Veronica Hurst

Veronica Patricia Hurst (born Patricia Wilmshurst; 11 November 1931 – 15 November 2022) was a British film, stage and television actress. Hurst was born in Malta and brought up in Tooting, London. She settled in Wimbledon before entering Denville Hall, the residential home for professional actors over the age of 70.

Early career Hurst was awarded the Leverhulme Scholarship to RADA and made her film debut as Joan Webb in Laughter in Paradise (1951) with director Mario Zampi describing her as "one of the greatest potential screen stars I have ever seen". The film featured Alastair Sim, Fay Compton and Guy Middleton. She was then contracted to the Associated British Picture Corporation for seven years. In 1952, she appeared in the critically acclaimed Battle of Britain film Angels One Five, directed by George More O'Ferrall and starring alongside Jack Hawkins and John Gregson.

Television Hurst appeared in fifteen films in the 1950s and '60s. By the early 1960s she began to act frequently in both British and American television series. She had roles in The Pursuers (1961), Public Eye (1966), The Baron (1967), Man in a Suitcase (1968), Detective (1968), Market in Honey Lane (1967), The Troubleshooters (1969), Fraud Squad (1970), The Persuaders! (1971), Dixon of Dock Green (1968–71), The Flaxton Boys (1971), and General Hospital (1972–75). Her last screen appearance was an interview with Talking Pictures TV that year, which left a tribute after the programme announcing her death.

Filmography

Laughter in Paradise (1951) Angels One Five (1952) The Maze (1953) The Yellow Balloon (1953) Will Any Gentleman...? (1953) Storm Over Africa (1953) The Girl on the Pier (1953) Don't Blame the Stork (1954) Bang! You're Dead (1954) The Gilded Cage (1955) Peeping Tom (1960) Dead Man's Evidence (1962) Live It Up! (1963) Licensed to Kill (1965) The Boy Cried Murder (1966)

Television BBC Sunday Night Theatre – (Episode: "Caesar's Wife") (1951) The Venus of Bainsville (1952) (TV Movie) The Three Musketeers (1954) ITV Television Playhouse – (Episode: "To Dorothy, a Son") (1956) Wire Service – (Episode: "Atom at Spithead") (1957) Knight Errant Limited – (Episodes: "Man on the Pier"/ "Never More the Raven") (1960–1961) The Persuers – (Episodes: "Breakout"/ "The Hunt") (1961) Riviera Police – (Episode: "Here Comes a Point") (1965) Public Eye – (Episode: "It Had To Be a Mouse") (1966) Love Story – (Episode: "Barefoot and in the Kitchen") (1966) Coronation Street (1 Episode) (1966) No Hiding Place – (Episodes: "You Don't Think Twice"/ "A Through and Through with Powder") (1966–1967) Turn Out the Lights (Episode: "The Happy Medium") (1967) The Baron – (Episode: "The High Terrace") (1967) Seven Deadly Virtues – (Episode: "Surface of Innocence") (1967) Market in Honey Lane (3 episodes, 1967, 1969) Sexton Blake – (Episodes: "The Invicta Ray") (1968) Man in a Suitcase – (Episode: "Which Way Did He Go, McGill?") (1968) Detective – (Episode: "The Golden Dart") (1968) Dixon of Dock Green – (Episode: "Number 13") (1968) The Troubleshooters – (Episode: "A Very Special Relationship") (1969) Who-Dun-It – (Episode: "A High Class Death") (1969) Dixon of Dock Green – (Episode: "Breaking Point") (1969) Fraud Squad – (Episode: "Remission-Negative") (1970) Crime of Passion – (Episode: "Louis") (1971) The Persuaders! – (Episode: "Take Seven") (1971) Dixon of Dock Green – (Episode: "The Man from the Ministry") (1971) The Flaxton Boys (1971) New Scotland Yard – (Episode: "Fire in a Honey Pot") (1972) Late Night Theatre – (4 Episodes – "Steely Jack"/ "Death to the General"/ "The Kong Ting Ruby"/ "The Gypsy's Revenge") (1972–1973) General Hospital (1973–1975)