Elizabeth Sellars, born in the West End of Glasgow on 6th May 1921 as Elizabeth McDonald Sellars, made her stage debut at the age of 15 and followed this with training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). On graduation in 1940 she toured with E.N.S.A. (Entertainments National Service Association) performing opposite Eric Portman and James Mason. After this she joined local repertory companies in Edinburgh and Glasgow and toiled in the weekly turnaround of provincial theatres for several years building her experiences and honing the skills and endurance that can be seen in her performance in 'During Barty’s Party'.
Her London stage debut was in a 1946 production of The Brothers Karamazov opposite Alec Guiness. This was followed by a string of roles for The Royal Shakespeare Company including Helen in Troilus and Cressida, Hermione in The Winter’s Tale and Gertrude in Hamlet. When she was not on the stage or screen Sellars studied for a degree in law and commented “I’ve already completed five years of law studies in England, and I like to keep my hand in. I really study law as a hobby, it’s fun, like crossword puzzles – exercises your brain. I first took it up as a sort of relaxation from the pressure of acting. I found it most soothing.[1]”
She made her TV debut playing the Duchess of Anholt and Lechery in a BBC production of the Christopher Marlowe play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (22nd June 1947) and entered cinema with the role of Judy in Floodtide (1949) with Gordon Jackson leading an all-Scottish cast for a drama set in the shipyards of Clyde. She was a rising star throughout the early 1950s with a string of roles in British films as well as some secondary supporting roles in Hollywood movies. Sellars started the 1950s with the supporting role of Christina Hackett in Madeline (1950), an often ignored film from esteemed director David Lean. She was promoted to lead status in Guilt Is My Shadow (1950), a crime potboiler which cast Sellars as an estranged wife of a getaway driver who she accidentally kills during a sexual assault. Filmed in Devon the movie found an appreciative audience with regular repeats on American TV in the 1960s and has gathered a small cult following.
Her next role was in the early Hammer Films production Cloudburst (1951), not a horror film but rather an attempt at a British noir thriller. Sellars was the ill-fated pregnant wife of an American code breaker (Robert Preston) who is killed in a hit and run accident. Preston uses his code breaking skills to track down the killers and exact his revenge. The film gives Sellars the distinction of being in both the first and final Hammer production filmed at their legendary Bray Studios base, the other being The Mummy’s Shroud (1967).
Sellars next film role, as another murderous wife, was in the quota quickie[2] Night Was Our Friend (1951). She portrayed Sally Raynor, the spouse of Martin Raynor (Michael Gough), who is thought to have been killed in a plane crash in Brazil. When he returns home he finds Sally has fallen for another man. Unable to face the future Martin considers killing himself…or does Sally have plans to do so already? The screenplay was by Michael Pertwee, the eldest brother of actor Jon Pertwee, who adapted his own stage play for the big screen. The film was an early entry into the filmography of director Michael Anderson who would go onto make the classic British war film The Dambusters (1955) and Seventies sci-fi Logan’s Run (1976). Sellars TV work during 1951 saw her make the first of several appearances in the drama anthology BBC Sunday Night Theatre with a role in ‘The Bridesman Danger’ (4th November 1951), a specially written for television play by Charles Lloyd-Jones.
Her next movie was the Dirk Bogarde starring Hunted (1952), known in America as The Stranger in Between, under the direction of Charles Chrichton. Sellars was cast as Magda, the unfaithful wife to Dirk Bogarde’s murderer. Her second film of the year opposite Bogarde was The Gentleman Gunman (1952), an Ealing Studios drama directed by Basil Dearden also starring John Mills. Set during World War Two London the film featured cherub faced Mills and the suave Bogarde as two unlikely undercover IRA agents and was based on a 1950 BBC TV play. Sellars portrayed Maureen Fagan who is romantically involved with both Bogarde and Mills. TV wise during 1952 Sellars made two appearances in BBC Sunday Night Theatre starting with the 'The Prisoner' (10th February 1952). She then swiftly returned for a production of Dial M for Murder (23rd March 1952) playing Sheila Wendice.
The Long Memory (1953), reunited her with John Mills and based on a 1951 novel of the same name by Howard Clewes. Filmed on the Thames Estuary and the backstreets of Gravesend the production has a bleak and grim atmosphere which gives a noirish ambience. Mills plays Phillip Davidson a man freshly released from prison after doing time for a crime he did not commit. Should he seek revenge on the men which will probably lead to his demise or should he begin afresh and try to make a new life? Sellars featured as Fay his love interest. The Broken Horseshoe (1953) was based on a BBC production of a Francis Durbridge serial and featured Sellars as Della Freeman, the girlfriend of a surgeon who is accused of murder. Sellar’s character helps clear the name of the doctor. Another substantial role followed with Recoil (1953) which had Sellars playing a young woman who witnesses the murder of her father. Convinced by the police she goes undercover to infiltrate the gang who killed him in a taunt crime thriller.
Sellars also found time to make two episode of the US TV anthology series Douglas Fairbanks Presents which was hosted by Fairbanks for his own production company. By now Sellars might be starting to experience déjà vu with her roles as she once again played a cheating wife in the episode 'The Surgeon'(11th February 1953). The second episode was 'Moment of Truth' (7th October 1953) which also gave a small role to little known actor Christopher Lee as a matador. The episode 'The Surgeon' was compiled with two other episodes of Douglas Fairbanks Presents into the portmanteau feature film Three’s Company (1953) which was theatrically released in the UK. For British television audiences she could be seen making another visit to the BBC Sunday Night Theatre strand in the episode 'Take Away the Lady' (26th April 1953). A month later she made her second appearance in the anthology series with the role of Mary Fitton in 'Will Shakespeare' (24th May 1953). Rudolph Cartier directed and Peter Wyngarde played the bard. Theatre work during 1953 saw Sellars appear in Angels in Love at the Royal Court theatre, Liverpool.
Terence Morgan was paired with Sellars for Forbidden Cargo (1954) to play brother and sister drug smugglers who are being investigated by policeman Nigel Patrick and bird watcher Joyce Grenfell. Sellars followed this with a role in her first Hollywood film, The Barefoot Contessa (1954), which featured Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner and Edmund O’Brien as the top billed stars. Sellars has a supporting role in the film alongside a swathe of Italian character actors. The year was completed with Sellars’ second Hollywood role, the Oscar nominated Desiree (1954), which documented Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise and fall and his love affair with the Desiree Clary (Jean Simmons). Sellars played Desiree’s sister, Julie, whilst Marlon Brando was Napoleon. The Hollywood films continued with Prince of Players (1955) which cast Sellars as the sister of Edwin Booth (Richard Burton). Around this time she was offered a long term contract by a Hollywood studio, but she turned this down and instead returned work on the stage in the UK.
The British horror portmanteau film Three Cases of Murder (1955) comprised of three stories with Sellars cast in the second tale. Each segment was introduced by British television host and personality Eamon Andrews with actor Alan Badel appearing as a different character in each story. Andrews’ introductions were more in line with the then current vogue for hosts on TV anthologies, whilst the portmanteau style was directly modeled on the classic Dead of Night (1945). Three Cases has gathered a cult following due to the involvement of Orson Welles who gained top billing, but only appeared in the third segment Lord Mountdrago. Allegedly Welles made suggestions to the director George More O’Ferrall throughout the first few days of filming and by the third day had completely taken over directing the story.
Sellars' segment, 'You Killed Elizabeth', sees two friends fall in love with the same woman, played by Sellars. After she is found murdered one of the men, prone to black outs, comes to believe he has killed his fiancée in a fit of rage during one of his black out episodes. This segment was directed by David Eady and eschewed supernatural elements in favour of a whodunit mystery written by Brett Halliday, a pseudonym for American writer David Dresser. Her TV work during 1955 included 'Man of Destiny' (1st October 1955), the second episode of the anthology drama ITV Television Playhouse. This was a version of the 1897 George Bernard Shaw play of the same name and Sellars featured as The Strange Lady opposite George Colouris and James Donald as Napoleon Bonaparte. Stage work for the year included the comedy The Remarkable Mr Pennypacker playing Ma Pennypacker during May 1955 at the New Theatre, London and the first British run of the Broadway play Tea and Sympathy later in the year.
For her next film role Sellars was yet again cast as a wife who is murdered. Talk about typecasting! The Last Man To Hang (1956), directed by Terence Fisher, was a courtroom drama which has a jury decide whether Sir Rodrick Strood (Tom Conway) has poisoned his wife Daphne (Sellars) or if her death was accidental. On the stage Sellars replaced Vivien Leigh as the governor’s wife in the Noel Coward play South Sea Bubble at the Lyric theatre in London during August 1956. The production was transmitted by the BBC (17th September 1956) with Sellars played Lady Alexandra Shotter in a cast that also featured Joyce Carey and Peter Barkworth.
Sellars found herself under the direction of Charles Crichton once more in The Man in the Sky (1957), distributed as Decision against Time in American. Jack Hawkins played test pilot John Mitchell opposite Sellars as his wife Mary. The producer for the film, Michael Balcon, also hired Sellars for her next cinema credit The Shiralee which cast her as an unfaithful wife opposite Peter Finch as her husband. Sellars was next seen in the BBC play, Ordeal by Fire (31st October 1957), joining Patrick Troughton, Robert Eddison and Peter Wyngarde in a costume drama set in the court of King Charles VII. Sellars played the aristocratic Francoise de Gaillemarde under direction by Rudolph Cartier.
Law and Disorder (1958) was a comedy film that begun production under director Henry Cornelius who tragically died shortly after filming began. Charles Crichton was drafted in as a replacement and once again found himself working alongside Elizabeth Sellars who featured as barrister Gina Laselle, a role which reflected her interest in law. Robert Morley and Michael Redgrave took top billing. Her TV work for the year included an episode of ITV’s hugely successful drama anthology series Armchair Theatre – 'The Shining Hour' (5th January 1958) opposite Peter Wyngarde. The play was originally going to be broadcast the previous week but a malfunctioning crane camera scuppered the proposed live transmission so it was rescheduled for the 5th January transmission. Next for Sellars was a return to ITV Television Playhouse with an adaptation of 'The Browning Version' (20th June 1958) which saw her play the wife of the main protagonist. Her second Armchair Theatre role for the year came with 'Murder in Slow Motion' (5th October 1958). Theatre appearance during 1958 included Paris Is Not So Gay at Oxford Playhouse over March and The Deserters at the Royal Court, Liverpool during August.
January and February 1959 saw Sellars appear in a double bill of Jean Anouilh plays, The Traveller without Luggage and Madame de…, based at the Arts Theatre. On TV She made her first appearance in an ITV Play of the Week with 'The Judges Story' (24th February 1959). After a six year absence Sellars then returned to appear in the BBC Sunday Night Theatre with the episode 'The Fortrose Incident' (10th May 1959) a production of the J B Priestley play. Sellars received top billing when she played Lady Fortrose with Michael Aldridge portraying her husband Sir Edward Fortrose. Just over a month later she was cast in another episode of BBC Sunday Night Theatre, 'The Philadelphia Story' (14th June 1959), which saw her as Tracey Lord in a version of the Philip Barry play which had been adapted as a film in 1940 with Katherine Hepburn playing the same role. Sellars made only one film appearance during 1959 with the British thriller Jet Storm, also starring Richard Attenborough and Stanley Baker, which prefigures Seventies disaster films such as Airport and the modern issue of international terrorism. Sellars features as Inez Barrington, one of a group of plane passengers that includes such familiar faces as Patrick Allen, Diane Cilento and Harry Secombe! The film struggled to find an American distributor until 1961 when it was released under the title Jetstream.
January and February 1959 saw Sellars appear in a double bill of Jean Anouilh plays, The Traveller without Luggage and Madame de…, based at the Arts Theatre. On TV She made her first appearance in an ITV Play of the Week with 'The Judges Story' (24th February 1959). After a six year absence Sellars then returned to appear in the BBC Sunday Night Theatre with the episode 'The Fortrose Incident' (10th May 1959) a production of the J B Priestley play. Sellars received top billing when she played Lady Fortrose with Michael Aldridge portraying her husband Sir Edward Fortrose. Just over a month later she was cast in another episode of BBC Sunday Night Theatre, 'The Philadelphia Story' (14th June 1959), which saw her as Tracey Lord in a version of the Philip Barry play which had been adapted as a film in 1940 with Katherine Hepburn playing the same role. Sellars made only one film appearance during 1959 with the British thriller Jet Storm, also starring Richard Attenborough and Stanley Baker, which prefigures Seventies disaster films such as Airport and the modern issue of international terrorism. Sellars features as Inez Barrington, one of a group of plane passengers that includes such familiar faces as Patrick Allen, Diane Cilento and Harry Secombe! The film struggled to find an American distributor until 1961 when it was released under the title Jetstream.
1960 began with Sellars undertaking an appearance in an Armchair Theatre production of 'Pink Strings and Sealing Wax' (28th February 1960), based on the Roland Pertwee play. Among the cast was a young Judi Dench. The following month Sellars appeared in the stand alone ITV drama At Home (18th March 1960) and only a week later she was back on the small screen with a role in 'Flight 404' (27th March 1960), a first season episode of the mystery/thriller anthology series Suspense produced by ATV. Stage work for the year took in the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford upon Avon during June / July 1960 for The Taming of the Shrew and during August / September 1960 for The Winter’s Tale. In her personal life Sellars married the surgeon Francis Austin Henley[3] on 8th September 1960. They would remain lifelong man and wife. Her cinema credits for the year included the British crime movie The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960) as Iris Muldoon. The film was directed by John Guillerman who would also oversee Sellar’s second film credit for the year, Never Let Go (1960), which starred Peter Sellers as a car thief. From now on film appearances became rarer for her.
Sellars took an extended period of leave from acting whilst she settled in to married life and she made only a few appearances during 1961 including her second appearance in an ITV Play of the Week with 'The Flashing Stream' (24th January 1961). She also agreed to appear in one of the episodes of the anthology series One Step Beyond which was recorded in the UK. 'The Villa' (6th June 1961) also featured Kenneth Cope and Michael Crawford in the cast. Her stage appearances during 1961 included a production of Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford upon Avon appearing as Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. The title character was played by Ian Bannen.
It was back on the BBC play treadmill for This Year, Next Year (29th June 1962) with Sellars cast alongside Brenda Bruce, Frank Jarvis and Noel Johnson. Still Life (15th March 1963) was another play for television which also starred Peter Vaughan and Peter McEnery. Written by Jack Pulman the play was set in the world of night club entertainers. Just over a week later she could be seen in 'Too Late for Mashed Potato' (24th March 1963), an instalment of the BBC Sunday Night Play. Her third appearance in an episode of the ITV Play of the Week followed with Sellars playing Janet Spence in a version of the Aldous Huxley short story 'The Giaconda Smile' (24th September 1963). Nigel Davenport and Joan Hickson headlined. In its review of the play The Stage singled out Sellars for praise: 'Elizabeth Sellars gave a finely drawn performance as the psychopathic ‘woman scorned’ and made the melodramatic nature of her part seem not only real but moving.[4]' Her only film credit for the year was as Lady Sarah Robertson in the Hollywood blockbuster 55 Days at Peking (1963) which headlined Charlton Heston, David Niven and Ava Gardner.
Sellars took an extended period of leave from acting whilst she settled in to married life and she made only a few appearances during 1961 including her second appearance in an ITV Play of the Week with 'The Flashing Stream' (24th January 1961). She also agreed to appear in one of the episodes of the anthology series One Step Beyond which was recorded in the UK. 'The Villa' (6th June 1961) also featured Kenneth Cope and Michael Crawford in the cast. Her stage appearances during 1961 included a production of Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford upon Avon appearing as Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. The title character was played by Ian Bannen.
It was back on the BBC play treadmill for This Year, Next Year (29th June 1962) with Sellars cast alongside Brenda Bruce, Frank Jarvis and Noel Johnson. Still Life (15th March 1963) was another play for television which also starred Peter Vaughan and Peter McEnery. Written by Jack Pulman the play was set in the world of night club entertainers. Just over a week later she could be seen in 'Too Late for Mashed Potato' (24th March 1963), an instalment of the BBC Sunday Night Play. Her third appearance in an episode of the ITV Play of the Week followed with Sellars playing Janet Spence in a version of the Aldous Huxley short story 'The Giaconda Smile' (24th September 1963). Nigel Davenport and Joan Hickson headlined. In its review of the play The Stage singled out Sellars for praise: 'Elizabeth Sellars gave a finely drawn performance as the psychopathic ‘woman scorned’ and made the melodramatic nature of her part seem not only real but moving.[4]' Her only film credit for the year was as Lady Sarah Robertson in the Hollywood blockbuster 55 Days at Peking (1963) which headlined Charlton Heston, David Niven and Ava Gardner.
First Night was a successful drama slot for the BBC and Sellars appeared in the episode 'The Happy Ones' (7th March 1964) which also boasted the talents of John Gregson, Donald Sinden, Cyril Luckham and Nigel Stock. The production was based on a novel by Maurice Edelman, adapted for television by Anthony Steven, and told the story of a polite conversation leading to a love affair. In the theatre Sellars could be seen as Olga in an Oxford Playhouse production of Chekhov’s The Three Sisters. Her fourth appearance in an episode of ITV Play of the Week arrived with a role in 'The Sound of Murder' (2nd November 1964) which was based on the William Fairchild murder mystery play. Sellars was repeating her original role from the stage production at the Aldwych Theatre in 1959.
Sellar’s major project for the year was appearing as Dr May Howard in the BBC series R3, which ran for two seasons between 1964 and 1965, appearing in eleven of the thirteen episodes comprising the first season. Now seen as a conceptual and spiritual forerunner to the acclaimed 1970s BBC series Doomwatch this mid-Sixties series was intended to help demystify the roles of scientists and portray them as ordinary people facing everyday problems. The series was not strictly science fiction but did touch upon the related areas such as plagues, drug side effects, robots replacing men in manufacturing and post holocaust survival. With her regular role in R3 taking up most of her professional time Sellar’s made her final acting assignment for the year starring alongside John Gregson once more in a seasonal edition of the BBC drama anthology Thirty Minute Theatre with the episode 'Family Christmas' (23rd December 1965).
The following year saw Sellars only making two appearances on screen, both guest spots in ongoing drama serials; This Man Craig – 'Sticks And Stones' (11th March 1966) and The Power Game – 'The Dead Sea Fruit' (7th November 1966). Theatre engagements during 1966 saw Sellars appear in A Friend Indeed in Cambridge during April and May. 'Person To Person' (4th January 1967) was an episode The Wednesday Play with Sellars headlining as a divorced thirty-something, Julia Graham, who has an odd encounter with an architecture student when he appears at her door and asks to use the phone. Her fifth and final appearance in an ITV Play of the Week was as Jane Canning in 'Person Unknown' (21st March 1967) again reuniting her with John Gregson who leads a distinctive cast that offered early roles for Felicity Kendall, Michael Crawford and a pre-Playschool Brian Cant. The play was adapted by David Butler who was also an actor and was probably most known for his role as Doctor Nick Williams in Emergency Ward Ten which he played for five years. Sellars major cult cache role of the year was in the Hammer horror film The Mummy’s Shroud (1967) as Barbara Preston.
Sellar’s major project for the year was appearing as Dr May Howard in the BBC series R3, which ran for two seasons between 1964 and 1965, appearing in eleven of the thirteen episodes comprising the first season. Now seen as a conceptual and spiritual forerunner to the acclaimed 1970s BBC series Doomwatch this mid-Sixties series was intended to help demystify the roles of scientists and portray them as ordinary people facing everyday problems. The series was not strictly science fiction but did touch upon the related areas such as plagues, drug side effects, robots replacing men in manufacturing and post holocaust survival. With her regular role in R3 taking up most of her professional time Sellar’s made her final acting assignment for the year starring alongside John Gregson once more in a seasonal edition of the BBC drama anthology Thirty Minute Theatre with the episode 'Family Christmas' (23rd December 1965).
Sellars was off our screens during 1968 but returned to guest star in an episode of The Avengers – 'Take-Over' (14th April 1969) which was penned by Terry Nation and directed by Robert Fuest. Her other notable TV appearance during the year was in an episode of the BBC drama anthology W Somerset Maugham which adapted twenty six stories by the titular author over the course of two series. Sellars appears in 'The Three Fat Women of Antibes' (8th July 1969) as Lena Finch. Sellars made no screen appearances during 1970 and had only occasional outings for the next few years such as Thames Television anthology series Shadows of Fear (1971) episode 'Repent At Leisure' (2nd February 1971) and 'The Grill' (16th April 1972), an episode of STV’s anthology drama series Short Story. Peter Vaughan co-starred. She made only one appearance the following year with the role of the mother to Lady Franklin (Sarah Miles) in the film The Hireling (1973). Another year of no appearances was followed by a role in the seventh episode, 'A Sprig of Broom' (10th February 1975), of the spectacular failure that was Churchill’s People. This was followed by a role in an episode of the Thames Television drama anthology Shades of Greene which comprised of adapted stories from the work of author Graham Greene. Sellars was in illustrious company in the episode 'Two Gentle People' (30th September 1975) which also starred Harry Andrews, Elaine Stritch and John Carson.
Her next screen roles was in the Beasts episode 'During Barty’s Party' and this was her only role for the year. It's a remarkable performance and clearly demonstrates how skillful she was as an actor. The episode was filmed in almost a single take in one evening after a solid week of rehearsal and Sellars gives herself totally to the role as her character must take control of the situation. In fact, Sellars did not make another film or television appearance for another five years. If Angie Truscott had been her final role it would have been a fitting tribute.
She returned to the screen with 'Dear Brutus' (27th January 1981), an episode of Play for Today. Next was A Voyage Round My Father (19th April 1982) with Sellars playing the mother in the Laurence Olivier starring TV play written by John Mortimer. Another Play for Today episode, 'Last Love' (1st March 1983), gave a substantial role to Sellars when she played Annabel, a well to do widower who falls in love with Jack (Dave King), a self-made man from working class origins. Her other appearance for the year was in the ambitious Yorkshire Television drama series Number 10 which examined the private lives of seven British prime ministers who were in office between the 1780s and the 1920s. Sellars appeared as Lady Bradford in the sixth episode, 'Dizzy' (20th March 1983), which focused on the life of Benjamin Disraeli. Winter Sunlight (8th March 1984 – 29th March 1984) was a four part drama in which Sellars headlined as Dorothy Ashford, a middle aged woman who, after the death of her parents, begins to live her own life. The supporting cast included Patricia Haynes, Derek Farr and Derek Francis who played Ernest.
Roles became rarer for Sellars as she entered her twilight years and so the time between appearances became longer. She made a guest appearance in the series Farrington of the FO and the drama strand Play On One in the episode 'The Dunroamin’ Rising' (9th February 1988) playing opposite Thorley Walters who had featured in the Beasts episode 'The Dummy'. She was part of a truly star studded cast of British character actors in the American TV movie A Ghost In Monte Carlo (2nd April 1990) based on the Barbara Cartland novel. Her final screen role came in the first episode, 'Best of Enemies', (24th July 1990) of the forgotten wedding agency set comedy drama, Made in Heaven, which was produced by Granada. Sellars played the character Grace opposite Kenneth Connor as Harry. She retired from acting in 1990 to “a wee cottage in Scotland”[5] and kept away from the spotlight preferring to spend her time with her husband. He passed away in January 2009. Sellars died a decade later on 30th December 2019. Director Charles Crichton once commented that Sellars was "a cross between the early allure of Ingrid Bergman and the power of Bette Davis". Perhaps this made her to be a difficult fit, too intellectual for many of the typical roles in film and TV of the time, and so limited her becoming a bigger star despite a busy and fulfilling career. Sellars later reflected on not taking the offer of a Hollywood contract that "MGM wanted to sign me up and I would have played Nero's wife in Quo Vadis. I never saw myself as a superstar, but - perhaps if I had accepted, I might have become one."
[1] Avalanche Journal, 9th November, 1958, page 6
[2] The term quota quickie was applied to cheaply and quickly shot films made to fulfil a British government quota for UK produced and distributed movies.
[3] Henley was a senior consultant gastrointestinal surgeon at the Central Middlesex Hospital, London. He authored papers on such topics as the blood supply of the bile duct. He retired in 1979, passing away in 2009 at the grand age of 94
[4] The Stage, Thursday 19th September 1963, page 10
[5] The Women of Hammer Horror: A Biographical Dictionary and Filmography, Robert Michael “Bob” Cotter, McFarland and Co, 2013, page 232
Roles became rarer for Sellars as she entered her twilight years and so the time between appearances became longer. She made a guest appearance in the series Farrington of the FO and the drama strand Play On One in the episode 'The Dunroamin’ Rising' (9th February 1988) playing opposite Thorley Walters who had featured in the Beasts episode 'The Dummy'. She was part of a truly star studded cast of British character actors in the American TV movie A Ghost In Monte Carlo (2nd April 1990) based on the Barbara Cartland novel. Her final screen role came in the first episode, 'Best of Enemies', (24th July 1990) of the forgotten wedding agency set comedy drama, Made in Heaven, which was produced by Granada. Sellars played the character Grace opposite Kenneth Connor as Harry. She retired from acting in 1990 to “a wee cottage in Scotland”[5] and kept away from the spotlight preferring to spend her time with her husband. He passed away in January 2009. Sellars died a decade later on 30th December 2019. Director Charles Crichton once commented that Sellars was "a cross between the early allure of Ingrid Bergman and the power of Bette Davis". Perhaps this made her to be a difficult fit, too intellectual for many of the typical roles in film and TV of the time, and so limited her becoming a bigger star despite a busy and fulfilling career. Sellars later reflected on not taking the offer of a Hollywood contract that "MGM wanted to sign me up and I would have played Nero's wife in Quo Vadis. I never saw myself as a superstar, but - perhaps if I had accepted, I might have become one."
[1] Avalanche Journal, 9th November, 1958, page 6
[2] The term quota quickie was applied to cheaply and quickly shot films made to fulfil a British government quota for UK produced and distributed movies.
[3] Henley was a senior consultant gastrointestinal surgeon at the Central Middlesex Hospital, London. He authored papers on such topics as the blood supply of the bile duct. He retired in 1979, passing away in 2009 at the grand age of 94
[4] The Stage, Thursday 19th September 1963, page 10
[5] The Women of Hammer Horror: A Biographical Dictionary and Filmography, Robert Michael “Bob” Cotter, McFarland and Co, 2013, page 232
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