Biography for
Elisabeth Sladen More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

1 February 1946, Liverpool, England, UK

Date of Death

19 April 2011, Southall, London, England, UK (cancer)

Birth Name

Elisabeth Claira Heath Sladen

Nickname

Lis

Height

5' 4" (1.63 m)

Mini Biography

Elisabeth Sladen was born in Liverpool, England. She attended drama school for two years before joining the local repertory theatre in her home town of Liverpool. She met actor Brian Miller during her first production there and they were later married after meeting again in Manchester, three years later. Early television work included appearances on "Coronation Street" (1960), "Doomwatch" (1970), "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em" (1973), "Public Eye" (1965) and "Z Cars" (1962). Between 1974 and 1976, she had a regular role on "Doctor Who" (1963) as Sarah Jane Smith, a part she has since reprised in K-9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend (1981) (TV); "Doctor Who: The Five Doctors (#20.23)" (1983); the Doctor Who radio serials The Paradise of Death (1993) & Doctor Who and the Ghosts of N-Space" (1996); the Children In Need skit Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time (1993) (TV); the spin-off video drama Downtime (1995) (V) and, most recently, in the new "Doctor Who" (2005) series.

Other work on television has included _"Stepping Stones" (1977)_, "Send in the Girls" (1978), "Take My Wife..." (1979), Gulliver in Lilliput (1982) (TV), Alice in Wonderland (1986) (TV) and "Dempsey and Makepeace" (1985). In 1980, Sladen appeared in the cinema film Silver Dream Racer (1980). Since the birth of her daughter Sadie in 1985, she has spent most of her time being a mother and housewife, but has made occasional television appearances, including in "The Bill" (1984) and "Peak Practice" (1993).

Fan reaction of her reappearance as Sarah Jane Smith on "Doctor Who" (2005) resulted in the production of a second Doctor Who spin-off just for her, "The Sarah Jane Adventures" (2007) which is in production at this time.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Spouse

Brian Miller

(1968 - 19 April 2011) (her death) 1 child

Trivia

She starred in K-9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend (1981) (TV), the first television spin-off of "Doctor Who" (1963), which featured Sarah Jane Smith as played by Sladen, and K-9 as voiced by John Leeson.

She is the mother of Sadie Miller.

Returned to playing the role of her "Doctor Who" (1963) companion character, intrepid journalist "Sarah Jane Smith", in a series of brand new, original self-contained audio adventures on single CD in 2002 and again in 2006.

Returned to playing her Sarah Jane Smith character from the original "Doctor Who" (1963) series (1963-1989) in the new in "Doctor Who: School Reunion (#2.3)" (2006), "Doctor Who: The Stolen Earth (#4.12)" (2008), "Doctor Who: Journey's End (#4.13)" (2008), "Doctor Who: The End of Time: Part Two" (2010), and her own spin-off series, "The Sarah Jane Adventures" (2007).

Voted best guest actress by readers of [i]Doctor Who[/i] magazine for School Reunion.

Tied with Nicholas Courtney for the record of appearing with 7 on-screen incarnations of the Doctor. Although she is best known as a companion with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, she appeared with all of the first five Doctors in "Doctor Who: The Five Doctors (#20.23)" (1983). She later appeared with David Tennant and Matt Smith's Doctors in "Doctor Who" (2005) and "The Sarah Jane Adventures" (2007).

Along with Peter Davison and John Leeson, she is one of only three actors to play the same character (Sarah Jane Smith) in both "Doctor Who" (1963) and "Doctor Who" (2005).

Along with John Leeson, she is one of only two actors to play the same character (Sarah Jane Smith) in four different television productions based in the "Doctor Who" universe: "Doctor Who" (1963), K-9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend (1981) (TV), "Doctor Who" (2005) and "The Sarah Jane Adventures" (2007). She appeared with Leeson's character in all four.

Along with David Tennant, John Leeson, Tommy Knight, Alexander Armstrong, Lachele Carl, and Matt Smith, she is one of seven actors to play the same character (Sarah Jane Smith) in both "Doctor Who" (2005) and "The Sarah Jane Adventures" (2007).

Along with John Leeson, Nicholas Courtney, and Katy Manning, she is one of four actors to play the same character (Sarah Jane Smith) in both "Doctor Who" (1963) and "The Sarah Jane Adventures" (2007).

Diagnosed with cancer in late February 2011, less than 2 months before her death. Her autobiography was released posthumously and promoted by her daughter Sadie Miller in November 2011.

Personal Quotes

I sometimes think, 'If I knew what made Sarah Jane so popular, I'd bottle it'. I love her as a character, and I credit Barry (Barry Letts) for instilling something special in the character. He is a true gentle and honourable man and has such a wonderful take on life. I took some of that influence for Sarah. You also scavenge some of what you are as well. But, I wish I was more like her.

Sometimes good television doesn't depend on money, it depends on imagination and good people directing, casting and doing the job with talented people. Then you're forgiven a great deal, I think, if sometimes something doesn't look quite on the money.

When Sadie was about two, I went up to see lovely Paddy Stone, then casting director for "Emmerdale" (1972), about becoming one of the regulars. I'd had to work extra hours on another TV job and I kept looking at the clock. I just thought "My God, I'm not giving this 100 per cent. Someone else should have this job". Paddy said to me after "Why did you talk yourself out of that job?" But you've got to be available, otherwise casting people don't like it, quite rightly, and there's always 10 or 20 people waiting to replace you.

In Corrie, I played Anita Reynolds, Len Fairclough's new girlfriend, and I was in it for five or six episodes. But oh I loved Z Cars. If you see it a clip of it now it still holds up incredibly well - really good actors, great directors, and flying by the seat of your pants. You kept on learning, and there were always places for you to learn, which there aren't so many of for young actors now.