Mary Peach

Mary Peach (born 20 October 1934) is a South African-born British film and television actress, who was married to the screenwriter and director Jimmy Sangster from 1995 until his death in 2011. Peach was born in Durban. After being nominated for a BAFTA Award as most promising newcomer for the 1959 film Room at the Top, she went on to appear on many British films and television series over the next 25 years. She starred opposite Rock Hudson in the film A Gathering of Eagles and in 1970 she appeared in the film Scrooge, a musical version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol starring Albert Finney.

Peach appeared as a regular in the TV series Couples, Inside Story, the 1966 BBC adaptation of The Three Musketeers, Fox and the Doctor Who serial The Enemy of the World. Amongst her other television appearances she played Colonel Tanya Smolenko, a Russian counter espionage agent in The Saint episode "The Gadget Lovers" (1967) and starred opposite Ian McShane in Disraeli (1978).

When Diana Rigg left The Avengers in 1968, she was one of the actresses considered for the role of Steed's new assistant.