June Thorburn

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June Thorburn (June 8, 1931 - November 4, 1967) was a popular English actress whose career was cut short by her death in an air crash.

Thorburn was born in Karachi when the city was still in a non-independent India. She was the eldest of three children ~ Her sister Diana and her brother Keith. She spent most of her schooldays in India, in boarding schools, since her father was a colonel in the Indian Army and therefore her parents traveled a lot. When he retired from the military, they moved back to England.

June had always been a little actress, even writing plays from about the age of 7. Her grandfather who had also spent many years in India as a design engineer, building many important bridges, made early 'movies' and she was the star in several, the first being "Her Fourth Birthday", when she was only four years old!

When she was 20 she left home and moved to London to pursue her career, where she met and married her first husband, Aldon Richard Bryse-Harvey. During their short and stressful marriage she bore one daughter in 1953, called Heather-Louise June. The marriage ended in divorce and June moved back to Hampshire, close to her family, for a couple of years until her career started to take off.

In 1957 she moved back to London, where shortly thereafter she met Morten Smith-Petersen, who subsequently became her second husband, to whom she was married until her death in 1967. Together with Morten, she had a second daughter named Inger-Sheleen Christabel.

She appeared in her first commercial film in 1952, and her "English rose" looks soon began to win her leading roles, in British costume dramas such as Fury at Smugglers' Bay (1961) and The Scarlet Blade (1963). Her most notable film appearance was as the Forest Queen in Tom Thumb (1958). During the early 1960s, she also appeared regularly on British television.

[edit] DEATH

She was pregnant with her third child when returning to London from Spain in an Iberia Airlines plane which crashed in Sussex, killing all 37 people aboard.

The police report from 1967 gives a harrowing account of the event:

"About 10.02 p.m. on Saturday, 4th November, 1967, a Sud Aviation Caravelle Airliner No. EC-BDD, owned by Iberia Airlines of Spain, crashed at Black Down Hill, Sussex (map reference 919289). This hill at its highest point is 902 ft. above sea level. The aircraft was on a scheduled flight from Malaga, Spain, to Heathrow Airport, and was piloted by Captain Harnando Maura [Pieres], 37 years, an experienced pilot. It left Malaga at 7.30 p.m. G.M.T. and the estimated time of arrival at Heathrow Airport was 10.10 p.m. G.M.T. The weather at the time was slightly misty with intermittent drizzle but there was reasonable visibility."

The plane, named Jesus Gurudi after the Basque composer, was travelling in a north-easterly direction. It initially struck trees in the grounds of Black Down House, then continued for hundreds of yards, "passing across a meadow where it killed 65 grazing sheep and injured 23 more which were subsequently destroyed". It then broke through a large hedge and parts of the aircraft fell off destroying a garage, and damaging parts of the roof of Upper Black Down House as the aircraft disintegrated.

Haslemere Fire Brigade were alerted within minutes of the crash, and were later joined by firemen from Grayshott, Liphook and Guildford. Aviation fuel had caused small fires to break out in the densely wooded hillside. It soon became clear however that all those on the flight had been killed on impact. "Debris from the aircraft was scattered over the whole of the 355 yards of its passage. There were no survivors from a total complement of 30 passengers and 7 crew". Fernhurst villagers provided essential support: the Village Hall was turned into a temporary mortuary and the WVRS helped provide food and drink for the emergency services from the Youth Club behind the Spread Eagle public house.

The victims on the scheduled flight, Iberia 062, were the all-Spanish crew, and the passengers comprising 25 British, mostly returning from holiday in Spain, 2 Americans, 2 Spaniards and 2 Australians. Among the passengers were: the film and TV actress June Thorburn, who was six months pregnant; industrialist (and Coventry City Football Club vice-president) John Clarkson; and Donald Campbell of the Campbell Aircraft Company.

The plane's black box flight recorder was recovered from the scene, although the cockpit and instruments were badly damaged, making the investigation into the cause of the crash difficult. The aircraft appeared to be flying along its correct path, but at a significantly lower altitude. It is possible that the type of altimeters then in use were mis-read by the crew. It is suggested that the air navigation beacon at Northchapel was introduced as a result of the disaster to try to prevent it happening again.

Sources:

[edit] FILMOGRAPHY

  • 1. "Blackmail" (1 episode, 1966) - The Cream Off the Top (1966) TV Episode
  • 2. "Riviera Police" .... Sheila Ward (1 episode, 1965) - A Shot in the Dark... and Two in the Midday Sun (1965) TV Episode .... Sheila Ward
  • 3. Master Spy (1964) .... Leila
  • 4. "Richard the Lionheart" .... Diane (1 episode, 1963) - The Caveman (1963) TV Episode .... Diane
  • 5. The Scarlet Blade (1963) .... Claire Judd... aka The Crimson Blade (USA)
  • 6. "No Hiding Place" .... Barbara Reden (1 episode, 1962) - Little Girl Stolen (1962) TV Episode .... Barbara Reden
  • 7. Wuthering Heights (1962) (TV) .... Isabella
  • 8. Design for Loving (1962) .... Barbara Winters
  • 9. The Spanish Sword (1962) .... Lady Eleanor
  • 10. Anna Karenina (1961) (TV)
  • 11. What Every Woman Knows (1961) (TV) .... Lady Sybil Tenterden
  • 12. Don't Bother to Knock (1961) .... Stella ... aka Why Bother to Knock (USA)
  • 13. Fury at Smugglers' Bay (1961) .... Jenny Trevenyan
  • 14. "The Cheaters" .... Ivy (1 episode, 1961) - The Man with the Ticking Head (1961) TV Episode .... Ivy
  • 15. Escort for Hire (1960) .... Terry
  • 16. The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960) .... Elizabeth ... aka The Worlds of Gulliver
  • 17. "Danger Man" .... Sue Carpenter (1 episode, 1960) - The Prisoner (1960) TV Episode .... Sue Carpenter
  • 18. "Armchair Theatre" .... Felicity / ... (2 episodes, 1957-1960) - Lord Arthur Saville's Crime (1960) TV Episode .... Sybil- Now Let Him Go (1957) TV Episode .... Felicity
  • 19. Transatlantic (1960) .... Judy
  • 20. "The Four Just Men" (1959) TV Series .... Vicky (Richard Conte episodes) (unknown episodes)
  • 21. "Tales of the Vikings" (1959) TV Series .... Jessica (unknown episodes)... aka The Vikings
  • 22. Broth of a Boy (1959) .... Silin Lehane
  • 23. The Price of Silence (1959) .... Audrey Truscott
  • 24. Tom Thumb (1958) .... Forest Queen
  • 25. 2000 Minus 60 (1958) (TV) .... Lucy
  • 26. Rooney (1958) .... Doreen O'Flynn
  • 27. True as a Turtle (1957) .... Jane Hudson ... aka Plain Sailing (USA: TV title)
  • 28. Touch and Go (1955) .... Peggy Fletcher ... aka The Light Touch
  • 29. The Hornet's Nest (1955) .... Pat
  • 30. Children Galore (1955) .... Milly Ark
  • 31. Orders Are Orders (1954) .... Veronica Bellamy
  • 32. Fast and Loose (1954) .... Barbara 'Babsie' Wickham
  • 33. Delayed Action (1954) .... Anne Curlew
  • 34. "Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents" .... Kathleen / ... (2 episodes, 1953)... aka Rheingold Theatre (USA) - The Bitter Heart (1953) TV Episode .... Kathleen - American Duel (1953) TV Episode .... Mitzi
  • 35. The Cruel Sea (1953) .... Doris Ferraby
  • 36. The Triangle (1953) .... Mitzi (segment "American Duel")
  • 37. The Pickwick Papers (1952) .... Arabella Allen