Number 6 - Yolande Palfrey
A bit of a panic ensued today when, after getting down to the business of looking up the career of the celebrated Yolande Palfrey, all leads drew a blank.
Yes, that's right, there was nothing. Yolande had been taken out of time!
Or rather, the little minx had been going under a DIFFERENT name! We tracked her down as the mysterious Yolande Valesquez, the idea no doubt being to make her sound like a top Hollywood movie star. Well, that's not so far from the truth as we take a look at her impressive films resume...
Career Resume (films):
Proof of Life (2000) .... Notary
Notting Hill (1999) .... Interpreter
"Peak Practice" (1993) TV Series .... Clare Shearer (1997)
"Final Cut, The" (1995) (mini) TV Series .... Maria Passolides
Devil's Advocate (1995) (TV) .... Louise Santini
Air Up There, The (1994) .... Sister Susan
Maria's Child (1993) .... Maria
Last Vampyre, The (1992) (TV) .... Mrs. Carlotta Ferguson
Care of Time, The (1990) (TV)
Buster (1988)
Princess Academy, The (1987) (as Yolande Palfrey) .... Pamela Lenox
"Nanny" (1981) TV Series (as Yolande Palfrey) .... Lady Sophia Somerville (1982-1983)
Dragonslayer (1981) (as Yolande Palfrey) ....
As can be seen from the above, Yolande's stint as Janet the Stewardess in "Terror of the Vervoids" led to a plethora of film and TV Movie roles, and Doctor Who's loss was very much Peak Practise's gain. She also appeared in Notting Hill, which is more than Sophie Aldred did. Yet which of these two ladies was chosen to portray Ace? There surely is no justice.
One thing that is interesting from the above is the point at which Yolande changed her surname and began trading as Ms 'Valesquez'. Yes, that's right, in 1987... just a year after she played Janet the Stewardess! Perhaps Yolande considered Janet such an historic creation that she changed her name in commemoration.
Career Resume (TV):
"Midsomer Murders" (1997) playing "Francesca Ward" in episode: "Who Killed Cock Robin?" (episode # 4.4) 9/9/2001
"Touch of Frost, A" (1992) playing "Jeanette Barr" in episode: "True Confessions" (episode # 5.3) 2/23/1997
"Bodyguards" (1996) playing "Marija" in episode: "Choice of Evils, A" (episode # 1.2)
"Poirot" (1989) playing "Lola" in episode: "Yellow Iris, The" (episode # 6.4) 1/30/1994
"Very Peculiar Practice, A" (1986) playing "Carla" in episode: "Art and Illusion" (episode # 2.2) 3/2/1988
"Doctor Who" (1986) playing "Janet"(as Yolande Palfrey) in episode: "Terror of the Vervoids" (episode # 23.3) 11/1/1986
"Shelley" (1979) playing "Estelle"(as Yolande Palfrey) in episode: "Party, The" (episode # 6.4) 12/22/1983
"Blake's 7" (1978) playing "Veron"(as Yolande Palfrey) in episode: "Pressure Point" (episode # 2.5) 1979
Again Yolande's best TV appearances are all post-Vervoids, and it becomes obvious why Janet was never the companion we all wanted - she was simply too much in demand. Again there are no post-Trial appearances as "Palfrey".
In fact, at first glance we seem to have discovered a performer that escaped the deadly noose of Doctor Who's famous type-casting curse. Perhaps it was thanks to the fate-cheating name change that Yolande never again played a stewardess on a 22nd Century Spaceship, nor did she ever take to the small screen to tangle with rampaging genetically engineered killers with faces like bottoms.
But wait! Hold on! "Vervoids" was a kind of whodunit wasn't it? And what's this we see nestling in Yolande's resume - "Poirot"? "A Touch of Frost"? ""Midsomer Murders"? Could it be that casting directors still keep Janet the Stewardess and her terrifying Doctor Who space murder mystery in mind? It seems nobody can escape the legacy of "Doctor Who" after all...
