Kellermann

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Lore & Background

Kellerman is known for her appearances in the BBC adaptations of three of the Narnia books, most notably as the tyrannical White Witch in The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (1988). She also played the evil Lady of the Green Kirtle in The Silver Chair in 1990. On the radio, she portrayed Modesty Blaise in a 1978 BBC World Service adaptation of the novel Last Day in Limbo. She has appeared in two of British television's hardest-hitting police dramas of the 1970s: Special Branch and The Professionals. In Special Branch she appeared as Michelle, a flashback character who was a member of the French Resistance in the episode Rendezvous (1973). Whilst in The Professionals she played Sylvie, the girlfriend of a former police officer who also has a relationship with a renegade former member of an organised crime network in the episode Runner (1979).

In Their Own Story

Kellerman made a 20-minute drama for With Light Productions in 2007 for director Anita Parry entitled The Lights of Santa Cruz. It co-starred Christian Rodska and was the story of two middle-aged divorcees doing up a boat on the Somerset coast. It was filmed in Watchet, Somerset (a small shipping port on the south-west coast of England) over a four-day period, mostly on a refitted Swedish fishing boat, the Josefine. The film was entered into Bristol's Brief Encounters Festival and is now on YouTube.

Reader's Guide

Barbara Kellermann was born in Manchester, Lancashire. Her Jewish father, Walter Kellermann (1915–2012), had fled Nazi Germany and settled in Leeds, where he became a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physics at the University of Leeds. Her mother, Marcelle, was a member of the French Resistance during the Second World War who became a teacher of modern foreign languages. Kellerman lived in Bath, Somerset during the 1980s and 1990s. She was previously married to Robin Scobey (born 1945). Kellerman has two younger siblings, a brother named Clive and a sister named Judith.

Did You Know?

• Barbara Kellermann's father, Walter, fled Nazi Germany and became a Senior Lecturer in Physics at the University of Leeds.
• Her mother, Marcelle, was a member of the French Resistance during World War II and later became a teacher of modern foreign languages.
• She portrayed Modesty Blaise in a 1978 BBC World Service adaptation of the novel Last Day in Limbo.
• Kellerman played two different roles in the BBC Narnia adaptations: the White Witch and the Lady of the Green Kirtle.
• Her 2007 short film The Lights of Santa Cruz was filmed over four days on a refitted Swedish fishing boat named the Josefine.