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Helen Ryan

Helen Ryan

Birthday: 1938-06-16 | Place of Birth: Liverpool, England, UK

Helen Ryan (born June 16, 1938, in Liverpool, Lancashire) is a British actress, who is notable for playing several royal roles. The Liverpool native played Princess and then Queen Alexandra in the British television series Edward the Seventh, for which she received a BAFTA nomination in 1975. She also played Princess Alexandra in the 1980 movie The Elephant Man and the Sherlock Holmes story "The Mazarin Stone". She played another royal, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, in the 2002 television drama Bertie and Elizabeth. Her other credits include Madame Balzac in the TV series Prometheus: The Life of Balzac (1975), Mrs. McFarlane in the Sherlock Holmes story "The Norwood Builder", and films such as Clash of Loyalties (1983), Misunderstood (1984) and The Hawk (1993). More recently, Ryan has appeared as Peggy Roath, a personal aide to Queen Elizabeth II, in the fifth season of The Crown in 2022. In 2023, she appeared in the BBC soap opera Doctors as Thelma Scott. She was formerly married to the theatre director Guy Slater, with whom she had a daughter, Rebecca, and a son, Daniel.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

2017
The Raisin

as    Woman at Door

2003
The Brides in the Bath

as    Mrs. Farraday

1987
Crystalstone

as    Aunt

1985
My Brother Jonathan

as    Lavinia Dakers

1984
Misunderstood

as    Lucy

1983
Clash of Loyalties

as    Gertrude Bell

1980
The Elephant Man

as    Princess Alex

1975
Jenny Can't Work Any Faster

as    Maureen

1965
The Lift

as    Margot