.

As the UK mourns its beloved monarch today, I can’t be the only film fan whose thoughts go to British character actor Jeanette Charles; the other of the two women famous for being the Queen.

Charles, unlike Elizabeth (changes in the line of succession notwithstanding), was not born into the job but neither did she exactly choose it. Two years younger than the real Queen she started as a repertory theatre actor in her twenties but reportedly found it hard to get parts due to her distractingly close appearance to Her Majesty. Allegedly frustrated by this she gave up the stage and took work as a secretary.

Then in the early seventies, when Charles was in her forties, a portrait she commissioned as a gift for her husband was put forward for exhibition at the Royal Academy. Thinking the painting was of a certain someone else and someone who no one believed would have sat for the artist who created it, the gallery disqualified it on the grounds that all subjects had to be captured from life. Once the truth of the situation came out though it made the press and it was here that Jeanette Charles started to get media attention.

As a result she was soon approached by advertising companies for lucrative shots of her face to go next to their products and on realising that a career as a performer might be possible after all, for precisely the reasons she had thought it wouldn’t be, she started studying and perfecting the Queen’s mannerisms and voice. Movie cameos soon followed.

Over the years Charles made over thirty appearances in this same role, surely one of few actors to play the same character that many times, especially in so many different productions. Among the most famous movies in her filmography are The Rutles, Naked Gun and Austin Powers but she also appeared opposite the classic 70s Saturday Night Live crew of Aykroyd, Belushi, Chase, Curtin and Radnor as well as stalwarts of British television including Jasper Carrott, Griff Rhys Jones, Rowan Atkinson and Sooty. It should be noted that she also starred in a 1980 TV special with a certain British glam rock band, see if you can guess which one. Despite a forty year acting career Charles doesn’t really have any other parts to her name but by having a very recognisable face, became one both the small and the big screen’s most recognisable faces.

.

Jeanette Charles retired in 2014 but I assume she is feeling the loss in a particular way today. The Queen clearly effected so many people but I don’t think she defined anyone else’s career in quite the same way.

This is not my only focus on this significant day in history. As I write this I am actually standing with many others at the junction of the A309 and the A30 at Staines waiting for The Queen to come past on her final journey to Windsor. As the owner of a movie blog though, I thought this an appropriate way to mark the day and to acknowledge one of the many lives touched by this great woman.