Patricia Quinn

Nation McKinley in the 1981 musical film Shock Treatment. In 2012, Quinn played the role of Megan in the horror film The Lords of Salem.

• Name — Patricia Quinn • Born — 28 May 1944 • Birthplace — Belfast, Northern Ireland • Occupation — * Actress • singer • Years Active — 1971–present • Known for — * The Rocky Horror Show • The Rocky Horror Picture Show • Shock Treatment • The Lords of Salem • Children — 1 • Relatives — Jonny and Bradley Quinn (nephews) • Website — http: patriciaquinn.co.uk/

Quinn was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to James Connolly Quinn, a bookmaker, and his wife Rebecca. She has an older brother and a younger sister. She attended the Princess Gardens Grammar School, where she developed an early talent for acting. Following stints at Belfast's Arts Theatre and British Drama League, she left for London aged 17. In 1969, she trained at the Drama Centre London while simultaneously working as a blackjack-dealing Bunny at the Playboy Club in Mayfair. In 1971, she was in repertory for six months with the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow.

Quinn is known primarily for her role as Magenta in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). In the film's opening title sequence, the movements of her disembodied lips are synchronised with the lyrics of the title song, "Science Fiction/Double Feature" (the singing voice is that of scriptwriter and actor Richard O'Brien). She played Elizabeth Siddal in the 1975 mini series The Love School. In I, Claudius (1976), she took the role of the Emperor Claudius' sister Livilla. She also played Isla in The Professionals episode "Look After Annie" in 1978. Her other film and TV roles include the semi-sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Shock Treatment. She played "Woman" in Hawk the Slayer (1980). She appeared in the Hammer House of Horror episode "Witching Time" as Lucinda Jessop (1981), Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983), and the 1987 Doctor Who serial Dragonfire. Her latest film credit is Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem (2012). In 2000, Quinn recorded the song "Guts To Dream" with London-based band The Grand. The song was due to form part of an EP titled Open Displays of Affection, but the group had disbanded before it was released. Quinn gave a copy of the unreleased CD to the winner of a Magenta costume contest at the Rocky Horror Picture Show 25th Anniversary Convention in Las Vegas. In 2002, she returned to Doctor Who, playing an alien queen in the audio play Bang-Bang-a-Boom!. In September 2006, she relaunched her career as a DJ and club kitten, hosting the monthly "Club Myra" night at various venues in Central London. In April 2007, she joined Patrick Wolf at a concert in London, singing "Accident and Emergency". In October 2008, Quinn made a guest appearance in a production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in New York City, participating in a question-and-answer session as well as unexpectedly performing "Science Fiction/Double Feature". She attended a Rocky Horror Picture Show convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey in July 2011, answering questions as well as introducing a performance of the show, staged at the House of Blues. In May 2013, she served as the honorary Master of Ceremonies for a Rocky Horror Picture Show performance at the Dallas based Texas Frightmare Weekend horror convention. That same month, she was the guest of honour at a "40th Anniversary Tribute Concert" to the original Rocky Horror Show stage production, hosted at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco, California by local drag celebrity Peaches Christ. During the tribute conference, Quinn performed "Science Fiction/Double Feature", answered questions on stage with Christ, and signed autographs for the audience. In 2020, Quinn was impersonated by drag performer Aiden Zhane on the twelfth season of the reality competition television series RuPaul's Drag Race as part of the Snatch Game challenge. The show's judges criticised Zhane for portraying Quinn as forgetful and neglecting to employ a Northern Irish accent, and she was eliminated following her performance in the challenge. Quinn released a statement following the episode that she was "disgusted beyond belief" at the impersonation: "I did not respect being described as a ‘old cookie woman’ or being depicted as a washed-up actress who has taken too many drugs". She expressed a wish that Zhane had given her "the common courtesy of a 'heads up'" before the episode aired.

Quinn has a son from her first marriage to Don Hawkins. Her nephews are Jonny Quinn and Bradley Quinn. In January 1995, Quinn married the actor Sir Robert Stephens, who died in November that year. Quinn thus became the stepmother of Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin, Stephens' two actor sons from his previous marriage to Maggie Smith. Quinn had previously appeared alongside Robert Stephens in the BBC TV adaptation of The Box of Delights (1984) in the role of Sylvia Daisy Pouncer and had played his on-screen wife in the serial Fortunes of War (1987). The elder Stephens had been knighted prior to his death, giving Quinn the title of Lady Stephens.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1969 — Parkin's Patch — Sylvia — Episode: "Dead or Alive?" • 1972 — Van der Valk — Yvonne — Episode: "Destroying Angel" • Villains — Dorothy — Episode: "Grass" • ITV Sunday Night Theatre — Cynthia — Episode: "Ted" • The Fenn Street Gang — Rona — Episode: "The Left Hand Path" • 1973 — Armchair Theatre — Maggie — Episode: "That Sinking Feeling" • 1974 — Shoulder to Shoulder — Christabel Pankhurst — 6 episodes • 1975 — The Love School — Lizzie Siddal — 3 episodes • 1976 — I, Claudius — Livilla — 4 episodes • 1977 — Leap in the Dark — Rosalind Toynbee — Episode: "Parlour Games" • 1978 — The Professionals — Isla — Episode: "Look After Annie" • Clouds of Glory — Annette Vallo — Episode: "William and Dorothy" • 1980 — Tales of the Unexpected — Phyl Tinker — Episode: "The Stinker" • Fox — Liz — 2 episodes • Hammer House of Horror — Lucinda Jessop — Episode: "Witching Time" • 1982 — Minder — Monica — Episode: "Rembrandt Doesn't Live Here Anymore" • 1983 — Good Behaviour — Rose — 2 episodes • 1984 — The Box of Delights — Sylvia Daisy Pouncer — 4 episodes • 1986 — Lost Empires — Doris Tingley — 2 episodes • 1987 — Fortunes of War — Mona Castlebar — 2 episodes • Doctor Who — Belazs — 2 episodes: "Dragonfire" • 1988 — Bergerac — Dolly Hayward — Episode: "Crossed Swords" • 1991 — The Bill — Susan White — Episode: "Downtime" • 1992 — Screenplay — Margot — Episode: "The Countess Alice" • 1999 — Behind the Music — Herself — Episode: "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"