Sarah Douglas (actress)

For other people with a similar name, see Sarah Douglas.

Sarah Douglas
Douglas at GalaxyCon Richmond in 2023
Born	(1952-12-12) 12 December 1952 Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
Alma mater	Rose Bruford College
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1966–present
Spouse	Richard LeParmentier ​ ​ (m. 1981; div. 1984)​
Website	www.sarah-douglas.com

Sarah Douglas (born 12 December 1952) is an English actress. She played the Kryptonian supervillain Ursa in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), Pamela Lynch in the 1980s primetime drama series Falcon Crest (1983–85), and Jinda Kol Rozz in one episode of Supergirl in 2018.

Her other roles include evil Queen Taramis in the 1984 film Conan the Destroyer and Mrs. Averill in the A Christmas Prince Netflix film series.

Early life

Douglas was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, the second daughter of Beryl (née Smith), a physiotherapist who often worked upon RSC actors, and of Edward Douglas, a career member of the Royal Air Force. Having been educated locally at Alcester Grammar School, she then trained with the National Youth Theatre and the Rose Bruford College before turning professional.

Career

Eventually, Douglas's career took her in front of the camera with small appearances in the 1973 film The Final Programme (alternatively known as The Last Days of Man on Earth) and Rollerball in 1975. After this, she became known to British television audiences in the 1970s by appearing in The Howerd Confessions, the TV version of Dracula, The Inheritors, Space: 1999, and Return of the Saint, and appeared in the film The People That Time Forgot and the controversial and rarely seen film The Brute (1977), in which she played an abused wife. Her first major role was that of Ursa in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), having beaten 600 actresses to the part. In 1984, she played another fantasy villainess in Conan the Destroyer as the evil Queen Taramis. Douglas also continued to appear on television, and was a series regular in the short-lived British sitcom Thundercloud in 1979. Throughout the 1980s, she went on to appear in a variety of guest roles in UK and US series such as The Professionals, Bergerac, Hotel, Magnum, P.I., Sledge Hammer! and Remington Steele. However, her most prominent television role is that of Pamela Lynch in the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest, which she played for two seasons from 1983 to 1985. She also played another "Pamela" in the 1984 television miniseries V: The Final Battle.

In the 1990s, she returned to science fiction, guest-starring in Babylon 5 (in the 1994 episode "Deathwalker"), and in Stargate SG-1 (in the 1998 two-part episode "The Tok'ra"). Douglas has also appeared in a variety of genre films, including Solarbabies, The Return of Swamp Thing, Beastmaster 2, Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge and Return of the Living Dead 3. She also voiced characters in episodes of several animated TV series, including Iron Man, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Superman: The Animated Series, Heavy Gear and Batman of the Future.

In 2003, Douglas returned to the UK to appear in a nationwide tour of Hamlet playing alongside actress Emily Lloyd. The following year, she completed a run in London's West End in the play Roast Beef playing the role of Clytemnestra. Also in 2004, Douglas completed an audio commentary for the Special Edition DVD of Conan the Destroyer.

In 2006, she performed in the audio drama Sapphire and Steel: The Mystery of the Missing Hour alongside David Warner. Also in 2006, she was reunited with many of her Superman co-stars in Los Angeles as a new version of Superman II (known as Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut) was released with previously unseen footage. At the same time, a new Superman DVD boxset was released, featuring an interview with Douglas.

She appeared in the 2007 Sci-Fi Pictures original film Gryphon, playing the mother of Jonathan LaPaglia's character.

In 2008, she worked on further audio productions, and reunited with David Warner for a new BBC Audio CD entitled The Brightonomicon. She has participated in the audio recordings for Stargate Atlantis. Another 2008 screen credit was as a cancer-stricken transsexual in the BBC daytime series Doctors.

In 2009, she completed work on a series of radio plays for the BBC. The first to air on BBC Radio 4 was Cry Babies, in which she performed alongside Alex Jennings. The play, written by film critic Kim Newman, was aired on 9 March 2009. A second play, with Derek Jacobi, aired on 13 March 2009 on Radio 4.

She then appeared in the television film Witchville which premiered on SyFy on 22 May 2010.

In June 2010, she voiced the character of Professor Meadows in the video game "Blood of The Cybermen", part of the Doctor Who: The Adventure Games series which was made available for free download from the official Doctor Who website. She is credited as the voice of The Entity in the third game, simply named TARDIS. She plays Jones, a class 14 super computer, in the fourth adventure game in the series, Shadows of the Vashta Nerada.

In 2012, Douglas voiced the recurring role of Scar in Green Lantern: The Animated Series. She is also involved with a sci-fi audio series entitled The Flashback, which has been in production on both sides of the Atlantic. 2012 also saw the release of the comedy horror film Strippers vs Werewolves, in which Douglas appeared. The film co-stars Robert Englund, Steven Berkoff, Adele Silva and Billy Murray. In October 2012, Douglas completed recording an audiobook version of the Age of the Five fantasy novel trilogy by Trudi Canavan for Big Finish Productions. After this, she returned to the London stage appearing in The Hallowe'en Sessions at the Leicester Square Theatre from 29 October to 3 November 2012 to positive reviews.

In September 2015, Douglas made a couple of appearances in Emmerdale as a hospital consultant as a surprise for her mother Beryl, an avid fan of the show.

In 2016, Douglas appeared in writer/director Kenneth Mader's quantum time travel thriller "Displacement" as the mysterious Dr. Miles.

In 2017, Douglas joined the cast of the Netflix film A Christmas Prince as Mrs Averill, a palace advisor. She reprised the role a year later in A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding and in 2019 for the third film A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby

In January 2018, the directors of Supergirl continued the tradition of re-casting former Superman stars, and cast Douglas as Jinda Kol Rozz in the episode "Fort Rozz".

Personal life

Douglas married actor Richard LeParmentier in 1981. They divorced in 1984, and he died in 2013.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	The Final Programme	Catherine
1977	The Brute	Diane
	The People That Time Forgot	Charly
1978	Superman	Ursa
1980	Superman II
1984	Conan the Destroyer	Queen Taramis
1986	Solarbabies	Shandray
1987	Steele Justice	Kay
1988	Nightfall	Roa
1989	The Return of Swamp Thing	Dr. Lana Zurrell
1991	Dalí	Gala
	Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time	Lyranna
	The Art of Dying	Sara
	Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge	Elsa Toulon	Direct-to-video
1992	Meatballs 4	Monica Shavetts
1993	Return of the Living Dead 3	Lieutenant Colonel Sinclair
	Quest of the Delta Knights	Madam Maaydeed	Direct-to-video
1994	Mirror, Mirror 2: Raven Dance	Nicolette
1995	Spitfire	Carla Davis
	The Demolitionist	The Surgeon
	Voodoo	Professor Conner
	Monster Mash	Countess Natasha 'Nasty' Dracula
1997	Asylum	Dr. Emily Hill
1998	Hell Mountain	Daneeka
1999	Changing Directions	Sarah Johnson	Short film
2007	Gryphon	Queen Cassandra of Delphi
2011	Halloween: H33	Dr. Loomis	Short film
2012	Strippers vs Werewolves	Jeanette
2016	Displacement	Dr. Miles
2017	A Christmas Prince	Mrs. Averill
2018	A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding
2019	A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1966	The Spies	Maria	Episode: "A Lamb to the Flock"
1973	ITV Sunday Night Theatre	Joyce Langland	Episode: "Harlequinade"
	Black and Blue	Beautiful Girl	Episode: "Secrets"
1974	Dracula	Dracula's Wife	Television film
	Justice	Jenny Deane	2 episodes
	The Inheritors	Jennie Garrett	TV series
1976	BBC2 Playhouse	Miss Radson	Episode: "The Mind Beyond: Meriel, the Ghost Girl"
	The Howerd Confessions	Lola	Episode: "1.6"
	Space: 1999	B	Episode: "The AB Chrysalis"
1977	Warship	Amanda	Episode: "Robertson Crusoe"
	Esther Waters	Miss Peggy	Episode: "1.1"
	Seven Faces of Women	Marianne	Episode: "She: Eye of the Beholder"
1978	Return of the Saint	Sheila Northcott	Episode: "The Arrangement"
1979	Room Service	Mrs. Martindale	Episode: "1.7"
	Thundercloud	Bella Harrington	TV series
1980	The Professionals	Dr. Kate Ross	Episode: "Wild Justice"
1981	Bergerac	Anne Beresford	Episode: "Last Chance for a Loser"
1983–1985	Falcon Crest	Pamela Lynch	51 episodes: recurring (season 3), main cast (season 4)
1984	V: The Final Battle	Pamela	TV miniseries
1985	Murder, She Wrote	Violet Weems	Episode: "Sing a Song of Murder"
1986	Magnum, P.I.	Isobel Dumout / Countess Jacklyn Fabre Dumout	Episode: "All Thieves on Deck"
	Hotel	Stella Falco	Episode: "Hearts Divided"
	The Wizard	Lady Whitehurst	Episode: "It Takes a Chimp"
1987	Remington Steele	Shannon Wayne	Episode: "Steele Hanging in There"
	Matlock	Barbara Sutcliffe	Episode: "The Therapist"
	Sledge Hammer!	Mrs. Emily Carstairs	Episode: "Play It Again Sledge"
	Eight Is Enough: A Family Reunion	Leona Stark	Television film
1989	A Fine Romance	Dr. Emma Gabor	Episode: "It's Just the Gypsy in My Soul"
1990	Father Dowling Mysteries	Mrs. Gibbons	Episode: "The Royal Mystery"
	Super Force	Dr. Verona	Episode: "The Crime Doctor"
1991	Tagget	Mrs. Sands	Television film
1993	Tarzán	Kiki Bluet	Episode: "Tarzan and the Fountain of Youth"
	Almost Home	Lady Harrington	Episode: "The Fox and the Hound"
1994	Babylon 5	Deathwalker / Jha'Dur	Episode: "Deathwalker"
	Iron Man	Alana Ulanova	Voice, episode: "Enemy Within, Enemy Without"
1995	Gargoyles	Una	Voice, episode: "M.I.A."
1996	The Stepford Husbands	Dr. Frances Borzage	Television film
	To the Ends of Time	Karnissa
	The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest	Mrs. Cadbury / Woman	Voice, episode: "Village of the Doomed"
1997	L.A. Heat	Wilma	Episode: "Electra"
1998	Stargate SG-1	Yosuuf / Garshaw of Belote	Episode: "The Tok'ra"
1999	Superman: The Animated Series	Mala	Voice, episode: "Absolute Power"
1999–2000	Batman Beyond	Donna Walker / Queen	Voice, 2 episodes
2001	Heavy Gear: The Animated Series	Col. Magnilda Rykka	Voice
2005	The Brief	Crown Court Judge	Episode: "Blame"
2008	Zorro: Generation Z	Gloria Sheffield	Episode: "Poll Axed"
	Doctors	Stacy Morgan	Episode: "Hearts and Minds"
2010	Witchville	The Red Queen	Television film
2012–2013	Green Lantern: The Animated Series	Scar	Voice, 4 episodes
2015	Emmerdale	Consultant	2 episodes
2018	Supergirl	Jinda Kol Roz	Episode: "Fort Rozz"
2019	Holby City	Victoria Parker	Episode: "Ex Marks The Spot"

External links

• Official website
• Sarah Douglas at IMDb
• Sarah Douglas at the TCM Movie Database
• Sarah Douglas at AllMovie