British actress Barbara Ferris, 85, died on May 23. She started her career as a model and dancer (appearing in, among other shows, Bob Fosse’s London production of Pajama Game, and starring in There’s a Girl in My Soup). As per The Guardian, “she transformed herself from a blond, beehive hair-styled cockney ‘dolly bird’ to an actress of real emotional and technical command.” Entering films and TV in the late’50s, Ferris had continuing roles in Coronation Street (as barmaid Nona Willis), The Strauss Family, and All in Good Faith, and cohosted the music show Cool for Cats. Onscreen, Ferris had good showcases in John Boorman’s Catch Us If You Can, Interlude, Tom Thumb (as Thumbelina to Russ Tamblyn’s Tom), Sparrows Can’t Sing, Children of the Damned, Having a Wild Weekend, and The Krays (her last film, in 1990). She largely retired after marrying producer John Quested; one of their three children is producer/director Nick Quested.
