English actress Jenny Agutter recently had a birthday, and as I was posting images to Frock Flicks social media, I was surprised by just how many period films/TV series she’s done! There wasn’t room to post them all there, so I thought she deserved a feature here on the blog.
The Railway Children (1970)
Her break-out role in a story of an Edwardian family whose father is accused of being a spy, so the family has to move to a run-down home near train tracks.
I feel like that beret may have been pivotal in some people’s lives.
Happy Edwardians?
I like mom’s outfits!
The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
A story about a fictional German plot to kidnap Winston Churchill near the end of World War II.
Nice piping on the sleeve cuff.
The Man in the Iron Mask (1977)
As Louis XIV’s mistress, Louise de la Vallière, in the classic 1660s-set Dumas story — with Richard Chamberlain as Louis!
I think I generally like this, with some questions about the hair and the ball fringe.
Richard Chamberlain!
Sparkles! (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)
China 9, Liberty 37 (1978)
An Italian-Spanish western.
zzzz
Mayflower: The Pilgrims’ Adventure (1979)
A TV movie focusing on romantic relationships between the pilgrims (blech). With Anthony Hopkins!
Clearly a high level of historical accuracy was involved.
The Riddle of the Sands (1979)
A spy thriller set in 1901.
I’m hoping there’s a plausible reason for the hair!
The Survivor (1981)
An Australian horror story about a man who survives a plane crash and starts having visions; I’m not sure why Agutter is in Edwardian costume here, but I’m being a completionist!
That’s a lovely blouse!
Secret Places (1984)
A German refugee girl sent to an English boarding school during World War II.
Shoulder pads!
Silas Marner (1985)
An adaptation of the early-19th century-set George Eliot novel.
Looks good, from what I can see!
Love’s Labour’s Lost (1985)
As Rosaline in the Shakespeare play, reset in the mid-18th century.
Nice mid-century mantua!
King of the Wind (1990)
About a famous 18th century horse.
Not my favorite hat look.
Whoa, a cap with lappets!
The Buccaneers (1995)
The 1870s-set story of four Americans taking on England through marriage, based on the Edith Wharton novel. Agutter plays the slightly older mistress of an English lord who gets set aside for a new American wife.
Beautiful embroidery.
And a lovely Japanese-esque dressing gown!
A Respectable Trade (1998)
An adaptation of a Philippa Fucking Gregory book, set in 1787 and centered on the British slave trade.
Shockingly good!
What is this madness? (Photo by Barry Batchelor – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
Bramwell (1998)
In two episodes of this British series about a female doctor in 1895.
Nice hat trimmings.
The Railway Children (2000)
Same story, but this time as the mom!
The beret has been passed on!
Her dress and hair are great.
Poirot: Taken at the Flood (2006)
In one episode of the 1930s-set murder mystery series by Agatha Christie.
(Photo by Graham Wiltshire/Getty Images)
Glorious 39 (2009)
As the mother to a very complicated English family in this World War II-set story.
It was really hard to track down an image of her in this.
Call the Midwife (2012- )
Nurse midwives working in 1950s-60s London; Agutter plays Sister Julienne.
Nuns!
Queen of the Desert (2015)
As Gertrude Bell’s stepmother, writer Florence Bell.
I have zero memory of her role in this.
Tin (2015)
A story set in 1895 Cornwall, which must have something to do with tin mining.
I feel like this could be interesting, at least from a costume angle!
What’s your favorite Jenny Agutter frock flick role?
The Man in the Iron Mask and The Bucaneers.
Buccaneers is my favorite, though I do enjoy Call the Midwife. Plus, The Buccaneers mini series starts out with a lament about not being noticed, that they might as well be in Kalamazoo. Which is my hometown, and this makes me laugh each time I hear it.
Railway Children (2000) seems to have fringe/bangs girl from Lost in Austen. The fringe/bangs must be contractual!
The Railway Children – the first one. Simply one of the best children’s movies ever made. You merely have to quote Jenny Agutter’s line on finally seeing her father arrive back home on the train, “Daddy! My Daddy!” and at least half the British population will tear up.
I’ve never seen the Railway Children, sorry to say. She’s so beautiful and such a good actress, and I think her beauty adds a layer to her role in Call the Midwife – why’d she become a nun? She did have a true love. Anyway, I’m a huge fan of that series, one of the most feminist on TV.
She did have a love. There was an episode about it. But she chose the Vail. Bleeck!
I came here to say that. To this day, the first Railway Children movie is one of the few to bring me to tears. “Daddy! My Daddy!” is the culmination of a perfect film. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing a treat.
And then she’s doing Call The Midwife, which I love! The costumes for that are fab, too.
Forgot – the Railway Children movie was taken from a TV series, and they kept many of the same actors, including Jenny Agutter.
It’s unclear in the book of The Riddle of the Sands how old Clara Dollmann is supposed to be, but she must be mid-teens at least. However, the plot does require her to be totally innocent and unsuspecting of her traitor father’s involvement in Imperial Germany’s dastardly invasion plans, and I would guess that the decision was made to costume her as not-yet-‘out’, with hair down under simple sailor hats and tam-o’-shanters; to underline this. This was probably a smart move, because if she had been shown swanning around in fully-adult Edwardian coiffures, she might have carried less conviction as an ingenue.
There’s a running joke, or used to be, that Jenny Agutter whipped off her underwear in almost every film at some point or another – even in The Railway Children.
Not a costume flick, but my favorite of hers is “Logan’s Run”. In fact, I was just watching it the other night. Cheesy 70’s goodness!
SAME!!! I love her in everything, but Logan’s Run was just so SO. as for always whipping off her underwear, I think we know enough about the appalling treatment of women in the acting profession now to realise there’s a whole lot of yuk and probably not much agency behind that.
Isn’t that the truth?
Sister Julienne! Oh how I love her!
Not a frock flick, but American Werewolf in London. It is a funny horror movie.
Believe it or not, “A Respectable Trade” is not a bad book (at least, not for PFG). Good story line, strong conflicts, social conscience, etc. “Other Boleyn Girl” was when PFG starting sinking, lower and lower and dot dot dot
I agree–very fine script, well acted, great costumes, important (and not well covered on screen) subject.
I’ve always like her in anything she’s done. I’m going for “The Man in the Iron Mask,” not necessarily for the women’s costumes (the second one looks like the living room drapes with the pullbacks), but for Richard Chamberlain, one of the few men who could carry off the silly late 17th century costumes without looking like a total prat. Jenny Agutter has always been a class act on the screen.
I’m most familiar with her in Call the Midwife. I would like to see some of these other roles. Must search streaming services.
Would like to suggest one of my favorites, Susan Hampshire, for WCW. She was stellar in The Pallisers, also played Becky Sharpe in Vanity Fair, Fleur in Forsyte Saga, and starred in the Grand, as well as other frock flicks. Anna Massey is another of my favorites, with her roles in Mansfield Park, He Knew he was Right and the Pallisers among others.
She was in the First Churchills as Sarah and won an Emmy for it.
Thanks!
I simply love Jenny. She is a class act and thanks for the post so I can find more of her films to watch. I watched Logan’s Run recently, and she was just so pretty. And a wacky film at that!