Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)
[''The International Who's Who of Women'', 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29] is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and through her association with
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
; she has worked extensively in film and TV throughout her career.
Asher has appeared in TV shows and films such as ''
Deep End'' (1970), ''
The Masque of the Red Death'' (1964), ''
Alfie'' (1966), ''
The Mistress'', ''
Crossroads'', ''
Death at a Funeral'' (2007), and ''
The Old Guys''. She also appeared in two episodes of the 1950s TV series ''
The Buccaneers'' alongside
Robert Shaw. She was famously McCartney's girlfriend from 1963 to 1968.
Asher has been nominated for the
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the film ''Deep End'' and the
British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for television performances in ''
A Voyage Round My Father'' (1982) and ''Love Is Old, Love Is New'' (1982).
Early life
Asher was born in London, the middle of three children born to
Richard and
Margaret Asher, ''
née
The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
'' Eliot.
Her father was a
consultant in blood and mental diseases at the
Central Middlesex Hospital, as well as being a broadcaster and the author of
notable medical articles. Her mother was a professor at the
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...
. Asher was educated at
North Bridge House School and Miss Lambert's
PNEU School for Girls at
Paddington, then at
Queen's College in
Harley Street, London.
Asher's elder brother is record producer and manager
Peter Asher,
who began his career as Peter of
Peter and Gordon.
Acting career
Asher was a
child actress who appeared in the 1952 film ''
Mandy'' and the 1955
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
film ''
The Quatermass Xperiment''. She also played the title role in dramatised versions of ''
Alice in Wonderland'' and ''
Through the Looking-Glass'' in 1958 for
Argo Records. In 1961 she co-starred in ''
The Greengage Summer'', which was released in the United States as ''Loss of Innocence''. She also appeared in the 1962 film and Disney TV programme, ''
The Prince and the Pauper''. Her British TV appearances included three episodes (1956–1958) of the ITV series ''
The Adventures of Robin Hood'' and as a panellist on the
BBC's ''
Juke Box Jury''.

Asher appeared in
Roger Corman's ''
The Masque of the Red Death'' (1964) with
Vincent Price, in ''
Alfie'' opposite
Michael Caine in 1966, and in
Jerzy Skolimowski's ''
Deep End'' (1970) with
John Moulder Brown.
Having played Alice herself as an 11-year-old child in the audio recordings of ''Alice in Wonderland'' and ''Through the Looking Glass'' in 1958, Asher played the real Alice's (Alice Liddell) mother, Lorina Liddell, in the 1985
Dennis Potter film ''Dreamchild'' alongside Coral Browne (Alice Hargreaves),
Ian Holm (Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson),
Peter Gallagher, and Amelia Shankley (young Alice).
On television, she guest-starred in the play ''
The Stone Tape'' and in episodes of ''Wicked Women'', ''
Rumpole of the Bailey'' and the British television comedy series ''
The Goodies'', as Celia Ryder in the 1981
Granada Television adaptation of ''
Brideshead Revisited'', and later in ''
A Voyage Round My Father'' opposite
Laurence Olivier, ''
The Mistress'' (1985–87), and as Faith Ashley in ''
Wish Me Luck'' (three seasons from 1987 to 1989).
In 1994, she portrayed the ''
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 ...
'' companion
Susan Foreman in a
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
comedy drama ''
Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman?'' Another notable radio broadcast was in ''
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' in 2002, in the episode "The Peculiar Persecution of Mr John Vincent Harden".
In 2003, she appeared in the revived ITV soap ''
Crossroads'' in which she played the hotel's owner Angel Sampson. After the soap was axed, Asher apologised to ''Crossroads'' fans for the way the 2003 series went.
In 2004, she starred in ''
Festen'' at the
Arts Theatre. In 2005, she starred in ''The World's Biggest Diamond'', by
Gregory Motton, at the
Royal Court Theatre. In 2006, Asher starred in the Richard Fell adaptation of the 1960s science fiction series ''
A for Andromeda'', which aired on the British
digital television
Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using Digital signal, digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an ...
station
BBC Four. In 2007, she portrayed the widow Sandra in the
Frank Oz film ''
Death at a Funeral''. In the same year Asher appeared in the BBC medical drama ''
Holby City'' as
Lady Byrne
Anne-Marie, Lady Byrne is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', portrayed by actress Jane Asher. The character first appeared on 10 May 2007 in episode "After the Fall" - series 9, episode 30 of the programme. Afte ...
. In October 2007, she played Andrea Yates in ''
The Sarah Jane Adventures'', in the episode "
Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?" Asher co-starred in the 2008
ITV drama series ''
The Palace'', filmed in
Lithuania
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
; she played Queen Charlotte, mother of King Richard IV.
In August 2008, Asher appeared with other showbusiness personalities in the
reality TV
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 199 ...
talent show-themed television series ''
Maestro'', broadcast on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...
.
From 2009 to 2010, she played Sally in the BBC One comedy series ''
The Old Guys''. In 2011, she played Margaret Harker in ''
Waterloo Road''.
In October 2009, she appeared as Delia in
Peter Hall's revival of
Alan Ayckbourn's ''Bedroom Farce'' at the
Rose Theatre, Kingston, and in her first
pantomime, ''
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' at
Richmond Theatre in December 2009, receiving enthusiastic reviews for both. In 2011, she returned to the Rose, Kingston as Lady Bracknell in ''
The Importance of Being Earnest''.
In 2012, she appeared in ''
Charley's Aunt'' at the
Menier Chocolate Factory. In the summer of 2013, she played Lady Catherine de Bourgh in ''
Pride and Prejudice'' at the
Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. In 2014, she starred in the stage adaptation of
Penelope Lively's ''
Moon Tiger'' at the
Theatre Royal Bath and on tour. In 2016, Asher took on the role of Miss Havisham in
Michael Eaton's adaptation of ''
Great Expectations''. She took on the role of Madame Baurel in the 2017 London stage production of ''
An American in Paris''. In 2019 she toured in
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...
's ''
A Song at Twilight''. In 2024 she toured in
Somerset Maugham's ''
The Circle''.
Other work
Asher has written three novels: ''The Longing, The Question'', and ''Losing It'', and published more than a dozen lifestyle, costuming, and
cake decorating books. Asher owns a company that makes party cakes and sugar crafts for special occasions.
She is a shareholder in ''
Private Eye'', president of
Arthritis Care, and a patron of Scoliosis Association (UK).
She is also president of the
National Autistic Society. She was a speaker at the 2006 launch of the National Autistic Society's "Make School Make Sense" campaign and is president of
Parkinson's UK. In March 2010, Asher became vice president to
Autistica, a UK charity raising funds for autism research. Asher is also a patron of TRACKS Autism, an early years nursery setting for children on the autistic spectrum and The Daisy Garland, a national registered charity supporting children with drug resistant epilepsy.
Personal life
Asher met
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
on 18 April 1963
[Miles. p102.] at
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272.
Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...
in London, and began a five-year relationship with him. In December 1963, McCartney took up residence at Asher's family
Wimpole Street townhouse and stayed there until the couple moved into McCartney's own home in
St John's Wood in 1966. McCartney wrote several Beatles songs inspired by Asher, including "
And I Love Her", "
We Can Work It Out", "
You Won't See Me", "
I'm Looking Through You", "
What You're Doing", "
Things We Said Today" and "
For No One". The couple announced on Christmas Day 1967 that they were engaged to be married, and Asher accompanied the Beatles and their partners to
Rishikesh in early 1968 to attend an advanced
transcendental meditation training session with the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In mid-1968, she returned to London from an acting assignment in
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
earlier than expected and allegedly discovered McCartney in bed with Francie Schwartz. Shortly afterwards, Margaret Asher drove to Cavendish Avenue to collect her daughter's things.
On 20 July 1968, Asher announced to the
BBC that her engagement had been called off. McCartney soon after started dating
Linda Eastman, whom he married in 1969. A problem in the relationship had been McCartney's drug use and close relationship with
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
. Asher confided to Beatles' biographer
Hunter Davies that McCartney had "changed so much. He was on LSD, which I hadn't shared. I was jealous of all the spiritual experiences he'd had with John. There were fifteen people dropping in all day long. The house had changed and was full of stuff I didn't know about."
Asher attended the 1970 London premiere of the Beatles' movie ''
Let It Be'', along with Lennon's ex-wife
Cynthia.
In 1971, Asher met illustrator
Gerald Scarfe
Gerald Anthony Scarfe (born 1 June 1936) is an English satirical cartoonist and illustrator. He has worked as editorial cartoonist for ''The Sunday Times (UK), The Sunday Times'' and illustrator for ''The New Yorker''.
Scarfe’s other work in ...
. They married in 1981 and have three children.
Asher dislikes discussing her relationship with McCartney; she said in 2004: "I've been happily married for 30-something years. It's insulting."
Filmography
Film
Television
References
Other sources
*
*
*
Further reading
*
* Dye, David. ''Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, p. 7.
External links
*
*
Charley Moonat the
British Film Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asher, Jane
English film actresses
English humanists
English soap opera actresses
English stage actresses
English television actresses
1946 births
Living people
People educated at Queen's College, London
Muses (persons)
English child actresses
20th-century English actresses
21st-century English actresses
20th-century English novelists
English women novelists
English non-fiction writers
20th-century English women writers
Audiobook narrators
Actors from the London Borough of Brent
Private Eye contributors
People from Willesden