Barbara Leigh-Hunt

Barbara Leigh-Hunt trained for the theatre at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, then joined the Old Vic Company in London. After working in provincial repertory theatres she returned to the Bristol Old Vic to play Rosemary in 'A Severed Head', and transferred with the play to the West End. She returned again to Bristol to appear in 'Love's Labour's Lost' and 'Henry V', then toured Europe and Israel with them. She returned again to Bristol for further productions, then went on an American tour in 'Measure For Measure' and as Ophelia, opposite her husband Richard Pasco who was in the title role of 'Hamlet'. After her return to England she had a big success in the 1968 West End production of 'Mrs Mouse Are You Within'. Following this she made many appearances at the Old Vic, with the RSC at the Aldwych Theatre, and at the National Theatre.

She made her television debut in 1956 in a episode of The Recording Angells (1956), followed over the years by appearances in episodes of series such as Callan (1967), Special Branch (1969), 'Inspector Morse', 'The Ruth Rendell Mysteries' and 'Kavanagh Q.C.', along with mini-series including The Brontës of Haworth (1973), 'A Perfect Hero' and 'Wives and Daughters'. Her film debut was in 1972 in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972), which was quickly followed by Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), in which she played Catherine Parr, and Bequest to the Nation (1973). Subsequently her film appearances have been few, though they have included Billy Elliot (2000).