British actress Jean Marsh died today. She starred as "Rose" in the

[allegorical oracle]

PBS series Upstairs, Downstairs. She was 90 and is said to have died from dementia.

[Scrivener7]

1. Very sad. I'm sorry about this.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. I could be mistaken (I so often am!), but I think she also cocreated Upstairs, Downstairs

And wrote many of the scripts.

Same for the sequel, which wasn't a success.

[allegorical oracle]

3. Yes -- you're correct. I was a huge fan of the original series that spanned many

episodes. (Only the older ones of us recall that series, I suspect.)

She co-writ the series with fellow actress Eileen Atkins (I've most recently seen on Doc Martin).

[John1956PA]

5. You are correct, Thank you for posting.

[Sneederbunk]

4. 70's version of Downton Abbey.

[choie]

7. No

Downtown Abbey was the 2000's version of Upstairs Downstairs, but U.D. was better.

[Retrograde]

20. Upstairs, Downstairs focussed on real people

both the servants and the people they served (initially, the employer was not titled, although he was a government minister IIRC). Downton Abbey focused on the aristocrats, with a few token nods to the servants. UD dealt with real people and their problems; DA dealt with caricatures (I still watched it for the scenery porn, though)

[NameAlreadyTaken]

25. Absolutely. UD is the apex of the television era.

[Paladin]

30. Right you are: "Upstairs Downstairs" was much better than "Downtown Abbey."

RIP, Jean Marsh. Great actress.

[Raine]

6. Sad news 😓 R-I-P Jean 🙏 nt

[hatrack]

8. Oh no!! I grew up with that show . . .

I always liked Rose, a genuinely sympathetic character. I only learned years later that Jean Marsh was key to creating the show.

[DavidDvorkin]

9. Some British comedy show did a parody of U/D and Downton Abbey

Titled (I think) "Upstairs Downstairs Abbey."

Found it on YouTube:

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

10. Remember the Twilight Zone episode "The Lonely"?

She played the female robot opposite Jack Warden.

[Morbius]

11. She was also a recurring player in the legendary BBC series

Doctor Who!

She played several characters but none more memorable than Sara Kingdom in the first doctor adventure The Daleks Master Plan. Only two parts of this originally 12 part series remain, but in the lore of the show, space agent and quasi-companion Sara Kingdom looms large.



RIP Jean Marsh, OBE.

[Demovictory9]

12. I loved that show. I think it was my first real introduction to British shows

[NameAlreadyTaken]

26. Me too

[Warpy]

13. There was an "Upstairs Downstairs" reboot maybe 15 years ago

that had to be wrapped up a bit prematurely when Marsh had a stroke. She had tried to continue, but her speech remained very slow and labored. It was a shame, it featured the same sandards of good writing and acting with a whole new cast, covering the time leading up to WWII. It might still be out there on DVD.

Marsh's character of an older and more experienced Rose was repriesed.

She was a wonderful actress and will be missed. Her character was one of the more memorable in a very long running series

[BaronChocula]

14. UpDowns was on when I was too young to appreciate it

But the first thing I thought of when I saw Jean Marsh's name in the post was that.

[moniss]

15. One of the best at her craft and

the series was extraordinary and should be replayed on PBS in it's entirety. Many important things were covered in that series.

[NewHendoLib]

16. We've watched that entire series at least 3 times - it is simply wonderful and unique and Jean Marsh was a

major reason why. Her acting was consistently remarkable.

[LisaM]

17. "Upstairs, Downstairs" was must-see TV in our family.

We loved it, and she was excellent in it.

She did an episode of "Murder, She Wrote". She and Angela Lansbury were fabulous together. (Actually, Ann Meara was in that episode, too - some formidable talent all together).

[allegorical oracle]

31. Lansbury was so wonderful about including her previous co-stars in her "Murder She

Wrote" series. Recall a couple of episodes starring Hurd Hatfield, with whom she'd appeared in "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Another lovely, gracious person.

[LisaM]

32. Yes, I watch it in reruns a lot, and that's fun.

She also reunited people who'd been together in other shows. Erin Moran and Tom Bosley in one episode, and Van Johnson and June Allyson in another. There are many more examples, but those are off the top of my head. She also has Betty Garrett driving a big old 1940s car in one episode that I swear was poking a little bit of fun at "On the Town".

Hurd Hatfield was good in both his episodes, stole a lot of scenes.

[AllaN01Bear]

18. ""

[calimary]

19. Cross gently, dear lady.

[John1956PA]

21. A beautiful lady.

[Emrys]

22. As well as appearing in a vast number of TV productions, both in the UK and the US, she also had quite a film career

For instance, she played the traitor Joanna Grey in the 1976 classic film The Eagle Has Landed.



Whatever the part, she was always a beauty. Lots about her on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0550577/?ref_=fn_all_nme_1

[area51]

23. RIP

[NameAlreadyTaken]

24. This is sad news

She was one of the co-creators of "Upstairs, Downstairs," which was television's peak moment.

[canetoad]

27. There was a reboot of Upstairs Downstairs

For two series from 2010 to 2012. Stars were Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins, the original 1971 series creators alongside Keely Hawes, Clare Foy, Ed Stoppard and others. In the reboot, set in 1936. Jean Marsh becomes housekeeper of the new household.

[elocs]

28. Dementia is a terrible way to die with the brain rotting away leaving once was a unique human

being just a husk and shell of what they once were.
My mother spent the last 15 years of her life in a nursing home, slowly dying of Alzheimer's.
When her physical body finally shut down, her mind was long gone.
But we judge what they are experiencing from our own perspective. Do we really know?
Because nobody afflicted with dementia has ever recovered to tell us what they had experienced.

I once visited my mother and she was sleeping and I decided to let her sleep because I thought that maybe she was in a better place in her dreams so why awake her to a confusing reality? Besides, at that point I was a stranger to her.

[allegorical oracle]

29. So sad to hear. It is a difficult disease for everyone concerned. (hugs.)