Damaris Hayman
Actress BORN JUNE 16, 1929 - DIED JUNE 3, 2021, AGED 91
IN A five-part Doctor Who story in 1971 Damaris Hayman became something of a cult figure for her portrayal of white witch Olive Hawthorne.
Called The Daemons, the classic story centred on the village of Devil’s End. To anyone who would listen, Olive warned that dark forces threatened to envelop the rural idyll.
The show was shot in Aldbourne, Wiltshire, where she was invited to open local events such as fetes, as people had been so impressed with her role in the BBC’s sci-fi classic.
She felt the village itself contributed to the success of the story in which Jon Pertwee played the Doctor.
Recalling a scene in the show in which she stilled the winds, she said: “I even believed, for those few moments, that I could actually still the wind.”
Born in Kensington in London and educated at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, she trained to be a music teacher but started off her acting career in rep.
Television viewers got used to seeing her in shows such as Steptoe And Son, The Bill, Man About The House and Mutiny On The Buses.
In 1976 Hayman also had parts in films The Pink Panther Strikes Again and Confessions Of A Driving Instructor.
She displayed a gift for comedy in The Belles Of St Trinian’s and went on to work with Morecambe and Wise, Les Dawson and Tommy Cooper.
While working with the comedian Tony Hancock she became a close friend.
She understood his alcoholism and tried to help him dry out and encourage him to develop an interest in philosophy.
However, despite her best efforts she couldn’t prevent him from taking his own life.