Jenny Agutter
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Jennifer Ann Agutter (born December 20, 1952) is an English actress.
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[edit] Early life
Agutter was born in Taunton, Somerset. The daughter of Catherine Kit Lynam and Derek Brodie Agutter, a former British Army officer, as a child she lived in Cyprus (Dhekelia) and Malaya (Kuala Lumpar). She was discovered while at ballet school when a casting agent was looking for a young English speaking girl for a film. She didn't get the part but he recommended her to the producers of East of Sudan (1964).
[edit] Film career
She first came to the attention of television audiences as Roberta in a BBC dramatisation of The Railway Children, and went on to play the same part in Lionel Jeffries' 1970 film of the book. Her quality of ingenuousness had led to an earlier more serious role in what is now regarded as something of a horror cult film I Start Counting (1969). She also won an Emmy for her television role as "Frith" in the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" production of "The Snow Goose"(1971)
Agutter continued a transition to adult roles in Walkabout (1971), playing a teenaged schoolgirl who was lost in the Australian outback with her younger brother. She first auditioned for the role in 1967 but funding problems delayed filming until 1969. The delay in production meant Agutter was 16 at the time of filming, and the director took advantage of her new legal status by including many nude scenes in the film. She has since commented that she was shocked by the film's explicitness when she first viewed it, but is still on good terms with director Nicolas Roeg.
Agutter moved to Hollywood at 21 and appeared in a number of films over the next decade, including: The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Logan's Run (1976), Equus (1977), Sweet William (1980), and An American Werewolf in London (1981).
Since 1990, Agutter has deliberately focused on the upbringing of her son and much of her work focused away from film and television work and rather involved audio recordings and supporting various charities particularly the Cystic Fibrosis Fund. Nonetheless she had a guest role in Series 6 of Red Dwarf, and appeared in the TV series TECX, The All New Alexei Sayle Show, and And the Beat Goes On. In 2000, she made her third appearance in a production The Railway Children, produced by Carlton TV and this time playing the role of the mother. In 2002 Agutter featured in the BBC television series Spooks.
[edit] Private life
She remained resolutely single during her many years resident in Los Angeles, to the point it has been reported she claims to have never lived with a man until she was married. In 1989 whilst attending an Arts Festival in Bath she met Johan Tham, a Swedish hotelier who at the time was a Director of Cliveden Hotel in Berkshire. In 1990, she fell pregnant by Tham and they subsequently married on August 4, that same year. Their son, Jonathan, was born on December 26, 1990. The family lives in Camberwell, London and Cornwall, England.
[edit] Selected Film and Television
- The Railway Children (1970)
- Walkabout (1971)
- Shelley (BBC, 1972)
- Logan's Run (1976)
- Equus (1977)
- The Riddle of the Sands (1978)
- Othello (1981)
- An American Werewolf in London (1981)
- Love's Labour's Lost (BBC, 1985)
- Child's Play 2 (1990)
- Red Dwarf (BBC, 1993)
- The Parole Officer, (2001)
- At Dawning (2002)
- Spooks (BBC, 2002)
[edit] Awards
- 1978 - BAFTA (Best Supporting Actress) for Equus.
- 1972 - Emmy (Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Drama) for The Snow Goose.
