Hildegarde Neil

Hildegard Hope Zimmermann (20 May 1939 – 19 September 2023), also credited as Hildegard Neil, was an English actress.

Born in South Africa, she came to England in 1961 and went to RADA for two years. Neil first appeared on television in a BBC schools' television production of Julius Caesar in 1963 and after that appeared mostly as a guest artiste in a variety of television series over the last 40 years. She has also appeared in several films and on stage, both in the West End and touring.

Neil was married to actor Brian Blessed and had a daughter with him, Rosalind, who is also an actress and represented by the same agent as her mother. On 23 May 2009, Neil appeared with her husband on the ITV entertainment show, All Star Mr & Mrs, on which it was established that she was a keen Liverpool F.C. supporter.

Hildegarde Neil died of cancer on 19 September 2023, at the age of 84.