Doctor Who and Blake's 7 actress Jacqueline Pearce has died at the age of 74 after battling lung cancer. Jacqueline passed away at her home in Lancashire, with her friend John Ainsworth confirming the sad news in a statement. He told Press Association on Monday evening: "She was outrageous, she was very honest and very straightforward, which didn't always go down very well, but you knew where you were with her. She liked a glass of champagne and liked everyone to have a good time with her, and of course she was a brilliant actress and everyone who worked with her remembered her very fondly."
Jacqueline Pearce passed away after a short cancer battle
Jacqueline enjoyed a successful acting career, and was best known for playing Supreme Commander Servalan in Blake's 7. The late star trained at RADA in London alongside Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt, and later in Los Angeles. Her acting accolades included two Hammer horror films - The Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile in 1966, as well as How to Get Ahead in Advertising alongside Richard E Grant. As well as Blake's 7, her TV shows included Doctor Who, The Avengers, Danger Man, a BBC adaption of David Copperfield in the 1970s, and Casualty in 2006.
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Stars gone too soon
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Tributes soon came in following the sad news of Jacqueline's death, with Doctor Who writer Mark Morris posting on Twitter: "So sad to hear of Jacqueline Pearce's death at the age of 74. I fell in love with her as a callow youth when I saw her in The Reptile (still my favourite Hammer movie), and then of course she went on to enduring fame as Servalan, one of SF TV's most ruthless and memorable villains."
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