Welsh actress Angharad Rees best known for her role in the 1970s BBC costume dramaPoldark, passed away yesterday (21st July) at the age of 63 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Born in Cardiff in 1949 the actress first appeared on screen in The Way We Live Now in 1969. Genre fans will best remember Angharad for her role as the murderous daughter of Jack the Ripper in the 1971 Hammer title Hands of the Ripper, directed by Peter Sasdy, in which she starred alongside Eric Porter. During her long career Angharad appeared in many iconic British and American TV shows – from TheAvengers in 1968, Gerry Anderson’s live action adventure series The Protectors in 1972, Robin of Sherwoodin 1984 and Remington Steele in 1985. Angharad become a household name in the UK in the 1970s through her role as Demelza Poldark in the BBC series Poldark (1975-7). She married actor Christopher Cazenove (The Regiment, Duchess of Duke Street) in 1973 but the couple divorced in 1994 and Cazenove himself died of septicemia in 2010 at the age of 66. Angharad Rees and Christopher Cazenove had two children, one of whom died in a car crash in 1999.

Angharad herself remarried in 2005 (to David McAlpine of the construction company) and, following her last appearance in the TV movie The Wolves of Kromer in 1998, devoted her time and energies to her own jewellery design company Angharad, based in Knightsbridge. Some of the company’s designs appeared in the 2007 feature film Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

Starburst sends its condolences to Angharad’s family and friends.