Sue Lloyd


Susan Margery Jeaffreson Lloyd was an English model and actress, with numerous film and television credits. She may be best known for her long-running role as Barbara Hunter in the British soap opera Crossroads and Cordelia Winfield in the ITC series The Baron.

Early life

The daughter of a GP, Lloyd was born in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. She attended Edgbaston High School in Birmingham and studied dance as a child, attending Sadler's Wells Ballet School. In 1953, she won a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School at Sadler's Wells Theatre, but when she grew to the possibility of a career as a dancer diminished, and she became a showgirl and model, and briefly, a member of Lionel Blair's dance troupe.
She was one of the last two debutantes to be presented to the queen at Buckingham Palace in 1958, the final such ceremony.

Films and television

In 1965, Lloyd made her film debut in two espionage-themed films. As Jean Courtney, Lloyd proved an effective foil to Michael Caine's Harry Palmer in the spy thriller The Ipcress File. Also in 1965, Lloyd played the regular role of secret agent Cordelia Winfield, alongside Steve Forrest in the 1965–1966 British ITC television series The Baron.
Having appeared in the TV series The Avengers, in 1971 Lloyd starred with Simon Oates in a stage version of the TV series playing John Steed's sidekick Mrs Hannah Wild. In The New Avengers she supplied the voice of Emma Peel in an episode where Steed chats to her on the telephone. She appeared with several other stars in the 1976 imitation James Bond film No. 1 of the Secret Service.
She made many guest appearances in several popular shows of the 1960s and 1970s, including The Saint, Department S, Jason King, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Persuaders! and The Sweeney.
Joan Collins and Lloyd co-starred in The Stud and The Bitch. On her Twitter page, Joan Collins said that she and Lloyd had to get drunk before their nude scenes. Her other film credits include Corruption and Revenge of the Pink Panther. She reunited with Michael Caine in Bullet to Beijing, one of the later Harry Palmer films, recreating her role from The Ipcress File. Her scene was cut from the home VHS and DVD releases, but was later made available as DVD Extras.
Lloyd joined the long-running British soap opera Crossroads'' in 1979. She played Barbara Hunter until she and her on- and off-screen partner Ronald Allen were dropped from the series in 1985.

Personal life

In Crossroads Lloyd played Barbara, the wife of David Hunter played by actor Ronald Allen, who was sacked on the same day she was. They were good friends, became a couple and made their relationship public when the British media started to intrude into their private lives. In March 1991, after Allen learned that he was dying of cancer, he and Lloyd became engaged and were married in May 1991. Allen died the following month, on 18 June 1991.
Lloyd died on 20 October 2011 from cancer at the age of 72.

In popular culture

In the 2023 ITVX miniseries Nolly, which dramatised the life of her former Crossroads colleague Noele Gordon, Lloyd was portrayed by Clare Foster.

Filmography

;Movies:Nothing but the Best – Debutante at Hunt Ball The Ipcress File – Jean CourtneyHysteria – French GirlAttack on the Iron Coast – Sue WilsonCorruption – Lynn NolanWhere's Jack? – Lady DarlingtonTwinky – Ursula – Scott's Deprived GirlPercy – BerniceInnocent Bystanders – Joanna BensonGo for a Take – Angel MontgomeryPenny Gold – ModelSpanish Fly – Janet ScottThe Ups and Downs of a Handyman – The BlondeNo. 1 of the Secret Service – Sister JaneRevenge of the Pink Panther – Claude RousseauThe Stud – VanessaLady Oscar – Comtesse Gabrielle de PolignacThe Bitch – Vanessa GrantCorrection, Please or How We Got into Pictures – Countess SkladanowskyRough Cut – Female GuestEat the Rich – ValU.F.O. – JudgeBullet to Beijing – Jean CourtneyBeginner's Luck –
;Television:Armchair Theatre: "The Last Word on Julie" – Julie ListerThe Saint: "Luella"/"Island of Chance" – Marla Clayton / LuellaGideon's Way credited as Susan Lloyd– Mary Henderson / Det. Chief Insp. David Keene's love interestThe Avengers: "A Surfeit of H2O" – Joyce JasonThe Baron – Cordelia WinfieldJourney to the Unknown: "The Madison Equation" – Barbara Rossiter