Jane Asher

Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946) is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress. She has worked extensively in film and television.

Asher has appeared in television shows and films such as Deep End (1970), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), Alfie (1966), The Mistress, Crossroads, Death at a Funeral (2007), and The Old Guys. She also appeared in two episodes of the 1950s TV series The Buccaneers alongside Robert Shaw. She was Paul McCartney's girlfriend from 1963 to 1968.

Asher has been nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the film Deep End and the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for television performances in A Voyage Round My Father (1982) and Love Is Old, Love Is New (1982).

Early life Asher was born in London, the middle of three children born to Richard and Margaret Asher, née Eliot. Asher's elder brother is record producer and manager Peter Asher, who began his career as Peter of Peter and Gordon.

Acting career Film, television and audio Asher was a child actress who appeared in the 1952 film Mandy and the 1955 science fiction film The Quatermass Xperiment. She also played the title role in dramatised versions of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass in 1958 for Argo Records. In 1961 she co-starred in The Greengage Summer, which was released in the United States as Loss of Innocence. She also appeared in the 1962 film and Disney TV programme, The Prince and the Pauper. Her British TV appearances included three episodes (1956–1958) of the ITV series The Adventures of Robin Hood and as a panellist on the BBC's Juke Box Jury.

In July 1962, Asher appeared in an Out of This World episode called "Cold Equations", playing a teenage stowaway on a space ship. Its captain, played by Peter Wyngarde, is ordered to jettison her into space, and she pleads for her life, but has to come to terms with her imminent death. She then dies calmly.

Asher appeared in Roger Corman's The Masque of the Red Death (1964) with Vincent Price, in Alfie opposite Michael Caine in 1966, and in Jerzy Skolimowski's Deep End (1970) with John Moulder Brown.

Having played Alice herself as an 11-year-old child in the audio recordings of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass in 1958, Asher played the real Alice's (Alice Liddell) mother, Lorina Liddell, in the 1985 Dennis Potter film Dreamchild alongside Coral Browne (Alice Hargreaves), Ian Holm (Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson), Peter Gallagher, and Amelia Shankley (young Alice).

On television, she guest-starred in the play The Stone Tape and in episodes of Wicked Women, Rumpole of the Bailey and the British television comedy series The Goodies, as Celia Ryder in the 1981 Granada Television adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, and later in A Voyage Round My Father opposite Laurence Olivier, The Mistress (1985–87), and as Faith Ashley in Wish Me Luck (three seasons from 1987 to 1989).

In 1994, she portrayed the Doctor Who companion Susan Foreman in a BBC Radio 4 comedy drama Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman? Another notable radio broadcast was in The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in 2002, in the episode "The Peculiar Persecution of Mr John Vincent Harden".

In 2003, she appeared in the revived ITV soap Crossroads in which she played the hotel's owner Angel Sampson. After the soap was axed, Asher apologised to Crossroads fans for the way the 2003 series went.

In 2006, Asher starred in the Richard Fell adaptation of the 1960s science fiction series A for Andromeda, which aired on the British digital television station BBC Four. In 2007, she portrayed the widow Sandra in the Frank Oz film Death at a Funeral. In the same year Asher appeared in the BBC medical drama Holby City as Lady Byrne. In October 2007, she played Andrea Yates in The Sarah Jane Adventures, in the episode "Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?" Asher co-starred in the 2008 ITV drama series The Palace, filmed in Lithuania; she played Queen Charlotte, mother of King Richard IV.

In August 2008, Asher appeared with other showbusiness personalities in the reality TV talent show-themed television series Maestro, broadcast on BBC Two. From 2009 to 2010, she played Sally in the BBC One comedy series The Old Guys. In 2011, she played Margaret Harker in Waterloo Road.

Stage In 2004, she starred in Festen at the Arts Theatre. In 2005, she starred in The World's Biggest Diamond, by Gregory Motton, at the Royal Court Theatre.

In October 2009, she appeared as Delia in Peter Hall's revival of Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce at the Rose Theatre, Kingston, and in her first pantomime, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Richmond Theatre in December 2009, receiving enthusiastic reviews for both. In 2011, she returned to the Rose, Kingston as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest.

In 2012, she appeared in Charley's Aunt at the Menier Chocolate Factory. In the summer of 2013, she played Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. In 2014, she starred in the stage adaptation of Penelope Lively's Moon Tiger at the Theatre Royal Bath and on tour. In 2016, Asher took on the role of Miss Havisham in Michael Eaton's adaptation of Great Expectations. She took on the role of Madame Baurel in the 2017 London stage production of An American in Paris. In 2019 she toured in Noël Coward's A Song at Twilight.

In 2023 she played Lady Kitty in Somerset Maugham's The Circle, in a touring production directed by Tom Littler that opened at the Orange Tree Theatre, in Richmond, London. In 2026-27 she will tour as Queen Elizabeth II in the play By Royal Appointment by Daisy Goodwin.

Other work Asher has written three novels: The Longing, The Question, and Losing It, and published more than a dozen lifestyle, costuming, and cake decorating books. Asher owns a company that makes party cakes and sugar crafts for special occasions.

She is a shareholder in Private Eye, president of Arthritis Care, and a patron of Scoliosis Association (UK).

She is also president of the National Autistic Society. She was a speaker at the 2006 launch of the National Autistic Society's "Make School Make Sense" campaign and is president of Parkinson's UK. In March 2010, Asher became vice president to Autistica, a UK charity raising funds for autism research. Asher is also a patron of TRACKS Autism, an early years nursery setting for children on the autistic spectrum and The Daisy Garland, a national registered charity supporting children with drug resistant epilepsy.

Personal life Asher met Paul McCartney on 18 April 1963 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and began a five-year relationship with him. In December 1963, McCartney took up residence at Asher's family Wimpole Street townhouse and stayed there until the couple moved into McCartney's own home in St John's Wood in 1966. McCartney wrote several Beatles songs inspired by Asher, including "And I Love Her", "For No One", "I'm Looking Through You", "Things We Said Today", "We Can Work It Out", "What You're Doing" and "You Won't See Me". The couple announced on Christmas Day 1967 that they were engaged to be married, and Asher accompanied the Beatles and their partners to Rishikesh, India in early 1968 to attend an advanced transcendental meditation training session with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In mid-1968, she returned to London from an acting assignment in Bristol earlier than expected and allegedly discovered McCartney in bed with Francie Schwartz, an American artist. Shortly afterwards, her mother, Margaret Asher, drove to Cavendish Avenue to collect her daughter's belongings.

On 20 July 1968, Asher announced to the BBC that her engagement had been called off. McCartney soon after started dating Linda Eastman, whom he married in March 1969. A problem in the relationship had been McCartney's drug use and close relationship with John Lennon. Asher confided to Beatles' biographer Hunter Davies that McCartney had "changed so much. He was on LSD, which I hadn't shared. I was jealous of all the spiritual experiences he'd had with John. There were fifteen people dropping in all day long. The house had changed and was full of stuff I didn't know about." She was one of many people interviewed for Davies' The Beatles: The Authorised Biography, and the quotes used mark her last public comments regarding McCartney. Asher dislikes discussing her relationship with McCartney; saying in 2004: "I've been happily married for 30-something years. It's insulting."

Asher attended the 1970 London premiere of the Beatles' movie Let It Be, along with Lennon's ex-wife Cynthia.

In 1971, Asher met illustrator Gerald Scarfe. They married in 1981 and have three children.

As part of a 2009 campaign by the Parkinson's Disease Society, Asher was one of a group of people, including Jeremy Paxman and John Stapleton, who pledged to donate their brains to Parkinson's research following their death.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes Ref 1952 Mandy Nina Roads 1955 The Quatermass Xperiment Little Girl 1956 Charley Moon Benesta 1961 The Greengage Summer Hester Grey Released as The Loss of Innocence in the U.S. 1963 Girl in the Headlines Lindy Birkett Released as The Model Murder Case in the U.S. 1964 The Masque of the Red Death Francesca 1966 Alfie Annie 1967 The Winter's Tale Perdita 1970 Deep End Susan The Buttercup Chain Margaret 1972 Henry VIII and His Six Wives Jane Seymour 1983 Runners Helen 1984 Success Is the Best Revenge Bank Manager 1985 Dreamchild Mrs. Liddell 1988 Paris by Night Pauline 1993 Closing Numbers Anna 2006 Tirant lo Blanc Empress of Visaantia 2007 Death at a Funeral Sandra 2013 I Give It a Year Diana 2015 Drunk on Love Miss Sharp Burn Burn Burn Amelia 2021 Splinter Psychiatrist 2024 A Family Affair Margaret

Television

Year Title Role Notes Ref 1956 The Adventures of Robin Hood Alice Episode 28: "The Children of Greenwood" 1961 Home Tonight Kathy 5 episodes 1962 The Prince and the Pauper Lady Jane Grey 3 episodes 1962 Out of This World Lee Cross "Cold Equations" 1963 24-Hour Call Caroline Bullivant Episode: "Love for Caroline" 1964 The Saint Rose Yearley Episode: "The Noble Sportsman" 1964 The Saint Ellen Chase Episode: "The Invisible Millionaire" 1968 Journey to the Unknown Marielle Episode: "Somewhere in the Crowd" 1972 The Stone Tape Jill Greely TV movie Hedda Gabler Thea Elvsted TV movie 1970 Wicked Women Anne-Maria Moody Episode: "Anne-Maria Moody" 1973 Wessex Tales Lucy Saville Episode: "Fellow Townsmen" 1977 The Goodies Caroline Kook Episode: "Punky Business" 1978 Hawkmoor Lady Johane Williams 5 episodes Hazell Georgina Gunning Episode: "Hazell Plays Solomon" Rumpole of the Bailey Kathy Trelawny Episode: "Rumpole and the Alternative Society" 1981 Brideshead Revisited Celia Ryder 2 episodes 1982 East Lynne Emma Vane TV movie 1984 A Voyage Round My Father Elizabeth TV movie Tales of the Unexpected Jane Oates Episode: "The Last of the Midnight Gardeners" 1985 The Mistress Helen Carpenter 6 episodes 1988 Wish Me Luck Faith Ashley 22 episodes 1990 French and Saunders Herself Episode: “Episode 7” 1991 Murder Most Horrid Lydia Howling Episode : "The Girl from Ipanema" 1993 French and Saunders Herself Episode: “In Bed with French and Saunders” 2003 Crossroads Angel Sampson 18 episodes 2004 Agatha Christie's Marple Mrs. Sylvia Lester Episode: "Murder at the Vicarage" 2005 New Tricks Lady Deeley Episode: "17 Years of Nothing" 2006 A for Andromeda Professor Madeleine Dawnay TV movie 2007 The Sarah Jane Adventures Andrea Yates 2 episodes; Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? 2007–2010 Holby City Lady Byrne 23 episodes 2008 The Palace Queen Charlotte 8 episodes 2009–2010 The Old Guys Sally 12 episodes 2010 Agatha Christie's Poirot Lady Mary Episode: "Three Act Tragedy" 2011 Waterloo Road Margaret Harker 1 episode 2013 Dancing on the Edge Mrs. Luscombe 3 episodes 2015 Stella Hazel 3 episodes 2015 Crossing Lines Jane Clerkenwell 2 episodes 2015–2016 Eve Mary Douglas 13 episodes 2015–2016 Best Bakes Ever Herself Presenter: 24 episodes 2023 The Wedding Veil Journey Lady Dalton TV movie