Jane Merrow

{{Short description|British actress (born 1941)}}

{{EngvarB|date=February 2018}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Jane Merrow

| image = Jane Merrow.jpg

| caption = Merrow in 2020

| birth_name = Jane Meirowsky

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1941}}

| birth_place = Hertfordshire, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| yearsactive = 1960–present

| alma_mater = Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

| occupation = Actress

| website = https://janemerrow.com

}}

Jane Meirowsky (born 1941), known professionally as Jane Merrow, is an English actress who has been active from the 1960s in both Britain and the United States.

Early years

Merrow was born in 1941 in Hertfordshire to an English mother and German-Jewish refugee father.{{cite web|url=https://www.janemerrow.net/blogs/blog_nov_09_2009.htm|title=Jane Merrow Blog|website=www.janemerrow.net}}{{cite book|last1=Cotter|first1=Robert Michael "Bobb"|title=The Women of Hammer Horror: A Biographical Dictionary and Filmography|date=2013|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476602011|pages=134–135|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IiZnbykWAsIC&dq=%22Young+Male+Lead+and+nearly+meets%22&pg=PA134|access-date=19 July 2017|language=en}}{{cite web|url=http://www.janemerrow.net/biography.htm|title=Jane Merrow Biography Page|website=www.janemerrow.net}} "My father’s side of the family were ethnically Jewish, but not practising," she would later state. She is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She also was active in the British National Youth Theatre and won the Shakespeare Cup at the Kent Drama Festival.{{cite news|title=Katharine Out to Repeat History|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12467315/jane_merrow/|work=The Ottawa Journal|date=2 March 1968|location=Canada, Ottawa, Ontario|page=62|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 18 July 2017}} {{Open access}}

Film and television career

In 1963, Merrow was cast in the lead role of a BBC adaptation of Lorna Doone and subsequently had roles in British ITC TV series such as Danger Man, The Saint, The Baron, The Prisoner (in the 1967 episode "The Schizoid Man" as Alison, a mind reader), Gerry Anderson's UFO, and The Avengers where, having appeared in the penultimate episode of the 1967 series ("Mission ... Highly Improbable"), she was considered as the replacement for a departing Diana Rigg. The role went to Linda Thorson instead.

She also appeared as Lollo Romano in the 1965 "Gang War" episode of Gideon's Way. She featured in a new version of the Nigel Kneale adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1965) which was broadcast in the Theatre 625 series. David Buck was Winston Smith with Merrow as his lover, Julia.{{cite web|last=Wake|first=Oliver|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1413212/index.html|title=1984 (1965)|work=BFI Screenonline|access-date=28 March 2020}}

In 1966 she appeared in The Saint (series 5, episode 7: "The Angel's Eye") as Mabel, the unwilling partner of her father's bid to steal a famous diamond: The Angel's Eye.

Merrow starred in the British science fiction film Night of the Big Heat (1967) with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, prior to her most prominent role as Alais, the mistress of Henry II (played by Peter O'Toole) in The Lion in Winter (1968), for which she received a 1969 Golden Globe nomination in the category of actress in a supporting role,{{cite web|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/winners-nominees/best-performance-actress-supporting-role-any-motion-picture/all-years|title=Golden Globe Nominees|access-date=18 February 2020|archive-date=12 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912135619/https://www.goldenglobes.com/winners-nominees/best-performance-actress-supporting-role-any-motion-picture/all-years|url-status=dead}} losing to Ruth Gordon who won for Rosemary's Baby. She appeared in Adam's Woman with Beau Bridges in 1970. She also appeared as the blind Laura in the Hammer film Hands of the Ripper (1971). She appeared in an episode ("Who Killed Cock Robin?", 1969) of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). In 1971, she played Anne Hepton in Hadleigh, becoming the romantic interest of the lead character.

Around this time, she moved to the U.S., where she guest-starred on television in dramas, mysteries and adventure programmes, including Mission: Impossible; Bearcats!; Mannix; Emergency!; Police Woman; The Six Million Dollar Man; Cannon; Barnaby Jones; The Eddie Capra Mysteries; Airwolf; MacGyver; Hart to Hart; Magnum, P.I.; The Incredible Hulk; Once an Eagle; The Greatest American Hero; and The Magician.{{cn|date=September 2021}}

Later life

In the 1990s, Merrow returned to Britain to run a family business. In 2006, she took part in a Prisoner-related event in Portmeirion, North Wales,{{cite web|url=http://www.theunmutual.co.uk/pm2006.htm|title=PM2006 Patrick McGoohan / Prisoner / Portmeirion Convention|website=www.theunmutual.co.uk}} and in 2008, she was a guest there for the annual convention for The Prisoner TV series organised by the Prisoner Appreciation Society.{{cite web|url=http://www.sixofone.co.uk/convention2008.htm|title=Portmeirion}}{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

The summer of 2009 saw Merrow return to the stage, playing Emilia in Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors with the Idaho Shakespeare Company.{{Cite web |url=http://www.janemerrow.net/comedy/comedy_review.htm |title=Jane Merrow Film Reviews - Comedy of Errors |access-date=11 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090915181822/http://www.janemerrow.net/comedy/comedy_review.htm |archive-date=15 September 2009 |url-status=dead }}

Filmography

=Film=

class="wikitable"
Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1961Don't Bother to KnockGirl in GalleryUncredited
1962The Phantom of the OperaChorus GirlUncredited
1962The Wild and the WillingMary Parker
1964The SystemNicolaUSA: The Girl-Getters
1965CatacombsAlice Taylor
1967Night of the Big HeatAngela Roberts
1968Assignment KMartine
1968The Lion in WinterAlais
1970Adam's WomanBess
1971Hands of the RipperLaura
1972The Hound of the BaskervillesBeryl StapletonTV movie
1973The Horror at 37,000 FeetSheila O'NeillTV movie
1974A Time for LoveJanice
1975Diagnosis: MurderMary Dawson
1981The AppointmentDianna
2010Be Careful of What You Wish ForMrs. White
2016Almosting ItGladys
2020The Haunting of Margam CastleEdith Withers

=Television=

class="wikitable"
Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1961The Angry GodsPerdita2 episodes
1961Deadline MidnightDilys JonesEpisode: "An Eye for Detail"
1962Oliver TwistOliver's MotherEpisode: #1.1
1962CompactAnnaEpisode: "Pets Corner"
1962This Time Next YearJoyceTV film
1962Man of the WorldNurseEpisode: "Blaze of Glory"
1962BBC Sunday-Night PlayJean SkeltonEpisode: "A Suitable Case for Treatment"
1962Harpers West OneRuth LeighEpisode: #2.11
1962Call Oxbridge 2000Joan PriceEpisode: #2.12
1963MoonstrikeVickyEpisode: "Message Received"
1963The Birth of a Private ManFrances WaringTV film
1963The Plane MakersSue CollinsEpisode: "Point of Contact"
1963About ReligionGirlEpisode: "The Night Before the Execution"
196324-Hour CallMoira SingletonEpisode: "The Confession"
1963Jane EyreRosamund OliverEpisode: #1.5
1963The Human JunglePenny BranchEpisode: "Fine Feathers"
1963Corrigan BlakeMaryEpisode: "Love Bird"
1963Lorna DooneLorna DooneTitle role, nine episodes
1963FestivalSusanEpisode: "I Want To Go Home"
1964FestivalGiselleEpisode: "Justin Thyme"
1964Love StoryJane ClevelandEpisode: "The End of the Line"
1964DetectiveEve GillEpisode: "The Hungry Spider"
1964Danger ManJuana RomeroEpisode: "A Date With Doris"
1965Gideon's WayLollo RomanoEpisode: "Gang War"
1965Story ParadeErika HackerEpisode: "The World That Summer"
1965Theatre 625JuliaEpisode: "The World of George Orwell: 1984"
1965Danger ManSusan TurnbullEpisode: "A Room in the Basement"
1965Danger ManLydia GreshnovaEpisode: "The Man Who Wouldn't Talk"
1965The SaintLois NorroyEpisode: "The Happy Suicide"
1966The BaronSavannah Olmira
1965Danger Man1965Episode: "Red Horse, Red Rider"
1966The SaintMabelEpisode: "The Angel's Eye"
1966Mystery and ImaginationCarmillaEpisode: "Carmilla"
1967The PrisonerAlisonEpisode: "The Schizoid Man"
1967The AvengersSusan RushtonEpisode: "Mission: Highly Improbable"
1967Man in a SuitcaseSusan FenchurchEpisode: "The Bridge"
1968BBC Play of the MonthSorel BlissEpisode: "Hay Fever"
1969Strange ReportJill CrowleyEpisode: "REPORT 1553 RACIST 'A most dangerous proposal'"
1969Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)Sandra JoyceEpisode: "Who Killed Cock Robin?"
1970Mission: ImpossibleLady Cora WestonEpisode: "Lover's Knot"
1971UFOJo FraserEpisode: "The Responsibility Seat"
1971HadleighAnne HeptonEight episodes in season 2
1971Bearcats!Samantha BurkeEpisode: "Conquerer's Gold"
1971Alias Smith and JonesSister IsabelEpisode: "The Reformation of Harry Briscoe"
1972MannixClarissa ColburnEpisode: "The Sound of Murder"
1972Love, American StyleMiranda/Jeannie ZambiniEpisode: "Love and the Happy Medium/Love and the Jinx/Love and the Little Black Book/Love and the Old Swingers" (segment "Love and the Happy Medium")
1973MannixLeona KellawayEpisode: "Carol Lockwood, Past Tense"
1973Emergency!Lady RossmanEpisode: "The Professor"
1973Love, American StylePamelaEpisode: "Love and the Golden Memory/Love and the Heavy Set/Love and the Novel/Love and the See-Through Mind/Love and the Seven Year Wait" (segment "Love and the Golden Memory")
1973The MagicianCarol Spain / Lorna HackettEpisode: "Man on Fire"
1973CannonGretchen CallowayEpisode: "Murder by the Numbers"
1974Police WomanLindaEpisode: "Requien for Bored Wives"
1974Barnaby JonesHillary PadgettEpisode: "Web of Deceit"
1974The Six Million Dollar ManIrina LeonovaEpisode: "Doomsday, and Counting"
1977Once an EagleHallie BurnsEpisode 7
1977The Six Million Dollar ManIrina LeonovaEpisodes: "Death Probe, Parts 1 and 2"
1977Van der ValkDianeEpisode: "Diane"
1978The Eddie Capra MysteriesUnknownEpisode: "Murder Plays a Dead Hand"
1981The Incredible HulkDr Jane CabotEpisode: "Bring Me the Head of the Hulk"
1981The Greatest American HeroBettyEpisode: "The Beast in the Black"
1982Romance TheatreMagdaEpisodes: "Escape to Love, Parts 1 - 5"
1985Hart to HartMargaret ChumleyEpisode: "Rich and Hartless"
1983Magnum, P.I.Vivien Brock Jones, Lady Wilkerson, Duchess of WhittEpisode: "Letter to a Duchess"
1984RitualsHarriet WinslowEpisode: "Unaired pilot"
1985St. ElsewhereLandladyEpisode: "Tears of a Clown'
1985Days of Our LivesMrs. PierpointEpisode: "#1.5121"
1986AirwolfMrs Eleanor HainesEpisode: "Break-In at Santa Paula"
1986MacGyverDr Natalia PetrovitshEpisode: "A Prisoner of Conscience"
1993LovejoyStellaEpisode: "Taking the Pledge"
1996AccusedJanet WalshThree Episodes: "Carol", "Kirkpatrick", "Mukesh"
1997SharpeDuchess of RichmondEpisode: "Sharpe's Waterloo"

Notes

{{Reflist}}