Samantha Eggar, the vivacious British actress whose five-year run starting in 1965 included enthralling performances in The Collector, Return From the Ashes, Doctor Dolittle and The Molly Maguires, has died. She was 86.
Eggar died Wednesday at her home in Sherman Oaks, her daughter, actress Jenna Stern (House of Cards), told The Hollywood Reporter. She had struggled with illness the past five years but “lived a long, fabulous life,” Stern said.
After Natalie Wood reportedly turned down the role, Eggar magnificently blended strength and vulnerability to receive a best actress Oscar nomination for her turn as an innocent art student kidnapped and held captive by a lonely psychotic (Terence Stamp) in William Wyler’s chilling The Collector (1965).
Just 25 when making the movie, Eggar remembered just how grueling her star-making turn had been in a 2014 interview for the website The Terror Trap.
“Terence was at [the London drama school] Webber Douglas with me. So we knew each other then.