Jane Merrow (born 26 August 1941) was a British actress, born in London to an English mother and German refugee, who was active in the 1960's and 1970's in England and the US. Her most notable role was as Alais, the mistress of Henry II (played by Peter O'Toole) in The Lion in Winter (1968), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination in the category of actress in a supporting role, losing to Ruth Gordon who won for Rosemary's Baby.
She had major roles in British TV series such as Danger Man, The Prisoner and The Avengers where, having appeared in the penultimate episode of the 1967 series, she was considered to replace a departing Diana Rigg. The role went to Linda Thorson instead. She also appeared in Who Killed Cock Robin? (Randall and Hopkirk Deceased) in 1969.
Merrow returned to England after living for years in the US to run a family business in the 1990's.
Britisher Jane Merrow studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the onset of her career and became a classical heroine in the 1960s on both stage and TV. Portraying such soulful lasses as "Lorna Doone" and "Jane Eyre" on TV, she mixed in a few Shakespearean ingénues and brought forth a gift for bringing a noticeable fragility and honesty to her roles. A trendy presence on all the swinging spy shows of the time including "Saint, The" (1962), "Prisoner, The" (1967), "Danger Man" (1964) and "Avengers, The" (1961), the last for which she was once entertained a leading role. Best known to film-goers for her Golden Globe-nominated role in the classic costume drama Lion in Winter, The (1968) as "Alais", the young adoring mistress to "King Henry", Jane moved to America in 1971 and enjoyed a transcontinental career for nearly two decades. Here, she appeared on such stalwart series as "Mission: Impossible" (1966) and "Hart to Hart" (1979), among others. She also starred as Vivien Leigh in a one-woman stage tribute that opened in, of course, Atlanta. In the 1990s, Jane moved back to England to run a family business, an agency that specializes in people with linguistic skills.
