universal
Barbara Leigh Hunt, the stage actress who gained attention for playing the desperate victim of a deranged strangler in Alfred Hitchcock’s penultimate film, has died at the age of 88.
THR It was confirmed that she passed away on September 16th at her home in Warwickshire, England.
Born on December 14, 1935 in Aston Cantlow, Warwickshire, England, she has appeared in Broadway productions such as Hamlet (1958), Sherlock Holmes (1973), and Justice (1974). He was busy on stage for several decades. He won an Olivier Award for his supporting role in Stephen Daldry’s National Theater production of The Inspector’s Call (1993).
Her film works include “Henry VIII and the Six Wives” (1972) and Daldry’s “Billy Elliot” (2000), but it was her role that made her mark in film history. His work was in Hitchcock’s 1972 film “Frenzy.” With the exception of the shocking murders in Psycho, Hitchcock’s films had very little graphic violence. In “Frenzy,” a serial killer played by Barry Foster targets a former friend (John Finch) played by Leigh Hunt. Leigh Hunt’s character is brutally raped and murdered on screen, representing Hitchcock experimenting with expanding the boundaries of cinema.
It was a part that Vanessa Redgrave turned down, but one that Leigh Hunt captured perfectly.
Maggie Smith, iconic Oscar winner who starred in Harry Potter and Downton Abbey, dies at 89
See story
Frenzy was Hitchcock’s only R-rated film and was seen as a return to form and his last big hit.
Another of Leigh Hunt’s claims to fame was her role as Lady Catherine de Bourgh in the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, starring a young Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.
Her last film was Vanity Fair (2004), directed by Meera Nair.
Leigh Hunt was preceded in death by her husband of nearly 50 years, Richard Pasco, who passed away in 2014.