Virginia Maskell

Biography

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.

Known For

ITV Play of the Week

The Adventures of Robin Hood

'Eve'

The Prisoner

The Woman

The Buccaneers

Rebecca Bradbury

Zero One

Gideon's Way

Rose Lemman

Suspect

Dr. Lucy Byrne

Only Two Can Play

Jean Lewis

Filmography

Year	Movie	Role
1968	Interlude	Antonia Zelter
1962	Only Two Can Play	Jean Lewis
1962	The Wild and the Willing	Virginia Chown
1960	Doctor in Love	Dr Nicola Berrington
1960	Suspect	Dr. Lucy Byrne
1959	Virgin Island	Tina
1959	Jet Storm	Pam Leyton
1958	The Man Upstairs	Helen Grey
1958	Happy Is the Bride	Marcia

Year	TV Show	Role
1967	The Prisoner	The Woman
1965	Gideon's Way	Rose Lemman
1962	Zero One
1956	The Buccaneers	Rebecca Bradbury
1955	The Adventures of Robin Hood	'Eve'
1955	ITV Play of the Week