Judy Parfitt has become synonymous with her Call The Midwife character, Sister Monica Joan, but long before she joined the BBC drama, the actress had shot to fame with roles in David Copperfield (1966), Hamlet (1969), Ever After (1998) and Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003).
© GettyBack in 1971, a 35-year-old Judy was in the early days of what would become an impressive decade-spanning career, and we've found the most beautiful photo from that time in her life. Photographed on 15th January, we were surprised to see the actress sporting a completely different hairstyle.
Pictured with longer locks, Judy truly embodied the '70s aesthetic with her statement floral blouse, not to mention her voluminous blowdry that reminds us of style icon, Jacqueline Onassis.
© GettyLike many actors, Judy started her career on the stage. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the Call The Midwife star trod the boards in a 1954 production of 'Fools Rush' In at the Amersham Repertory Company.
After making the move to TV, she appeared in various shows including The Avengers (1962), The Wednesday Play (1965), The Saint (1967), Les Misérables (1967) and Shadows of Fear (1971).
Among her most celebrated roles, Judy received critical acclaim for her portrayals of Lady Catherine in Pride and Prejudice (1980) and Mildred Layton in The Jewel in the Crown (1984), for which she bagged a BAFTA nomination.
© BBCWhile Judy continued to make waves with her performances in Little Dorrit (2008), Jonathan Creek (2009) and W.E., she was catapulted even further into the spotlight with her role in Call The Midwife, which she signed on for in 2012.
Speaking about the success of the show, Judy told the BBC: "When we started it was for six episodes, and none of us thought for a second that we'd still be here eight years later. The only thing I can go by is the reaction I get when I go out. I've been acting since I was 16, and I've never known anything like it. The public seem to have taken over. They own it. They love it."
Asked whether she bears any similarities to fan favourite, Sister Monica Joan, Judy replied: "She's as far away from me as it's possible to get! I don't share the quality of patience with my character. She is highly intelligent, extremely well educated, very well read, very kind, very caring, but she's not with the programme a lot of the time. She loses the plot every now and then."
