta in the second TV version of The Railway Children in 1957.{{cite journal|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5a7a4ed7dbfb4c05bfcbdf93fc0c6d68|title=Children's Television: The Railway Children: 3: The Old Gentleman|journal=The Radio Times|date=15 March 1957|issue=1740|pages=12|via=BBC Genome}} Her other film roles included appearances in Some People (1962) and The Pleasure Girls (1965).[http://www.entertainment-focus.com/featured-slider/anneke-wills-interview-2 Profile], entertainment-focus.com; accessed 29 April 2015.
File:Polly and Spider-Man (cropped).jpg
Her other television credits include appearances in The Avengers{{cite web|url=http://www.annekewills.com/the-big-issue/|title=The Big Issue - Anneke Wills|access-date=9 June 2016}} and as Evelyn in Strange Report (1969–70).{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1224068/index.html|title=BFI Screenonline: Strange Report (1968-69)|website=www.screenonline.org.uk}}
=''Doctor Who''=
In 1966, she took the role of Polly in Doctor Who. She appeared in the show until 1967 alongside William Hartnell and then Patrick Troughton.{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-03-22/doctor-who-companion-anneke-wills-on-achieving-cultural-immortality|title=Doctor Who companion Anneke Wills on achieving cultural immortality|access-date=9 June 2016}} Her favourite story is The Smugglers.{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-11-05/animated-lost-doctor-who-story-the-power-of-the-daleks-is-enthralling---and-there-could-be-more-to-come |title=Doctor Who The Power of the Daleks animation review |publisher=Radiotimes.com |date=5 November 2016 |access-date=24 July 2017}}
In October 2013, she recorded an abridged version of Who's There?, a biography of Hartnell written by his granddaughter, Jessica Carney.{{cite web|url=https://annekewills.com/shop/cds/whos-there-the-life-career-of-william-hartnell/|title=Who's There? – Anneke Wills|website=annekewills.com|date=15 October 2013 }}
In November 2013, she appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03lv3mj The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot], bbc.co.uk; accessed 29 April 2015.
She has been a popular guest at Doctor Who conventions, and has been employed by the BBC and Big Finish to record various audio and DVD projects related to the show.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5Hk7V1t7Sd6syYhXTbR9dNT/the-fourth-dimension|title=The War Machines, Season 3, Doctor Who - The Fourth Dimension - BBC One|website=BBC}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/anneke-wills-and-terrence-hardiman-are-charley-s-family|title=Anneke Wills and Terrence Hardiman are Charley's Family! - News - Big Finish|website=www.bigfinish.com}}{{Cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3HJZYV820DpNF3rmG22v7g0/the-fourth-dimension |title = BBC One - Doctor Who, Season 4, the Underwater Menace - the Fourth Dimension}}
=Writing=
The first volume of her autobiography, Self Portrait, was published in 2007[https://drwhointerviews.wordpress.com/category/anneke-wills Profile], drwhointerviews.wordpress.com; accessed 29 April 2015. by Hirst Books and a second volume, Naked, followed in 2009. Her latest book, Anneke Wills - In Focus, was published in May 2012 by Fantom Films.{{cite web|url=http://www.fantomfilms.co.uk/books/anneke_wills_infocus.htm|title=fantom films :: anneke wills|website=www.fantomfilms.co.uk|access-date=29 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016090536/http://www.fantomfilms.co.uk/books/anneke_wills_infocus.htm|archive-date=16 October 2017|url-status=dead}}
Personal life
At 17, she began a relationship with Anthony Newley while working on the TV series The Strange World of Gurney Slade. Newley fathered Wills's first child, Polly, but left her to marry Joan Collins.Wills, Anneke. Self Portrait. Hirst Publishing 2007; {{ISBN|978-0-9557149-0-0}} During the 1960s Wills spent much of her time at the famous Troubadour Coffee Shop{{cite web|last=Mentor |first=Toms |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/2011/anneke-wills-gurney-slade-anthony-newley-and-me/ |title=Anneke Wills: Gurney Slade, Anthony Newley and me | Features |publisher=The Stage |date= 8 August 2011|access-date=24 July 2017}} and the Establishment, and was part of the so-called "Chelsea Set".
Wills married actor Michael Gough in 1965, who adopted her daughter Polly. The couple had one son, Jasper, and divorced in 1979. In 1970, she gave up acting and moved to Norfolk, dedicating herself to motherhood and gardening. Her daughter Polly died in a car crash in 1982 at the age of 19, believing that Gough was her biological father. Anneke left the UK in 1980 and lived in various places for 16 years afterwards, including in Belgium, Laos, Vietnam, and India in the early 1980s, in the US from 1983 to 1986, and in Canada from 1986 to 1996, before returning to the UK in 1996.{{cite web|url=http://www.annekewills.com/about-anneke/|title=About Anneke - Anneke Wills|access-date=9 June 2016}} She remarried twice.
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Child's Play | Alice Nightingale | |
| rowspan="2" |1962 | Candidate for Murder | Jacqueline | |
| Some People | Anne | ||
| 1964 | Nothing but the Best | Girl | |
| 1965 | The Pleasure Girls | Angela |
=Television=
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan="2" |1954 | Impostor's Gold | Sybil Hughes | rowspan="4" | TV film |
| The House with a Secret | Robina | ||
| rowspan="5" |1955 | Alibi Children | Molly Wilson | |
| Remember Jane | Jane Eyre | ||
| The Prince and the Pauper | Lady Jane Grey | Episode: "Exchange" | |
| Passage of Arms | Henriette de Chamborde | TV film | |
| The Blakes | Jean Blake | All 4 episodes | |
| rowspan="2" |1956 | African Holiday | Megs Wyndham | TV film |
| The Grove Family | Olive Green | Episode: "Olive Green" | |
| 1957 | The Railway Children | Roberta | All 8 episodes |
| 1958 | From Cover to Cover | Girl | Episode: "#1.1" |
| 1959 | Don't Tell Father | Diana | 2 episodes |
| rowspan="7" |1960 | BBC Sunday-Night Play | Katrina Hoefler | Episode: "Glorious Morning" |
| Emergency-Ward 10 | Clarissa Wallace | 2 episodes | |
| rowspan="3" |Probation Officer | Miss Shirley | Episode: "#1.27" | |
| Miss Field | Episode: "#2.3" | ||
| Sheila | Episode: "#2.8" | ||
| No Hiding Place | Glenda Williamson | Episode: "The Final Chase" | |
| The Strange World of Gurney Slade | Girl on Airfield | 2 episodes | |
| rowspan="6" |1961 | rowspan=2|ITV Television Playhouse | Woman in coffee bar | Episode: "Ben Spray" |
| Peggy | Episode: "Different Drum" | ||
| Golden Girl | Minty | Episode: "Ward of Court" | |
| Winning Widows | Sheila | Episode: "The Young Niece" | |
| Gamble for a Throne | Kaye Chance | 4 episodes | |
| ITV Play of the Week | Kathleen Short | Episode: "The Primitive" | |
| 1962 | The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre | Jacqueline | Episode: "Candidate for Murder" |
| rowspan="3" |1963 | The Sentimental Agent | Sarah | Episode: "All That Jazz" |
| No Hiding Place | Dolly Fenson | Episode: "The Smoke Boys" | |
| Our Man at St. Mark's | Dorothy Maxwell | Episode: "Know of Any Reason" | |
| 1963,
1967 | Pussy Cat/Judy | 2 episodes | |
| rowspan="2" |1965 | The Likely Lads | Judith Francis | Episode: "Other Side of the Fence" |
| ITV Play of the Week | Chris Durley | Episode: "No Baby, No Baby at All" | |
| rowspan="2" |1966 | Thirty-Minute Theatre | Julia | Episode: "Keep on Running" |
| The Wednesday Play | Leda | Episode: "Toddler on the Run" | |
| 1966–1967 | Doctor Who | Polly | 36 episodes |
| 1966 | The Saint | Fran Roeding | Episode: "The Helpful Pirate" |
| 1967 | Beggar My Neighbour | Episode: "For Better, for Worse" | |
| 1969–1970 | Strange Report | Evelyn McLean | All 16 episodes |
| rowspan="2" |2013 | An Adventure in Space and Time | Party Guest | rowspan="2" | TV film |
| The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot | Anneke Wills |
=Audio drama=
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Bernice Summerfield | Doctor Kitzinger | Big Finish Productions; Story: "Beyond the Sun" |
| 2003-2006 | Doctor Who: The Monthly Range | Nrosha, Louisa Pollard | Big Finish Productions; 4 releases |
| 2009-2019 | Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles | rowspan="3" | Polly | Big Finish Productions; 10 releases |
| 2011 | The Five Companions | rowspan="2" | Big Finish Productions; Special release | |
| 2013 | The Light at the End | ||
| 2014 | Charlotte Pollard | Doctor Kitzinger | Big Finish Productions; Story: "The Fall of the House of Pollard" |
| 2015-2019 | Doctor Who: The Early Adventures | Polly | Big Finish Productions; 6 releases |
| 2016-2022 | Big Finish Short Trips | Narrator | 3 releases |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0932613}}
- [http://www.annekewills.com Official website]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120610231451/http://www.fantomfilms.co.uk/books/anneke_wills.htm Details of Anneke Wills - In Focus]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wills, Anneke}}
Category:Actors educated at the Arts Educational Schools
Category:English film actresses
Category:English television actresses
Category:English people of Dutch descent
Category:People from Bray, Berkshire
Category:Actresses from London
Category:20th-century English actresses
Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art