Cherie Lunghi

Leading lady of the British stage as well as British and American TV and films, beginning in the 80s. Cherie Lunghi first won attention in "Excalibur," the 1981 feature film in which she was a rather sexually aware Guenevere to Nigel Terry's King Arthur. In 1985, she was Michal, who caught the eye of Richard Gere in "King David" (1985), and was opposite Bryan Brown in the love story "Parker" (1984). Lunghi has also had key roles in "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" (1994) and "Jack and Sarah" (1995). She began as a stage actress with the Royal Shakespeare Company in England, appearing in productions of "As You Like It," "The Winter's Tale" and "King Lear." Later, Lunghi would also star on the West End in "The Homecoming." American audiences may be more familiar with her work through TV. Lunghi's first significant network role was as Nancy, the female lead of "Oliver" in a CBS production (1982). She played the sheltered daughter of Donald Pleasance lured into pregnancy by Ian Charleson and giving birth to a girl who grows up to become the central character of "Master of the Game," a 1984 miniseries starring Dyan Cannon for CBS. Also in TV movies, Lunghi was interned by the Japanese in the World War II Singapore-based story, "Silent Cries" (1993), and was the undaunted Lucille Otis in ABC's remake of "The Canterville Ghost" (1996). Lunghi has starred in one American series, the short-lived 1992 ABC effort, "Covington Cross," in which she was reunited with Nigel Terry, her Arthur in Excalibur, this time playing her concerned father in the English countryside. The series had only a short run.