# Jill Freud

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British actress and theatre director (1927–2025)

Jill Freud Freud in 2005 Born June Beatrice Flewett (1927-04-22)22 April 1927 London, England Died 24 November 2025(2025-11-24) (aged 98) Occupations Actress theatre director Years active 1947–2016 Spouse Sir Clement Freud ​ ​ (m. 1950; died 2009)​ Children 5, including Emma and Matthew

**June Beatrice, Lady Freud** ([née](/source/Birth_name#Maiden_and_married_names) **Flewett**; 22 April 1927 – 24 November 2025) was a British actress and theatre director. She was also known by her stage-name **Jill Raymond**, and was usually known as **Jill Freud** after her marriage to [Clement Freud](/source/Clement_Freud). As a wartime teenager, she was evacuated to [C. S. Lewis](/source/C._S._Lewis)'s house in [Oxford](/source/Oxford) and she is said to have been the inspiration for [Lucy Pevensie](/source/Lucy_Pevensie) in the *[Chronicles of Narnia](/source/Chronicles_of_Narnia)*.[1][2][3]

## Stay with Lewis

June and her two sisters were [evacuated from London](/source/Evacuations_of_civilians_in_Britain_during_World_War_II) to escape [The Blitz](/source/The_Blitz). In the summer of 1943, at the age of 16, she took a housekeeper's job at [The Kilns](/source/The_Kilns), in [Risinghurst](/source/Risinghurst), a suburb of Oxford. The house was the property and home of [Maureen Dunbar](/source/Maureen_Dunbar), her late son's friend [C. S. Lewis](/source/C._S._Lewis), and his brother Warren Lewis. Her [favourite writer was C. S. Lewis](/source/C._S._Lewis_bibliography), known to his friends as Jack, and initially she had no idea she was living in a house with the same man. She developed what she later called a "tremendous crush" on him.[2] She was highly regarded in the household; C. S. Lewis wrote to her mother praising her in January 1945: "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."[4]

## Career

Freud was an aspiring actress. After two years, she left The Kilns to take up a place at the [Royal Academy of Dramatic Art](/source/Royal_Academy_of_Dramatic_Art) (RADA), her fees being paid by Lewis. Following her graduation, she embarked upon a successful career in the [West End](/source/West_End_of_London) under the stage name Jill Raymond.[2] She married [Clement Freud](/source/Clement_Freud) in 1950 and performed in occasional radio plays. In the 1970s, when her husband became a [Liberal](/source/Liberal_Party_(UK)) [MP](/source/Member_of_Parliament) for the [Isle of Ely](/source/Isle_of_Ely_(UK_Parliament_constituency)), she helped him canvass.

In 1980, she formed her own theatre company, "Jill Freud and Company", in [Suffolk](/source/Suffolk).[5] Her last role was [Hugh Grant](/source/Hugh_Grant)'s Downing Street housekeeper in *[Love Actually](/source/Love_Actually)*.[3]

In 2001, she received an [Honorary](/source/Honorary_degree) [Doctorate in Civil Law](/source/Doctor_of_Civil_Law) from the [University of East Anglia](/source/University_of_East_Anglia) for services to the theatre.[6][3]

## Personal life and death

Freud was Vice President of TACT, the Actors' Children's Trust.[7]

Freud had five children (one adopted), Nicola, Ashley, Dominic, [Emma](/source/Emma_Freud)[8] and [Matthew](/source/Matthew_Freud). At the time of her death, she had 18 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. [9]

Freud died on 24 November 2025, at the age of 98.[6][10][11]

## See also

- [Freud family](/source/Freud_family)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Nigel Farndale, ['I was sure that children would not want to be told that this old lady was Lucy'](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1505196/I-was-sure-that-children-would-not-want-to-be-told-that-this-old-lady-was-Lucy.html), Telegraph Co. UK, 11 December 2005

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Grdn2025_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Grdn2025_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Grdn2025_2-2) Shoard, Catherine (24 November 2025). ["Jill Freud, Love Actually actor and inspiration for Lucy in Narnia books, dies aged 98"](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/nov/24/jill-freud-love-actually-actor-cs-lewis-inspiration-narnia-dies-aged-98). *The Guardian*. Retrieved 28 November 2025.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Grdnobit2025_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Grdnobit2025_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Grdnobit2025_3-2) Freud, Emma (27 November 2025). ["Jill Freud obituary"](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/nov/27/jill-freud-obituary). *The Guardian*. Retrieved 28 November 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** C. S. Lewis, *The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis*, Volume 2, HarperOne, 2004, p. 636.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Phillips2002_5-0)** Justin Phillips (2002). [*C.S. Lewis at the BBC: Messages of Hope in the Darkness of War*](https://books.google.com/books?id=7vIdAQAAIAAJ). HarperCollins. p. 109. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-00-710437-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-00-710437-6).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-telegraph_obit_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-telegraph_obit_6-1) ["Lady Freud, actress wife of Clement Freud and inspiration for Lucy in CS Lewis's Narnia"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/11/25/lady-freud-jill-raymond-clement-cs-lewis-narnia-lucy/). The Telegraph. 25 November 2025. Retrieved 25 November 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Famous Names," TACT, the Actors' Children's Trust official website](https://actorschildren.org/about-act/famous-names/)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Guardian_8-0)** ["Emma Freud: My father, Clement Freud, remembered"](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/24/clement-freud-funeral-emma-freud). *The Guardian*. 24 April 2010. Retrieved 9 January 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Freud, Emma (27 November 2025). ["Jill Freud obituary"](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/nov/27/jill-freud-obituary). *The Guardian*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0261-3077](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Retrieved 15 December 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [Love Actually star Jill Freud who inspired Narnia character dies aged 98](https://metro.co.uk/2025/11/24/love-actually-star-inspiration-narnia-jill-freud-dies-aged-98-24789062/) Metro

1. **[^](#cite_ref-guard-24nov2025_11-0)** Shoard, Catherine (24 November 2025). ["Jill Freud, Love Actually actor and inspiration for Lucy in Narnia books, dies aged 98"](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/nov/24/jill-freud-love-actually-actor-cs-lewis-inspiration-narnia-dies-aged-98). *[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)*. Retrieved 24 November 2025.

## External links

- [Jill Freud](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0713298/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

- [Jill Freud](https://www.discogs.com/artist/Jill+Freud) discography at [Discogs](/source/Discogs)

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