Anna Quayle dead: Actress who starred in Grange Hill and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang dies aged 86 after battle with dementia
- Film star died in August after fighting Lewy body dementia, it emerged today
- She also had roles in the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night and The Avengers
- Most iconic performance was as Baroness Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Actress Anna Quayle (pictured) has died aged 86, it emerged today
Actress Anna Quayle has died aged 86 following the Grange Hill and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star's battle with dementia.
The TV and film star died on August 16 after fighting Lewy body dementia, it emerged today.
As well as appearing in 85 episodes of Grange Hill from 1990 to 1994 as Mrs Monroe, Quayle acted alongside The Beatles in their 1964 movie A Hard Day's Night.
In the film, she portrays a woman who recognises John Lennon despite the songwriter being undercover.
Quayle died following a seven-year battle with the illness, Mirror Online reported this morning.
Her most iconic performance was as Baroness Bomburst in the classic 1968 children's film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
She also graced television screens as part of the cast of the cult 1960s show The Avengers.
Other programmes she appeared in include Father Charlie, The Sooty Show, Grubstreet and Brideshead Revisited.
Her most iconic performance was as Baroness Bomburst in the classic 1968 children's film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (she is pictured in the movie)
Anna Quayle is pictured with John Lennon in the film A Hard Day's Night, in which she spots the Beatle while he's undercover
Quayle (left, in Grange Hill and, right, in the cult TV show The Avengers) battled the dementia for seven years
Quayle's forays into the theatre saw her hit the West End for And Another Thing... as well as Stop the World - I Want to Get Off. Her last credited TV role was back in 1999, when she was in Adam's Family Tree.
Born in Birmingham to the actor Douglas Quayle, she debuted on the stage at the age of three.
Discovering that acting was her childhood passion, she continued to tread the boards until she made it RADA - the UK's most prestigious drama school.
Her fellow students at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts included Glenda Jackson and Jack Hedley.
The highly regarded institution tweeted a tribute to Quayle as fans took to social media to remember her in a variety of roles.
In 1976 she married Donald Baker and she had one daughter together, named Katy. The actress was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia - the second most common type next to Alzheimer's - in 2012.
Quayle (right) is pictured in the 1960s hit show The Avengers, alongside Patrick Macnee (left) and Michael Gough
Quayle is pictured in 1967's Smashing Times (on the right, appearing with Rita Tushingham)
The disease is estimated to affect more than 100,000 people in the UK and affects understanding, thinking, memory and judgment.
Tremors, slow movement and hallucinations are among its physical symptoms and those suffering from the illness sometimes causes violent movements and shouting out during sleep.
Quayle (left) stars alongside Diana Rigg (right) in Series Five of the cult TV show The Avengers back in 1967
The actress - pictured alongside Ronnie Corbett in the 1967 James Bond spoof, Casino Royale - battle dementia for seven years
Pictured: Anna Quayle on screen in the ITV show Marjorie and Men back in 1985. The actress died in August, it emerged today
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