A quintessential character actor, Ruby Bentall has a recognizable and very youthful looking face. That may lead her to be typecast as younger girls, maids, and secondary characters, but she does these jobs with flair and adds drama and humor as appropriate. Her social media profile says: “I mostly wear bonnets for a living,” but she’s done much more than that! Let’s look at some of her frock flicks roles.
Charlotte in Oliver Twist (2007)
One of the (many) characters who torments Oliver)
Mary Bennet in Lost in Austen (2008)
Looking perfect as the bookish Bennett.
Margaret, Walter’s Maid, in Robin Hood (2010)
Medieval maid, I guess?
Minnie Mude in Lark Rise to Candleford (2009-11)
I couldn’t get into this series, but the costume were solid.
Apparently she starts out as a maid.
And gets a romantic ending, yay!
Pauline in The Paradise (2012)
A shopgirl in season one.
And she apparently gets a bit of a wardrobe outside the store “uniform,” but I can’t find more pix.
Linda in “Throwing Eggs,” Blandings (2014)
Very funny as one of the nieces in an episode of this series based on 1930s P. G. Wodehouse stories.
Hilary “Hils” Barnstaple in Jekyll and Hyde (2015)
She’s a no-nonsense, side-kick type character in this 1930s riff on the Jekyll & Hyde story.
Had to include a better pic of this smart hat!
Nurse in Bikini Blue (2017)
Something post-WWII, that’s all I got.
Barbarina in Interlude in Prague (2017)
A maid, again.
She helps her mistress get it on with Mozart.
Verity Poldark Blamey in Poldark (2015-18)
Her most significant frock flick role so far.
Verity was something of a sad spinster at first.
Then she had a scandalous romance with Capt. Blamey, & they finally got married.
And her hair styles got better over the course of the show.
Janet in The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)
She chases donkeys out of the field for Mrs. Trotwood. Somebody’s got to do it!
Connie Bukes in Operation Mincemeat (2021)
I think she’s a secretary? She has a small role in this WWII story.
Angelica in The Serpent Queen (2022)
Another significant frock flick role, she’s a perfumer who young Catherine de’ Medici choses as part of her entourage to go to France.
Then she starts supplying gold elixir to Diane de Poitiers.
She gets a rather gothy black & red wardrobe.
Her character is a double-dealer, out for her own good.
And it’s implied that she had an affair with one woman, who she dumped for Diane.
Cat in Firebrand (upcoming)
Looks like Bentall will be a lady-in-waiting to the queen!
Have you noticed Ruby Bentall in frock flicks?
The first season of The Paradise was so good, but the second was a bit of a disappointment. I never managed to finish it.
The hoods in the Firebrand photo pretty good! Curvy, not too wide or sticky-outy, not just a headband.And I love the visible texture and reflection of Catherine Parr’s damask there on Alicia Vikander. They look like proper silks rather than some cheap cotton-looking fabric you get in some of these productions.
Am looking forward to “Firebrand,” based on hot-French-hood-action photos alone. (And the fact that Jude Law, unlike some British actors one could mention, actually grunged up a bit.) Getting back to Bentall, I really liked her as Verity Poldark; she would make a good Melanie in “Gone With the Wind.”
Mr Law is generally good value so far as casting goes – and I was both a little amused, as well as a little surprised, to learn that he apparently had a scent maker whip up an ‘Eau de Dead Tudor’ to help capture the horrid smell of Henry VIIIs ulcerated physique.
Apparently he only meant to wear a drop or two on his own person, but the director got wind of it and started spraying it EVERYWHERE.
I can’t decide if that’s a Power Move, simple commitment to The Method or just plain cartoonish.
When watching young actresses (or actors) it’s interesting and a little melancholy to ponder who will keep working, who will be left behind (whether they make it Big or not in the first place) and who will keep showing up on our screen until Death comes with the classic ‘Stage left’ crook rather than a scythe.
It is much, much more fun to work out which of the thespians who endure to become National Treasures will do so because they have “It” and always will, which will do so by dint of being good in EVERYTHING (I suspect we’re all thinking of Romula Garai at this point) and which of them will manage it by dint of somehow managing to appear in everything.
I have a sneaking suspicion Miss Bentall May end up in that latter category, if the number of her screen credits to date are anything to go by!
As soon as I her top photo I screamed, “Verity.” She has been good in everything I’ve seen her in so far. Completely forgot about her in Interlude in Prague, mainly because I’m trying to completely forget about that movie altogether. I would be willing to bet money that the still from The Paradise was composed with Whistler’s paintings in mind. Also, I never realized just how much she has that Frock Flicks until looking at all the stills in this post. I hope to see her in more stuff! Great WCW choice.
Well naturally someone named ‘Ruby’ would be a gem!