Angela Daphne Anne Pleasence ( PLEZ-ənss; 17 September 1941 – 6 April 2026) was an English actress. She was known for her roles in Coronation Street and Doctor Who.
Trained in theatre, Pleasence's first major film role came in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973), followed by roles in horror films such as From Beyond the Grave and Symptoms (1974). She then worked extensively in television productions and British miniseries throughout the 1980s and 1990s. She had minor roles in the films The Search for John Gissing (2001), Gangs of New York (2002), and The Gigolos (2005).
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Life and career
Pleasence was born in Chapeltown, near Sheffield, then in the County of York, West Riding, to actors Miriam Walker (later Raymond) and Donald Pleasence. She studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating with an Acting (RADA Diploma) in 1965.
She married actor Michael Cadman in 1964. They had one son together and divorced in 1970.
She made her stage debut in 1964 as Titania in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. She appeared extensively in London theatre productions throughout the 1970s.
She was known for her performance as Catherine Howard in the 1970 BBC serial The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Her other television credits include Dixon of Dock Green, Les Misérables, The Barchester Chronicles (alongside her father), Mansfield Park, Silas Marner, Midsomer Murders, Whitechapel, Agatha Christie's Poirot and Agatha Christie's Marple.
In 1978, she voiced the role of Ophelia in a BBC radio play production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Pleasence is also noted for her roles in horror films of the 1970s, including From Beyond the Grave, Symptoms, and The Godsend. She made a guest appearance satirising her earlier performances, in the parody series Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible.
She also appeared as the Ghost of Christmas Past in the 1984 holiday television film A Christmas Carol, Sister Cecilia in Stealing Heaven (1988), a crowd member in Martin Scorsese's 2002 crime drama Gangs of New York, Elizabeth I in the 2007 Doctor Who episode "The Shakespeare Code", and Winnie in the BBC drama Happy Valley (2016).
Angela Pleasence died on 6 April 2026, at the age of 84.