Ilona Rodgers

Ilona Rodgers
Born	(1942-04-28) 28 April 1942 Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1962 - present

Ilona Rodgers (born 28 April 1942) is a British-born actress who has been based in New Zealand since the mid-1980s and later then in Australia.

Career

Rodgers breakthrough roles in British television included an adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit and Carol in The Sensorites, a six-episode adventure from BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who. She also made guest appearances in The Saint and The Avengers.

Rodgers first lived in New Zealand from 1973, appearing in soap opera Close to Home and successful goldmining drama Hunter's Gold (retitled Scott Hunter in some territories).

Between 1978 and the mid-1980s she lived in Australia. There she appeared in television programmes The Sullivans, Sons and Daughters (as Patricia Hamilton's sister, Margaret Dunne) and the 1985 Australian miniseries Anzacs (as Lady Thea Barrington), as well as nine episodes of long-running prison drama Prisoner (in 1983). Her Prisoner character, Zara Moonbeam, a medium who claimed to have clairvoyant powers, was forced by Nola McKenzie (Carole Skinner) into impersonating Bea Smith's (Val Lehman) deceased daughter Debbie. Hopes that Bea would thus commit suicide, thinking she had witnessed her daughter's ghost, did not go to plan, but Rodgers' character made it out of prison alive.

After relocating back to New Zealand, her work included medical soap Shortland Street and presenting duties on a light entertainment and advertorial program called Good Morning.

Rodger's best-known role in New Zealand is probably TV series Gloss. She starred in Gloss for three seasons, from 1987 to 1990, playing bossy magazine editor Maxine Redfern. The series was about a fictional publishing empire run by the Redfern family

Later Rodgers played Australian wife to New Zealand comedy legend Billy T James on the final, sitcom version of "The Billy T James Show" (1990).

Her stage work has included one-woman play Shirley Valentine, By Degrees written by Roger Hall and Three Tall Women by Edward Albee.

TV and filmography

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	ITV Play of the Week	Caroline Campbell	Episode: "Conspiracy of Silence"
1963	The Avengers	Receptionist	Episode: "Six Hands Across a Table"
1964	Martin Chuzzlewit	Mary Graham	9 episodes
1964	Doctor Who	Carol Richmond	6 episodes
1966	Adam Adamant Lives!	Susan	Episode: "The Terribly Happy Embalmers"
1967	The Avengers	Samantha Slade	Episode: "The Bird Who Knew Too Much"
1967	The Saint	Mary	Episode: "A Double in Diamonds"
1967	Thirty-Minute Theatre	Judy	Episode: "The Wake"
1967	Theatre 625	Angiolina Zarri	Episode: "As a Man Grows Older"
1968	Theatre 625	Baroness	Episode: "The Pistol Shot"
1968	Salt and Pepper	Marianne Renaud
1968	Snow Treasure	Bente Nielsen
1968	The Beverly Hillbillies	Sandra MacGregor	Episode: "Coming Through the Rye"
1968	Sherlock Holmes	Rachel Carey	Episode: "Black Peter"
1969	Dr. Finlay's Casebook	Kathrin Soutar	Episode: "The Visitation"
1969	ITV Playhouse	Judy	Episode: "Murder: When Robin Was a Boy"
1969	Barrister at Law	Jane Paston	TV movie
1970	Strange Report	Beth	Episode: "Swindle - The Square Root of All Evil"
1970	Paul Temple	Nancy	Episode: "Swan Song for Colonel Harp"
1976	The Sullivans	Kate Meredith	TV series
1977	Hunter's Gold	Molly Grogan	TV series
1977	Colour Scheme	Ursula Harme	TV movie
1981	Outbreak of Love	Miss Marcia Rockingham	TV movie
1982	Sara Dane	Julia Ryder	TV movie
1982	1915	Mrs. Reilly	TV miniseries
1983	Prisoner	Zara Moonbeam	9 episodes
1983	Silent Reach		TV miniseries
1983-1984	Sons and Daughters	Margaret Dunne	242 episodes
1984	Special Squad	Helen Anderson	Episode: "Until Death"
1984	Utu	Emily Williamson
1985	Anzacs	Lady Thea Barrington	5 episodes
1987	Gloss	Maxine Redfern	TV series
1988	The Far Country	Jane Armitage	TV movie
1989	Night of the Red Hunter	Jill Piper	TV series
1990-1991	The New Adventures of Black Beauty	Hilda Burton	24 episodes
1992	The Billy T James Show	Thelma	TV series
1992	Marlin Bay	Charlotte Kincaid	TV series
1995	Riding High	Mrs. Harrington	3 episodes
1995	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Queen Camilla	Episode: "The Festival of Dionysus"
1997	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Queen Euriana	Episode: "Long Live the King"
1998	City Life	Beverley Gribble	Episode: "1.19"
2003	Shortland Street	Ngaire Thompson	TV series
2005	Shortland Street	Ngaire Thompson	TV series
2006	Maddigan's Quest	Gabrielle	Episode: "Off the Map"
2009	I'm Not Harry Jenson.	Margaret
2011	Rest for the Wicked	Esther

External links

• Ilona Rodgers at the Internet Movie Database
• NZ On Screen Biography http://www.nzonscreen.com/person/ilona-rodgers/biography