Lynne Frederick

Lynne Frederick
Born Lynne Maria Frederick
(1954-07-25)25 July 1954
Hillingdon, Middlesex, England
Died 27 April 1994(1994-04-27) (aged 39)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1970–1979
Spouse(s) Peter Sellers
(m. 1977; his death 1980)
David Frost
(m. 1981; div. 1982)
Barry Unger
(m. 1982; div. 1991)
Children 1

Lynne Maria Frederick (25 July 1954 – 27 April 1994) was an English film actress, known for her classical beauty and delicate, 'fairytale princess' features. In a career spanning ten years she made about thirty films or television drama appearances, but she is best remembered as the last wife of Peter Sellers. She was married twice after his death.

Early life

Frederick was born in Hillingdon, Middlesex to Andrew Frederick (1914-1983) and Iris C. (née Sullivan) Frederick (1928-2006). Her mother became a casting director for Thames Television. Lynne's parents separated when she was two years old, and she was brought up by her mother, Iris, and her grandmother, Cecilia, at Market Harborough, Leicestershire.

Career

Having originally aspired to becoming a teacher of mathematics and physics, she abandoned her academic pursuits for the stage, and made her film debut as Mary Custance in No Blade of Grass (1970), when she was 16 years old. She appeared a year later in the 1971 biographical film Nicholas and Alexandra, in which she played Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, second eldest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II. However her best-known appearance came shortly afterwards when she played another historical character, Catherine Howard in Henry VIII and His Six Wives in 1972. Frederick would go on to pursue a successful career in films throughout the 1970s. Her next role was in the 1972 children's film The Amazing Mr. Blunden and in 1973 she won the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best New Actress.[1] Other notable films included Saul Bass' science fiction thriller Phase IV (1974), the Spanish romance A Long Return (1975), and Schizo (1976). Her last role came in the 1979 film The Prisoner of Zenda, in which she worked with her then husband Peter Sellers.[1]

In 1985, she was reportedly offered the role of Kumiko in The Karate Kid, Part II. At the time the script was written in mind for an English actress who was to play a half English, half-Japanese village girl adopted by her Japanese aunt. Frederick, who hadn't appeared in a theatrical release since The Prisoner of Zenda in 1979,[1] had been planning an acting comeback for quite some time. Despite her interest in the script, she turned the offer down, preferring instead to concentrate on motherhood as she had given birth to a daughter the previous year.

Personal life

Frederick's first marriage, at age 22, was to Peter Sellers on 18 February 1977. The marriage was rocky, and Sellers was reportedly in the process of excluding her from his will a week before he died of a heart attack on 24 July 1980, the day before her 26th birthday. The planned changes to the will not having been finalized, she inherited almost his entire estate worth an estimated £4.5 million (£17.4 million today) while his children, whom he had disinherited, received £800 each (£3,094 today).[2][3] Despite appeals from a number of Sellers' friends to make a fairer settlement to the children, Frederick refused to give her stepchildren anything. She later won nearly £1 million (£3.2 million today) in a lawsuit against the makers of the Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), made after Sellers's death, claiming the film tarnished her late husband's memory.[4] She reportedly suffered from severe depression because of Sellers's death and attempted suicide numerous times. Over her remaining 14 years following Sellers' death, she reportedly became obsessed by his memory and kept a shrine to him at their Swiss chalet in Gstaad, which she inherited from him.[5]

She briefly married David Frost (on 25 January 1981); they divorced 17 months later. She later married a Californian surgeon and heart specialist, Dr. Barry Unger, in December 1982; they were divorced in 1991. In her last marriage, she bore her only child, Cassie Unger (born 1983).[6]

Death

Following her divorce from her third husband, Lynne's health deteriorated, and her substance abuse increased. Victoria Sellers, daughter of Peter Sellers by his previous marriage to Britt Ekland, last saw Lynne three weeks before her death and subsequently said, "I was so shocked. Lynne was sitting in her kitchen, dressed in a filthy kaftan. She could hardly move. She was swigging vodka directly from a jug with a handle on the side".[4]

On 27 April 1994, Lynne was found dead in her West Los Angeles home, aged 39. There was no evidence of foul play, and although suicide was suspected by some,[7] a post-mortem failed to determine the cause of death.[8] She was survived by her mother, Iris, and her 11-year-old daughter, Cassie. Her remains were cremated at Golders Green Crematorium in London and her ashes were mingled and then interred with those of her first husband, Peter Sellers.

Lynne's estate passed into a trust fund, the Lynne Unger Children's Trust, to be administered by accountants in Santa Monica, California. Whereas the great bulk of that estate consisted of Lynne's fortuitous inheritance from Peter Sellers, the sole beneficiary was her only biological daughter, Cassie Unger, born of her third marriage. Not even at this time did any of their father's money find its way to Peter Sellers's own children.[4]

Filmography

Television appearances

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lynne Frederick at the Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ Richard Savill,The Telegraph: "Peter Sellers tried to cut fourth wife Lynne Frederick out of his £4.5 million will", 5 November 2009
  3. ↑ "Peter Sellers 'tried to change will' before he died". BBC News – Entertainment. BBC. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 "The girl got Peter Sellers' £5 million, dailymail.co.uk, 8 February 2009.
  5. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1138807/The-girl-got-Peter-Sellers-5m--met-him.html
  6. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-lynne-frederick-1433336.html
  7. ↑ The Mail Online,David Frost: A Life in Pictures, 12 March 2010
  8. ↑ Obituary, nytimes.com, 2 May 1994.

External links

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