Kate O'Mara

O'Mara was born to John F. Carroll, an RAF flying instructor, and actress Hazel Bainbridge (born Edith Marion Bainbridge; 25 January 1910 – 7 January 1998). Her younger sister is actress Belinda Carroll. After boarding school she attended art school before becoming a full-time actress.[2] O'Mara made her stage debut in a production of The Merchant of Venice in 1963, although her first film role was some years earlier (under the name Merrie Carroll) in Home and Away (1956) with Jack Warner, as her father, and Kathleen Harrison.[1]

Her earliest television appearances, in the 1960s, included guest roles in Danger Man, Adam Adamant Lives!, The Saint, Z-Cars and The Avengers.[3] In 1970, she appeared in two Hammer Studio horror films: The Vampire Lovers and The Horror of Frankenstein. In the former, she had an erotically charged scene with Ingrid Pitt, in which O'Mara was meant to be seduced; the two women were left laughing on set, however, as Pitt's fangs kept falling into O'Mara's cleavage.[4] O'Mara's work in The Vampire Lovers impressed Hammer enough for them to offer her a contract, which she turned down, fearful of being typecast.[4]

Her first major TV role was as Julia Main, wife of the main protagonist in the ITV series The Main Chance (1969). She had a regular role in the BBC drama series The Brothers (1975–1976) as Jane Maxwell, and in the early 1980s, O'Mara starred in the BBC soap opera Triangle (1981–1982), sometimes counted among the worst television series ever made.[5] She played the villainous Rani in Doctor Who in two serials, The Mark of the Rani (1985) and Time and the Rani (1987), and also in the Doctor Who 30th anniversary spoof Dimensions in Time (1993), part of the Children in Need charity event.[6]

Between these appearances in Doctor Who, she auditioned for a leading role as one of the sisters on the American primetime soap The Colbys, a spin-off of the American prime time soap opera Dynasty. Eventually, O'Mara was offered one of the roles alongside Stephanie Beacham, but declined since was still under contract with a production of stage play Light Up the Sky at the Old Vic Theatre. Shortly after, she was offered the part of Caress Morell on Dynasty.[7] As the sister of Alexis Colby (Joan Collins), O'Mara appeared in 17 episodes of the sixth season and 4 episodes of the seventh during 1986. "We had a tremendous bitchy tension between us", the actress recalled about performing opposite Collins. “My character Caress was like an annoying little mosquito who just kept coming back and biting her.”[5] O'Mara disliked living in California, preferring the change of seasons in Britain, and to her relief was released from her five-year contract after Collins told the producers that having two brunettes in the series was a bad idea.[5] After returning to the UK, she was cast as another scheming villain, Laura Wilde, in the BBC soap Howards' Way (1989–1990).[8]

O'Mara and Peter Davison at the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Celebration Weekend, November 2013

O'Mara spoke on several occasions about her experience with the casting couch. On an episode of The Word in 1994, O'Mara claimed that American producer Judd Bernard pulled down her panties during a hotel-room audition for the Elvis Presley vehicle Double Trouble.[9] In her autobiography Vamp Until Ready: A Life Laid Bare, O'Mara described this incident[10] and "many other close encounters with... this very unpleasant and humiliating procedure",[11] including with a well-known television casting director,[12] the boss of Associated Television at ATV Elstree Studios,[13] and the director of Great Catherine.[14]

O'Mara continued to make television appearances throughout the 1990s, including Cluedo (1990), and playing Jackie Stone (Patsy's older sister) in two episodes of Absolutely Fabulous (1995–2003). In 2001, she had a recurring role in the ITV prison drama series Bad Girls before appearing in the short-lived revival of the soap opera Crossroads. She continued to perform on stage and in March 2008 she played Marlene Dietrich in a stage play entitled Lunch with Marlene. From August to November 2008, she played Mrs Cheveley in Oscar Wilde's stage play An Ideal Husband directed by Peter Hall and produced by Bill Kenwright. She performed in radio and audio plays. In 2000, she reprised her role as the Rani in the BBV Productions audio play The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind, and in 2006 she made a guest appearance in the radio comedy series Nebulous.[15]

In 2012, O'Mara appeared in a theatre adaptation of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile.[16]

O'Mara was married twice, first to Jeremy Young in 1971; the couple divorced in 1976. In 1993, she married Richard Willis, but the marriage was dissolved in 1996.[17] She had two sons, Dickon Young (1964–2012) and Christopher Linde (born 1965), both from previous relationships, although Dickon took his stepfather's surname. She gave up Linde for adoption and he was named by his adoptive parents, Derek and Joy Linde.[18]

Christopher, from whom the actress was long estranged, was born from her relationship with actor David Orchard.

Dickon, whose biological father was reportedly actor Ian Cullen, was a stage manager for the Royal Shakespeare Company before setting up his own company building tree-houses in the mid-1990s. He was found hanged, a presumed suicide, at the family home in Long Marston, Warwickshire, on 31 December 2012, after previous suicide attempts.[18] O'Mara was in hospital with pneumonia at the time of her son's death and his body was not discovered for three weeks.

O'Mara wrote four books. She wrote two novels: When She Was Bad (1992) (ISBN 0261667157) and Good Time Girl (1993), (ISBN 0002242915)). She also wrote two autobiographical books, Vamp Until Ready (2003) (ISBN 1861057008) and Game Plan: A Woman's Survival Kit (1990) (ISBN 0283060573).

Speaking about her bouts of depression, later in her life, O'Mara said: "... I've since learnt a cure for depression: listening to J.S. Bach and reading P.G. Wodehouse. This got me through the break-up of my second marriage 17 years ago. The great thing about Wodehouse is that his books are full of romantic problems and yet so hilarious that it puts things in perspective ... I'm not frightened of dying, but I love the countryside so much and I'm going to miss it. I'd like to be out in the wind and the trees for ever."

O'Mara died on 30 March 2014 in a Sussex nursing home, aged 74, from ovarian cancer. She left a £350,000 estate, bequeathing £10,000 to the Actors’ Benevolent Fund and, after the funeral and legal fees, the remainder to her younger sister Belinda Carroll, a former actress.[19][20]

• 1963, Jessica, The Merchant of Venice at the Shaftesbury Theatre.
• 1966, Lydia Languish, The Rivals at The Welsh Theatre Co.
• 1967, Elsa, The Italian Girl at the Wyndham's Theatre
• 1970, Fleda Vetch, The Spoils of Poynton at the Mayfair Theatre
• 1971, Gerda Von Metz, The Avengers (directed by Leslie Phillips) at the Prince of Wales Theatre[21]
• 1971–2, Sheila Wallis, Suddenly at Home at the Fortune Theatre
• 1974, Elvira, Blithe Spirit at the Bristol Old Vic
• 1974, Liza Moriarty, Sherlock's Last Case at the Open Space Theatre Fortune Theatre
• 1977, Sybil Merton, Lord Arthur Saville's Crime at the Sadlers Wells Theatre
• 1977, Louka, Arms and the Man at the Hong Kong Festival
• 1978, Rosaline, Loves Labour's Lost at the Thorndike Theatre
• 1978, Katherina, The Taming of the Shrew at the Ludlow Festival
• 1978, Cyrenne, Rattle of a Simple Man
• 1979, Monica Claverton- Ferry, The Elder Statesman
• 1979, Lina, Misalliance at The Birmingham Rep
• 1979, Irene St Clair, The Crucifer of Blood at the Haymarket Theatre
• 1980, Ruth, Night and Day, at post-London tour
• 1981, Stephanie Abrahams, Duet for One Yugoslavia and tour
• 1981, Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing at the New Shakespeare Co
• 1982, Kathrina, The Taming of the Shrew at the Nottingham Playhouse\New Shakespeare Co
• 1982, Titania\Hippolta, A Midsummer Night's Dream at the New Shakespeare Co
• 1982, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth at the Mercury Theatre
• 1982, Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra at the Nottingham Playhouse
• 1982, Millamant, The Way of the World at the Nottingham Playhouse
• 1983, Hortense, The Rehearsal
• 1984, Mistress Ford, The Merry Wives of Windsor at the New Shakespeare Co
• 1985 – 1987, Frances Black, Light Up the Sky at the Old Vic & Globe Theatres
• 1987, Goneril, King Lear at the Compass Theatre
• 1988, Berinthia, The Relapse at the Mermaid Theatre
• 1990, Torfreida, The Last Englishman at The Orange Tree Theatre
• 1990, Martha, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
• 1991, Lilli Vanessi, Kiss Me Kate, RSC tour
• 1992, Lady Fanciful, The Provok'd Wife at the National Theatre Studio
• 1992, Rosabel, Venus Observed at the Chichester Festival
• 1992, Eve, Cain at the Chichester Festival
• 1992, Jackie, King Lear in New York at the Chichester Festival
• 1994, Maria Wislack, On Approval
• 1995, Pola, The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles at The Orange Tree Theatre
• 1995, Rachel, My Cousin Rachel, English Theatre, Vienna and tour 1995
• 1996, Olivia, Twelfth Night at the Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke
• 1996–7, Mrs Cheveley, An Ideal Husband at the Haymarket, Albury and Gielgud theatres
• 2000, Mrs. Malaprop\Lucy, The Rivals
• 2000, Madame Alexandre, Colombe at the Salisbury Playhouse
• 2003, Gertrude Lawrence, Noel and Gertie
• 2004, Mrs Arbuthnot, A Woman of No Importance
• 2005, Eloise, The Marquise at the Mercury Theatre
• 2005, Helen, We Happy Few at the Gielgud Theatre
• 2008, Marlene Dietrich, Lunch with Marlene at The New End Theatre
• 2010, Lady Windermere, Lord Arthur Saville's Crime at the Mercury Theatre

• Cinema of the United Kingdom
• Television in the United Kingdom

• O'Mara, Kate (2003). Vamp Until Ready: A Life Laid Bare. Robson Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1861057006.

• Kate O'Mara at IMDb