Jean Marsh, Upstairs, Downstairs Star And Doctor Who Vet, Dead At 90

Jean Marsh, the actress who co-created and starred in Upstairs, Downstairs, has died. She was 90.

Marsh passed away Sunday at her home in London from complications of dementia, her close friend, filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg, told the New York Times.

Marsh co-created Upstairs, Downstairs, and starred in the series as parlormaid Rose Buck. The ITV drama ran from 1971-1975, during which time Marsh was nominated for three primetime Emmys. She won once in 1976 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. BBC Wales went on to produce a continuation of the show that ran from 2010-2012. Marsh reprised her role as Rose, and earned her fourth Emmy nomination.

Doctor Who fans might recognize Marsh as Sara Kingdom, who fights the mutant Daleks alongside William Hartnell's Doctor in Season 3 of the BBC series in 1965-66. Her other TV credits include The Informer, Nine to Five, No Strings, The Tomorrow People, The Ghost Hunter and Sensitive Skin.

On the film side, she had roles in Willow, The Eagle Has Landed, Frenzy, Return to Oz and more. Marsh's most recent acting credit was in 2022 for Disney+'s TV reboot of Willow.