Kate O'Mara(1939-2014)
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Kate O'Mara was born Frances Meredith Carroll on August 10, 1939 in
Leicester, Leicestershire, England. A hard-looking brunette with high
cheekbones, Kate was the daughter of actress
Hazel Bainbridge and John Carroll and
prodded into performing as a child. Educated at the Aida Foster School,
she began an early career as a speech therapist at a Sussex Girls'
School, but her attraction to acting got the best of her and she
switched gears, making her debut in a stage production of "The Merchant
of Venice" in 1963 at age 24. She continued to appear in classical
works throughout the next two seasons until television series spots
started coming her way. Kate attracted gothic notice in Hammer Studio
horror films as tawdry, darkly alluring femmes in both
The Horror of Frankenstein (1970)
and The Vampire Lovers (1970),
but her film load over the years would remain sporadic.
She had remained focused on stage endeavours in the ensuing years and
had appeared in many British television series as well as various femme
fatales or shady ladies. She made little leeway in America but did
appear as Joan Collins equally
bitchy sister for one season of
Dynasty (1981) in 1986. She was also
delightfully vindictive in episodes of
Doctor Who (1963) and
Absolutely Fabulous (1992)
in England. She relished a standout role in the long-running British
soap opera Crossroads (2001). In
the 1980s, she founded and toured in a theatre company (The British
Actor's Theatre Company), which had continued running into the
millennium. She had since published two books: "When She Was Bad" in
1991 and "Good Time Girl" in 1993. Kate O'Mara died at age 74 on March
30, 2014 after a short illness in a nursing home in Sussex, England.
Leicester, Leicestershire, England. A hard-looking brunette with high
cheekbones, Kate was the daughter of actress
Hazel Bainbridge and John Carroll and
prodded into performing as a child. Educated at the Aida Foster School,
she began an early career as a speech therapist at a Sussex Girls'
School, but her attraction to acting got the best of her and she
switched gears, making her debut in a stage production of "The Merchant
of Venice" in 1963 at age 24. She continued to appear in classical
works throughout the next two seasons until television series spots
started coming her way. Kate attracted gothic notice in Hammer Studio
horror films as tawdry, darkly alluring femmes in both
The Horror of Frankenstein (1970)
and The Vampire Lovers (1970),
but her film load over the years would remain sporadic.
She had remained focused on stage endeavours in the ensuing years and
had appeared in many British television series as well as various femme
fatales or shady ladies. She made little leeway in America but did
appear as Joan Collins equally
bitchy sister for one season of
Dynasty (1981) in 1986. She was also
delightfully vindictive in episodes of
Doctor Who (1963) and
Absolutely Fabulous (1992)
in England. She relished a standout role in the long-running British
soap opera Crossroads (2001). In
the 1980s, she founded and toured in a theatre company (The British
Actor's Theatre Company), which had continued running into the
millennium. She had since published two books: "When She Was Bad" in
1991 and "Good Time Girl" in 1993. Kate O'Mara died at age 74 on March
30, 2014 after a short illness in a nursing home in Sussex, England.