June Thorburn
Encyclopedia
June Thorburn was a popular English actress whose career was cut short by her death in an air crash.
when the city was still in a non-independent India
. She was the eldest of three children, including her sister Diana and her brother Keith.
She spent most of her schooldays in boarding schools in India, since her father was a colonel in the Indian Army and therefore her parents traveled a lot. When he retired from the military, they moved back to England.
June began writing plays from about the age of seven. Her grandfather who had also spent many years in India as a design engineer, building many important bridges, made early 'movies' and she was the star in several, the first being "Her Fourth Birthday", when she was only four years old.
In 1957 she moved back to London, where shortly thereafter she met Morten Smith-Petersen, who subsequently became her second husband. She was married to him until her death in 1967. Together with Morten, she had a second daughter named Inger-Sheleen Christabel.
(1961) and The Scarlet Blade
(1963). Her most notable film appearance was as the Forest Queen in Tom Thumb
(1958). During the early 1960s, she also appeared regularly on British television.
when it crashed into Blackdown Hill
, Sussex
, killing all 37 people aboard.
Early life
Thorburn was born in KarachiKarachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
when the city was still in a non-independent India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. She was the eldest of three children, including her sister Diana and her brother Keith.
She spent most of her schooldays in boarding schools in India, since her father was a colonel in the Indian Army and therefore her parents traveled a lot. When he retired from the military, they moved back to England.
June began writing plays from about the age of seven. Her grandfather who had also spent many years in India as a design engineer, building many important bridges, made early 'movies' and she was the star in several, the first being "Her Fourth Birthday", when she was only four years old.
Family
When she was 20 she left home and moved to London to pursue her career, where she met and married her first husband, Aldon Richard Bryse-Harvey. During their short and stressful marriage she bore one daughter in 1953, named Heather-Louise June . The marriage ended in divorce and June moved back to Hampshire , close to her family, for a couple of years until her career started to take off.In 1957 she moved back to London, where shortly thereafter she met Morten Smith-Petersen, who subsequently became her second husband. She was married to him until her death in 1967. Together with Morten, she had a second daughter named Inger-Sheleen Christabel.
Career
She appeared in her first commercial film in 1952, and began to win leading roles, in British costume dramas such as Fury at Smugglers' BayFury at Smugglers' Bay
Fury at Smugglers' Bay is a 1961 British adventure film produced, written and directed by John Gilling and starring Peter Cushing, Bernard Lee, Michèle Mercier and John Fraser. The story is based around smuggling in Cornwall...
(1961) and The Scarlet Blade
The Scarlet Blade
The Scarlet Blade is a 1963 British adventure film directed by John Gilling for Hammer Film Productions.It is a period drama set during the English Civil War. It stars Oliver Reed and Lionel Jeffries....
(1963). Her most notable film appearance was as the Forest Queen in Tom Thumb
Tom thumb (film)
Deliberately uncapitalised, tom thumb is a 1958 fantasy-musical film directed by George Pal and released by MGM. It was based on the fairy tale of the same name...
(1958). During the early 1960s, she also appeared regularly on British television.
Death
She was pregnant with her third child when returning to London from Spain on Iberia Airlines Flight 062Iberia Airlines Flight 062
Iberia Airlines Flight 062 was a twin-engined Sud Aviation Caravelle registered EC-BDD operating a scheduled flight from Malaga Airport, Spain, to London Heathrow Airport...
when it crashed into Blackdown Hill
Blackdown, Sussex
Blackdown, or Black Down, is the highest hill in the historic county of Sussex, at 280 metres , and is second only to Leith Hill in southeastern England....
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, killing all 37 people aboard.
Filmography
- The Pickwick PapersThe Pickwick Papers (film)The Pickwick Papers is a 1952 British film from George Minter of the Charles Dickens classic. Both screenplay and direction were by Noel Langley. It was awarded a Golden Bear in Russia where the rights were sold for £10,000.-Cast:...
(1952) .... Arabella Allen - The Triangle (1953) .... Mitzi (segment "American Duel")
- The Cruel SeaThe Cruel Sea (film)The Cruel Sea is a 1953 British film from Ealing Studios starring Jack Hawkins and Donald Sinden, with Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker, Liam Redmond, Virginia McKenna and Moira Lister...
(1953) .... Doris Ferraby - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., PresentsDouglas Fairbanks, Jr., PresentsDouglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents, is a 1950s syndicated anthology series hosted and occasionally starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.. The series offered Buster Keaton in his first dramatic role in the episode entitled "The Awakening". British actor Christopher Lee appeared in varied role in thirteen...
.... Kathleen ... (2 episodes, 1953)... aka Rheingold Theatre (USA) - The Bitter Heart (1953) TV Episode .... Kathleen - American Duel (1953) TV Episode .... Mitzi - Delayed ActionDelayed ActionDelayed Action is a 1954 British mystery film directed by John Harlow and starring Robert Ayres, June Thorburn and Alan Wheatley.-Plot:Two criminals do a deal with a suicidal man, who will confess to crimes they have committed before killing himself. However he subsequently has a change of...
(1954) .... Anne Curlew - Fast And LooseFast and Loose (1954 film)Fast and Loose is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Stanley Holloway, Kay Kendall and Brian Reece. It was based on a play by Ben Travers, in the farcical style of his Aldwych farces...
(1954) .... Barbara 'Babsie' Wickham - Orders Are OrdersOrders Are OrdersOrders Are Orders is a 1954 British comedy film directed by David Paltenghi, and featuring Peter Sellers, Sid James, Tony Hancock, Raymond Huntley, Donald Pleasence and Eric Sykes. It was a remake of the 1933 film Orders Is Orders.-Synopsis:...
(1954) .... Veronica Bellamy - Children GaloreChildren GaloreChildren Galore is a 1955 comedy film directed by Terence Fisher. It stars Eddie Byrne and June Thorburn.-Cast:* Eddie Byrne as Zacky Jones* June Thorburn as Milly Ark* Betty Ann Davies as Mrs. Ark* Richard Leech as Harry Bunnion...
(1955) .... Milly Ark - The Hornet's Nest (1955) .... Pat
- Touch and GoTouch and Go (1955 film)Touch and Go is a Technicolor British film comedy, directed by Michael Truman and released by Ealing Studios in 1955. The film was indifferently received on release and is not generally included in the canon of classic Ealing Comedies...
(1955) .... Peggy Fletcher ... aka The Light Touch - True as a TurtleTrue as a TurtleTrue as a Turtle is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Wendy Toye and starring John Gregson, Cecil Parker, June Thorburn and Keith Michell...
(1957) .... Jane Hudson ... aka Plain Sailing (USA: TV title) - RooneyRooney (film)Rooney is a 1958 British comedy film directed by George Pollock and starring John Gregson, Muriel Pavlow and Barry Fitzgerald. The film depicts the life of James Ignatius Rooney, a Gaelic sportsman at the weekends, and a Dublin rubbish collector during the week...
(1958) .... Doreen O'Flynn - 2000 Minus 60 (1958) (TV) .... Lucy
- Tom ThumbTom thumb (film)Deliberately uncapitalised, tom thumb is a 1958 fantasy-musical film directed by George Pal and released by MGM. It was based on the fairy tale of the same name...
(1958) .... Forest Queen - The Price of SilenceThe Price of Silence (1959 film)The Price of Silence is a 1959 British crime film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring Gordon Jackson, June Thorburn, Maya Koumani and Terence Alexander.-Cast:* Gordon Jackson - Roger Fenton* June Thorburn - Audrey Truscott...
(1959) .... Audrey Truscott - Broth of a BoyBroth of a BoyBroth of a Boy is a 1959 Irish comedy film directed by George Pollock and starring Barry Fitzgerald, Harry Brogan and June Thorburn. A television reporter sets out on a quest to find a very elderly man.-Cast:* Barry Fitzgerald ... Patrick Farrell...
(1959) .... Silin Lehane - Tales of the Vikings (1959) TV Series .... Jessica (unknown episodes)... aka The Vikings
- The Four Just Men (1959) TV Series .... Vicky (Richard Conte episodes) (unknown episodes)
- Transatlantic (1960) .... Judy
- Armchair TheatreArmchair TheatreArmchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968....
.... Felicity ... (2 episodes, 1957–1960) - Lord Arthur Saville's Crime (1960) TV Episode .... Sybil- Now Let Him Go (1957) TV Episode .... Felicity - Danger ManDanger ManDanger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
.... Sue Carpenter (1 episode, 1960) - The PrisonerThe PrisonerThe Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
(1960) TV Episode .... Sue Carpenter - The Three Worlds of GulliverThe Three Worlds of GulliverThe Three Worlds of Gulliver is a 1960 Columbia Pictures fantasy film loosely based upon the 18th-century English novel Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. The film stars Kerwin Mathews as the titular character, June Thorburn as his fiancée Elizabeth, and child actor Sherry Alberoni as...
(1960) .... Elizabeth ... aka The Three Worlds of Gulliver - Escort for Hire (1960) .... Terry
- The Cheaters .... Ivy (1 episode, 1961) - The Man with the Ticking Head (1961) TV Episode .... Ivy
- Fury at Smugglers' BayFury at Smugglers' BayFury at Smugglers' Bay is a 1961 British adventure film produced, written and directed by John Gilling and starring Peter Cushing, Bernard Lee, Michèle Mercier and John Fraser. The story is based around smuggling in Cornwall...
(1961) .... Jenny Trevenyan - Don't Bother to KnockDon't Bother to Knock (1961 film)Don't Bother to Knock is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Richard Todd, Nicole Maurey, Elke Sommer and John Le Mesurier.-Synopsis:...
(1961) .... Stella ... aka Why Bother to Knock (USA) - What Every Woman Knows (1961) (TV) .... Lady Sybil Tenterden
- Anna Karenina (1961) (TV)
- The Spanish SwordThe Spanish SwordThe Spanish Sword is a 1962 British adventure film directed by Ernest Morris and starring Ronald Howard, June Thorburn and Nigel Green. During the reign of Henry III a rebellion breaks out.-Cast:* Ronald Howard - Sir Richard Clovell...
(1962) .... Lady Eleanor - Design for LovingDesign for LovingDesign for Loving is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Godfrey Grayson and starring June Thorburn, Pete Murray and Soraya Rafat. Its plot concerns a beatnik who becomes a top fashion model...
(1962) .... Barbara Winters - Wuthering Heights (1962) (TV) .... Isabella
- No Hiding PlaceNo Hiding PlaceNo Hiding Place is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967....
.... Barbara Reden (1 episode, 1962) - Little Girl Stolen (1962) TV Episode .... Barbara Reden - The Scarlet BladeThe Scarlet BladeThe Scarlet Blade is a 1963 British adventure film directed by John Gilling for Hammer Film Productions.It is a period drama set during the English Civil War. It stars Oliver Reed and Lionel Jeffries....
(1963) .... Claire Judd... aka The Crimson Blade (USA) - Richard the Lionheart .... Diane (1 episode, 1963) - The Caveman (1963) TV Episode .... Diane
- Master SpyMaster SpyMaster Spy is a 1964 British spy film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring Stephen Murray, June Thorburn and Alan Wheatley.-Partial cast:* Stephen Murray as Boris Turganev* June Thorburn as Leila* Alan Wheatley as Paul Skelton...
(1964) .... Leila - Riviera Police .... Sheila Ward (1 episode, 1965) - A Shot in the Dark... and Two in the Midday Sun (1965) TV Episode .... Sheila Ward
- Blackmail (1 episode, 1966) - The Cream Off the Top (1966) TV Episode