Lynne Frederick

Lynne Frederick (25 July 1954 – 27 April 1994) was an English actress.

In a career spanning ten years, she made over thirty appearances in film and television productions. Known for her classic English rose beauty, she often played the girl next door and was famous for her performances in a range of genres, from contemporary science fiction to slasher horror, romantic dramas, classic westerns, and occasional comedies, although her greater successes were in period films and costume dramas.

In 1980, after the death of her husband, Peter Sellers, she came to national attention over the nature of his controversial will, in which she was listed as the primary beneficiary. She was publicly criticised, ridiculed and perceived as a gold digger by the press and public. Her career and reputation never recovered from the backlash and she was subsequently blacklisted by Hollywood. She lived out the remainder of her years in California, and kept a low profile until her death in 1994.

In the decades since her death, Frederick's legacy has steadily established a posthumous cult following for her collection of work in motion pictures. Some of her better known performances include her roles in films such as Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), The Amazing Mr. Blunden (1972), Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), and Voyage of the Damned (1976). Other films of hers such as Vampire Circus (1971), Phase IV (1974), Four of the Apocalypse (1975), A Long Return (Largo retorno) (1975), and Schizo (1976) have all become underground hits or established a status as a cult film in their respective genres, contributing to the renewed interest in her life and career.

She was the first recipient of the award for Best New Coming Actress from the Evening Standard British Film Awards in 1973, for her performances in Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972) and The Amazing Mr. Blunden (1972). She is one of only eight actresses, and the youngest, to hold this title.

Spouses

• Peter Sellers (m. 1977; died 1980)​
• David Frost (m. 1981; div. 1982)​
• Barry Unger (m. 1982; div. 1991)​

Partner Julian Posner (1972–1975)

Early life

Frederick was born in Hillingdon, Middlesex, to Andrew Frederick (1914–1983) and Iris C. Frederick (née Sullivan, 1928–2006). While she was very young, her father abandoned the family, and she was brought up by her mother and maternal grandmother, Cecilia. Lynne never knew or met her father, and had no personal relationships or connections with his side of the family. Although her mother was employed as a casting director for Thames Television, they often lived a frugal lifestyle. In her work, Iris gained a reputation for being a stern and imposing individual.

Frederick was brought up in Market Harborough in Leicestershire. She occasionally faced social stigma due to her parents' divorce. She attended Notting Hill and Ealing High School in London. Her original career choice was to become a schoolteacher of physics and mathematics.

Personal life

Marriages

Frederick's first marriage, at 22, was to Peter Sellers. They met at a Dennis Selinger dinner party in 1976 after Frederick had finished making Schizo (1976). Sellers initially proposed to her two days after their first meeting, but she turned him down. They courted for a year before he proposed to her again. They eloped to Paris on 18 February 1977.

Contrary to popular belief, their marriage started well, and they were a popular red carpet couple among the British public. Writer Stephen Bach said of their relationship, “I noticed as he [Peter Sellers] rose, that not once in the long talkative afternoon had he let go of Lynne's hand, nor had she moved away. She transfused him simultaneously with calm and energy, and the hand he clung to was less a hand than a lifeline”. He also added that he believed that Lynne had a unique ability to calm Sellers' manic moods; “the atmosphere was uneasy only until Lynne Frederick came into the room, exuding an aura of calm that somehow enveloped us all like an Alpine fragrance. She was only in her mid-twenties, but instantly observable as the mature center around which the household revolved, an emotional anchor that looked like a daffodil.” David Niven, who was a friend to both Sellers and Frederick, had credited Peter's happiness to Lynne being a devoted and loving wife.

Their marriage declined as Sellers's health deteriorated. He forced Frederick to forfeit her growing and lucrative acting career to care for him. Sellers's biographer, Ed Sikov, claimed that Frederick was offered a lucrative five-month job in Moscow where she was to lead a big budgeted television miniseries, but Sellers insisted she should turn it down so that he would not be left alone.

The tension between them increased after the box-office and critical failure of The Prisoner of Zenda (1979), followed by negative tabloid reports of rumours of drug use, infidelity, domestic abuse, and other alleged conflicts. Despite their struggles, Frederick stood by Sellers and cared for him as his health continued to decline and he became more temperamental. Although they separated a number of times, they always came back together.

Sellers was reportedly in the process of excluding her from his will a week before he died of a heart attack on 24 July 1980, the day before her 26th birthday. The planned changes to the will not having been finalised, she inherited almost his entire estate, worth an estimated £4.5 million (£20.5 million today), and his children received £800 each (£3,649 today). Despite appeals from a number of Sellers's friends to make a fair settlement to the children, Frederick allegedly refused to give her stepchildren anything due to their rocky relationship with her and Peter. After Sellers's death, her stepson, Michael Sellers, published an exposé memoir concerning his relationship with his father, P.S. I Love You: An Intimate Portrait of Peter Sellers. In the book, he accused Frederick of being a deceitful, cunning and narcissistic fraud who only married his father for his money. He also alleged that Frederick had cheated his sisters and him out of their inheritance by intentionally manipulating their father to alter the will in her favour. This led to the press vilifying and labelling her as a "gold digger".

She briefly married David Frost (on 25 January 1981), and her supposed eagerness to remarry so quickly after Sellers's death caused a loss of reputation in the public eye, and was one of the major factors in her blacklisting. Prior to their marriage, Frederick had known Frost for several years and they were occasional lovers in between relationships. Frederick divorced Frost after 17 months. During the course of their marriage, she suffered a miscarriage in March 1982.

In December 1982, she married U.S. cardiologist Barry Unger with whom she had her only child, Cassie Cecilia Unger (born 1983). They divorced in 1991.

Later life

After being blacklisted and losing her acting career, Frederick lived a very narrow, private, and reclusive lifestyle. When she divorced Frost, she faced public embarrassment when it was reported that she became intoxicated at a formal restaurant and had to be escorted out. Following this incident, she fled from England to California and never returned to her homeland again. In later years she was known for being fiercely private. Subsequently, she refused to give interviews and distanced herself from the celebrity lifestyle.

After her divorce from her third husband, Barry Unger, Frederick lived in a Los Angeles mansion that was previously owned by Gary Cooper. As the years went by, she struggled with alcoholism, seizures, and clinical depression. There were also rumours of nervous breakdowns and suicide attempts. Despite participating in numerous recovery treatments at hospitals and clinics, she was unable to rebuild her health. Weary after her years of public scorn and deteriorating conditions, she cloistered herself in her home for days at a time. This led to her mother Iris moving from England to California to live with Frederick to help care for her and her daughter, Cassie.

Frederick was the sole manager of Sellers's estate. She took such pride in being Sellers's wife that she legally changed her last name to Sellers. It has been reported that when she took part in group therapy sessions, she introduced herself as "Lynne Sellers, the wife of Peter Sellers".

Relationships

Frederick, who never met her biological father, regarded actor David Niven as her substitute father. They first met while filming the television film adaptation of The Canterville Ghost (1974). They remained close friends over the years until Niven's death in 1983, which occurred just eight weeks after the birth of her daughter.

As a child, Lynne was very close to her mother, Iris, and grandmother, Cecilia. Her relationship with her mother suffered major damage after she married Peter Sellers in 1977. Five days after the wedding, Iris spoke out against the marriage in an interview with the Daily Mirror:

"Time will tell, but I think Lynne has made a terrible mistake. I hope it will work for her sake. He [Peter Sellers] is a brilliant man, but not the kind of son in law I would have chosen. I wasn't invited to the ceremony, but that isn't surprising. When I heard it was taking place, I said: 'The sooner it happens, the sooner it will be over'. Somehow, in view of Sellers's previous record with the ladies who have gone before, I think this marriage may not last too long."

Feeling hurt and betrayed by this interview, Lynne did not see or speak to her mother again for the duration of her marriage to Sellers. When asked about cutting ties with her daughter, Iris said: "I have my own life to live. Of course I still love her. I’ve cried for her and I miss her a great deal. Lynne is right when she says we were terribly close and it hurts when I see her using the press to make me look the guilty party in all this."

During the period when Iris was not in communication with Lynne, she continued to publicly blast her daughter’s marriage in the press.

"My own marriage ended unhappily when Lynne was two. I tried to compensate for her having no father by devoting all the time I wasn't working to her. Perhaps if I had married again she wouldn't gone on choosing men twice her age as boyfriends - looking for a father figure I suppose. She met Peter Sellers on the rebound from David Frost. I thought 'here we go again' but I didn't want to be the one to put it down without giving it a chance. I know I said things later about marital track record not being very good, but at the time I went along with it wondering how long it would be before I was having to give him the 'Lynne regrets' speech. Now I ask you! What mother can be expected to approve of the marriage of her daughter to such a man? My heart bled for her. To me their marriage is doomed right from the start. I hope and pray they'll prove me wrong. God knows I want Lynne to be happy. But this time I must let her sort it out for herself. She must understand that I am staying clear for her sake even though it hurts me to do so."

After Sellers's death in 1980, Frederick reconciled with her mother. Despite its rekindling, their relationship was never the same again.

In 1972, while in her late teens, Frederick became involved with Curzon House Club casino owner, Julian Posner, who like Sellers was thirty years her senior. They had an on-and-off relationship for about three years until 1975, while Frederick's acting career continued to blossom. During their off times, Frederick would often discreetly engage in affairs with her friend and future husband, David Frost.

Frederick's relationship with her former stepchildren (Michael Sellers, Sarah Sellers, and Victoria Sellers) was, like Peter's relationship with them, distant and often strained. When Lynne began her relationship with Peter, she made efforts to establish a friendly connection with them. Sarah recalled of Lynne, "she seemed quite nice to begin with. I actually told dad that I thought she was a bit stupid. But she came across as very bubbly, friendly, warm and interested. But once they got married things definitely changed". Michael Sellers wrote of Frederick in his exposé memoir, "my first impression of Lynne didn't do much to alter my views. She was not exactly my idea of sweetness and light. It didn't concern me that she lacked the good looks of dad's past wives and girlfriends, but those innocent eyes, certainly her strongest feature, didn't deceive me". Michael Sellers also bluntly acknowledged his intentional hostility and lack of respect towards Lynne when they first met: "I'm afraid we weren't very kind in our judgement of Lynne. Sarah thought she wasn't too bright. But our views didn't really count for much. Because whatever our opinions, they would be of purely academic interest". Months after Frederick's death in 1994, Victoria remarked "I feel now that she's in hell - I don't know but that makes me feel better."

When she made the film Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), the director, Franklin J. Schaffner, arranged for Lynne and her co-stars (Michael Jayston, Janet Suzman, Roderick Noble, Ania Marson, Candace Glendenning, and Fiona Fullerton) to live together as a family during the nine-month production period, so as to add more authenticity to their performances. During this time, she developed a close friendship with her co-star Fiona Fullerton (who played her younger sister in the film). They remained good friends for several years.

One of Frederick's closest friends was Mauritian actress, Françoise Pascal. The two first met when they co-starred on a 1972 episode of the television anthology series, BBC Play of the Month, and quickly became "firm friends".[30] Pascal recalled that they remained friends for several years before regretfully losing touch after Frederick married Sellers in 1977. In April 2020, a few weeks before the 26th anniversary of Frederick's death, Pascal tweeted a photo of herself and Frederick, with the caption "I think of her very often! Always had that fresh baby face! RIP Lynne! Xxx".

In 2018, Judy Matheson revealed that she had worked with Frederick in the early 1970s. They were slated to appear in a film together that was to be shot in the Netherlands, with John Hamil, Robert Coleby, and Nina Francis. Because Frederick was young and a relative newcomer to filmmaking at the time, Matheson (who was a few years older and had industry experience) was asked to be Lynne's chaperone for the trip (as Lynne's mother was unavailable). They spent about three weeks lodged together in a hotel room before production on the film was prematurely closed due to financial withdrawals. Matheson stated that she enjoyed Frederick's company, and that they managed to have fun together despite the production difficulties. After returning to Great Britain, they corresponded for a while before gradually losing touch with each other.

During production of Four of the Apocalypse (1975), she was rumoured to have had a brief romance with her co-star Fabio Testi (who was having trouble in his relationship with actress Ursula Andress at the time), which was also during a time when Frederick was having trouble in her own relationship with Julian Posner. Naturally, this helped Testi and Frederick with their chemistry in the movie, and they were paired again for the film Cormack of the Mounties (1975). There has been much speculation about such a romance between Testi and Frederick, but it has not been confirmed.

In her 2014 memoir I Said Yes to Everything, Lee Grant claimed that during production of the film Voyage of the Damned (1976) Frederick, then aged 21, engaged in an affair with Sam Wanamaker, who was 35 years Frederick's senior and married to Charlotte Holland at the time. Grant also stated that she witnessed all the men on set, including the film's director Stuart Rosenberg, make salacious passes at Frederick, all of which she rejected.

Julie Andrews stated in her 2019 autobiography Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years that she suspected her husband Blake Edwards was having an affair with Lynne (who was married to Sellers at the time) during production of Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978). When Andrews confronted Blake about the "flirtations" between him and Frederick, Julie asked him point-blank which he preferred: staying married or continuing this flirtation. After this confrontation, Blake apparently ceased any kind of flirtation with Frederick. She later had a falling-out with Edwards and Andrews after successfully suing them for their involvement with the film Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), claiming that it insulted Sellers's memory. She never spoke to them again.