Sandy Ratcliff
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| Sandy Ratcliff | |
| Birth name | Alexandria Ratcliff |
| Born | October 02, 1950 (age 56) London, England |
| Notable roles | Janice Baildon in Family Life Sue Osman in EastEnders |
Alexandria "Sandy" Ratcliff (born in London, 2 October 1950) is an English actress.
Ratcliff made an impression as a model and film actress in the 1970s, but she is best known for being one of the original cast members in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She received acclaim for her portrayal of the tragic Sue Osman,[1] but left the role in 1989 after it was revealed that she was suffering with a heroin addiction.
Since leaving EastEnders, things have been professionally quiet for Ratcliff, though her private life brought her into the headlines once again.
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[edit] Early life
Ratcliff — the daughter of an insurance salesman — had a turbulent youth. She was expelled at 12 from her grammar school. Within two years she was heavily smoking cannabis and she later went on to serve time in prison for selling it.[2] She had numerous jobs before she took up acting, including waitressing, disc-jockeying and perfroming as a guitarist in the rock groups, 'Tropical Appetite' and 'Escalator'.
[edit] Career
Ratcliff's career changed direction at 23, when she made a big impression as a model and was famously cast as "The face of the 70s" by royal photographer, Lord Snowdon. This later facilitated a move into film. Her first major role was in the Ken Loach BAFTA nominated film Family Life, where she took the title role of a schizophrenic teenage girl. This was followed by roles in slightly less well-received films including The Final Programme and Hussy with Helen Mirren. Ratcliff then moved to the 'small-screen' and her rise through the British TV ranks saw early appearances in shows such as Minder, Couples, Play for Today, Target, The Sweeney, Shoestring and Shelley.
In 1985, Ratcliff became a household name as Albert Square's Sue Osman in the fledgling BBC soap opera EastEnders. Ratcliff played the long suffering wife of highly-strung cafe owner and mini-cab boss Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih). During her four years in Walford, Ratcliff 's troubled character contended with cot death, breast cancer and finally insanity.
However off-screen Ratcliff was struggling with a highly publicised heroin addiction and in 1989 she was written out of the hit show.[2]
Ratcliff's further television appearances since EastEnders were in 1992's Maigret opposite Michael Gambon and in the BBC2 productions, A Box Of Swan (1990) and Men Of The Month (1994).
[edit] Personal life
Ratcliff married photographer Peter Wright in the late 1960s. They broke up and by 1973 she had her only son, William, to theatre director Terence Palmer.
In 1991 Ratcliff's then-boyfriend, Michael Shorey, stood trial at the Old Bailey after he was accused of killing two young girls. Despite Ratcliff giving him an alibi — she claimed in the witness box that they were making love at the time — he was found guilty and is now serving two life sentences for murder.[3] His court case was to be her last public appearance.[4]
Ratcliff is now allegedly off the heroin that destroyed her once sparkling career, and allegedly lives on a £70 a week disability allowance.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Kingsley, Hilary (1990). The EastEnders Handbook. BBC books. ISBN 0685529576.
- ^ a b c Tony Bonnici (2005-02-17). The Fall and Fall of an Eastenders Star. Daily Mirror.
- ^ Alistair Foster (2006-02-27). How did they all eastend up?. The Evening Standard.
- ^ Tony Bonnici (2005-02-12). Square Are They Now?. Daily Mirror.
