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  Alexandra Bastedo was born on the 9th of March, 1946 in Hove, Sussex. Her father is a Canadian, of Spanish-Dutch extraction, and her mother is Italian, but partly French and German, who was raised in Czechoslovakia. Soon after she was born, her family moved to Toronto, Canada, where she spent her first 3 years. After this period, her family moved back to England, where she was to stay until adulthood. Alexandra was a promising ballet dancer throughout her childhood, but when she grew over 5'5 she was too tall to continue in ballet. She now went into drama, at age 9 she was sent to the Worthing School of Drama and did very well, winning several cups at local festivals. The family moved to Brighton where Alexandra won a scholarship to the local high school. She also studied at the Brighton School of Drama for half-an-hour each day after her ordinary schooling. Academically she did well, also doing well at drama. She played the lead in Helen of Troy and was noticed by a family friend who suggested she enter a nation-wide contest to find a Teen-Age Diplomat where the winner will go to Hollywood to appear in 13 Frightened Girls. She beat 4000 girls to win the contest. At the age of 16, she went to Hollywood to make her screen debut. Several film and TV offers followed, but being so young and with her family back in England, she returned to England to finish her education. She passed all her subjects, with distinctions in French and English. Instead of going on to university, she found herself with a theatrical agent who got her a part in a TV series The Count of Monte Cristo, she accepted, though against her parents' wishes. After the series, there was a dismal lack of offers and she turned to modelling for TV commercials. Small parts started to come her way soon. She appeared as a French girl in two episodes of Compact, and then portrayed a studio make-up girl in an episode of The Saint. Then, back again to a French role in The Flying Swan, playing a girl in love with a crooked racing driver. She returned to Compact for eight weeks in a new and running role as Lindy Carroll. This was her first appearance in England as an English girl. She had the lead in a R.3. episode, appeared in the feature film Doctor in Clover as a nurse and then the James Bond spoof Casino Royale. She was originally cast as a sophisticated blonde at the casino, but later when it was realised nothing would be seen of her in the sequence, she was cast in another part. She now played Deborah Kerr's daughter in the David Niven sequence. She was on contract for five months. After this came another TV role in The Man Who Never Was, playing the part of a German girl. This was her first ever death scene when she had to be shot. While on location in Vienna, she did some modelling for petrol advertisments on the condition that they should be only shown in the continent. Her face appeared on enormous hoardings all over Europe. An Austrian producer saw her on one of these posters and set out to find her. He found her and asked her to make a test for him for a film he was to make. She got the part but had to relinquish it because the shooting dates clashed with film engagement she already had lined up in England. The film was The Haunted Man. The Austrian producer was so impressed by her that he suggested she get in touch with a friend of his, Cyril Frankel. Frankel had been looking for a girl of her description for a film. However, filming dates again clashed with The Haunted Man, and she couldn't do the film. It was Frankel that suggested her for The Champions and she then tested successfully for the part of Sharron. After The Champions, she went on to star in TV series' such as Code Name, Scoobie Man and The Aphrodite Inheritance. She continued in film but also toured with stage plays such as Don't Just Lie There, Say Something on West End, Arms and the Man and The Admirable Crichton in Canada. Alexandra married former boyfriend Patrick Garland after meeting again when she returned to England. Patrick was the longest serving director of the Chichester Festival Theatre, finishing his reign in 1994. Alexandra appeared in many plays at the Chichester, including Nickleby and Me, Cavell, Time and the Conways, Venus Observed and the musical Pickwick. She is now the president of her local RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) branch, vice president of the Brent Lodge Bird Hospital, and patron of the Animal Welfare Trust, Shirrin Persian Cat Rescue, Cat and Rabbit rescue Sidlesham, and Wildlife Aid, Leatherhead. She also runs a sanctuary of 180 animals and is the author of three books - "Cainine Care & Cuisine", "Beware Dobermans, Donkeys and Ducks" and “Cat Care and Cuisine” which is due for release Spring 1998.
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