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'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...
'' 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 and CID detectives in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by ...
'', ''
Dixon of Dock Green
''Dixon of Dock Green'' is a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 1955 ...
'', ''
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''. The titular character w ...
'', ''
No Hiding Place
''No Hiding Place'' is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV (TV network), ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967.
It was the sequel to the series ''Murder Bag'' ...
'' and ''
Softly, Softly''.
[ She was also a leading cast member in the drama series '']The Standard
The Standard may refer to:
Entertainment
* The Standard (band), an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon
* ''The Standard'' (novel), a 1934 novel by the Austrian writer Alexander Lernet-Holenia
* ''The Standard'' (Tommy Flanagan album), 1980
* ...
'' and '' The Spoils of War''.
She played the role of Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, in the BBC television version 965/1966of ''The Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was f ...
''.
In the 1974 BBC adaptation of David Copperfield O'Neil played Clara Copperfield, David's mother.
In 1983 she appeared in ''Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' 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 Septe ...
'', ''Lovejoy
''Lovejoy'' is a British television comedy-drama mystery fiction, mystery series, based on the Lovejoy (novel series), novels by John Grant (Lovejoy), John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash. The show, which ran to 71 episodes over six ser ...
'', ''Hamish Macbeth
Hamish Macbeth is the police constable of the fictional Scottish Highlands, 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, M ...
'', '' 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 originally starred Kevin Whately as Dr Jack Kerruish, Amanda Burton ...
'', ''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 (media), spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' ...
'', '' Monarch of the Glen'' and '' Bad Girls''.Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
''Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed'' is a 1969 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Films, starring Peter Cushing, Freddie Jones, Veronica Carlson and Simon Ward. The film is the fifth in a series of Hammer films focusing on ...
'' (1969), '' The Smashing Bird I Used to Know'' (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 such as Anne Marie in '' Two Doors Down''.
Early life
Siobhan Redmond was born on ...
.
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