Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar (born 5 March 1939) is a retired English actress. After beginning her career in Shakespearean theatre she rose to fame for her performance in William Wyler's thriller The Collector (1965), which earned her a Golden Globe Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
Samantha Eggar was born Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar[2][3] on 5 March 1939[4] in Hampstead, London, to Ralph Alfred James Eggar (a brigadier in the British Army) and Muriel Olga Palache-Bouma, who was of Dutch and Portuguese descent.[5][6] The initials of the two triplets of given names form the initials of each of her parents' first lovers. Soon after her birth, her family moved to rural Bledlow, Buckinghamshire, during World War II, where she spent her childhood.[2]
Eggar was brought up as a Roman Catholic and educated at St Mary's Providence Convent in Woking, Surrey. Reflecting on her time at convent school, Eggar said: "The nuns didn't have too much success with me – I've always had a violent temper. In fact, once I almost killed one of the nuns."[3] At age 16 she began to go by the name Samantha.[2] Although Eggar expressed interest in acting at a young age, she was urged against a career in the theatre by her parents. She was offered a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts but instead studied fashion for two years at the Thanet School of Art.[3] After completing her studies she enrolled at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.[7]
In 1963 she played the lead role of Claire Avery in 'Marcia', a second-season episode of The Saint. After her appearance in The Saint Eggar did not appear on television for 10 years, instead focusing exclusively on feature films.
In 1965 Eggar appeared in the thriller The Collector, directed by William Wyler, playing a kidnap victim. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe award for her performance.[10] She was also awarded Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966.[11] On her role as Miranda in The Collector Eggar has said: "My biggest relationship on set was with William Wyler. The tension on set was real. And if the tension wasn't there – if I didn't exude precisely what he wanted – well, Willi just poured cold water over me."[12]
Although she co-starred with Yul Brynner in the television series Anna and the King (1972) she did not make another television guest appearance until 1973, when she starred in the episode 'The Cardboard House' of the romantic anthology series Love Story. That same year she played Phyllis Dietrichson in a TV remake of the 1944 film Double Indemnity.[13]
Move to United States
In 1973, Eggar moved to the United States, settling in Los Angeles, and appeared first in television, guest-starring in episodes of Starsky & Hutch', Hart to Hart and Columbo, the latter with Peter Falk and Theodore Bikel in the episode 'The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case'. She would go on to star in a number of horror films, including A Name for Evil (1973) and Demonoid Messenger of Death (1981).
Eggar was also in the Canadian movie Why Shoot the Teacher?, a dramatic comedy filmed in Alberta by Silvio Narizzano that went on to be the most successful Canadian movie that year. But it is another Canadian movie that was to become one of Samantha's best known film, David Cronenberg's cult sci-fi film The Brood (1979).
She also appeared as Maggie Gioberti in 'The Vintage Years', the pilot for the drama Falcon Crest, but was replaced by Susan Sullivan when the series went into production.[3] She appeared twice on The Love Boat, first charming ship's captain, Merrill Stubing (played by Gavin McLeod), as fortune-teller Mary-Louise Murphy in 2 March 1979's 'A Funny Valentine'. Her second sailing, in 'Touchdown Twins', which was aired on 14 February 1981, was as Meg Chase, the mother of Billy (played by Philip Brown (actor)) whose friend Frank (played by Vincent Van Patten) develops a crush on Eggar's character. She appeared in the drama Dark Horse (1992), followed by the superhero film The Phantom (1996). In 1997, she provided the voice of Hera in Disney's animated film Hercules; she would also supply the voice for the subsequent television series. Eggar also had a role in the sci-fi thriller The Astronaut's Wife (1999), which starred Johnny Depp.
She has appeared as the wife of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's brother Robert on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, and as Sarah Templeton, the wife of Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland), on the short-lived television series Commander in Chief, which starred Geena Davis. In the year 2000, she had a brief run as Charlotte Devane in the American soap opera All My Children. In 2003, she appeared in the first season of Cold Case, episode 14 ("The Boy in the Box") as Sister Vivian. In 2009, she played the mother of Jack and Becky Gallagher in season 1, episode 11 ("Lines in the Sand") of the Fox television series Mental.
Personal life
In 1964 she married actor Tom Stern and the couple have two children: film producer Nicolas Stern and actress Jenna Stern.[15] Eggar and Stern divorced in 1971.[16]
Eggar holds dual UK and American citizenship.[17] She is retired and resides in Los Angeles.[12]
