Françoise Pascal

{{Short description|British actress, singer}}

{{For|the 17th-century French poet|Françoise Pascal (poet)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}

{{multiple issues|

{{third-party|date=May 2013}}

{{autobiography|date=May 2013}}

{{advert|date=May 2013}}

{{BLP sources|date=May 2007}}

}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Françoise Pascal

| image = Francoise Pascal As I Am.jpg

| caption = Pascal in 2012

| birth_name = Françoise Pascal

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|10|14|df=y}}

| birth_place = Vacoas, Mauritius

| children = 1

| occupation = {{hlist|Actress|singer|dancer|fashion model|producer}}

| years_active = 1967–present

| known_for = {{hlist|La rose de fer|Mind Your Language|Burke & Hare|There's a Girl in My Soup|Keep It Up Downstairs}}

| height = {{height|ft=5|in=5|precision=2}}

| alias =

| website = {{Official URL}}

}}

Françoise Pascal (born 14 October 1949) is a Mauritius-British actress, singer, dancer, fashion model, and producer. She appeared in numerous film and television productions at her peak throughout the late 1960s to early 1980s.

Early life

Pascal was born in the Mauritius colony of the United Kingdom, to Marcel and Claire Pascal, who were French citizens. She grew up with her parents and four siblings in Mauritius, until age 6 when her family moved to London. She also lived in Paris for some time where she attended La Sorbonne. Her father died when she was 14.

Career

{{BLP sources section|date=July 2023}}

=Acting=

Pascal's earliest films were Norman J. Warren's Loving Feeling and Pete Walker's School for Sex (both 1969), and she also appeared in a scene in Incense for the Damned (1970). She also played Paola in There's a Girl in My Soup (1970) with Peter Sellers. She also performed in Burke & Hare. (1972), playing Marie, and another Sellers film, Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974).

After that appearance, she moved to France where she starred in such films as Et situ n'en Vex Pas (1974) and Les Raisins de la Mort (1978), directed by Jean Rollin. Later she returned to England to appear in Keep It Up Downstairs (1976) alongside Diana Dors, Jack Wild, and Mary Millington.

Her first television work came in October 1971 with a role in Coronation Street, playing Ray Langton's friend. Then came guest starring roles in an episode of Play of the Month for the BBC in "Don Quixote" (1973) with Rex Harrison and for ITV's Sunday Night Theatre "Giants & Ogres" (1971). She was cast in guest starring appearances in many television comedy series such as Happy Ever After (1976) with Terry Scott and June Whitfield, as well as My Honourable Mrs (1975) with Derek Nimmo for the BBC. She co-starred in an episode of the thriller You're on Your Own starring Denis Quilley, for the BBC.

She played Danielle Favre in the first three series of the ITV sitcom Mind Your Language (1977–79); she then took on her stage roles in Happy Birthday (reuniting with Frazer Hines), and starring in a pantomime of Aladdin. Pascal left for the United States in 1980, where she acted in Hollywood, returning to England in 1987.

In 2015, Pascal joined the cast for a new comedy series called For the Love of Ella. The series also starred Ewen Macintosh, Bobby Ball, Alex Reid, Daniel Peacock, Melanie Sykes, Darren Day, and Billy Pearce.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3293568/combined|title=For the Love of Ella (2015)|work=IMDb|accessdate=5 March 2015}}

Pascal is set to appear in and produce her first film Cold Sun, directed by Jason Figgis and starring Tara Reid, Patrick Bergin, and Ian Ogilvy, through her own MFC Productions Ltd and Pascal Productions Ltd.{{Cite web |last=Yossman |first=K. J. |date=2022-02-09 |title=Tara Reid to Play MI6 Agent in British Spy Film 'Cold Sun' (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2022/film/global/tara-reid-mi6-agent-cold-sun-1235175872/ |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}

Filmography

=Film=

class="wikitable sortable"
Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

rowspan="2" | 1968

| Loving Feeling

| Model

| film debut

Sympathy For The Devil

|Self

|documentary

1969

|School for Sex

|Sally Reagan

|

1970

| There’s A Girl In My Soup

| Paola

|

rowspan="3" | 1971

| Incense For The Damned

|

| uncredited

The Anatomy of a Pin-Up

|Self

|documentary short

The Beloved

|

|uncredited

1972

| Burke & Hare

| Marie

|

1973

| The Iron Rose

| La femme

|

1974

| Soft Beds, Hard Battles

| Madeline

|

rowspan="3" | 1976

| Le Body Shop

| Margot

|

Keep It Up Downstairs

| Mimi

|

Private Lives

| Louise

| television film

1978

|The Grapes of Death

|Train passenger

|scenes deleted

1986

| Lighting White Stallion

| Marie Ward Leeman

|

2013

| Symbols and Signs

| Isabella

|short film

2015

|For The Love of Ella

| Maitre’d

|television film

2016

|Respectable: The Mary Millington Story

|Herself

|documentary film

2020

| Jeepers Creepers

| Fantasy Lover

| voice

2021

| Cold Sun

| Madeline Bouvier

|also producer

=Television=

class="wikitable sortable"
Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

rowspan="2" | 1971

| Coronation Street

| Françoise Dubois

| 1 episode

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

|Secretary

|1 episode

1972

|Go Girl

|Martine

|unaired series

1972–1973

|BBC Play of the Month

|Harlot/Rosa González

|2 episodes

rowspan="2" |1974

|Napoleon and Love

|Elzunia

|1 episode

Late Night Drama

|Cynthia Crumpet

|1 episode

rowspan="3" |1975

|You’re On Your Own

|Suzanne Fermont

|1 episode

My Honorable Mrs

|Anna-Maria

|1 episode

Rule Britanna!

|Colette

|1 episode

rowspan="3" |1976

|The Brothers

|Thérèse d’Alamber

|2 episodes

Happy Ever After

|Michelle

|1 episode

What’s on Next?

|Self

|1 episode

1977

|Whodunnit

|Vere Le Grand

|1 episode

1977–1979

|Mind Your Language

|Danielle Favre

|29 episodes

rowspan="2" |1978

|Celebrity Squares

|Herself

|4 episodes

Those Wonderful TV Times

|Herself

|1 episode

1979

|Blankety Blank

|Herself

|1 episode

1980

|The Dick Emery Hour

|Herself

|TV special

rowspan="2" |1981

|Mike Yardwood In Persons

|Louise

|1 episode

Punchlines!

|Herself

|1 episode

1982

|Gavilan

|Carla

|1 episode

1995

|Doing Rude Things

|Herself

|Documentary TV movie

Discography

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"

! scope="col" style="width:20em;" | Title

! scope="col"| Year

! scope="col"| Album

"When It Comes To Love"{{Citation|title=When It Comes to Love / Got It Badly by Françoise Pascal|url=https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/francoise_pascal/when_it_comes_to_love___got_it_badly/|access-date=2020-10-08}}

|rowspan=2|1968

|rowspan="2" align="center"|When It Comes To Love/Got It Badly-Single

"Got It Badly"
"Woman Is Free"{{Cite web|title=Françoise Pascal - Woman Is Free|url=https://www.discogs.com/Fran%C3%A7oise-Pascal-Woman-Is-Free/master/752831|access-date=2020-10-08|website=Discogs|language=en}}

| rowspan="2" |1979

| rowspan="2" |Woman Is Free-Single

"Symphony Just For Me"
"I Can’t Get Enough"{{Cite web|title=Francoise Pascal* - I Can't Get Enough|url=https://www.discogs.com/Francoise-Pascal-I-Cant-Get-Enough/release/4416726|access-date=2020-10-08|website=Discogs|language=en}}

| rowspan="2" |1981

| rowspan="2" |I Can’t Get Enough-Single

"Make Love To Me"

Personal life

Pascal had a child, Nicholas Johnson, with actor Richard Johnson in 1976 {{snd}}the same year he divorced his third wife and married his fourth.{{cite news|last1=Pendreigh|first1=Brian|title=Obituary: Richard Johnson, actor|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-richard-johnson-actor-1-3795273|work=The Scotsman|date=8 June 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310122557/http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-richard-johnson-actor-1-3795273|archivedate=10 March 2016}}{{cite web |title=Family Album |url=https://francoisepascal.co.uk/francoise-pascal/my-family/family-album |website=francoisepascal.co.uk |publisher=MFC Productions Ltd |accessdate=17 July 2018}}

On 4 December 2010, she joined Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood at Claygate Village to turn on the village Christmas lightsLuke Jacobs, [http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/2083567_ronnie_wood_lights_up_claygate_for_christmas "Ronnie Wood lights up Claygate for Christmas"], Surrey News, 7 December 2010. and sing a solo of "Silent Night".

In December 2012, Pascal took part in the ITV1 programme Storage Hoarders, in which she sorted and sold at auction some of her more valuable possessions which she had kept in storage for months.{{Citation |title=£62,000 to Store Antiques {{!}} Storage Hoarders | date=7 February 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXsE257AWkU |language=en |access-date=29 May 2022}}

One of Pascal's closest friends was British actress, Lynne Frederick. She first became acquainted with Frederick in 1972, when they co-starred on an episode of the television anthology series, BBC Play of the Month.{{Cite web|title=We both worked in a BBC Play of the month called Summer and Smoke, we became firm friends. Then she met Peter S and she told me she was marrying Peter. I was happy for both of them. We lost touch and the last time I spoke to her is when Peter died. Never saw her again.|url=https://twitter.com/fpascal/status/1249833523114106880|last=Pascal|first=Francoise|date=13 April 2020|website=@fpascal|language=en|access-date=5 May 2020}} The two actresses quickly became "firm friends" and frequently saw each other during the height of their careers in the 1970s. Pascal recalled that they regretfully lost contact in 1977 after Frederick married Peter Sellers. Frederick died in 1994. In April 2020, a few weeks before the 26th anniversary of Frederick's death, Pascal tweeted a photo of herself and Frederick, with the caption "I think of her very often! Always had that fresh baby face! RIP Lynne! Xxx".{{Cite web|title=I think of her very often! Always had that fresh baby face! RIP Lynne! Xxxpic.twitter.com/G7ckW91bgx|url=https://twitter.com/fpascal/status/1249794684127514625|last=Pascal|first=Francoise|date=13 April 2020|website=@fpascal|language=en|access-date=5 May 2020}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • [http://francoisepascal.co.uk/as-i-am-autobiographyAs I Am] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140804234105/http://francoisepascal.co.uk/as-i-am-autobiography |date=4 August 2014 }}, Published by Pegasus Elliot McKenzie (2012)
  • Sheridan, Simon. Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema (2011, fourth edition), Titan Publishing, London.