Virginia Maskell

Virginia Maskell

Born: February 28, 1936
Died: January 25, 1968
in Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK
Virginia Elizabeth Maskell (1936–1968) was an English actress, poet and artist. After attending drama school she featured in several television roles. Her film debut was a minor role for director Roy Boulting in Happy Is the Bride (1957), after which she began switching between the theatre and the screen.

She gained a British Lion contract and appeared in The Man Upstairs (1958) and as an air hostess in Jet Storm (1959). She made an impact on the stage in Ronald Duncan's The Catalyst, a play that initially the Lord Chamberlain's office had found troubling. There were distinguished appearances in live TV drama. She starred in Doctor in Love (1960), and as Peter Sellers's wife in Only Two Can Play (1962). She took a break from acting in 1962 to concentrate on her family, and returned after the birth of her second son to shoot Interlude (1968).

In January of 1968, Maskell was reported missing. Police searched woods 700 feet up in the Chiltern Hills after her car was found a mile from her home. She apparently had wandered through the woods for hours before collapsing. She was taken to hospital and given emergency treatment for an overdose of barbiturates, but passed away the following day at the age of 31.

Movies for Virginia Maskell...

Interlude
Title: Interlude
Character: Antonia Zelter
Released: May 1, 1968
Type: Movie
A young female journalist in London falls in love with a married orchestra conductor.
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Title: The Prisoner
Character: The Woman
Released: September 29, 1967
Type: TV
After resigning, a secret agent is abducted and taken to what looks like an idyllic village, but is really a bizarre Kafkaesque prison. His warders demand information. He gives them nothing, but only tries to escape.
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Title: Gideon's Way
Character: Rose Lemman
Released: March 18, 1965
Type: TV
Gideon's Way is a British television crime series made by ITC Entertainment in 1964/65, based on the novels by John Creasey. The series was made at Elstree in twin production with The Saint TV series. It starred Liverpudlian John Gregson in the title role as Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard, with Alexander Davion as his assistant, Detective Chief Inspector David Keen, Reginald Jessup as Det. Superintendent LeMaitre, Ian Rossiter as Detective Chief Superintendent Joe Bell and Basil Dignam as Commissioner Scott-Marle. The show did not acknowledge any help from Scotland Yard, any other police force or advisor. Daphne Anderson starred as his wife, Kate with Giles Watling as young son, Malcolm, Richard James as older son, Matthew who seemed to have a lot of new girlfriends and Andrea Allan as daughter, Pru. Unusually for police stories, Gideon was shown as a family man at home though urgent phone calls from his bosses tend to disrupt family plans too often. However, he did admit in "State Visit" that his wife had walked out on him for a while years ago when he put the job first and her second. They live in an expensive detached house in Chelsea.
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The Wild and the Willing
Title: The Wild and the Willing
Character: Virginia Chown
Released: October 16, 1962
Type: Movie
Harry Brown is a somewhat rough and wild university student, who has the ability to win friends, especially the underdogs like Phil who doesn't play 'rugger' and can't sink a whole pint of beer, and African student Reggie. He also has a way with the girls....
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Title: Zero One
Released: October 3, 1962
Type: TV
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Only Two Can Play
Title: Only Two Can Play
Character: Jean Lewis
Released: January 19, 1962
Type: Movie
John Lewis is bored of his job and his wife. Then Liz, wife of a local councillor, sets her sights on him. But this is risky stuff in a Welsh valleys town - if he and Liz ever manage to consummate their affair, that is.
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Suspect
Title: Suspect
Character: Dr. Lucy Byrne
Released: November 15, 1960
Type: Movie
A government team researching cures for plague find their results put on the Official Secrets list. One of their number is so incensed by this that he lets the maimed and jealous companion of a female colleague draw him into what, technically, could be a treasonable act.
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Doctor in Love
Title: Doctor in Love
Character: Dr Nicola Berrington
Released: July 12, 1960
Type: Movie
Doctors Burke and Hare leave the confines of St Swithins for the world of general practice, stopping off on the way as patients at the Foulness Anti-cold Unit. Hare then takes up a position as junior in a well-healed G.P.'s surgery while Burke continues to sow his doctorial wild oats.
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Jet Storm
Title: Jet Storm
Character: Pam Leyton
Released: September 16, 1959
Type: Movie
Crisis in the air: A passenger aboard a commercial airplane flying from London to New York threatens to detonate a bomb over the Atlantic.
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Virgin Island
Title: Virgin Island
Character: Tina
Released: August 7, 1959
Type: Movie
A British woman marries an American writer in spite of her family's disapproval and goes to live with him on a tropical island.
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The Man Upstairs
Title: The Man Upstairs
Character: Helen Grey
Released: September 30, 1958
Type: Movie
The mental breakdown of a guilt-ridden man provides the drama in this fascinating psychological profile starring Richard Attenborough as a scientist who can't live with himself after he accidently kills the brother of his fiancee.
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Happy Is the Bride
Title: Happy Is the Bride
Character: Marcia
Released: March 4, 1958
Type: Movie
In a quiet summer corner of Wiltshire that is forever England, David and Janet decide to tie the knot. Unfortunately this is the cue for everyone else to take over proceedings, to the dismay of the couple and the increasing despair of Janet's father.
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Title: The Buccaneers
Character: Rebecca Bradbury
Released: September 19, 1956
Type: TV
The adventures of privateer Captain Dan Tempest and his crew of former pirates as they make their way across the seven seas in The Sultana.
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Title: ITV Play of the Week
Released: September 27, 1955
Type: TV
A UK anthology series of single plays from major playwrights old and new. It ran from 1955 to 1974, producing about five hundred ninety-minute episodes from Granada Television. Season 1 also incorporates the Plays from the 'H.M. Tennant Globe Theatre' series, some of which were incorporated and labelled in listings as official Play of the Week episodes and some of which were played in place of Play of the Week episodes in alternative ITV regions. All 8 plays have been incorporated into this entry for convenience.
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Title: The Adventures of Robin Hood
Character: 'Eve'
Released: September 26, 1955
Type: TV
The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers.