British Actresses You Should Know: Helen McCrory
We all have those actors whose work we’d watch, no matter what it was. Powerful prestige drama? Scary supernatural tale? Super dated period piece? Random episode of some show you’ve never heard of before, just because they have a bit part in it? Check, check and check. We’ve all been there.
British actress Helen McCrory is one of those performers. (At least for me, at any rate.) I will honestly watch this woman do anything, and not feel bad about it for a single second. Luckily, McCrory is not only ridiculously talented, but one of those actors who’s been in the entertainment business long enough to have a rather significant back log of both mainstream and niche sorts of roles. You’d be surprised how many things you’ve probably seen her in without realizing it.
Now that McCrory has been tapped to star in upcoming Masterpiece production Roadkill, it seems like a perfect time to look back at some of her more interesting and compelling roles. (FYI: These are ordered chronologically, to keep me from playing favorites!)
Charles II: The Power and the Passion. This star-studded period piece tells the story of King Charles II's time on the throne, his 10-year exile from Oliver Cromwell's England, and his triumphant return. McCrory plays Barbara Villiers, the Countess of Castlemaine, who also happened to be the most notorious of Charles’ many mistresses, by whom she had five children, all of whom were acknowledged and subsequently ennobled. Her influence was so great that she was often referred to as “The Uncrowned Queen”.
Rufus Sewell stars as King Charles, alongside many British acting favorites, including Martin Freeman, David Bradley, Rupert Graves, Sean Biggerstaff and Dame Diana Rigg. When this drama aired in the U.S. it was broadcast on A&E under the name The Last King, and it was heavily edited. (Over an hour of footage was cut!)
Doctor Who: The Vampires of Venice. As almost every British actor working today has done at some point or other, McCrory has played a fairly significant guest role on popular sci-fi series Doctor Who. She appeared during Matt Smith’s run as the eleventh Doctor, in a Season 5 episode entitled “The Vampires of Venice,” which featured the Doctor, Amy and Rory meeting, you guessed it, a squadron of mysterious vampires.
McCrory played Rosanna Calvierri, the matriarch of the group, who of course turn out to not be vampires at all, but a group of colonizing aliens fleeing a crack in time. It’s fun, and McCrory gets to destroy a lot of scenery in the way that only she can.
