Sheila Burrell


Sheila Mary Burrell was a British actress. A cousin of Laurence Olivier, she was born in Blackheath, London, the daughter of a salesman. She attended St John's, Bexhill-on-Sea and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, London. Her first marriage to actor Laurence Payne was dissolved and she then married David Sim, a portrait and theatre photographer. She is primarily remembered in the United States for her performance as Lady Rochford in three episodes of the television series Six Wives of Henry VIII.

Theatre career

Burrell made her first appearance on the stage in 1942, playing Patsy in The Patsy, entertaining the troops, and made her first appearance in London at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 20 April 1944, as Rose in The Rest Is Silence.
Subsequent theatre credits include:
She listed her favourite stage roles as Barbara in Dark of the Moon, Honor Klein in A Severed Head and Queen Margaret in Richard III.

Selected filmography