Heather Chasen

Heather Chasen
250px Heather Chasen, pictured in 2009.
Born	Heather Jean Chasen (1927-07-20) 20 July 1927 Singapore
Nationality	British
Ethnicity	White British
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1945–2014
Notable work	See below
Television	Crossroads Marked Personal EastEnders
Children	Rupert Chasen
Parent(s)	F.N Chasen Agnes H McCullock

Heather Jean Chasen (born 20 July 1927) is a Singapore-born English actress. Chasen is known for her roles in soap operas; playing Valerie Pollard in the ITV soap opera Crossroads from 1982–86 and guest roles in Doctors, Holby City and Family Affairs. Chasen also played many roles in BBC Radio 2's The Navy Lark from 1959–77, and appeared in the television series Marked Personal from 1973–74. She played Lydia Simmonds in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a role which received positive reviews from critics, EastEnders cast members and crew. Furthermore, she has appeared extensively in theatre productions and film; in 2012, she appeared in a film version of Les Misérables.

Early and personal life

Chasen was born on 20 July 1927, in Singapore. Chasen's father, F.N. Chasen was an English ornithologist, who fought in World War I under the Norfolk Yeomanry as a trooper. In 1921, he left England, to work at the Raffles Library and Museum in Singapore, marrying Chasen's mother, Agnes H McCullock, in 1926. After Chasen's birth, her parents had another daughter, Christine Elizabeth, on 4 May 1931. Her parents split in 1938, and both remarried. Before the Japanese occupation, which led to the Battle of Singapore during World War II, Chasen and her mother left Singapore on the last boat before the occupation. Her father, on a separate ship, HMS Giang Bee, perished however, when it was sunk by the Japanese on 12 February 1942, and Chasen's new stepfather, G.C.R Franks, too perished fighting, a month later, on the 22 March. Chasen and her mother moved to England and Chasen trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she then acted on stage and went on a tour with Frankie Howerd in Hotel Paradiso. She also appeared with Sybil Thorndike in Call Me Jacky, as well as going on tour with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in The Pleasure of his Company, in Toronto. Chasen is good friends with, and previously had a relationship with, Amanda Barrie. In 1949, she married John Webster in Surrey and has one son with him, Rupert, born in Kensington, 1955.

Career

Crossroads and EastEnders

Main articles: Crossroads (soap opera), EastEnders, and Lydia Simmonds

I did an episode where I played this journalist which they must have quite liked because they got back to me about a month later. [They asked me] 'Would you come back and join the cast and change the colour of your hair?' Well, I said okay and so I changed my [hair] colour from red to blonde and I looked exactly the same! I didn't look any different at all. And so then I came back as this naughty lady, Valerie Pollard. The most fun I had was when I was helping out behind the bar which is a very good place to be if you're in a soap because you're in every scene. I was very happy, it was a fun time, I enjoyed it. At the beginning, not at the very end. When I first joined it, for the first few months I was in it was great fun but after Jack (the producer) went it became less good and less fun and I didn't enjoy it so much".

— Chasen describing her time on Crossroads, from 1982 to 1986

In 2011, Chasen was cast as Lydia Simmonds, Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks)'s maternal grandmother and Norman Simmonds' (George Layton) mother, in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, after the original actress Margaret Tyzack had to pull out of the role due to personal reasons. Two episodes featuring Tyzack had already been broadcast, and she featured in a further one on 14 April. The producers wanted to keep Lydia in the show as they had plans for her, so Chasen was cast and she replaced Tyzack in the role, beginning filming on 15 April for scenes broadcast from 21 April. EastEnders' executive producer, Bryan Kirkwood, added: "In order to continue the current storyline we've taken the decision for Heather Chasen to take over the role of Lydia." The character died on-screen and Chasen made her last appearance on 13 June 2011, and, though not credited for it, did a voice-over for the 14 and 28 June episodes. Kirkwood later said "Lydia's storyline was perfect" and that Chasen had made the part her own after Tyzack's departure. Brooks said of the storyline as a whole, "I absolutely loved exploring Janine's background. I was really proud with the scenes with Heather Chasen [Lydia]. It was really hard work, but worth it."

Other work

Chasen has appeared in other television programmes such as The Bill and The Harry Hill Show. She has had guest roles in Z-Cars and Dixon of Dock Green and has voiced a number of characters in the radio show The Navy Lark, most notably WREN Heather Chasen and "battle axe" Ramona Povey. In soaps, she has had four separate stints in the BBC soap opera Doctors, with her most recent stint in 2014, reprising her role as Grace Barberry from 2012, played Sylvie Leigh in Holby City and played Madge Bennet in the Channel 5 soap opera, Family Affairs, for five episodes. More earlier credits include, playing "rich bitches" Caroline Kerr, in The Newcomers and Isabel Neal in Marked Personal, alongside Stephanie Beacham. She also played the "evil" headmistress in Schoolgirls in Uniform at the Battersea Arts Centre. In stage and theatre, Chasen appeared in The Rat Trap. Michael Billington from The Guardian described Chasen's character, Burrage the maid, as "trundling", rating the play three stars. Other than this, she has appeared in Pardon Ma Prime Minister alongside Gerald Flood and Paul Curran, written by Edward Taylor and John Graham who created the BBC radio series The Men from the Ministry. The Birmingham Mail described the play as "hilarious" and "promising". One of Chasen's more recent plays was My Three Angels in which she played Madame Parole, other plays include, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Who Bombed Birmingham playing Margaret Thatcher, and The Lizard of Rock, in which she played the main role, appearing alongside actor Jack Hawkins. Chasen opined that she had a "lovely time" playing Miss Marple in A Murder is Announced alongside Richard Todd and Barbara Murray. In 2009, Chasen appeared in the award-winning Anglo-Russian feature film Season of Mists, playing Jane. Chasen appeared alongside Marina Blake, Sergei Chonishvili, Ifan Huw Dafydd and ex-EastEnders actor Dudley Sutton. Other films Chasen has appeared in include, The Kiss of Tosca in 2000, The Toybox in 2003 and Cat Run, a 2011 film.

Awards and nominations

Chasen was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, while she appeared in the New York adaptation of A Severed Head between 1963-65. She appeared the cast of the Seasons of Mists which won a number of awards internationally.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960	No Hiding Place	Brenda	1 episode
	The Cheaters	Mary Calder
	The World of Tim Frazer	Helen Baker	6 episodes
	Danger Man	Helen Hamilton	1 episode
1961		Lorain Zameda
	Walk a Crooked Mile	Angela Charles
	Inspector Maigret	Guest
	Dixon of Dock Green	Laura Beckley
1962	Saki	Agnes Huddle
	Dixon of Dock Green	Stella Judd
1963	Jezebel ex UK	Rita Lorraine
	Suspense	Clarice Morrison
1965	The Newcomers	Caroline Kerr
1967	Z-Cars	Pamela Raven	2 episodes
1969	Call My Bluff	Herself	1 episode
1971	Naughty!	Victorian Madame
1972	On the Game	Madame
1973–74	Marked Personal	Isabel Neal	84 episodes
1973	Commuter Husbands	Wife	1 episode
1977	Play of the Month: Waste	Lady Julia Farrant
1978	A Traveller in Time	Mary, Queen of Scots	3 episodes
1981	Ladykillers	Mrs. Martinetti	1 episode
1982	Crossroads	Reporter
	Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House	Aunt Rachel	5 episodes
1982–86	Crossroads	Valerie Pollard	Unknown
1983	Shades of Darkness	Minor Role	1 episode
1989	Heat of the Day	Mrs Kelway
1990	Who Bombed Birmingham	Margaret Thatcher
1992	The Eligible Bachelor	The Hon Amelia
	Surgical Spirit	Sabatini's Mother
2003	The Bill	Mrs. Belstram
2002	Holby City	Sylvie Leigh
2003	The All New Harry Hill Show	Betty
	Doctors	Norma
2005	Casualty	Bessie Symes
	Family Affairs	Madge Bennett	5 episodes
2006	Doctors	Ida Price	1 episode
2010	Holby City	Sylvie Leigh
2011	EastEnders	Lydia Simmonds	12 episodes
		Lydia Simmonds (voiceover)	2 episodes
2012, 2014	Doctors	Grace Barberry
2013	Dancing on the Edge	Lady Altringham	1 episode

Film

Year	Title	Role
1949	Meet the Duke	Carol
1972	Surburban Wives	Kathy Lambert
1976	The Deadly Females	Frances
1989	The Plot to Kill Hitler	The Baroness
2000	The Kiss of Tosca	Tosca
2003	The Toybox	Gran
2009	Season of Mists	Jane
2010	The Social Network	Matt's wife
2011	Cat Run	Bingham's Mom
2012	Les Misérables	Madame Magloire

Radio

Year	Title	Role
1959–77	The Navy Lark	WRN Chasen Mrs Ramona Povey Rita Murray Morpeth Goldstein Natasha Snogitoff Lady Quirk Miss Simpkins Lady Todhunter-Brown Lucy Doll Queen Jaratova Wren Simkins
1966	The Embassy Lark	HE Fatima Soriaya Fazalik, Turkish Ambassador to Tratvia
1967	Sexton Blake adventures	Paula Dane

Stage/Theatre

Year	Title	Role
1945	Donna Clarines	Marcella
1954	Blood Wedding	Leonardo's wife
1958	Little Eyolf	Rita Allmers
	Templeton	Anna Dasousa
	The Mousetrap	Mollie Ralston
1960	The Lizard of the Rock	Main Role
1962	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Helena
	Policy for Murder	Lee Miller
1963	The Maids	Solange
1963, 1964, 1965	A Severed Head	Antonia Lynch Gibbon
1966	Love from Liz	Nancy Morrow
	Jorrocks	Mrs Barnington
	Thriller of the Year	Gillian Howard
1967	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Martha
1967–68	Call me Jacky	Countess Ardele Gina Ekdal The Wild Duck Jacqueline du Bois
1969	Forty Years On	Matron
	Lady S	Lady Susan
1970	Lady Frederick	Marchioness of Mereston
1970–72	The Pleasure of his Company	Katherine Daugherty
1971	Hello and Goodbye	Hester
	The Amorous Prawn	Mrs. Fitzadam
	The Magistrate	Queen Margaret Richard III Agatha
1972	Children of the Wolf	Helena
1973	Baby Love	Mrs. Taylor
1975	Hay Fever	Judith Bliss
	Butterflies Are Free	Mrs. Baker
	Madame de Sade	Alison Diaries Comtesse de Saint Fond
1977	Rebecca	Beatrice Lacy
1978	Murder in a Bad Light	Olivia Waynward
1979	The Eagel Has Two Heads	Edith de Berg
	The Man Who Came To Dinner	Miss Preen
1994	A Murder is Announced	Miss Marple
1996	Black Chiffon	Nanny
1997	School Girls in Uniform	The Headmistress
1999	Sweet Bramleys	June
	Laying the Ghost	Freda
2000	Getting On	Minor Role
2001	Mountain Language	Elderly Lady
2002	My Three Angles	Madame Parole
2006	The Rat Trap	Burrage the Maid
2008	Pardon Ma Prime Minister	Lead Role

External links

• Heather Chasen at the Internet Movie Database
• Crossroads 1982 – Valerie Pollard Makes Her First Appearance on YouTube