Janet Key
Encyclopedia
Janet Key was an English actress with a varied career in theatre, film and television from the late 1960s until her death.
. Her stage career included stints with the National Theatre
and the Royal Shakespeare Company
, alongside touring and fringe
productions. Between 1970 and 1975 Key appeared in four horror films, as well as the sex comedy Percy
and historical drama Lady Caroline Lamb
. Her only other screen appearance came later in Nineteen Eighty-Four
, although she also featured in several made-for-TV dramas, including the role of Charmian
in the Jonathan Miller
production of Antony and Cleopatra
for the ambitious BBC Television Shakespeare
project. Key became a familiar face on British television through many guest appearances in a wide variety of popular series ranging from crime and espionage through to comedy.
in 1970. The couple had two children. Key died of cancer on 26 July 1992, aged 47. In 1994, Grainger married actress Zoë Wanamaker
, who had been an acquaintance of Key's.
An obituary by Sebastian Graham-Jones in The Independent
said: "Janet Key was an actress of particular versatility. She was a high-spirited beauty with an acerbic style and talent that were entirely her own."
Career
Key was born in Bath, Somerset, and trained at the nearby Bristol Old Vic Theatre SchoolBristol Old Vic Theatre School
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, opened by Laurence Olivier in 1946, is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, an organisation securing the highest standards of training in the performing arts, and is an associate school of the Faculty of Creative Arts of the University of the...
. Her stage career included stints with the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
and the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
, alongside touring and fringe
Fringe theatre
Fringe theatre is theatre that is not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe...
productions. Between 1970 and 1975 Key appeared in four horror films, as well as the sex comedy Percy
Percy (1971 film)
Percy is a British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas starring Hywel Bennett, Denholm Elliott, Elke Sommer and Britt Ekland.Percy , an innocent and shy young man, is hit by a nude man falling from a high-rise building while carrying a chandelier...
and historical drama Lady Caroline Lamb
Lady Caroline Lamb (film)
Lady Caroline Lamb is a 1972 film based on the life of the notorious Lady Caroline Lamb, lover of Lord Byron and wife of Prime MinisterViscount Melbourne...
. Her only other screen appearance came later in Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four (film)
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a 1984 British science fiction film, based upon George Orwell's novel of the same name, following the life of Winston Smith in Oceania, a country run by a totalitarian government...
, although she also featured in several made-for-TV dramas, including the role of Charmian
Charmian (servant to Cleopatra)
Charmian was a trusted servant and advisor to the historical Cleopatra VII of Egypt.-Plutarch:In Plutarch's Parallel Lives biography of Mark Antony, he noted that Augustus Caesar "had a decree made, declaring war on Cleopatra, and depriving Antony of the authority which he had let a woman exercise...
in the Jonathan Miller
Jonathan Miller
Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...
production of Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...
for the ambitious BBC Television Shakespeare
BBC Television Shakespeare
The BBC Television Shakespeare was a set of television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, produced by the BBC between 1978 and 1985.-Origins:...
project. Key became a familiar face on British television through many guest appearances in a wide variety of popular series ranging from crime and espionage through to comedy.
Private life
Key married actor Gawn GraingerGawn Grainger
Gawn Grainger is a leading British stage and screen actor and husband of actress Zoë Wanamaker.-Early life:Some sources indicate he was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 12 October 1937. He is the son of Charles Neil Grainger and his wife Elizabeth...
in 1970. The couple had two children. Key died of cancer on 26 July 1992, aged 47. In 1994, Grainger married actress Zoë Wanamaker
Zoe Wanamaker
Zoë Wanamaker, CBE is an American-British actress. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company; in films, including the Harry Potter series; and in a number of television productions, including a long-time role as Susan Harper in the sitcom My Family.-Early life and family:Wanamaker was...
, who had been an acquaintance of Key's.
An obituary by Sebastian Graham-Jones in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
said: "Janet Key was an actress of particular versatility. She was a high-spirited beauty with an acerbic style and talent that were entirely her own."
Filmography
- 1970: The Vampire LoversThe Vampire LoversThe Vampire Lovers is a 1970 British Hammer Horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt, Madeline Smith, Kate O'Mara, and Jon Finch. It is based on the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla and is part of the so-called Karnstein Trilogy of films. The other films in...
- 1971: PercyPercy (1971 film)Percy is a British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas starring Hywel Bennett, Denholm Elliott, Elke Sommer and Britt Ekland.Percy , an innocent and shy young man, is hit by a nude man falling from a high-rise building while carrying a chandelier...
- 1972: Lady Caroline LambLady Caroline Lamb (film)Lady Caroline Lamb is a 1972 film based on the life of the notorious Lady Caroline Lamb, lover of Lord Byron and wife of Prime MinisterViscount Melbourne...
- 1972: Dracula AD 1972Dracula AD 1972Dracula A.D. 1972 is a 1972 Hammer Horror film directed by Alan Gibson, written by Don Houghton and starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Stephanie Beacham. Unlike earlier films in the Hammer Dracula series, Dracula A.D...
- 1973: And Now the Screaming Starts!And Now the Screaming Starts!And Now the Screaming Starts! is a 1973 British gothic horror film. It is one of the few feature-length horror stories by Amicus, a company best-known for anthology or "portmanteau" films....
- 1975: I Don't Want to Be BornI Don't Want to Be BornI Don't Want to Be Born is a 1975 British horror film, directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Joan Collins, Ralph Bates, Eileen Atkins and Donald Pleasence, which tapped into the 1970s fad for devil-child horror films. The film was originally marketed as a straight-faced and serious product, and as...
- 1984: Nineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-Four (film)Nineteen Eighty-Four is a 1984 British science fiction film, based upon George Orwell's novel of the same name, following the life of Winston Smith in Oceania, a country run by a totalitarian government...
Television appearances
- 1967–1968: The Wednesday PlayThe Wednesday PlayThe Wednesday Play was an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. Every week's play was usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured...
- 1968: The Tenant of Wildfell HallThe Tenant of Wildfell HallThe Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the second and final novel by English author Anne Brontë, published in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell...
- 1969: Department SDepartment SDepartment S is a United Kingdom spy-fi adventure series produced by ITC Entertainment. The series consists of 28 episodes which originally aired in 1969–1970. It starred Peter Wyngarde as author Jason King , Joel Fabiani as Stewart Sullivan, and Rosemary Nicols as computer expert Annabelle Hurst...
- 1970: Paul TemplePaul Temple (TV series)Paul Temple is a British-German television series which originally aired on the BBC between 1969 and 1971. It features Francis Matthews as Paul Temple, the fictional detective created by Francis Durbridge, who solves crimes with the assistance of his wife Steve...
- 1972: The AdventurerThe Adventurer (TV series)The Adventurer is an ITC Entertainment TV adventure series created by Dennis Spooner that ran for one season from 1972 to 1973. It premiered in the UK on 29 September 1972. The show starred Gene Barry as Gene Bradley, a government agent of independent means who poses as a glamorous American movie...
- 1972: Jason KingJason King (TV series)Jason King was a British television series produced from 1971 to 1972. Each episode was one hour in duration , and the series had a run of one season of 26 episodes. As well as its native UK, the series was also screened in countries as far afield as Australia, Norway, Argentina and Peru...
- 1972: Man at the TopMan at the Top (TV series)Man at the Top was a British television series originally aired on ITV lasting for 23 episodes between 1970-1972 . The series depicted the character of Joe Lampton, the protagonist of John Braine's novel Room at the Top and two films Room at the Top and Life at the Top...
- 1973: New Scotland YardNew Scotland Yard (TV series)New Scotland Yard was a police drama series produced by London Weekend Television of the ITV network between 1972 and 1974. It featured the activities of two officers from the Criminal Investigations Department in the Metropolitan Police force headquarters at New Scotland Yard, as they dealt with...
- 1973: ThrillerThriller (UK TV series)Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast...
- 1974: Napoleon and LoveNapoleon and LoveNapoleon and Love was a 1974 British television series originally aired on ITV and lasting for 9 episodes from 5 March to 30 April 1974. The series starred Ian Holm in the title role as Napoleon I and depicts his relationships with the woman who featured in his life as a backdrop to his rise and...
- 1974: Special BranchSpecial Branch (TV series)Special Branch is a British television series made by Thames Television for ITV and shown between 1969 and 1974. A police drama series, the action was centred on members of the Special Branch anti-espionage and anti-terrorist department of the London Metropolitan Police.The first two series were...
- 1974: Sutherland's LawSutherland's LawSutherland's Law is a television series made by BBC Scotland between 1973 and 1976.The series had originated as a stand alone edition of the portmanteau programme Drama Playhouse in 1972 in which Derek Francis played Sutherland and was then commissioned as an ongoing series.Sutherland's Law dealt...
- 1975: The SweeneyThe SweeneyThe Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
- 1979: Shoestring
- 1980: The Enigma FilesThe Enigma FilesThe Enigma Files is a British television detective drama that ran for one series of fifteen episodes in 1980.-Plot summary:The series was a police procedural drama, written by Derek Ingrey, about a Police Officer who has been sidelined from regular duties and, having been placed in charge of a...
- 1980: MinderMinder (TV series)Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
- 1981: BBC Television ShakespeareBBC Television ShakespeareThe BBC Television Shakespeare was a set of television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, produced by the BBC between 1978 and 1985.-Origins:...
- 1983: No Problem!No Problem! (TV series)No Problem! was a Channel 4 sitcom which ran from 1983 to 1985, created by the Black Theatre Co-operative. The show was written by Farrukh Dhondy and Mustapha Matura. 27 episodes were broadcast of the programme which focused on a family of Jamaican heritage, the Powells, living in a council house...
- 1986: Never the TwainNever the TwainNever the Twain is a British sitcom that ran for eleven series from 1981 to 1991. It was created by Johnnie Mortimer, and was the only sitcom he ever created without his usual writing partner, Brian Cooke...
- 1986: TaggartTaggartTaggart is a Scottish detective television programme, created by Glenn Chandler, who has written many of the episodes, and made by STV Productions for the ITV network...
- 1988: Worlds BeyondWorlds BeyondWorlds Beyond was a British television anthology series of supernatural fiction. ITV broadcast 13 episodes from 1986 to 1988. The stories were based on real-life experiences described in archival documents from the Society for Psychical Research. A book was also released to accompany the...
- 1990: Making NewsMaking NewsMaking News is a television drama set in the world of journalism produced by Thames Television for the ITV network.A pilot was screened in 1989, followed by one series of six episodes in 1990. The leading cast members included Bill Nighy, Alphonsia Emmanuel, Paul Darrow, Annie Lambert and Tony Osoba....
External links
Janet Key filmography at Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...