Reply #335: Actress Anna Massey, 73.

[CBHagman]

First Edward Hardwicke, now Anna Massey. Both were stalwarts of British drama, and both were offspring of famous actors.

And both, it turns out, had a connection to actor Jeremy Brett -- Hardwicke as Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes series, Massey as former wife! Why didn't I know that already?

From the Guardian, and be warned that there are spoilers for some of her movies:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jul/04/anna-massey-dies-aged-73

The daughter of the Hollywood actor Raymond Massey, Anna Massey began her career on stage, picking up a Tony nomination for her turn in The Reluctant Debutante at the age of 18. She made her screen debut in the 1958 crime drama Gideon's Day, directed by her godfather John Ford, and co-starred with Laurence Olivier on the cult 60s thriller Bunny Lake is Missing.

Yet Massey looks set to be best remembered for her roles in two of the most controversial pictures of post-war British cinema. In 1960 she played Helen, the sweet-natured friend of a serial killer in Michael Powell's notorious Peeping Tom. In 1972, she was cast as sacrificial barmaid Babs Milligan in Hitchcock's grubby, London-set thriller Frenzy. Peeping Tom found itself reviled by contemporary critics as "perverted" and "beastly", while Frenzy remains the only Hitchcock film to receive a prohibitive X-certificate in the UK. Today, both films are widely regarded as classics.

In later years Massey acted alongside Christian Bale on The Machinist, Gwyneth Paltrow on Possession and Colin Firth in The Importance of Being Earnest. But her greatest roles arrived via the small screen, where she became a mainstay of the British costume drama. Massey's TV credits include Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Anna Karenina, The Cherry Orchard and Oliver Twist. She won a Bafta for her role as a lonely novelist in the BBC's 1986 adaptation of Hotel du Lac.

Her credits include:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0557281/#Actress