Sarah Douglas

Sarah Douglas (born 12 December 1952) is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for playing the Kryptonian supervillain Ursa in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980). Her other prominent roles include that of the evil Queen Taramis in the 1984 film Conan the Destroyer, and Pamela Lynch in the 1980s primetime drama series Falcon Crest (1983–85). --- Douglas was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, the second daughter of Beryl (née Smith), a physiotherapist who often worked upon RSC actors, and of Edward Douglas, a career member of the Royal Air Force. Having been educated locally at Alcester Grammar School, she then trained with the National Youth Theatre and the Rose Bruford College, before turning professional by working on several productions alongside well-known British actors such as Roy Dotrice and Jon Pertwee. Eventually, Douglas's career took her in front of the camera with a small appearance in the 1973 film The Final Programme (alternatively known as The Last Days of Man on Earth ). After this, Douglas became known to British television audiences in the 1970s by appearing in The Howerd Confessions, The Inheritors, Space: 1999 and Return of the Saint, and appeared in the films The People That Time Forgot (for which she was nominated for a Saturn Award), and the controversial and rarely seen film The Brute, in which she played an abused wife. Douglas' first major role was that of Ursa in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980) having beaten 600 actresses to the part. In 1984, she played another fantasy villainess in Conan the Destroyer as the evil Queen Taramis. Douglas also continued to appear on television, and was a series regular in the short-lived British sitcom Thundercloud in 1979. Throughout the 1980s, she went on to appear in a variety of guest roles in UK and US series such as The Professionals, Bergerac, Hotel, Sledge Hammer! and Remington Steele. However, her most prominent television role is that of Pamela Lynch in the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest, which she played for two seasons from 1983–85. She also played another "Pamela" in the 1984 television miniseries V: The Final Battle. --- Douglas married actor Richard LeParmentier in 1981. They divorced in 1984. LeParmentier died in 2013.