Kate O'Mara

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Birthday:

10 August 1939, Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK

Birth Name:

Frances Meredith Carroll

Height:

163 cm

Kate O'Mara was born Frances Meredith Carroll on August 10, 1939 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England. A hard-looking brunette with high cheekbones, Kate was the daughter of actress Hazel Bainbridge and John Carroll and prodded into performing as a child. Educated at the Aida Foster School, she began an early career as a speech therapist at a Sussex Girls' School, but her attraction to acting got the best of her and she switched gears, making her debut in a stage production of "The Merchant of Venice" in 1963 at age 24. She continued to appear in classical works throughout the next two seasons until television series spots started coming her way. Kate attracted gothic notice in Hammer Studio horror films as tawdry, darkly alluring femmes in both The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) and The Vampire Lovers (1970), but her film load over the years would remain sporadic.She had remained focused on stage endeavours in the ensuing years and had appeared in many British television series as well as various femme fatales or shady ladies. She made little leeway in America but did appear as Joan Collins equally bitchy sister for one season of Dynasty (1981) in 1986. She was also delightfully vindictive in episodes of Doctor Who (1963) and Absolutely Fabulous (1992) in England. She relished a standout role in the long-running British soap opera Crossroads (2001). In the 1980s, she founded and toured in a theatre company (The British Actor's Theatre Company), which had continued running into the millennium. She had since published two books: "When She Was Bad" in 1991 and "Good Time Girl" in 1993. Kate O'Mara died at age 74 on March 30, 2014 after a short illness in a nursing home in Sussex, England. Show less «

I would like to be where Diana Rigg or Judi Dench is, but I expect it is as good as it is going to get.

On the whole, I have quite a low opinion of men. I know I've always played man-eater parts but I'm really not a sexual animal and I've never...Show more »

On the whole, I have quite a low opinion of men. I know I've always played man-eater parts but I'm really not a sexual animal and I've never had a voracious sexual appetite. Show less «

Whenever I get on stage, I feel safe and in control. Life can be so uncertain, but on stage I always know how a drama or crisis is going to ...Show more »

Whenever I get on stage, I feel safe and in control. Life can be so uncertain, but on stage I always know how a drama or crisis is going to end. Acting is a great comfort blanket, and has gotten me through countless personal crisis. I am a firm believer that the show must go on. Show less «

[on her desire to play the Rani, an evil Time Lady, in Doctor Who (2005) again] I'm a much older woman and there's a huge population of olde...Show more »

[on her desire to play the Rani, an evil Time Lady, in Doctor Who (2005) again] I'm a much older woman and there's a huge population of older people who, if they're watching television, they can't watch Hollyoaks (1995). If you put a much older woman in Doctor Who (2005), they can identify with it. I think it's quite an interesting concept and if you remember things like Grimm's Fairytales, the older woman is often the villainess, often the terrifying figure - why I do not know, but often she is. I think it's an idea to be exploited. Show less «

I have white hair now, but a lot of it, and I'm still very glamorous and so I won't disappoint, I hope! I'll still be wearing the tight leat...Show more »

I have white hair now, but a lot of it, and I'm still very glamorous and so I won't disappoint, I hope! I'll still be wearing the tight leather trousers and high-heel boots, regardless of what age! Show less «