Barbara March Passes
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Barbara March, Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Lursa, passed away Sunday evening at the age of sixty-five after battling cancer.
Her husband, Alan Scarfe, announced the news via his Facebook account: “My beloved Barbara, my partner in all things for more than forty years, passed through eternity’s gate yesterday evening after a cruel battle with cancer.
“She was wise and compassionate and beautiful and her brilliance, kindness and perspicacity touched many.
“Her stage performances as the Duchess of Malfi at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Isabella in Measure for Measure at Canada’s Stratford Festival, Desdemona, Titania, Lady Macbeth, Ruth in The Homecoming and Rowena in The Gayden Chronicles were without equal and a vast audience will continue to marvel at her portrayal of Lursa of the House of Duras on Star Trek.
“She was also an accomplished author, artist and poet. Her screen adaptation of her novella The Copper People will soon, I hope, be produced, as will her plays, The Razing of Charlotte Bronte (also available in Italian in a fine translation by Chandani Alesiani) and a comic satire, Pinteresque.
“She was a fountain of original ideas and possessed a unique depth of understanding.”
“Tosia and Rick and Jon and I and all her family and friends will miss her terribly.
“But now, I know, she is truly free to dance.”
March was born in 1953 in Toronto, Canada. After graduating from The University of Windsor, she began her acting career. She appeared on stage and on TV and some of her television credits include L.A. Law, The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw, Night Heat, and of course, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Firstborn, Redemption, Redemption II), Star Trek: Generations, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Past Prologue).
March enjoyed her role as Lursa, saying in a 1994 interview that “We were really surprised by how popular Lursa and B’Etor are.
“I think it’s because, in one sense, these women have a great deal of power. They’re very emotional, almost a bad Laurel and Hardy team. They’re rebellious, strong, and can kick butt, and there just aren’t that many female characters on television who control things like the Duras sisters try to do.
“I think all of these aspects, and the chemistry between Gwynyth and I, have helped the characters really catch on. It was wonderful to create a character on Star Trek because she wasn’t a stereotypical cardboard cutout.”
March is survived by Scarfe, daughter Antonia (Tosia), and stepson Jonathan.
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