Jean Marsh, co-creator and star of classic British TV series Upstairs Downstairs, left family, friends and charities just over £700,000 following her death aged 90, documents have shown.
The actress’s requests included that £100,000 go to the charity Emergency UK, helping civilian victims of war and poverty, and the same sum to London music venue Wigmore Hall, also a registered charity.
Emmy Award-winning Marsh’s many screen credits also included various appearances in Doctor Who, Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.
Her death was announced in April last year by friend and former partner Michael Lindsay-Hogg, a film-maker who directed The Beatles’ 1970 film Let It Be as well as co-directing ITV’s 1981 adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited.
He was one of two executors chosen by the star to handle her final wishes, along with London-based Heather Gordon.
Probate records filed online show £250,000 was bequeathed to her sister Yvonne.
Also granted were £50,000 apiece for friends Sophie Scott, Sarah Berger and Lisa Lindsay-Hogg, the latter to be arranged by Los Angeles-based Michael.
Marsh also granted £25,000 to godson Louis Berge as well as £3,000 she said would go ‘to my executors with the request that they distribute the said sum in accordance with the latest wishes I have expressed in any note left with this my Will’.
Jean Marsh played parlourmaid Rose Hudson in 1970s hit period drama Upstairs Downstairs
Jean Marsh, who died in April last year aged 90, has left more than £700,000 in her will to family, friends and two charities – Emergency UK and music venue Wigmore Hall
Marsh was living in Chelsea when signing her will in 2014.
The cause of death at her London home has been reported as complications from dementia.
Marsh was married once – between 1955 and 1960 to fellow actor Jon Pertwee, who would go on to take title roles in TV series Doctor Who and Worzel Gummidge.
Marsh not only came up with 1970s drama Upstairs Downstairs but also co-created another vintage period setting series The House Of Eliott, which ran for three series on BBC1 between 1991 and 1994.
She became a household name in the 1970s due to role as Rose Buck – a no-nonsense but warm-hearted head parlourmaid – in the original Upstairs Downstairs, set in Edwardian England.
The show drew millions of viewers on both sides of the Atlantic, airing in Britain from 1971 to 1975 and in the US between 1974 and 1977.
Her performance as Rose earned her a prestigious Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – one of seven Emmys the show would ultimately collect, along with a Peabody Award.
Marsh, born in Stoke Newington in north London in July 1934, began as a stage actress before making her name on TV and film screens in the 1950s and 1960s.
Jean Marsh is pictured in the original Upstairs Downstairs with co-star Gordon Jackson
Marsh, pictured second from left, resumed her role in the BBC’s 2010 revival of the show
The Emmy Award-winning actress was also given an OBE honour in 2012 – she is seen here after collecting it at Buckingham Palace in December that year
Before becoming a household name, she featured in early episodes of Doctor Who, including 1965 serial The Daleks’ Master Plan, playing space agent Sara Kingdom.
Her big-screen credits included roles in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy and the 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale.
She also starred in fantasy favourites like Return to Oz in 1985 and then as evil character Queen Bavmorda in the movie Willow three years later.
Marsh remained a familiar face in multiple TV dramas, including The Twilight Zone, The Love Boat and 9 To 5.
She also appeared in several Shakespearean adaptations alongside the likes of Sir Laurence Olivier and Dame Judi Dench.
But it was Upstairs Downstairs – which she co-created alongside friend and fellow actress Eileen Atkins – that was for many her defining on-screen achievement.
She reprised the role of Rose in the BBC’s 2010 revival of Upstairs Downstairs, returning as the housekeeper.
She was also renowned as a passionate advocate for women’s voices in the arts.
Marsh was given an OBE in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to drama.
