| Prisoner star succumbs - August 03, 2004
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TV and stage actor Margo McLennan, one of the stars of the Australian series Prisoner: Cell Block H, has died at the age of 66.
The actor died at her home in Colgate, west Sussex, after a long battle with cancer.
A well-known face on British television in the mid-sixties, McLennan made many appearances on Australian TV including Blue Heelers, A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors and Bluey.
The peak of her fame came in 1979, when she played inmate Catherine Roberts in Prisoner.
In 1981, she returned to play prison officer Parsons.
McLennan had settled in Australia after her second marriage in 1974 to the Australian actor Rod McLennan, who was at her bedside when she died.
McLennan, who was also a celebrant for gay marriages in Australia, returned to Britain after learning she was suffering from cancer.
Her first marriage to Tony Doonan collapsed in 1969.
Born Eileen Marguerite McMenemy in south London, she originally trained as an ice-skater. With the heyday of ice musicals over, she switched to acting and changed her name to Margo Mayne.
Her last acting role was last year in the film Prisoner Queen, about a waiter obsessed with the series Prisoner.
Actor Barbara Whatley, who appeared on stage with McLennan and was a close friend, said: "Margo's philosophy was always that life is a party, and she made it so to the very end.
"Even in the last days of her illness, she had all her friends around her, even though she had lost the power of speech."
The actor, who died last week, is survived by her husband, her daughter by her first marriage, Nicola Smith, and by a grandson, James Duncan. PA
Herald Sun | |
