Imogen Claire

Stark-looking Imogen Claire, the British dancer, choreographer and actress, was born in London in 1943 and trained at the Royal Ballet School. She went on to study at the London Dance Theatre and progressed to principal roles. As an actress with a decided taste for the avant garde, she became a regular player in the splashy, offbeat film dramas/musicals of Ken Russell, her first film being The Music Lovers (1971) with Glenda Jackson. This was followed by the controversial The Devils (1971) starring Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed, The Boy Friend (1971), Savage Messiah (1972), Mahler (1974), Tommy (1975), Lisztomania (1975) and Valentino (1977). Along the same line, other cult films included The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), as one of the Transylvanians, Flash Gordon (1980), Caravaggio (1986), by the innovative director Derek Jarman, and Billy Elliot (2000), in which she played the role of a dance examiner. In the theatre realm, she appeared in a production of "Tales of the Vienna