Judy Geeson

Frequently called "fresh faced" during her ingenue period, and still sweet-smiled in middle age, Judy Geeson made her stage debut at age nine, and began appearing on British TV by age 12. Her screen debut as Pamela Dare, a thoughtful and awakening schoolgirl with a crush on Sidney Poitier's upright schoolteacher, in "To Sir With Love" (1967) brought her notice and acclaim. She went on to play provocative leads in a number of British and other films, including "Prudence and the Pill" (1968), "Brannigan" (1975), the thriller "Dominique" (1977) and "Horror Planet" (1980). She seemed to have a predilection for screen pregnancies: in "Prudence and the Pill," she played David Niven's sexually-active niece who finds herself with child while in "Horror Planet," she was impregnated by a monster and becomes a killer. Geeson spent much of the 80s concentrating on stage and film roles. She returned to features in 1991 to co-star in "Young Goodman Brown," based on a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, but it went unreleased for almost six years.

The attractive blonde found a better range of roles on the small screen. While still in her ingenue stage, Geeson spent two years (1965-67) as the teenaged daughter in a family that moved from London to the countryside in the British drama series "The Newcomers" and essayed the role of Lucy Honeychurch in a BBC 1973 adaptation of "A Room with a View." As she matured, Geeson performed in a range of comic and dramatic roles, including a role as a leader on a planet ruled by women where men were slaves in "Star Maidens" (syndicated, 1977-78). She was Emmy-nominated for a guest appearance on "Archie Bunker's Place" (CBS, 1981), and often guest-starred on primetime series, including "Murder, She Wrote," "The A-Team" (NBC, 1986), "MacGyver (ABC, 1988) and "Star Trek: Voyager" (UPN, 1995), the latter in the recurring role of Sandrine. Geeson achieved a more lasting recurring role on the highly regarded and popular Helen Hunt-Paul Reiser comedy series "Mad About You" (NBC, 1992-99), playing their snooty British neighbor Helen. Other notable credits include "Poldark II" and "Danger U.X.B.," both seen in the USA on PBS's "Masterpiece Theatre." She came full-circle in 1996 when she reprised the role of Pamela in the CBS TV-movie "To Sir With Love II," making a cameo appearance in a scene in which a retiring Sidney Poitier is being honored. Geeson, whose younger sister Sally is also an actress, was formerly married actor-director Kristoffer Tabori, with whom she appeared in the Off-Broadway play "The Common Pursuit."