Anne Louise Lambert

Life and career

Born Anne Louise Lambert in Brisbane, Australia she later moved to Sydney. Under the name of Anne Lambert she first gained recognition on Australian television with roles in three soap operas and in her role in Picnic at Hanging Rock. In 1973 she played nymphomaniac Sue Marshall in Number 96. The following year she was an original cast member in school-based drama Class of '74, playing a student Peggy Richardson.

Lambert gained international recognition after playing the iconic role of Miranda in the classic Australia film Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). Director Peter Weir saw her in a television commercial for Fanta and felt she was perfect for the lead role. In 1976, she had a six-month role in adult soap opera The Box as the "sexy and promiscuous" Trish Freeman. In 1977, she appeared in a recurring sketch in comedy series The Norman Gunston Show called The Checkout Chicks. This sketch, a send-up of melodramatic soap operas set in a supermarket, mostly featured other former Number 96 actors - Vivienne Garrett, Candy Raymond, Philippa Baker, Judy Lynne and Abigail.

She adopted the name Anne-Louise Lambert when, on seeking work in the UK, she found that another actress was listed as Anne Lambert. She has worked steadily in film and on stage ever since, including starring roles in the BBC TV series The Borgias (1981), Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract (1982), and Breathing Under Water, Seeing Red (1992), The Dirtwater Dynasty and Great Expectations – The Untold Story (1987) and Australian TV mini-series such as Fields of Fire 2 (1988). Stage roles include Sweet Bird of Youth co-starring with Lauren Bacall and Colin Friels. She also played the role of Lady Mary Brackenstall in the adaptation of The Abbey Grange for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1986).

More recently she has appeared in Lillian's Story with Toni Collette and Somersault which won Best Film at the 2004 Australian Film Institute Awards. She also appeared in the Australian TV series, The Alice (2004) and the short drama Photograph (2006), directed by her sister, Sarah Lambert. She resides in the Sydney suburb of Balmain with her son Harry (born 1989) and works as a psychotherapist, counsellor and coach.