Ursula Howells was educated at St Paul's Girls' School in London, where
her father Herbert Howells, a doyen of English church music taught
music for 26 years. Following the death of her brother Michael from
polio in 1935, her father composed his great choral masterpiece "Hymnus
Paradisi".
She was evacuated to Scotland during the Second World War and made her
stage debut in 1940 with Dundee rep. She made her London debut at the
Embassy Theatre in Swiss Cottage in 1945. Her broadcasting debut came
in 1946 with Sweet Lavender and she made her screen debut in 1950, with
Flesh and Blood (1951).
Although she continued to make West End appearances during the
following thirty years, she remained in demand as a television and film
actress. Her successes included
Marriage a la Mode (1955),
The Third Key (1956),
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
and
Girly (1970).
She made an impression as Frances Forsyte (Young Jo's
first wife) in the BBC's 1967 television adaptation of John
Galsworthy's
The Forsyte Saga (1967). She
became a regular feature in television comedy and drama, ranging from
Father, Dear Father (1968)
and
A Rather English Marriage (1998)
to
The Cazalets (2001).
Her television credits also included playing a psychopath Lettie
Blacklock in
Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced (1985).
She also appeared in
Sins of the Fathers (1985)
and
Warriors (1991),
Somewhere - Over the Rainbow? (1994),
Vigilante (1995)
and
The Electric Vendetta (2001).
She instigated the "Herbert Howells Society" following her father's
death in 1983 and became a standard bearer for the promotion of his
work. She financially supported the recording of his compositions and
did much to encourage the publishing and promotion of church music.
She was married twice. Following a brief first marriage to Davy Dodd in
1949, she remarried in 1968 to the theatre director
Anthony Pelissier . She was widowed in
1988 and moved to Petworth in Sussex. Although she had no children of
her own, she was a loving stepmother to her husband's son and three
daughters who survived her.
Midsomer Murders(1997)as Lady Isabel Aubrey
The Cazalets(2001)as Kitty Cazalet
A Rather English Marriage(1998)as Mary
The Tichborne Claimant(1998)as Lady Doughty
Casualty(1986)as Erica Chisnall, Hilda Sorensen
This Is Your Life(1955)as Self
Kraft Mystery Theater(1961)as Mrs. Hillary, Lucille Ainsworth