Sandra Caron


Sandra L. Cogan, known as Sandra Caron, was a British actress.

Biography

Born in Stepney in east London, she trained at the Aida Foster Theatre School. She took her stage name in honour of Leslie Caron in part to avoid accusations that she was trading on the popularity of her sister, Alma Cogan, who The Guardian described in 2002 as "the most highly paid woman in British show business in the 1950s and 1960s". In the late 1960s, Caron acted as part of The Second City in 20,000 Frozen Grenadiers and appeared in the films The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom and Carry On Camping. She married American actor Brian Greene in 1985.
In 1990, Caron appeared in the first series of The Crystal Maze as a fortune teller who was subsequently christened Mumsey by the program's host Richard O'Brien. The character appeared regularly in the first, second, and fourth series but was ostensibly holidaying in Bratislava during the third, so Caron instead played Auntie Sabrina, a character described by UKGameshows.com as "a 1960s anachronism of bad taste with the earrings to prove it". O'Brien and Mumsey left on-screen at the start of the fifth series; Maureen Lipman replaced Caron for the show's 2016 revival. Her final on-screen appearance was in 1995 in Agony Again.
Caron published Alma Cogan: A Memoir in 1991 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of her death and was performing Fifty Million Frenchmen at the Royal Opera House in London with Jessica Martin in June 2002. After hearing from Martin that the planned BBC Radio 4 series Stage Mother, Sequinned Daughter - which did not mention Caron but did depict Alma as a drunkard and their mother as overbearing - she consulted with her barrister cousin Sir Ivan Lawrence QC, who advised her to seek an injunction to halt its broadcast. The injunction was unsuccessful on the grounds that it did not devalue Cogan's estate, however the BBC did apologise in December 2003 after the Broadcasting Standards Commission ruled that the series had been unfair on Cogan's surviving relatives. Caron moved with Greene to Los Angeles in 2015 and died at that city's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on 1 September 2025, six weeks after being hospitalised following extreme weight loss and several falls.

Filmography

TitleYearRole
Not Only... But Also1965The White Woman
The Late Show1966Self
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River1968Pinto's nurse
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom1968Pet shop assistant
Carry on Camping1969Fanny
About Face1989Wife
The Green Man1990Mrs Klinger
Agony Again1995Lily

Stage work

Selected stage credits

The Boy Friend – ensemble cast member in touring productions of Sandy Wilson's musical that played the New Theatre, Hull, in March 1959 and March 1960.The Kitchen – played Monique, a waitress, in Arnold Wesker's play at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1961.From Rush Hour with Love – performer in a cabaret-style James Bond spoof staged at the Poor Millionaire, London EC2 and at the Guinea and the Piggy, Leicester Square, London.Billy Liar – cast member in a 1962 touring production of Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall’s play at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton, with the Alexandra Repertory Company.Inadmissible Evidence – appeared in a 1968 production of John Osborne’s play at the Watford Palace Theatre for the Watford Palace Theatre Trust....And Another Thing – principal performer in the original London production of the musical revue at the Fortune Theatre, London, which opened on 6 October 1960.Ruby, Alfie – cast member in Corner Table Productions’ 1992 tour of Hilary Gibb’s stage adaptation, which played the New Theatre, Hull, the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield, and other UK venues.Love and Maple Syrup – appeared in Louis Negin’s Canadian musical revue, produced by Ruth Kalkstein and Edward Specter at the Mercer–Hansberry Theatre, New York, in 1970.