Jennifer Thanisch (born 24 April 1964) is an English former

child actress The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated te ...

, most active during the 1970s.

Life

Jennifer Thanisch is a native of

Laleham Laleham is a village on the River Thames, in the borough of Spelthorne, about west of central London, England. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, it was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Laleham is downriver from Staines-upon-Thames a ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, where her parents owned the Three Horseshoes, a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

. Her first role was in the 1973 film '' Dark Places'', which starred

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a career spanning more than sixty years, Lee became known as an actor with a deep and commanding voice who often portrayed villains in horr ...

and

Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Awards, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emm ...

. She is well known for having played Flying Squad Detective Inspector Jack Regan's daughter, Susan, in the

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

detective series ''

The Sweeney ''The Sweeney'' is a British police drama television series focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective ...

''. Her most famous role was Anne in the televised version of

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been tra ...

's children's book series ''

The Famous Five ''The Famous Five'' is a series of children's Adventure fiction, adventure novels and short stories written by English author Enid Blyton. The first book, ''Five on a Treasure Island'', was published in 1942. The novels feature the adventure ...

'', produced by

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited. However, in 1966, during the application pr ...

for ITV in the UK, in 1978 and 1979. She has made few acting appearances since the 1970s. Married with two grown-up children, she lives today in

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

and is a

religious education In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion (although in the United Kingdom the term ''religious instruction'' would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with ''religious education'' referring to t ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

in a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. In late 2008 she was reunited with her fellow Famous Five co-star Marcus Harris for an item celebrating fifty years of ITV in the south of England and which was broadcast on the regional news programmes ''

Meridian Tonight ''ITV News Meridian'' is a British television news service broadcast and produced by ITV Meridian. The news service is produced and broadcast from ITV Meridian's studios in Whiteley, near Fareham with reporters also based at bureaux in Didcot ...

'' and '' Thames Valley Tonight''. The special was called ''"Famous Five revisited"''. In February 2011 Sunshine Hospital Radio brought Jennifer together with

Gary Russell Gary Russell (born 18 September 1963) is a British freelance writer, producer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-offs in other media. As an ac ...

(Dick), Marcus Harris (Julian) and series writer and BAFTA award winner Gail Renard for their first group interview in over 30 years. The 30-minute interview, entitled ''"Famous Five Reunited"'' was made available to download from th
station's website.

Filmography

* '' Dark Places'' (1973) (also known as: ''Das Grab der lebenden Puppen'') as Jessica * ''

Spy Trap ''Spy Trap'' is a BBC drama that ran from 1972 to 1975 on BBC1, and was set around 'The Department', a British counter-espionage organisation. It starred Paul Daneman as Commander Paul Ryan, a naval officer and spy chief, Prentis Hancock as L ...

'' (1973) (episode: "A Perfect Victim") * ''

Lorna Doone ''Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor'' is a novel by R. D. Blackmore, first published in three volumes in London in 1869. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particu ...

'' (1976) (episode: #1.1) as Young Lorna * ''

'' (1975–1976) (three episodes)''Firstly:'' "Down to You, Brother", ''Secondly:'' "Golden Fleece" and ''Thirdly:'' "Abduction" as Susie Regan * ''

Leap in the Dark ''Leap in the Dark'' was a British television anthology series with a supernatural theme. It was broadcast on BBC 2. It ran for 4 series - in 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1980 - consisting of 24 episodes in total. The first-series episodes were document ...

'' (1977) (episode: "The Fetch") as Ludovika * ''

'' (1978–1979) (TV series) as Anne

References

External links

*
Online Filmdatenbank - Filme mit Beteiligung von Jennifer Thanisch
(Films with Jennifer Thanisch) (German)

(Autograph of Jennifer Thanisch) (German)
Five revisited
(Footage of interview from Thames Valley Tonight)
Yahoo! Groups - jennythanisch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thanisch, Jennifer 1964 births Living people People from Laleham English television actresses English child actresses Actors from the Borough of Spelthorne Actresses from Surrey