Kate O'Mara Early life and career
Where was O'Mara born?
Where was Kate O'Mara born?
O'Mara was born Frances Meredith Carroll to John F. Carroll, an RAF flying instructor, and actress Hazel Bainbridge (born Edith Marion Bainbridge; 25 January 1910 - 7 January 1998). Her younger sister is actress Belinda Carroll. After boarding school she attended art school before becoming a full-time actress. O'Mara made her stage debut in a production of The Merchant of Venice in 1963, although her first film role was some years earlier (under the name Merrie Carroll) in Home and Away (1956) with Jack Warner, as her father, and Kathleen Harrison.  Her earliest television appearances, in the 1960s, included guest roles in Danger Man, Adam Adamant Lives!, The Saint, Z-Cars and The Avengers. In 1970, she appeared in two Hammer Studio horror films: The Vampire Lovers and The Horror of Frankenstein. In the former, she had an erotically charged scene with Ingrid Pitt, in which O'Mara was meant to be seduced; the two women were left laughing on set, however, as Pitt's fangs kept falling into O'Mara's cleavage. O'Mara's work in The Vampire Lovers impressed Hammer enough for them to offer her a contract, which she turned down, fearful of being typecast.  She had a regular role in the BBC drama series The Brothers (1975-76) as Jane Maxwell, and in the early 1980s, O'Mara starred in the BBC soap opera Triangle (1981-82), sometimes counted among the worst television series ever made. She played the villainous Rani in Doctor Who. The character, as played by O'Mara, appeared in two serials, The Mark of the Rani (1985) and Time and the Rani (1987) and the Doctor Who 30th Anniversary Special Dimensions in Time (1993), part of the Children in Need charity event.  Between these appearances in Doctor Who, she played Caress Morell in the American primetime soap opera Dynasty. As the sister of Alexis Colby (Joan Collins), O'Mara appeared in 17 episodes of the sixth season and 4 episodes of the seventh during 1986. "We had a tremendous bitchy tension between us", the actress recalled about performing opposite Collins. "My character Caress was like an annoying little mosquito who just kept coming back and biting her." O'Mara disliked living in California, preferring the change of seasons in Britain, and to her relief was released from her five-year contract after Collins told the producers that having two brunettes in the series was a bad idea. After returning to the UK, she was cast as another scheming villain, Laura Wilde, in the BBC soap Howards' Way (1989-90). CANNOTANSWER
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Kate O'Mara (born Francesca Meredith Carroll; 10 August 1939 – 30 March 2014) was an English film, stage and television actress, and writer. O'Mara made her stage debut in a 1963 production of The Merchant of Venice. Her other stage roles included Elvira in Blithe Spirit (1974), Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (1982), Cleopatra in Antony & Cleopatra (1982), Goneril in King Lear (1987) and Marlene Dietrich in Lunch with Marlene (2008).

In the cinema, O'Mara acted in two 1970 Hammer Horror films: The Vampire Lovers and The Horror of Frankenstein. On BBC television, she had regular roles in The Brothers (1975–1976), Triangle (1981–1982) and Howards' Way (1989–1990), and portrayed Doctor Who villain the Rani three times (1985–1993). She also appeared as Jackie Stone in two episodes of the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (1995–2003). On American television, she played Caress Morell, the scheming sister of Alexis Colby in the primetime soap opera Dynasty (1986).

Early life and career
O'Mara was born to John F. Carroll, an RAF flying instructor, and actress Hazel Bainbridge (born Edith Marion Bainbridge; 25 January 1910 – 7 January 1998). Her younger sister is actress Belinda Carroll. After boarding school she attended art school before becoming a full-time actress. O'Mara made her stage debut in a production of The Merchant of Venice in 1963, although her first film role was some years earlier (under the name Merrie Carroll) in Home and Away (1956) with Jack Warner, as her father, and Kathleen Harrison.

Her earliest television appearances,  in the 1960s, included guest roles in Danger Man, Adam Adamant Lives!, The Saint, Z-Cars and The Avengers. In 1970, she appeared in two Hammer Studio horror films: The Vampire Lovers and The Horror of Frankenstein. In the former, she had an erotically charged scene with Ingrid Pitt, in which O'Mara was meant to be seduced; the two women were left laughing on set, however, as Pitt's fangs kept falling into O'Mara's cleavage.  O'Mara's work in The Vampire Lovers impressed Hammer enough for them to offer her a contract, which she turned down, fearful of being typecast.

Her first major TV role was as Julia Main, wife of the main protagonist in the ITV series The Main Chance (1969). She had a regular role in the BBC drama series The Brothers (1975–1976) as Jane Maxwell, and in the early 1980s, O'Mara starred in the BBC soap opera Triangle (1981–1982), sometimes counted among the worst television series ever made. She played the villainous Rani in Doctor Who in two serials, The Mark of the Rani (1985) and Time and the Rani (1987), and also in the Doctor Who 30th anniversary spoof Dimensions in Time (1993), part of the Children in Need charity event.

Between these appearances in Doctor Who, she auditioned for the role of Sable Colby on the American primetime soap The Colbys, a spin-off of the American prime time soap opera Dynasty. Eventually, O'Mara declined the role since she was under contract with London stage play Light Up the Sky at the Old Vic Theater, and the role went to Stephanie Beacham. Shortly after, she was offered to play Caress Morell on Dynasty. As the sister of Alexis Colby (Joan Collins), O'Mara appeared in 17 episodes of the sixth season and 4 episodes of the seventh during 1986. "We had a tremendous bitchy tension between us", the actress recalled about performing opposite Collins. “My character Caress was like an annoying little mosquito who just kept coming back and biting her.” O'Mara disliked living in California, preferring the change of seasons in Britain, and to her relief was released from her five-year contract after Collins told the producers that having two brunettes in the series was a bad idea. After returning to the UK, she was cast as another scheming villain, Laura Wilde, in the BBC soap Howards' Way (1989–1990).

Later life and career

O'Mara spoke on several occasions about her experience with the casting couch. On an episode of The Word in 1994, O'Mara claimed that American producer Judd Bernard pulled down her panties during a hotel-room audition for the Elvis Presley vehicle Double Trouble. In her autobiography Vamp Until Ready: A Life Laid Bare, O'Mara described this incident and "many other close encounters with... this very unpleasant and humiliating procedure", including with a well-known television casting director, the boss of Associated Television at ATV Elstree Studios, and the director of Great Catherine.

O'Mara continued to make television appearances throughout the 1990s, including Cluedo (1990), and playing Jackie Stone (Patsy's older sister) in two episodes of Absolutely Fabulous (1995–2003). In 2001, she had a recurring role in the ITV prison drama series Bad Girls before appearing in the short-lived revival of the soap opera Crossroads. She continued to perform on stage and in March 2008 she played Marlene Dietrich in a stage play entitled Lunch with Marlene. From August to November 2008, she played Mrs Cheveley in Oscar Wilde's stage play An Ideal Husband directed by Peter Hall and produced by Bill Kenwright. She performed in radio and audio plays. In 2000 she reprised her role as the Rani in the BBV audio play The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind, and in 2006 she made a guest appearance in the radio comedy series Nebulous.

In 2012, O'Mara appeared in a theater adaptation of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile.

Personal life
O'Mara was married twice, first to Jeremy Young in 1971; the couple divorced in 1976. In 1993, she married Richard Willis, but the marriage was dissolved in 1996. She had two sons, Dickon Young (1964–2012) and Christopher Linde (born 1965), both from previous relationships, although Dickon took his stepfather's surname. She gave up Linde for adoption and he was named by his adoptive parents, Derek and Joy Linde.

Christopher, from whom the actress was long estranged, was born from her relationship with actor David Orchard.

Dickon, whose biological father was reportedly actor Ian Cullen, was a stage manager for the Royal Shakespeare Company before setting up his own company building tree-houses in the mid-1990s. He was found hanged, a presumed suicide, at the family home in Long Marston, Warwickshire on 31 December 2012, after previous suicide attempts. O'Mara was hospitalised with pneumonia at the time of her son's death and his body was not discovered for three weeks.

O'Mara wrote four books, two novels (When She Was Bad () and Good Time Girl ()), and two autobiographical books, Vamp Until Ready () and Game Plan: A Woman's Survival Kit ().

Speaking about her bouts of depression, later in her life, O'Mara said: "... I've since learnt a cure for depression: listening to J.S. Bach and reading P.G. Wodehouse. This got me through the break-up of my second marriage 17 years ago. The great thing about Wodehouse is that his books are full of romantic problems and yet so hilarious that it puts things in perspective ... I'm not frightened of dying, but I love the countryside so much and I'm going to miss it. I'd like to be out in the wind and the trees for ever."

Death
O'Mara died on 30 March 2014 in a Sussex nursing home, aged 74, from ovarian cancer. She left a £350,000 estate, bequeathing £10,000 to the Actors’ Benevolent Fund and, after the funeral and legal fees, the remainder to her younger sister Belinda Carroll, a former actress.

Filmography

Film

Television

Select stage roles
 1963, Jessica, The Merchant of Venice at the Shaftesbury Theatre.
 1966, Lydia Languish, The Rivals at The Welsh Theatre Co.
 1967, Elsa, The Italian Girl at the Wyndham's Theatre
 1970, Fleda Vetch, The Spoils of Poynton at the Mayfair Theatre
 1971, Gerda Von Metz, The Avengers (directed by Leslie Phillips) at the Prince of Wales Theatre
 1971–2, Sheila Wallis, Suddenly at Home at the Fortune Theatre
 1974, Elvira, Blithe Spirit at the Bristol Old Vic
 1974, Liza Moriarty, Sherlock's Last Case at the Open Space Theatre Fortune Theatre
 1977, Sybil Merton, Lord Arthur Saville's Crime at the Sadlers Wells Theatre
 1977, Louka, Arms and the Man at the Hong Kong Festival
 1978, Rosaline, Loves Labour's Lost at the Thorndike Theatre
 1978, Katherina, The Taming of the Shrew at the Ludlow Festival
 1978, Cyrenne, Rattle of a Simple Man
 1979, Monica Claverton- Ferry, The Elder Statesman
 1979, Lina, Misalliance at The Birmingham Rep
 1979, Irene St Clair, The Crucifer of Blood at the Haymarket Theatre
 1980, Ruth, Night and Day, at post-London tour
 1981, Stephanie Abrahams, Duet for One Yugoslavia and tour
 1981, Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing at the New Shakespeare Co
 1982, Kathrina, The Taming of the Shrew at the Nottingham Playhouse\New Shakespeare Co
 1982, Titania\Hippolta, A Midsummer Night's Dream at the New Shakespeare Co
 1982, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth at the Mercury Theatre
 1982, Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra at the Nottingham Playhouse
 1982, Millamant, The Way of the World at the Nottingham Playhouse
 1983, Hortense, The Rehearsal
 1984, Mistress Ford, The Merry Wives of Windsor at the New Shakespeare Co
 1985 – 1987, Frances Black, Light Up the Sky at the Old Vic & Globe Theatres
 1987, Goneril, King Lear at the Compass Theatre
 1988, Berinthia, The Relapse at the Mermaid Theatre
 1990, Torfreida, The Last Englishman at The Orange Tree Theatre
 1990, Martha, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
 1991, Lilli Vanessi, Kiss Me Kate, RSC tour
 1992, Lady Fanciful, The Provok'd Wife at the National Theatre Studio
 1992, Rosabel, Venus Observed at the Chichester Festival
 1992, Eve, Cain at the Chichester Festival
 1992, Jackie, King Lear in New York at the Chichester Festival
 1994, Maria Wislack, On Approval
 1995, Pola, The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles at The Orange Tree Theatre
 1995, Rachel, My Cousin Rachel, English Theatre, Vienna and tour 1995
 1996, Olivia, Twelfth Night at the Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke
 1996–7, Mrs Cheveley, An Ideal Husband at the Haymarket, Albury and Gielgud theatres
 2000, Mrs. Malaprop\Lucy, The Rivals
 2000, Madame Alexandre, Colombe at the Salisbury Playhouse
 2003, Gertrude Lawrence, Noel and Gertie
 2004, Mrs Arbuthnot, A Woman of No Importance
 2005, Eloise, The Marquise at the Mercury Theatre
 2005, Helen, We Happy Few at the Gielgud Theatre
 2008, Marlene Dietrich, Lunch with Marlene at The New End Theatre
 2010, Lady Windermere, Lord Arthur Saville's Crime at the Mercury Theatre

See also
English actresses
Cinema of the United Kingdom
Television in the United Kingdom

References

Bibliography

External links
 

1939 births
2014 deaths
Actresses from Leicestershire
Alumni of the Aida Foster Theatre School
Deaths from cancer in England
Deaths from ovarian cancer
English film actresses
English memoirists
English soap opera actresses
English stage actresses
English television actresses
People from Leicester
British women memoirists
English women novelists
20th-century English actresses
20th-century English novelists
20th-century English women writers
21st-century English actresses
English women non-fiction writers
Mara the Lioness is an animal actor who appeared as Elsa in the 1966 movie Born Free, based on the true story of Elsa the Lioness raised by George and Joy Adamson.

Mara was born in the wild in 1965, a premature cub abandoned by her mother during a violent rain storm. She was found lying on sodden ground, caked in mud on the plains of Masailand by Samwel, an African game scout and Larry Wateridge. Sick with hunger and in a semi coma, she was taken to a nearby coffee plantation in Kenya owned by British couple Irene and Douglas Grindlay.

Irene Grindlay took it upon herself to nurse the ailing cub back to health. Initially Mara was to stay only a few days but she soon became a permanent fixture, hand reared and fully domesticated. As she grew larger however it became increasingly clear that she would need to be relocated.

The most obvious choice was the local animal orphanage at the entrance to the Nairobi National Park. Opened in September 1963 as a refuge for orphaned or sick wild animals, the park initially held less than thirty animals, with Ugas (who also starred in the movie Born Free) the only lion. By 1965 the park held 117 orphans of 36 species including lion, leopard, cheetahs, african buffalo, camels, hyena, jackal and wild dogs. 

It took many months for Mara to settle into her new home where she was affectionately known as the "friendly lioness".  The Grindlays, as self-appointed guardians, remained in frequent contact.

Fame 

Mara had only been in the Animal Orphanage for about six months when the Born Free film crew arrived.  They were looking for lionesses to play the part of Elsa and decided that Mara would make an ideal adult Elsa.  Seventeen lionesses were selected from across Africa and used to portray this famous big cat; their ages ranging from a few weeks to several years old. In total there were twenty-one lions and lionesses used during filming, with Mara the primary animal actor.

Although Mara's size and weight required delicate handling on set, she was placid and easily directed. The Grindlays were regulars on set but were careful never to attend when Mara was filming because Mara had a tendency to stray towards them. Her affection for the Grindlays and theirs for her never waned.

Life after Born Free 

Once filming had completed, Mara returned to the Animal Orphanage, however the Board of Trustees of the Kenya National Parks became concerned regarding in the increase in the number of adoptees. They requested that Mara, Ugas and three younger lionesses be relocated to Whipsnade Park. The Grindlays, who maintained responsibility for Mara, eventually agreed to release Mara into the care of Whipsnade.

While waiting to go to Whipsnade, reports surfaced that Ugas, Mara and three other lionesses were to be rehabilitated by George and Joy Adamson. The proposed experiment was heavily protested.

The Grindlays were opposed to the idea because Mara's behaviour was that of a domesticated dog. Along with animal lovers, naturalists and experienced game wardens, they held the belief that integration back into the wild would harm Mara, rather than benefit. Mara did not fear man and indeed went out of her way to approach and play. This posed an enormous risk to her safety.

In addition, release into the wild would place Mara and the other lionesses at risk of contracting Babesia. Domesticated animals have no resistance to the fatal disease, a fact which George and Joy Adamson knew. Their lion Elsa had died of the same disease not less than two years earlier when they had attempted to release her back into the wild.

Eventually only Ugas was released into the Meru Game Reserve. It was decided that Mara was too tame and she and the other lionesses should be relocated to Whipsnade Park. Just prior to her departure Mara gave birth to male and female twin cubs, sired by Ugas during the filming of Born Free.

In 1966, Irene Grindlay wrote a book titled Velvet Paws which detailed the life of Mara up to and including her appearance in the movie Born Free.

"We have no reason to reproach ourselves. We are quite convinced that we did the right thing in opposing her release and that for many years to come in Whipsnade Park she will be well-fed, contented and ... safe." (Irene Grindlay, 1966)

It is not known how long Mara resided at Whipsnade Park. The life span of a lion in the wild is approximately 12 years, while those in captivity have been known to live for more than 20. If Mara was fortunate she would have died in the mid to late seventies. Mara lived the rest of her life at Whipsnade Park, she died in 1974.

Films 
 The Lions Are Free is the real life continuation of the award-winning movie classic Born Free. This film tells in a most personal and touching way about what happened to the lions that were in Born Free. Bill Travers who starred in Born Free, travels to a remote area in Kenya East Africa to visit conservationist George Adamson and several of his lion friends. There are some scenes of George Adamson and Bill Travers interacting with lions who are living free. James Hill who directed Born Free produced this film along with Bill Travers. In November 2006, this film and the film Christian The Lion at World's End were both released on DVD.
 Mara is also a lion cub's name in the Disneynature 2011 documentary film African Cats.

References

External links
 George Adamson website with photos including Mara, letters and information.
 Born Free website for the Born Free Foundation

Individual lions
Environment of Kenya
1965 animal births Punji Mara is an Indian politician from the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Mara was elected unopposed from Taliha seat in the 2014 Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, standing as a People's Party of Arunachal candidate. Punji Mara was born to Makpung Mara, who was a Lieutenant with Army.

See also
Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly

References

External links
 Punji Mara profile
 MyNeta Profile

People's Party of Arunachal politicians
Indian National Congress politicians
Living people
Members of the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly
Arunachal Pradesh MLAs 2014–2019
Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Arunachal Pradesh
Year of birth missing (living people)