Jill Freud — actress, producer, and one of the real young women who helped shape C.S. Lewis’s vision of what a brave and good child could be — has died at age 98.
Her daughter, broadcaster Emma Curtis, shared the news with a mixture of humor and tenderness:
“My beautiful 98-year-old mum has taken her final bow… After a loving evening — where we knew she was on her way — surrounded by children, grandchildren and pizza, she told us all to f*** off so she could go to sleep. And then she never woke up. Her final words were ‘I love you.’”
A Wartime Arrival at The Kilns
Born June Beatrice Flewett in 1927, she was evacuated from London during the Blitz and, at the age of 16, came to live at The Kilns in Oxford, serving as housekeeper to C.S. Lewis and Mrs. Janie Moore.
Jill later recalled Lewis as patient, generous, and gentle with young people:
“Never making me feel small… kind, generous, good humored.”
Lewis, in a letter to her mother in 1945, expressed his admiration:
“I have never really met anything like her unselfishness and patience and kindness and shall feel deeply in her debt as long as I live.”
An Early Example of the Qualities Lewis Admired
Lewis clearly found something in Jill’s sincerity, honesty, and courage that aligned with the kind of child he wanted Lucy to be.
Jill herself did not learn of this influence until 2004, and described the revelation, saying:
“I was absolutely thrilled. It’s like being told you were the real Lady Macbeth!”
A Life on Stage and Screen
After three years at The Kilns, Lewis paid for her to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Under the stage name Jill Raymond, she worked in West End theatre, early television, and films such as The Woman in the Hall (1947). Her final screen appearance came in Love Actually (2003), written and directed by her son-in-law Richard Curtis.
For more than three decades, she also ran two repertory theatre companies in Suffolk, remembered fondly by actors for her warmth, energy, and fierce support of regional theatre.
Family and Later Years
In 1950 she married Sir Clement Freud, grandson of Sigmund Freud. Their family eventually included five children, seventeen grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
She passed away surrounded by family.
Remembering Jill Freud
Her influence on Lewis, her long career on stage and screen, and her decades of work in theatre ensure she leaves behind a legacy all her own.
View this post on Instagram
Be the first to comment