Barbara Leigh-Hunt, a veteran actress who starred in Alfred Hitchcock‘s Frenzy and Vanity Fair alongside Reese Witherspoon, has died. Her family announced that she passed away on September 16 at her residence in Warwickshire, England. However, they did not disclose the cause of death. She was 88 years old.
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In Frenzy (1972), set in London, Leigh-Hunt plays Brenda Blaney, the ex-wife of a troubled former RAF squadron leader (Jon Finch), who is initially suspected by the police of being the serial killer on the loose.
SPOILER: Her character faces a tragic fate, as she is raped and murdered in a scene that is often considered one of the most graphic ever directed by Hitchcock.
However, Leigh-Hunt was convinced she’d never get to film the iconic part after her first meeting with Hitchcock.
“I was invited out to Pinewood Studios to speak with Hitch for about half an hour,” she recalled to the BBC in 2017. “To me, he was a cinematic god, but I was convinced it was a complete waste of time as I’d never even made a film.”
“On my way home, I called my agent from the station. I was astonished to hear they’d already been on the phone to say I had the part.”
It would be the legendary filmmaker’s second-to-last movie (his final film was 1976’s Family Plot).
Barbara Leigh-Hunt’s Prolific Career Beyond ‘Frenzy’
She was also renowned for playing Lady Catherine de Bourgh in 1995’s BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. She starred alongside Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. Some film fans likely remember her turn playing the vice principal in the 2000’s Billy Elliott.
Throughout her seven-decade career, Leigh-Hunt graced the stages of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, enchanting audiences in the West End and on Broadway. She also portrayed Ophelia in Hamlet, sharing the stage with her husband Richard Pasco, who took on the title role.
In 1993, she was honored with an Olivier Award for her portrayal of Sybil Birling in a National Theatre revival of J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, directed by Stephen Daldry.
She was married to Richard Pasco from 1967 until his passing in 2014. In her memory, donations can be made to The Royal Theatrical Fund.