Anne Stallybrass was born and raised in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. She was encouraged in her ambition to become an actress at the convent school she attended. After three years training at the Royal Academy of Music, where she won the Drama Gold Medal, Anne began her professional acting career by spending several years in repertory, gaining experience in Folkstone, Kent, before moving to Nottingham and then Sheffield.
Her first appearance on television was in Emergency-Ward 10 in September 1964, which was followed by two productions for the BBC's Theatre 625 in 1965, The World of George Orwell: Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Portraits from the North: Bruno. However, it was her role as "Jane Seymour" in The Six Wives of Henry VIII in January 1970 that really brought Anne to prominence, followed by The Onedin Line in 1971, which made household names of both her and her co-star, Peter Gilmore.
Indeed, while the second series of The Onedin Line was broadcast on BBC1, Anne could be seen simultaneously in another major drama, playing "Anna Strauss" in ATV's The Strauss Family in 1972. To the regret of her many fans, after two years playing the much-loved wife of "James Onedin", the actress decided to leave the series, partly to pursue other roles but also due to fears of becoming typecast.
During the late 1970s and 1980s, Anne appeared frequently on British television. Of particular note were Granada's thirteen-part This Year Next Year in 1977, the BBC children's series The Peppermint Pig in 1977, The Mayor of Casterbridge in 1978, "Dark Secret" for LWT's Sunday Night Thriller in 1981, two series of Flying Lady for Yorkshire TV in 1987 and 1989, and the sci-fi series Knights of God in 1987.
More recently, Anne's TV appearances have been mainly guest and one-off roles such as Queen Elizabeth II in Diana: Her True Story in 1993, as well as playing "Eileen Reynolds" in Heartbeat for 2½ years.
In addition to her many television roles, Anne has made numerous theatre appearances, notably in the 1973 premiere of Glasstown, the "My Fat Friend" tour in 1976 with John Inman, "Bodies" in 1978, and "Time and Time Again" in 1983. She has also been in a few films though none have been lead roles, and recorded many radio plays for the BBC. Anne won the 1972 TV Times Best Actress on TV award for her role as "Anna Strauss". She was also nominated for Best Actress by the Society of Film & Television Arts (now the BAFTAs) for The Onedin Line in 1971.
On a personal note, Anne has been married twice and has no children. She met her first husband, Roger Rowland, whilst working in Nottingham and married him in 1963. The couple separated after nine years of marriage and later divorced. Peter Gilmore's second marriage broke up not long after and the friendship between the two The Onedin Line stars gradually developed, they fell in love and moved in together. In 1987, after ten years together, Anne and Peter married. They lived in Barnes, west London and had a small cottage, which they called Onedin House, in Dartmouth, Devon, which was used as a filming location for The Onedin Line.
