Jill Freud, who was the inspiration for the character of Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, has died at the age of 98, her family have confirmed
Jamie Downham Deputy Associate Editor, the Mirror
21:53, 24 Nov 2025
Love Actually star Jill Freud is being remembered today. (Image: ©2003 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved)
A cherished actress who appeared in Love Actually and numerous other productions has passed away, it was announced today. Tributes have poured in for Jill Freud, who lived a remarkable life and reached 98 years old on a daily diet of a glass of red wine and a packet of crisps, plus morning tap-dancing sessions she attended during lockdown.
Evacuated to Oxford as a youngster, Jill resided with Chronicles of Narnia writer CS Lewis and served as the inspiration for Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Following two years with the Lewis household she departed to chase her theatrical dreams and her final performance before her passing was portraying the Downing Street housekeeper in Love Actually.
Jill’s relatives confirmed her passing in a touching statement, with her television and radio personality daughter Emma reflecting on her lengthy and fascinating life, penning: “‘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.'”
Emma, who is wed to Love Actually and Four Weddings creator Richard Curtis, went on: “She became an actress/producer and ran two rep theatre companies in Suffolk for 30 years – employing 100s 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.
Jill Freud died after an evening with “children, grandchildren and pizza”. (Image: @emmafreud/Instagram)
“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 three other Freud gals, she took part in a tap class every morning.”
Concluding her tribute with a red heart, Emma added: “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 trained at the renowned RADA theatre school, which CS Lewis funded, and in 1980, she established her own theatre company called Jill Freud and Company and later earned an Honorary Doctorate from the University of East Anglia “for services to the theatre”.
She wed Clement Freud, the television and radio personality who was amongst Britain’s pioneering celebrity chefs and the grandson of Sigmund Freud, in 1950. Discussing her role as the muse for Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, she shared with 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.”
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