Sandra Dickinson
Encyclopedia
Sandra Dickinson is an American-British actress. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama
in London. She has often played a dumb blonde
with a high-pitched voice in the UK – notably commencing in the St. Bruno TV advertisements in the early 1970s.
Both Dickinson and then husband Peter Davison
appeared together in former Doctor Who
producer John Nathan-Turner
's production of the holiday pantomime
Cinderella
in 1983.
Dickinson has also appeared in an episode of HBO's Tales from the Crypt
series, also starring Malcolm McDowell
as a neurotic vampire who prefers bloodbanks to actual victims.
Made a guest appearance in the BBC1 drama Casualty
in February 2001, playing Debbie Hall, a tourist who arrives in Holby City Hospital with her husband, who has been stabbed by a mugger.
She has played Queen Camilla in Carlisle pantomime production of Snow White & the Seven Dwarves in 2007, and in 2008 she played Fairy Godmother
at the Towngate Theatre Basildon's production of Cinderella
& once again played Fairy Godmother
in the Harlow
Playhouse theatre production of Cinderella
in 2009 alongside her now husband Mark Osmond.
She played Lady Gloria Gransford in New Tricks Season 6 episode 4 "Shadow Show" in 2009.
From 18 December 2010 to 9 January 2011 Dickinson played the evil Queen Malificent in the pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Corn Exchange in Exeter
.
She played Debbie in White Van Man
series 1 episode 5 "Honest", first broadcast 12 April 2011.
, and grew up in Maryland. Her father, Harold S. Searles
, was a psychoanalyst and her mother, Sylvia, was a nurse. In 1969, Dickinson met her first husband, Briton Hugh Dickinson (whose surname she still uses as her stage name), moving to the United Kingdom with him the following year. They were married for five years. She married the British actor Peter Davison
on 26 December 1978, and they were divorced in 1994. Together they composed and performed the theme tune to the 1980s children's programme Button Moon. They have a daughter, Georgia Moffett
, born 25 December 1984, who is also an actress.
Dickinson married her third husband, a second British actor, Mark Osmond, on 16 August 2009. The wedding was filmed for Four Weddings
, a reality TV show where four couples compete to have theirs voted the best wedding; hers came third. Her grandson gave her away. The wedding took place in Shepperton, where the couple have lived since 2007. Dickinson became a British Citizen the same year, and also runs a theatre school there (which also has a base in Ealing) called the Close Up Theatre School.
Central School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
in London. She has often played a dumb blonde
Dumb blonde
The blonde stereotype, the stereotypical perception of blond-haired women, has two aspects. On one hand, over the history, blonde hair in women has been considered attractive and desirable...
with a high-pitched voice in the UK – notably commencing in the St. Bruno TV advertisements in the early 1970s.
Credits
Her roles include:- TrillianTrillian (character)Tricia McMillan, also known as Trillian Astra, is a fictional character from Douglas Adams' series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. She is most commonly referred to simply as "Trillian", a modification of her birth name, which she adopted because it sounded more "space-like". According to the...
in the television versionThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV series)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy broadcast in January and February 1981 on BBC Two...
of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
Sandra Dickinson said in an interview in The Making of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy that when she heard that she had been suggested for the role of Trillian, she thought it completely mad - Sandra Dickinson was blond and fair-skinned, and in the Hitch Hiker book, Trillian is described as dark and looking "slightly Arabic". However, during the screen test, Douglas AdamsDouglas AdamsDouglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
was sufficiently impressed with her acting skills that when Dickinson suggested wryly, "I've got to get my Union Jack lenses in" (i.e., practice my English accent), Douglas AdamsDouglas AdamsDouglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
asked her to use her natural voice and accent. Dickinson later returned to the "Hitchhiker's" universe to play Tricia MacMillan in the fourth and fifth radio series produced by Above the Title for BBC Radio 4. - Emily in A Man for Emily in The Tomorrow PeopleThe Tomorrow PeopleThe Tomorrow People is a British children's science fiction television series, devised by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran between 1973 and 1979. The series was re-imagined in 1992, Roger Price acting as executive producer...
- Tina in the sitcom 2point4 children2point4 children2point4 Children is a 1990s British sitcom that was created and written by Andrew Marshall. It follows the lives of the Porter family; an average family that is persistently faced with surreal situations and sheer bad luck....
- A stage production of The Owl and the PussycatThe Owl and the Pussycat"The Owl and the Pussycat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1871.- Background :Lear wrote the poem for a three-year-old girl, Janet Symonds, the daughter of Lear's friend poet John Addington Symonds and his wife Catherine Symonds...
, where the leads were herself and her then husband Peter DavisonPeter DavisonPeter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
. - Barefoot in the ParkBarefoot in the ParkThis article is about the Broadway production. For the film adaptation see Barefoot in the Park .Barefoot in the Park is a romantic comedy by Neil Simon. The original Broadway production, directed by Mike Nichols, opened October 23, 1963, with the four lead roles taken by actors Elizabeth Ashley ,...
- London stage production from 1984, again with Davison as a pair of American newlyweds adjusting to life in their new high-rise apartment. - A parallel universeParallel universe (fiction)A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
version of Trillian (AKA Tricia McMillan) in the Quintessential Phase of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide radio series. - Zelda in Cover, a 1981 drama series from Thames TelevisionThames TelevisionThames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
, set in a recruitment and testing agency for the spy service. - In 1983, she made a cameo appearance in the sequel film Superman IIISuperman IIISuperman III is a 1983 superhero film and the third film in the Superman film series based upon the long-running DC Comics superhero. Christopher Reeve, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure and Margot Kidder are joined by new cast members Annette O'Toole, Annie Ross, Pamela Stephenson, Robert Vaughn and...
as the wife of a man who puts a grapefruit in her face after seeing total of a bill from Bloomingdale'sBloomingdale'sBloomingdale's is an American department store owned by Macy's, Inc. .Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side...
. A year later, Sandra makes an appearance in SupergirlSupergirl (film)Supergirl is a 1984 superhero film directed by Jeannot Szwarc, and stars Helen Slater in her first motion picture role in the title role of the DC Comics superheroine Supergirl. Faye Dunaway played the primary villain, Selena. The film was a spin-off from the Salkinds' Superman film series which...
. - Maggie in the 1996 Doctor Who BBC radio serial The Ghosts of N-SpaceThe Ghosts of N-SpaceThe Ghosts of N-Space is a radio audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was recorded in 1994 and finally broadcast in six parts on BBC Radio 2 from January 20 to February 24, 1996. This was the second Third Doctor radio play, following The...
.
Both Dickinson and then husband Peter Davison
Peter Davison
Peter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
appeared together in former Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
producer John Nathan-Turner
John Nathan-Turner
John Nathan-Turner was the ninth producer of the long-running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, from 1980 until it was effectively cancelled in 1989...
's production of the holiday pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
in 1983.
Dickinson has also appeared in an episode of HBO's Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt (TV series)
Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO...
series, also starring Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell is an English actor with a career spanning over forty years.McDowell is principally known for his roles in the controversial films If...., O Lucky Man!, A Clockwork Orange and Caligula...
as a neurotic vampire who prefers bloodbanks to actual victims.
Made a guest appearance in the BBC1 drama Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
in February 2001, playing Debbie Hall, a tourist who arrives in Holby City Hospital with her husband, who has been stabbed by a mugger.
She has played Queen Camilla in Carlisle pantomime production of Snow White & the Seven Dwarves in 2007, and in 2008 she played Fairy Godmother
Fairy godmother
In fairy tales, a fairy godmother is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies...
at the Towngate Theatre Basildon's production of Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
& once again played Fairy Godmother
Fairy godmother
In fairy tales, a fairy godmother is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies...
in the Harlow
Harlow
Harlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley, The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt.The district has a current population of 78,889...
Playhouse theatre production of Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
in 2009 alongside her now husband Mark Osmond.
She played Lady Gloria Gransford in New Tricks Season 6 episode 4 "Shadow Show" in 2009.
From 18 December 2010 to 9 January 2011 Dickinson played the evil Queen Malificent in the pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Corn Exchange in Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
.
She played Debbie in White Van Man
White Van Man (TV series)
White Van Man is a British sitcom created by Adrian Poynton and first broadcast on BBC Three and BBC HD in 2011. Will Mellor plays Ollie, a man with business dreams who has to put them on hold while he takes over the family handyman business from his father Tony played by Clive Mantle. It was...
series 1 episode 5 "Honest", first broadcast 12 April 2011.
Personal life
Dickinson was born in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and grew up in Maryland. Her father, Harold S. Searles
Harold Searles
Harold F. Searles, M.D. is one of the pioneers of psychiatric medicine specialising in psychoanalytic treatments of schizophrenia. Harold Searles has the reputation of being a therapeutic virtuoso with difficult and borderline patients; and of being 'not only a great analyst but also a sagacious...
, was a psychoanalyst and her mother, Sylvia, was a nurse. In 1969, Dickinson met her first husband, Briton Hugh Dickinson (whose surname she still uses as her stage name), moving to the United Kingdom with him the following year. They were married for five years. She married the British actor Peter Davison
Peter Davison
Peter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
on 26 December 1978, and they were divorced in 1994. Together they composed and performed the theme tune to the 1980s children's programme Button Moon. They have a daughter, Georgia Moffett
Georgia Moffett
Georgia Elizabeth Moffett is a British actress. Moffett was born in West London, the daughter of actors Peter Davison and Sandra Dickinson....
, born 25 December 1984, who is also an actress.
Dickinson married her third husband, a second British actor, Mark Osmond, on 16 August 2009. The wedding was filmed for Four Weddings
Four Weddings
Four Weddings is a programme shown on the UK channel, Sky Living. The first series was aired in 2009 with a second series in 2010 and a third in 2011....
, a reality TV show where four couples compete to have theirs voted the best wedding; hers came third. Her grandson gave her away. The wedding took place in Shepperton, where the couple have lived since 2007. Dickinson became a British Citizen the same year, and also runs a theatre school there (which also has a base in Ealing) called the Close Up Theatre School.