Actress and producer Jill Freud has died at the age of 98.

The star’s family have paid tribute to the ‘feisty, outrageous, kind, loving and mischievous’ star who as a child inspired the character of Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe before enjoying a successful 30 year career in the arts. 

Freud’s daughter, the broadcaster Emma Freud wrote: ‘My beautiful 98 year old mum has taken her final bow.’

‘After a loving evening – where we knew she was on her way – surrounded by children, grandchildren and pizza, she told us all to f*** off so she could go to sleep. And then she never woke up. Her final words were ‘I love you’.’

‘As a child she was evacuated to Oxford and ended up living with CS Lewis for three years… he based the character of Lucy in ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ on her.’

Her final movie role was in Emma’s partner Richard Curtis‘ 2003 movie Love Actually, Emma recalled in her tribute.   

Actress and producer Jill Freud has died at the age of 98. The star’s family have paid tribute to the ‘feisty, outrageous, kind, loving and mischievous’ star

Jill’s daughter, the broadcaster Emma Freud wrote: ‘My beautiful 98 year old mum has taken her final bow’ (Jill is pictured with Emma and her granddaughter Scarlett Curtis) 

‘She became an actress/producer and ran two rep theatre companies in Suffolk for 30 years – employing 100’s of actors who loved her for her passion, her care, her shepherd’s pie, her devotion to regional theatre and her commitment to actor’s rights. Her last film role was as the housekeeper at Downing Street in ‘Love Actually‘.

‘She had the same lunch every day – a glass of red wine and a packet of crisps, and during Covid, aged 93, locked up with 3 other Freud gals, she took part in a tap class every morning.

‘She was 98, mother of 5, grandmother of 17, great grandmother of 7 – she was feisty, outrageous, kind, loving and mischievous. Lucky old heaven getting such a dazzling newcomer. Jill Freud.’

Emma’s friends added their own tributes in the comments. Dawn French said: ‘Love wrapped around you all.’ 

Podcaster Elizabeth Day wrote: ‘What an amazing person. I’m so sorry. Sending love to you all.’

David Baddiel wrote, ‘May her memory be a blessing x’ as actress Suranne Jones said: ‘Sending you all love.’

Emma’s daughter, the writer Scarlett Curtis added her own moving tribute on Instagram, revealing: ‘My grandmother never wanted to be addressed as such. She was not “granny”, she was Lady Jill Freud; actress, tap dancer, leader, friend.’

‘Lady Jill was a force of nature. She swum, acted and tap danced until she was in her 90s. She flirted, drank and laughed until the end.’

Jill’s final movie role was in Emma’s partner Richard Curtis’ movie Love Actually, in which she played the Downing Street housekeeper

Emma wrote of her mum: ‘She was 98, mother of 5, grandmother of 17, great grandmother of 7 – she was feisty, outrageous, kind, loving and mischievous. Lucky old heaven’

After her acting career, she formed her theatre company in 1980 in Suffolk and received an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law from the University of East Anglia (pictured in 2009) 

She married the grandson of Sigmund Freud, Clement in 1950. They went on to have five children including Emma and her public relations executive brother Matthew

Scarlett recalled one particularly outrageous moment in their grandmother/granddaughter relationship, writing that ‘she loved through action and organisation; running her theatre company, directing and starring in our lockdown production of The Importance of Being Earnest, asking me if I wanted to borrow her vibrator when I told her I was lonely during COVID.’

‘She was not one for cuddles but she built the home that has saved my life year after year. The place I feel happiest, safest, most creative, most held and protected. She also created my favourite human in the world @emmafreud – and for that alone we should all be grateful.’

‘Lady Jill Freud did not want to be a granny but she was mine. And I was the luckiest to have her for thirty years.’

‘I’m not sure what happens next. But I do believe we will meet again. And I also believe that when we do, I’ll have to join a f**king long queue of people desperate to see you after such bittersweet time apart.’

Born in 1927, as June Flewett, Freud was evacuated to Oxford at the age of 16 with her sister and placed with the writer CS Lewis and his partner Jane Moore. Lewis would later base the character of Lucy Pevensie on her in his book The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Emma’s daughter, the writer Scarlett Curtis added her own moving tribute on Instagram, revealing: ‘My grandmother never wanted to be addressed as such. She was not “granny”, she was Lady Jill Freud; actress, tap dancer, leader, friend’

Scarlett wrote: ‘Lady Jill was a force of nature. She swum, acted and tap danced until she was in her 90s. She flirted, drank and laughed until the end’

She told The Hollywood Reporter in 2014: ‘It’s years since I read it, but in the stage version I saw a few years ago, Lucy was very likable — it was quite flattering.’

Freud spent two years living with Lewis before leaving to take up a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), for which the writer paid her fees.

After graduating she had a career in the West End under the stage name Jill Raymond. 

She married the grandson of Sigmund Freud, Clement in 1950. They went on to have five children including Emma and her public relations executive brother Matthew. Clement died in 2009 at the age of 84.

After her acting career, she formed her theatre company in 1980 in Suffolk and received an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law from the University of East Anglia ‘for services to the theatre’ in 2021.