Lisa Harrow

A supporting player and occasional lead of TV and film, Lisa Harrow is far more established as a stage actress in Britain, where she has appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) since 1969. A native of New Zealand, Harrow had many of her better chances in films once she reached middle-age, notably her award-winning turn as a writer whose world is shaken by the arrival of her sister in Gillian Armstrong's "The Last Days of Chez Nous" and as a troubled woman who mistakes a homeless man for a great film director in Jonathan Nossiter's "Sunday" (1997).

Harrow attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before joining the RSC where she honed her craft in such roles as Olivia in "Twelfth Night" and Desdemona in "Othello." She entered films in 1974 in the Italian-made "Il Sorriso del Grande Tentatore/The Devil Is a Woman/The Tempter," a forgotten rip-off of 1972's "The Exorcist." She lent support to the kindly veterinarian of "All Things Bright and Beautiful" (1974; aired in the USA on NBC in 1975), but her subsequent film appearances have been sporadic. Harrow acted opposite then-husband Sam Neill in "The Final Conflict" (1981), the third part in "The Omen" trilogy, and co-starred as the matriarch of a troubled family who finds solace with Peter Coyote's stranger in "That Eye, The Sky" (1994). The small screen has provided the actress with numerous opportunities. Harrow was one of the stars of the syndicated sci-fi series "Star Maidens" (1977) and had one of her best role in the title role of "Nancy Astor," the American-born woman who became a member of Parliament (BBC, 1982; PBS, 1984). She was Wanda, the girl left behind by the future pontiff (Sam Neill) in the 1981 NBC biopic "From a Far Country: Pope John Paul II." More recently, Harrow co-starred as the unfaithful wife of a barrister in the British drama "Kavanagh QC" (Central Independent Television, 1995-98).