Françoise Pascal

Françoise Pascal
A modern picture of her
Born	Pascal (1949-10-14) 14 October 1949 Vacoas, Mauritius
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Website	francoisepascal.co.uk

Françoise Pascal (born 14 October 1949) is an actress/model who was born to French Mauritian parents; Mauritius was then a colony of the United Kingdom. She is best known for her comedy role in the British sitcom Mind Your Language (1977–79).

Career

The career of one of the most beguiling leading ladies has been an adventurous one that has taken her from being in the centre of Swinging London in the mid sixties, to cult status as a model and actress in the seventies. Finally finding solace as a humanitarian dedicated to helping the under-privileged and elderly.

Born 14 October 1949 on the Island of Mauritius. She was educated in Paris and London. Her first taste of showbiz came when she was dancing on Top of the Pops in the 60s. Her first film was 'Loving Feeling' (1968), a film by Bashoo Sen.

Whilst she was having lunch with her then partner Richard Johnson at the White Elephant in Mayfair. Kirk Douglas spotted her and offered her the lead role in the film Scalawag but she turned it down to do a Jean Rollin film 'The Iron Rose' (1973). Her breakthrough role was playing Paola in There's a Girl in My Soup (1970) with Peter Sellers. She also appeared in Penthouse magazine in 1970 in Israel and for Men Only "...freezing my ass off near the Thames in a house that had no heating ... Would never do that again!" She went on to do the 1971 black comedy Burke & Hare, playing Marie. In 1974, she appeared in another Sellers' film, Soft Beds, Hard Battles. After that appearance, she moved to France where she starred in such films as Si tu n'en veux pas (French Undressing, 1974). In 1972 the producer of the Jean Rollin's horror film La Rose de Fer offered her the lead in the film, although she was not Rollin's choice. Her performance won rave reviews but the film was not a success. Meanwhile, by 1976 she had returned to England to star in Keep It Up Downstairs alongside Diana Dors, Jack Wild and William Russell. Her 11 tempestuous years with the legendary film actor Richard Johnson ended in 1980, a son Nicholas was born in 1976 during their years together.

Her first television work came in October 1971 with a role in Coronation Street, playing Ray Langton's friend. Then came two roles in BBC's Play of the Month anthology strand Tennessee Williams' Summer & Smoke (1972) with Lee Remick and The Adventures of Don Quixote (1973) with Rex Harrison. She did numerous guest starring appearances in many television comedy series including 'Happy Ever After' with Terry Scott and June Whitfield. Happy Ever After and the game show Blankety Blank, hosted by Terry Wogan, all for the BBC. She co-starred in an episode of the thriller You're On Your Own starring Denis Quilley, also for the BBC.

In the mid 1970s, she met comedy writer Vince Powell at Thames Television while co-starring on one of his TV comedy shows, Rule Britannia! Later, she learned that he was writing the part of Danielle Favre for her in his sitcom Mind Your Language. She did three seasons of the show. She then commenced on a stage career with Happy Birthday (reuniting with Frazer Hines), and starred in a pantomime of Aladdin. Pascal left for the United States in 1982, where she had a two year contract in The Young and The Restless. Other shows she appeared in while in Hollywood included Gavillan, My Man Adam, and Lightning, the White Stallion. Her stage presence in Twelfth Night as Olivia won her rave reviews.

Personal life

On 4 December 2010, she joined Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood at Claygate Village for turning on the village Christmas lights and singing a solo of Silent Night.

In December 2012, Françoise took part in the ITV1 programme Storage Hoarders, in which she sorted and sold at auction some of her more valuable possessions which she had kept in storage for months.

Françoise has a quote with which she identifies. "As Marilyn Monroe said, 'I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.'"

Further reading

• 'As I Am' Autobiography Information, Published by Pegasus Elliot McKenzie 2012
• Simon Sheridan Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema (2011) (fourth edition) (Titan Publishing, London)

External links

• Official website
• Françoise Pascal at IMDb
• 2010 interview