Mary Irene Colette Ellis ( McCrossan, 18 November 1935 – 11 July 2021), better known by the stage name Colette O'Neil, was a Scottish actress, noted for her various roles on British television.
Life and career
O'Neil was a semi-regular cast member of ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Orig ...
'' in the mid-1960s as Ruth Winter, and also made frequent guest appearances in series such as ''
Z-Cars
''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it deb ...
'', ''
Dixon of Dock Green'', ''
Adam Adamant Lives!
''Adam Adamant Lives!'' is a British adventure television series that ran from 1966 to 1967 on BBC 1, starring Gerald Harper in the title role. The series was created and produced by several alumni from ''Doctor Who''. Proposing that an adventur ...
'', ''
No Hiding Place
''No Hiding Place'' is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967.
It was the sequel to the series ''Murder Bag'' (1957–1958) ...
'' and ''
Softly, Softly''.
[ She was also a leading cast member in the drama series '' The Standard'' and '' The Spoils of War''.
She played the role of Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, in the BBC television version of '' The Wars of the Roses''.
In 1983 she appeared in '']Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...
'' in the role of Tanha in the serial '' Snakedance''.
She latterly appeared in ''Taggart
''Taggart'' is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries "Killer" from 6 until 20 Septembe ...
'', ''Lovejoy
''Lovejoy'' is a British television comedy-drama mystery series, based on the novels by John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash. The show, which ran to 71 episodes over six series, was originally broadcast on BBC1 between 10 January 19 ...
'', ''Hamish Macbeth
Hamish Macbeth is the lackadaisical police constable of the fictional Scottish Highland town of Lochdubh, in a series of murder mystery novels created by M. C. Beaton (Marion Chesney).
Considered by many to be a useless, lazy moocher, Macbeth ...
'', '' Heartbeat'', ''Peak Practice
''Peak Practice'' is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale—a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District—and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their m ...
'', ''Holby City
''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' Casualty'', and ...
'', '' Monarch of the Glen'' and '' Bad Girls''.The Smashing Bird I Used to Know
''The Smashing Bird I Used to Know'' is a 1969 British drama/sexploitation film, directed by Robert Hartford-Davis and starring Renée Asherson, Patrick Mower, Dennis Waterman, Madeleine Hinde and Maureen Lipman. As with other Hartford-Davi ...
'' (1969), ''Dreams Lost, Dreams Found'' (1987), ''Wild Flowers'' (1989), and ''Mortdecai
''Mortdecai'' is a series of comic thriller novels written by English author Kyril Bonfiglioli. The book series deals with the picaresque adventures of a dissolute aristocratic art dealer named Charlie Mortdecai, accompanied on his adventures by ...
'' (2015).
She also appeared as Hannah Sempel, the "keeper of the keys", in the BBC Radio drama "McLevy" alongside Scottish actors Brian Cox and Siobhan Redmond
Siobhan Redmond, ( ; born 27 July 1959) is a Scottish actress, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and known for various stage, audio and television roles.
Early life
Siobhan Redmond was born on 27 July 1959 in the Tollcross area of ...
.
O'Neil married Michael Ellis and had two daughters and one son. She died in Glasgow in July 2021, at the age of 85.Colette O'Neil obituary
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Radio credits
References
External links
*
1935 births
2021 deaths
Actresses from Glasgow
Scottish radio actresses
Scottish television actresses
{{Scotland-tv-bio-stub