 The daughter of a British NATO commander, educated in Europe and England, Charlotte Rampling started as a model, and, after drama lessons, made her film debut in 1965. She began playing slender, coolly attractive rich bitches, more recently, ruthless mature women with dark pasts and secrets to hide. Her screen image was shaped by the box-office hit Georgy Girl (d. Silvio Narizzano, 1966) as the patronising Meredith who defies traditional conventions of marriage and motherhood, evoking the harsher side of Swinging London. There were a few British films (Anne Boleyn in Henry VIII and His Six Wives, d. Waris Hussein, 1972), but since 1974 her film career has largely been in Europe, The Night Porter (Italy, d, Liliana Cavani, 1974) establishing her as an actress who was prepared to take on emotionally risky roles. Her somewhat chilly edge made her ideal for the ambitious Tory MEP in Paris By Night (d. David Hare, 1988), mercenary aristocrat Aunt Maude in The Wings of the Dove (UK/US, d. Iain Softley, 1997) and an excellent Miss Havisham in TV's Great Expectations (BBC, 1999). Roger Philip Mellor, Encyclopedia of British Film
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