Sue Lloyd

For the Canadian actress, see Suzanne Lloyd.

Sue Lloyd
Born
Susan Margery Jeaffreson Lloyd

(1939-08-07)7 August 1939
Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England
Died20 October 2011(2011-10-20) (aged 72)
London, England
Resting placeReading Cemetery and Crematorium
OccupationActress
Years active1963–2001
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1991; died 1991)​
[1]

Susan Margery Jeaffreson Lloyd (7 August 1939 – 20 October 2011) was an English model and actress, with numerous film and television credits. She may be best known for her long-running role (1979 to 1985) as Barbara Hunter (née Brady) in the British soap opera Crossroads and Cordelia Winfield in the ITC series The Baron.

Early life

The daughter of a GP, Lloyd was born in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. She attended Edgbaston High School in Birmingham and studied dance as a child, attending Sadler's Wells Ballet School.[2] In 1953, she won a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School at Sadler's Wells Theatre,[3] but when she grew to 5 feet 8 inches [1.73 m] her possibilities for a career as a dancer diminished, and she became a showgirl and model, and, briefly, a member of Lionel Blair's dance troupe.[4]

She was one of the last two debutantes to be presented to the queen at Buckingham Palace in 1958; the final such ceremony.[5]

Films and television

In 1965, Lloyd made her film debut in two espionage-themed films. As Jean Courtney, Lloyd proved an effective foil to Michael Caine's Harry Palmer in the spy thriller The Ipcress File.[6]

In 1965, Lloyd played the regular role of secret agent Cordelia Winfield, alongside Steve Forrest in the 1965–1966 British ITC television series The Baron.[7]

Having appeared in the TV series The Avengers (episode "A Surfeit of H2O"), in 1971, Lloyd starred in a stage version of the TV series playing John Steed's sidekick Mrs Hannah Wild. She appeared with several other stars in the 1976 imitation James Bond film No. 1 of the Secret Service.

She made many guest appearances in several popular shows of the 1960s and 1970s, including The Saint, Department S, Jason King, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Persuaders! and The Sweeney.

Joan Collins and Lloyd co-starred in The Stud (1978) and The Bitch (1979). On her Twitter page, Joan Collins said that she and Lloyd had to get drunk before their nude scenes.[8] Her other film credits include Corruption (1968) and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978). She reunited with Michael Caine in Bullet to Beijing (1995), one of the later Harry Palmer films, recreating her role in The Ipcress File. Her scene was cut from the home VHS & DVD releases, but was later made available as DVD Extras.

Lloyd joined the long-running British soap opera Crossroads in 1979. She played Barbara Hunter until she and her on- and off-screen partner Ronald Allen were dropped from the series in 1985.[9]

Personal life

In Crossroads Lloyd played Barbara, the wife of David Hunter played by actor Ronald Allen, who was sacked on the same day she was.[9] They were good friends, having met shortly after his partner, fellow Crossroads actor Brian Hankins, had died from cancer in 1978. The two became a couple, and made their relationship public when the British media started to intrude into their private lives. In March 1991, after Allen learned that he was dying of cancer, he and Lloyd got engaged and married in May 1991. Allen died six weeks later, on 18 June 1991.[10]

Sue Lloyd died on 20 October 2011, aged 72, from cancer.[11]

In the 2023 ITVX miniseries Nolly, which dramatised the life of her former Crossroads colleague Noele Gordon, Lloyd was portrayed by Clare Foster.[12]

Filmography

Movies
Television

References

  1. ^ "Television star Sue Lloyd has died". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Sue Lloyd obituary | Television & radio". The Guardian. 23 October 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  3. ^ "Sue Lloyd: Actress who found fame in 'The Ipcress File' and as Barbara". The Independent. 30 October 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  4. ^ "Sue Lloyd". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  5. ^ "Sue Lloyd | Herald Scotland". archive.is. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  6. ^ pg. 189 Lisanti, Tom & Paul, Louis Film Fatales: Women in Espionage Films and Television, 1962–1973 McFarland, 2002.
  7. ^ "The Baron | A Cherished Television Review". cherishedtelevision.co.uk. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  8. ^ "Obituary: Sue Lloyd - Glamorous actress who appeared in Crossroads, The Avengers and The Ipcress File". The Scotsman. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  9. ^ a b TV Babylon by Paul Donnelley (Vista, 1997), pp.160–161
  10. ^ Donnelley, Paul (2010). Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries. Omnibus Press.
  11. ^ "ATV Today | Ipcress File Star Sue Lloyd Dies at 72". atvtoday.co.uk. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  12. ^ "Nolly cast: Meet the actors and their real-life counterparts". Radio Times. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.