Samantha Eggar, who appeared in such films as The Collector (1965), Walk, Don't Run (1966), and The Brood (1979), died on October 15, 2025, at the age of 86.
Samantha Eggar was born on March 5, 1939, in Hampstead, London. It was not long after she was born that her family moved to Bledlow, Buckinghamshire, where she grew up. Her family was Roman Catholic, and she studied at St Mary's Providence Convent in Woking, Surrey. She was interested in theatre and the arts from a young age, and was offered a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her mother forbade her from attending Rada, as she didn't want her to become an actress. Instead, she attended the Thanet School of Art. After graduating, she worked as a fashion artist.
It was a cousin who insisted that she attend the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts. She had not even completed her courses at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts when she was offered a part in photographer Cecil Beaton's play Landscape With Figures, in which she made her debut on the West End in 1959. In 1962, she appeared in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night at the Royal Court Theatre.
In the Sixties, Samantha Eggar had a recurring role on the TV show Rob Roy. It also marked her television debut. She guest starred on the shows Rendezvous, BBC Sunday-Night Play, ITV Television Playhouse, Ghost Squad, ITV Play of the Week, The Saint, and New Release. She made her movie debut in The Wild and the Willing (1962), Doctor and Distress (1963), Dr. Crippen (1963), and Psyche 59 (1964). She received her big break with the movie The Collector (1965), directed by William Wyler and co-starring Terence Stamp. She was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress for the film. For the remainder of the decade, Samantha Eggar appeared in the film Return of the Ashes (1965), Walk, Don't Run (1966), Doctor Dolittle (1967), The Molly Maguires (1970), The Walking Stick (1970), and The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (1970).
In the Seventies, she starred in the short-lived show Anna and the King. She guest starred on the shows Love Story, Lucas Tanner, Baretta, Columbo, Starsky and Hutch, Family, Hawaii Five-O, Fantasy Island, Love Boat, and Hagen. She appeared in the movies The Light at the Edge of the World (1971), The Dead Are Alive (1972), A Name for Evil (1973), The Seven Per-Cent Solution (1976), Welcome to Blood City (1977), Why Shoot the Teacher (1977), The Uncanny (1977), The Greatest Battle (1978), The Brood (1979), and The Exterminator (1980).
In the Eighties, she appeared in the movies Demonoid (1981), The Hot Touch (1981), Curtains (1983), and Ragin' Cajun (1990). She appeared on television in The Love Boat; Aloha Paradise; Falcon Crest; Darkroom; Hart to Hart; Murder, She Wrote; Magnum, P.I.; Finder of Lost Loves; Tales of the Unexpected; George Burns Comedy Week; Hotel; Outlaws; Stingray; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; 1st & Ten; The Magical World of Disney; Heartbeat; Matlock; and Star Trek: The Next Generation. She appeared in the mini-series For the Term of His Natural Life.
In the Nineties, Samantha Eggar guest starred on the shows Mann & Machine; L.A, Law; ABC Weekend Specials; and Burke's Law. She had a recurring role on the daytime soap opera All My Children. She was the voice of Guinevere on the animated show The Legend of Prince Valiant. She appeared in the mini-series The Secrets of Lake Success. She appeared in the movies Round Numbers (1992), Dark Horse (1992), Inevitable Grace (1994), The Phantom (1996), and The Astronaut's Wife (1999). She was the voice of Hera in the animated movie Hercules (1997).
In the Naughts, she had a recurring role on the TV show Commander in Chief. She guest starred on the shows She Spies, Cold Case, and Mental. In the Teens, she appeared on the TV show The Nine Lives of Chloe King. She was a guest voice on the animated series Metalocalypse.
Samantha Eggar was a remarkable actress who played a wide variety of roles. She certainly deserved the Oscar nomination for The Collector, in which she played Miranda Grey, the innocent, but nonetheless defiant art student kidnapped by psychotic Freddie Clegg (Terence Stamp). In Walk, Don't Run, she played a British native living in Tokyo who inadvertently sublets her apartment to an older man (Cary Grant). In The Brood, she played a character as far those she played in The Collector and Walk, Don't Run as one could get. She played Nola Carveth, a woman with an extreme mental disorder. She also gave good performances in her guest appearances in television shows as well. In "Marcia," an episode of The Saint, she played a starlet threatening her with disfigurement unless she pays up £5000. Samantha Eggar could play a wide variety of roles in a variety of genres, from thrillers to comedy to horror.