Jeannette Charles, an actress whose uncanny resemblance to Queen Elizabeth II launched a movie career that included scene-stealing moments in National Lampoon’s European Vacation, The Naked Gun, and Austin Powers sequel Goldmember, died June 2 at a care home in Great Beddow in Essex, England. She was 96.
Her death was announced by daughter Carol Christophi to UK publications The Mirror and The Standard. “Mum was a real character and a force of nature,” Christophi said in a statement. “She had an amazing life.” In an interview with UK radio station LBC, Christophi said, “She was always respectful of the Queen and adored the Royal Family. We will miss her dearly.”
In a 2022 essay for The Guardian, Charles explained how she began her career as a lookalike. “Before I had children,” she wrote, “I’d worked as an au pair and a typist, but I’d always wanted to act. I’d been in amateur productions, had elocution lessons and even passed an audition for Rada. But the fees were too expensive, plus my looks counted against me – no matter what role I took on, I’d hear comments from the audience, and sometimes even laughter.”
Realizing she could turn a disadvantage to an advantage, Charles determined to make her resemblance to the Queen work in her favor.
“Over the next 40 years,” she wrote, “I appeared on TV chatshows, opened supermarkets, assisted magicians and shot adverts all over the world. Bands wanted me for music videos, and I handed out gifts with Liberace and presented a silver disc to the band Queen.”
Her movie career portraying the Queen stretched back to the 1970s when she appeared on such shows as Rutland Weekend Television, a 1977 episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Eric Idle and Neil Innes, the 1978 TV-movie The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash.
Leslie Nielsen, Jeannette Charles, ‘The Naked Gun’ (1988)
Everett Collection
One of her more memorable performances came in 1985 when she shared a scene with Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s European Vacation. Three years later she’d top that with an appearance in The Naked Gun opposite Leslie Nielsen, whose pratfall on top of Her Majesty was perhaps Charles’ most go-for-broke outrageous scene.
Her next big film came in 2002, when Charles appeared opposite Mike Myers in Austin Powers In Goldmember.
Charles had a few minor credits in the years following before retiring in 2014. She is survived by daughter Carol, and sons David and Peter. Her husband died in 1997.
