Jacqueline Pearce

It's been said that a hero is only as good as their villain. As studied fans of classic sci-fi television can attest, Surrey-born "Blake's 7" villainess Jacqueline Pearce could stand as a textbook illustration of that theory. The daughter of an aircraft factory worker, Pearce was just over a year old when her mother abandoned the family. This early loss would become the catalyst for her lifelong struggle with mental illness, a topic which Pearce discussed at length in her 2012 memoir From Byfleet to the Bush. Byfleet is the town where her single, working father shared a home and parental responsibilities with another couple. During that time, Pearce attended school at the Marist Convent, where a kind-hearted lay teacher taught the troubled young girl elocution, and brought her along on excursions to the local theater. Later, with the prospect of higher education looming, the young artistic hopeful won entry into London's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. That welcome stroke of good fortune would see her walking the boards with the likes of Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt. It was also the place where Pearce met her first husband Drewe Henley, who would subsequently direct both she and former classmate Hurt in the 1964 ITV Play of the Week, "Watch Me, I'm a Bird." 1966 would prove especially fruitful year for the waifish, fair-skinned beauty, with appearances on "The Avengers" and "Public Eye" making her a familiar face to television as Hammer Films' "The Plague of the Zombies" and "The Reptile" (1966) haunted international cinemas. When Henley left Pearce the following year, she reached her personal breaking point and fled for Los Angeles. There, a stint at the Lee Strasberg Actors Studio found Pearce honing her skills, while side work for friendly acquaintance Sammy Davis, Jr. paid the bills. An assortment of one-off television appearances propelled Pearce into the 1970s, with roles on "David Copperfield" (1974-75) and "Couples" (1975-76) providing occasional steady work. With the debut of the socially conscious sci-fi series "Blakes 7" (ITV 1978-1981), however, Pearce would earn a permanent place in the echelons of British pop-culture. Outfitted in otherworldly fashions and commanding the screen with vampish abandon, Pearce became the breakout star of the series as the villainous Servalan, Supreme Commander of the ruthless Terran Federation. Pearce credited the success of the breakout character to Servalan's compelling balance of femininity and masculine swagger. During an era where women weren't socially empowered, Servalan was seemingly omnipotent-- a more-than capable adversary for political dissident Roj Blake and his resourceful band of star-faring rebels. Considering that Servalan was originally conceived as a man, Pearce made it her own in no uncertain terms. Still active onscreen in the mid-'00s, Pearce died shortly after being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018. She was 74.