first film role, which won her a nomination as Best Supporting Actress at the British Academy Film Awards. She later appeared in two other films, Fragment of Fear (1970) and Vampire Circus (1972). On television, she appeared in a variety of high-profile series in supporting roles. She played Prudie Paynter in the BBC's adaptations of the Poldark novels in the 1970s, and Zasulich in 1974's Fall of Eagles. In the 1980s she appeared in the Doctor Who spin-off K-9 and Company and D.H. Lawrence adaptation Sons and Lovers (both 1981), and in the early 1990s found fame as Aunt Agatha in three series of Jeeves and Wooster, with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. In 1993 she co-starred in the dark children's fantasy serial Century Falls, an early work by acclaimed scriptwriter Russell T. Davies. She also had guest appearances in episodes of a variety of programmes during her career, from Z-Cars and All Creatures Great and Small (in the episode "A Dog's Life") in the 1970s to Midsomer Murders, Heartbeat and Doctors in the 2000s. Her final screen appearance was in a two-part episode of the BBC One medical drama Casualty in September 2004. As with television and film, she was not particularly active in the theatre until later in her career. Prominent roles included Miss Mackay in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester (1971) and Rebecca Nurse in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Her final stage appearance came at the age of 78, in Song of the Western Men at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester. Death Mary Wimbush died on the evening of 31 October 2005, at the Mailbox studios of BBC Birmingham, shortly after completing work on a recording session for The Archers. Wimbush was buried in Berkhamsted next to the graves of her parents in Rectory Lane Cemetery. Mary's elder sister, Joanna, was also buried there in 2013. Personal life Wimbush had one son (from her 1946 marriage with actor Howard Marion-Crawford), and two grandchildren. From 1960 until his death in 1963, she was in a relationship with the poet Louis MacNeice, having acted in several of his radio plays. Filmography References Sources External links 1924 births 2005 deaths English film actresses English television actresses English stage actresses English radio actresses People from Kenton, London Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama