Alexandra Bastedo

Alexandra Lendon Bastedo (9 March 1946 – 12 January 2014) was a British actress, best known for her role as the beautiful secret agent Sharron Macready in the 1968 British espionage/science fiction adventure series The Champions. Bastedo was a vegetarian and animal welfare advocate, and wrote a number of books on both subjects.

Early life
Bastedo was born in Hove, England. Her mother (Liberiana Dorina Rescagliova 1917–2001) was of French, German and Italian descent, while her Canadian-born father (Gilbert Lendon Bastedo 1915–1985) was of Spanish, Dutch, Scottish and native American extraction. She attended Brighton and Hove High School and Brighton School of Drama.

Professional career
Bastedo made her film debut as one of the title characters in William Castle's poorly received 13 Frightened Girls (1963). She gained attention on the European continent, earning her the nickname, "La Bastedo". One of her first appearances in popular culture was in the 1966 film Doctor in Clover where she appears as a young nurse dancing with Sir Lancelot at a party (a non-speaking role).

Although most familiar to viewers of 1960s TV as Sharron Macready in The Champions, she was also known for her language skills, speaking Italian, Spanish, French and German. This ability brought her to the attention of 10 Downing Street, where she was employed to assist with translations, and landed her the role of co-presenter of Miss World competitions with Peter Marshall in the 1980s.

In 1979, she played in the series The Aphrodite Inheritance. In 1988, Bastedo was the cover star for Rank, a live album by British band The Smiths that charted at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart. In 1992, she appeared in "Fat" – the second broadcast episode of Absolutely Fabulous, playing a 1960s model associate of Edina and Patsy. She was seen in two episodes of The Saint series, alongside Roger Moore.

In 2006, Bastedo was reunited for the first time with her co-stars from The Champions to provide commentaries and an interview for a DVD release of the show. Still working as an actress, she appeared in Batman Begins, and touring theatres in 2006 with a production of Beyond Reasonable Doubt alongside Leslie Grantham and Simon Ward. In 2008, she joined the cast of EastEnders, playing Cynthia. In January 2008, she appeared as co-presenter (with Ed Stewart) of "The Magic of Mantovani" at Lighthouse, Poole. The success of this concert led, the following year, to a second concert at the same venue, with the Mantovani Orchestra, which she again co-presented.

Personal life
Bastedo dated David Frost and Omar Sharif, but turned down the advances of Steve McQueen who, she recalled, propositioned her with the line, "My wife doesn't understand me". In the case of Sharif, the liaison lasted only a few weeks because of the actor's bridge-playing, his odd hours and the fact that he took telephone numbers from other women.

Mike Tomkies, the Fleet Street journalist who abandoned the life of a celebrity reporter to live alone in the wilderness, lived with her for a while in Canada, and they talked of marriage, but she was prohibited from marrying by a contract for The Champions (1968 to 69). He said that she was the "most stunningly beautiful creature" he had ever seen.

In 1980, at Chichester Cathedral, Bastedo married Patrick Garland, a director, writer and actor; he became a long-serving director of the Chichester Festival Theatre. Bastedo wrote a memoir, Beware Dobermanns, Donkeys and Ducks, as well as several books on caring for cats and dogs. Her husband died on 19 April 2013.

Animal welfare
Bastedo was a vegetarian and the founder of Alexandra Bastedo Champions (ABC) Animal Sanctuary. In an interview for the BBC television series Where Are They Now? Bastedo provided a glimpse into her private life. She used to be the president of her local RSPCA branch but gave up her position in 2008, to dedicate more time to her fast-growing animal sanctuary at her home in West Chiltington, West Sussex. A journalist who interviewed her husband in 2010 described their domestic surroundings:

"[W]e sit in his Sussex garden looking towards a small lake with a jetty and a battered rowing boat – a perfect pastoral scene which could be a stage set. He lives with his wife, the actress Alexandra Bastedo, who remains startlingly beautiful, a couple of Dobermans, some territorial cats, and a menagerie of horses, donkeys, pigs and goats – Bastedo runs an animal sanctuary. Garland's domain is largely inside the house where he closes doors to keep animals out of rooms lined with 12,000 books."

She was also a patron to a number of animal welfare organisations including Compassion in World Farming, Wildlife Aid Foundation, National Animal Welfare Trust, Greyhounds in Need and Naturewatch.

Death
Bastedo died of breast cancer on 12 January 2014, aged 67, in a hospital in Worthing, England. She was buried at St Mary's Church, Sullington, West Sussex. The service was conducted by her local vicar and friend, Revd Derek Spencer.

Filmography

 * 13 Frightened Girls (aka The Candy Web) (1963) – Alex
 * The Liquidator (1965) – Radio Operator (uncredited)
 * Doctor in Clover (1966) – Nurse at Party (uncredited)
 * That Riviera Touch (1966) – Girl at Roulette Table
 * Casino Royale (1967) – Meg
 * Wedding Night (1970) – Gloria – Girl Friend
 * My Lover, My Son (1970) – Cicely Clarkson
 * This, That and the Other (1970) – Angie
 * The Kashmiri Run (1970) - Henrietta Fleming
 * The Blood Spattered Bride (1972) – Mircalla Karstein
 * I Hate My Body (1974) – Leda Schmidt
 * The Ghoul (1975) – Angela
 * El Clan de los Nazarenos (1975) – Arima
 * Tu dios y mi infierno (1976) – Liselotte
 * Find the Lady (1976) – Victoria
 * The Man Inside (1976, TV movie) – Joan Lytton
 * La Gioconda está triste (1977)
 * El Mirón (1977) – Elena – wife
 * Cabo de vara (1978) - Lola
 * Stigma (1980) – Anna
 * A Choice of Two (1981)
 * Draw! (1984, TV movie) – Bess, Harry's Girlfriend in Bell City / member of acting troupe
 * La veritat oculta (1987) – Agnes / Chiromancer
 * The Byzantine Cat (2002) - Barbara
 * Batman Begins (2005) – Gotham Society Dame

Television

 * The Count of Monte Cristo (TV series, 1964) – Renée de Saint-Méran
 * The Saint (episode "The Crime of the Century", 1965) – Joan Vendel
 * The Scales of Justice (episode "The Haunted Man", 1966) – Laura
 * The Wednesday Play (1966) (TV) – The Girl
 * The Saint (episode "The Counterfeit Countess", 1967) – Mireille
 * The Champions (TV series, 1968–69) – Sharron Macready
 * Call My Bluff as herself, 4 episodes (1969-1975)
 * Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (episode "Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying?", 1969) – Carol Latimer
 * Codename (1970) (TV series) – Diana Dalzell
 * From a Bird's Eye View (episode "Sicillian Affair", 1970) – Lisa Vespucci
 * The Starlost (TV series, 1973), episode 11 "The Astrometrics"
 * The Aphrodite Inheritance (miniseries, 1979) – Helene
 * ''Magnolia Blossom by Agatha Christie, 1982 - Clare Hamilton
 * Legend of the Champions (TV, 1983) – Sharron Macready
 * Absolutely Fabulous (episode "Fat", 1992) – Penny Caspar-Morse
 * EastEnders (2008–2009) – Cynthia (final television appearance)

Radio

 * Halloween Party by Agatha Christie, BBC radio 1993
 * Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie, BBC radio 1994
 * Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie, dramatised by Michael Bakewell, BBC radio 2006