Samantha Eggar: Oscar-nominated actress is dead

A quiet farewell with loved ones: British actress Samantha Eggar is dead. The Oscar-nominated actress died on Wednesday, October 15th, at her home in Sherman Oaks, California. Eggar was 86 years old and had been battling illness for five years, according to her family.

“My mom passed away on Wednesday evening. Peaceful and quiet, surrounded by her family,” wrote Jenna Stern. “I was by her side, holding her hand and telling her how much she was loved. It was beautiful. It was a privilege.” The daughter shared several pictures from her mother’s “long, fabulous life” with the posting.

Samantha Eggar was born on March 5, 1939 in Hampstead, London. Her real name was Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar. The daughter of a British father and a Dutch-Portuguese mother, she initially received her education at a monastery school. She later studied fashion and art at the Thanet School of Art before completing her acting training at the renowned Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Eggar began her career on the London stage, where she worked with various Shakespeare companies. In 1962 she made her film debut in “The Wild and the Willing”, followed by “Dr. Crippen” alongside Donald Pleasence. But her big breakthrough came in 1965 with the gripping thriller “The Catcher,” in which she starred as a kidnap victim alongside Terence Stamp. For this powerful performance, Eggar not only received an Oscar nomination, but also won the Golden Globe and the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.

The success of “The Catcher” catapulted Eggar into the top ranks of Hollywood. Just a year later, she appeared in front of the camera alongside Cary Grant for “Not So Fast, My Boy” – it was to be Grant’s last film. In the romantic comedy, she played a young woman who rents her room to a US athlete during the Tokyo Olympics.

Her most famous role followed in 1967: in the lavishly produced musical “Doctor Dolittle” she played Emma Fairfax, the love interest of the veterinarian played by Rex Harrison. Although the film flopped at the box office, Eggar also demonstrated her singing talent here – a skill that she later demonstrated in the historical drama “Cursed Until Doomsday” alongside Sean Connery.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Eggar became a celebrated figure in the horror genre. After moving to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, she starred in numerous well-known and lesser-known horror films. In the 1990s, Eggar, with her distinctive British voice, discovered a new calling: dubbing.

Samantha Eggar was married to actor Tom Stern from 1964 to 1971. She is survived by her daughter Jenna Stern, her son Nicolas Stern, who works as a film producer, her grandchildren Isabel, Charlie and Calla, and her sisters Margaret Barron, Toni Maricic and Vivien Thursby.