Profile | Call the Midwife star Jenny Agutter on being a Railway child, mother, now grandma, and her career on stage and screen
- The British actress found fame as a teenager in the 1970 film The Railway Children, with later roles including in Logan’s Run and An American Werewolf in London
- Now filming the 11th series of Call the Midwife, she says its success stems from stories that cover social change in a very particular community
My earliest memories are of Singapore. My father was posted there with the army when I was three. I remember the scent of frangipani, the heat and humidity, our amah’s cooking, and visiting the kampong where she lived. It’s a medley of memories. I’d love to go back, but I’ve not had the opportunity.
Later we lived in Cyprus, before the island was divided, which was idyllic. From there I was sent as a boarder to Elmhurst Ballet School (in Britain), where by chance I started acting in films. Walt Disney Studios were making a film that required a young dancer in a supporting role.
I was sent from school to screen-test, and while waiting to hear whether I had the role, an agent suggested me for the part of a young injured Arab girl in a film called East of Sudan (1964), with Anthony Quayle and Sylvia Syms.
Syms had to carry me around a lot, so the part required a “lightweight” actress; I was very small for an 11-year-old, and I was cast. I thought filming was great fun. While making East of Sudan, I heard I had got the part in Ballerina.
Railway child
