
Virginia Maskell
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1936-02-28
Day of Death
1968-01-25 (31 years old)
Place of Birth
Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK
Virginia Maskell
Biography
Virginia Elizabeth Maskell (1936–1968) was an English actress, poet and artist. After attending drama school she featured in several television roles. Her film debut was a minor role for director Roy Boulting in Happy Is the Bride (1957), after which she began switching between the theatre and the screen.
She gained a British Lion contract and appeared in The Man Upstairs (1958) and as an air hostess in Jet Storm (1959). She made an impact on the stage in Ronald Duncan's The Catalyst, a play that initially the Lord Chamberlain's office had found troubling. There were distinguished appearances in live TV drama. She starred in Doctor in Love (1960), and as Peter Sellers's wife in Only Two Can Play (1962). She took a break from acting in 1962 to concentrate on her family, and returned after the birth of her second son to shoot Interlude (1968).
In January of 1968, Maskell was reported missing. Police searched woods 700 feet up in the Chiltern Hills after her car was found a mile from her home. She apparently had wandered through the woods for hours before collapsing. She was taken to hospital and given emergency treatment for an overdose of barbiturates, but passed away the following day at the age of 31.
Acting
(1968)
Interlude
as Antonia Zelter
(1962)
Only Two Can Play
as Jean Lewis
(1962)
The Wild and the Willing
as Virginia Chown
(1960)
Doctor in Love
as Dr Nicola Berrington
(1960)
Suspect
as Dr. Lucy Byrne
(1959)
Virgin Island
as Tina
(1959)
Jet Storm
as Pam Leyton
(1958)
Happy Is the Bride
as Marcia
(1958)
The Man Upstairs
as Helen Grey