June Thorburn
| June Thorburn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
8 June 1931 Karachi, British India |
| Died |
4 November 1967 (aged 36) Blackdown Hill, Sussex, England |
| Cause of death | Plane crash |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1952–1966 |
| Spouse(s) |
Aldon Bryce-Harvey (1952–1955)(divorced) (1 child) Morten Smith Petersen (1959–1967) (her death) (1 child) |
| Children |
Heather-Louise June (b. 1953) Inger-Sheleen Christabel (b. 1964[1] |
June Thorburn (8 June 1931 – 4 November 1967) was a popular English actress whose career was cut short by her death in an air crash.[2]
Early life
Thorburn was born in Karachi, British India. She was the eldest of three children, including her sister Diana and her brother Keith. Her full name was Patricia June Thorburn Smith. She spent most of her schooldays in boarding schools in India, since her father was a colonel in the Indian Army and therefore her parents travelled a lot. When he retired from the military, they moved back to Britain.[3]
June began writing plays from about the age of seven. Her grandfather (Sydney Thubron) who had also spent many years in India as a design engineer, building many important bridges, made early 'movies' and she was the star in several, the first being "Her Second Birthday", when she was only two years old.
Family
When she was 20 she left home and moved to London to pursue her career, where she met and married her first husband, Aldon Richard Bryse-Harvey. During their short and stressful marriage she bore one daughter in 1953, named Heather-Louise June. The marriage ended in divorce and June moved back to Hampshire, close to her family, for a couple of years until her career started to take off.
In 1957 she moved back to London, where shortly thereafter she met Morten Smith-Petersen, who subsequently became her second husband. She was married to him until her death in 1967. Together with Morten, she had a second daughter named Inger-Sheleen Christabel.
Career
She appeared in her first commercial film in 1952, and began to win leading roles, in British costume dramas such as Fury at Smugglers' Bay (1961) and The Scarlet Blade (1963). Her most notable film appearance was as the Forest Queen in Tom Thumb (1958). During the early 1960s, she also appeared regularly on British television.[4]
Death
She was pregnant with her third child when returning to London from Spain on Iberia Airlines Flight 062 when it crashed at Blackdown Hill, Sussex, killing all 37 people on board.[5]
TV and filmography
- The Pickwick Papers (1952) – Arabella Allen
- The Triangle (1953) – Mitzi (segment "American Duel")
- The Cruel Sea (1953) – Doris Ferraby
- Douglas Fairbanks Presents – Kathleen (2 episodes, 1953); aka Rheingold Theatre (USA) – The Bitter Heart (1953) TV Episode – Kathleen – American Duel (1953) TV Episode – Mitzi
- Delayed Action (1954) – Anne Curlew
- Fast And Loose (1954) – Barbara 'Babsie' Wickham
- Orders Are Orders (1954) – Veronica Bellamy
- Children Galore (1955) – Milly Ark
- The Hornet's Nest (1955) – Pat
- Touch and Go (1955) – Peggy Fletcher ... aka The Light Touch
- True as a Turtle (1957) – Jane Hudson; aka Plain Sailing (USA: TV title)
- Rooney (1958) – Doreen O'Flynn
- 2000 Minus 60 (1958) (TV) – Lucy
- tom thumb (1958) – Forest Queen
- The Price of Silence (1959) – Audrey Truscott
- Broth of a Boy (1959) – Silin Lehane
- Tales of the Vikings (1959) TV Series – Jessica (unknown episodes); aka The Vikings
- The Four Just Men (1959) TV Series – Vicky (Richard Conte episodes) (unknown episodes)
- Transatlantic (1960) – Judy
- Armchair Theatre – Felicity ... (2 episodes, 1957–1960) – Lord Arthur Saville's Crime (1960) TV Episode – Sybil- Now Let Him Go (1957) TV Episode – Felicity
- Danger Man – Sue Carpenter (1 episode, 1960) – The Prisoner (1960) TV Episode – Sue Carpenter
- The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960) – Elizabeth; aka The Three Worlds of Gulliver
- Escort for Hire (1960) – Terry
- The Cheaters – Ivy (1 episode, 1961) – The Man with the Ticking Head (1961) TV Episode – Ivy
- Fury at Smugglers' Bay (1961) – Jenny Trevenyan
- Don't Bother to Knock (1961) – Stella; aka Why Bother to Knock (USA)
- What Every Woman Knows (1961) (TV) – Lady Sybil Tenterden
- Anna Karenina (1961) (TV)
- The Spanish Sword (1962) – Lady Eleanor
- Design for Loving (1962) – Barbara Winters
- Wuthering Heights (1962) (TV) – Isabella
- No Hiding Place – Barbara Reden (1 episode, 1962) – Little Girl Stolen (1962) TV Episode – Barbara Reden
- The Scarlet Blade (1963) – Claire Judd; aka The Crimson Blade (USA)
- Richard the Lionheart – Diane (1 episode, 1963) – The Caveman (1963) TV Episode – Diane
- Master Spy (1964) – Leila
- Riviera Police – Sheila Ward (1 episode, 1965) – A Shot in the Dark... and Two in the Midday Sun (1965) TV Episode – Sheila Ward
- Blackmail (1 episode, 1966) – The Cream Off the Top (1966) TV Episode
References
- ↑ http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/440/June+Thorburn/register.php
- ↑ Born: June 1931, KarachiDied: 1967. "June Thorburn | BFI | BFI". Explore.bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ↑ "June Thorburn - The Private Life and Times of June Thorburn. June Thorburn Pictures". Glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ↑ "June Thorburn (1931 - 1967) - Find A Grave Memorial". Findagrave.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ↑ "Surrey Constabulary: Part 3: Policing Change: 1951-1975". Open.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
External links
- June Thorburn at the Internet Movie Database
- June Thorburn timeline with citations
- Blackdown air crash
- Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network