Jennifer Hilary

Jennifer Mary Hilary (14 December 1942 – 6 August 2008) was a British actress who worked across stage, film, and television. Born in Frimley, Camberley, Surrey, she trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she received the Bancroft Gold Medal in 1961. She launched her professional career that same year at the Liverpool Playhouse, making her debut at age 18 as Nina in The Seagull.

During her time in repertory theatre, Hilary took on a range of classical and contemporary roles, including Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal, Cecily Cardew in The Importance of Being Earnest, Isabel in The Enchanted, and Cilla Curtis in Amateur Means Lover. She subsequently performed with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Her West End debut came through a production of Henry James's The Wings of the Dove, in which her performance as Milly drew significant critical attention.

Hilary first appeared on Broadway in 1963 in Jean Anouilh's The Rehearsal. The following year she played Zoe in James Saunders's A Scent of Flowers in the West End, and in 1965 Sir Michael Redgrave cast her in Turgenev's A Month in the Country. She returned to Broadway in 1966 to portray Sasha in Chekhov's Ivanov at the Shubert Theatre, and her Broadway work also included Avanti! Her Broadway appearances spanned the years 1963 to 1968. In 1967, back in London, she played Ginny in Alan Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking.

In later life Hilary established a flower-arranging business. In 2001 she provided the floral arrangements for actor Michael Williams's memorial service at Covent Garden. She died from cancer in London on 6 August 2008, at the age of 65.