Jackie Burroughs
About
Biography
Biography
A leading figure of the Canadian theater, British-born Jackie Burroughs worked in everything from avant garde cabaret to plays by the Bard at Ontario's Stratford Shakespeare Festival. While in her youth she sometimes came off as brittle and mannered (not unlike Maggie Smith), as she aged she matured with a fearlessness that often compensated when the vehicle was beneath her talents. Burroughs began working in film in the late 1960s, but began making inroads in the 1980s as co-star of "The Grey Fox" (1982) and narrator of "The Wars" (1983). Her best known feature may have been "A Winter Tan" (1987), which she co-produced, co-directed and co-wrote in addition to playing the lead. Adapted from the letters of Maryse Holder, the film told the story of a middle-aged feminist who embarks on a hedonistic, alcohol-sodden sexual odyssey through Mexico. With the dawn of the 1990s, Burroughs found a home on the small screen as the domineering spinster novelist Hetty King in "Avonlea/Road to Avonlea" (The Disney Channel, 1990-97). She later turned up as brothel owner Mother Mucca in the miniseries "Armistead Maupin's More Tales of the City" (Showtime, 1998) and as a jogger announcing the countdown to the end of the world in Don McKellar's quirky "Last Night" (1998). The esteemed actress passed away from stomach cancer in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Sept. 22, 2010.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1970
Early US TV appearance in the NBC movie "The Psychiatrist: God Bless the Children"
1982
Co-starred with Richard Farnsworth in "The Grey Fox"
1983
Played the narrator in "The Wars"
1983
Had featured role in David Cronenberg's "The Dead Zone"
1985
Portrayed a showgirl narrating a pop culture history of neon in the PBS special "Neon: An Electric Memoir"
1986
Appeared as Mrs. Evans in the Canadian TV production of "Anne of Green Gables" (aired on PBS' "Wonderworks")
1987
Feature debut as co-director and co-writer, "A Winter Tan"; also starred
1990
Starred as Hetty King in "Avonlea/Road to Avonlea" (aired in the USA on The Disney Channel)
1991
Had title role as the well-known Canadian author in "Elizabeth Smart: On the Side of Angels"
1998
Played Mother Mucca in the Showtime miniseries "Armistead Maupin's More Tales of the City"
1998
Made cameo appearance as a jogger who counts down the remaining hours on Earth in "Last Night" (released in the USA in 1999)
Family
