Who did Jean Marsh play in Return to Oz? Actress passes away at 90

Jean Marsh, the celebrated actor who starred in Return to Oz, passed away at the age of 90. Through her agent, her friend, filmmaker Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg, revealed that she passed away on Sunday, April 13, at her London home from dementia-related problems.

As per News18’s report from April 14, Lindsay-Hogg shared:

“Jean died peacefully in bed, looked after by one of her very loving carers.. You could say we were very close for 60 years. She was as wise and funny as anyone I ever met, as well as being very pretty and kind, and talented as both an actress and writer…”

Talking more about Jean Marsh, Michael continued:

“An instinctively empathetic person who was loved by everyone who met her. We spoke on the phone almost every day for the past 40 years."

In Return to Oz, Jean Marsh portrayed two different characters - Princess Mombi and Nurse Wilson. Princess Mombi is the secondary antagonist in the 1985 movie Return to Oz. She is a hybrid of Princess Langwidere from Ozma of Oz and Mombi, the Wicked Witch of the North from The Marvellous Land of Oz.

Meanwhile, Nurse Wilson plays a significant enemy in the live-action movie Return to Oz, which came out in 1985.

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Jean Marsh, who played two characters simultaneously in Return to Oz, died at the age of 90

Return to Oz (1985) features Princess Mombi, portrayed by Jean Marsh, as the film's secondary adversary. She is the head-switching, oppressive sorceress who leads the insane Wheelers in Emerald City's ruins. In order to keep Oz from ever regaining its former glory, Mombi backs the Nome King's plan to wipe off Dorothy and her friends when Dorothy Gale returns to the Land of Oz.

When the Nome King is angry with Princess Mombi, she grovels before him and pleads for her life, demonstrating her cowardice. She also strikes a bargain with the King, who promises to make her the queen of Oz and give her thirty gorgeous heads that she may swap out.

The Powder of Life is also guarded by Jean Marsh's character. Princess Mombi falls in love with Dorothy's head after she meets her in her palace and imprisons her in the tower. However, Dorothy manages to get away and takes the Powder of Life.

Following the defeat of the Nome King, Mombi loses all of her magical abilities. Mombi also looks strikingly like Nurse Wilson, Senior Assistant to Doctor J.B. Worley at a mental health facility in Kansas where Dorothy had been a patient for a short time. This is due to the fact that Jean Marsh also portrays Nurse Wilson.

Nurse Wilson was first introduced when Dorothy was taken to a mental health hospital because of her severe sleeplessness. When she appears on-screen, she witnesses two men preparing to strap Dorothy to a gurney and drag her to Dr. Worley's lab. Dorothy argues that she is capable of walking by herself.

Nurse Wilson calmly reminds that Dorothy had promised her Uncle Henry and Aunt Emily that she would follow all staff’s orders. Dorothy then consents to being strapped to the gurney since she didn't want to defy her aunt and uncle.

Nurse Wilson, played by Jean Marsh, can be seen conducting tests while a thunderstorm rages outside, right before Dr. Worley prepares to start Dorothy on electro-current therapy. Lightning strikes the clinic at the last second, resulting in a basement fire. Another girl at the clinic rescues Dorothy as Nurse Wilson and Dr. Worley race downstairs.

Since Dr. Worley was wanted by the authorities for conducting unethical medical experiments and locking up those who were harmed by them, Nurse Wilson is ultimately taken into custody by the police. As an accomplice in these experiments, Nurse Wilson is placed under arrest.

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Meanwhile, apart from Return to Oz, Jean Marsh was also known for Upstairs, Downstairs, Willow, Doctor Who and The House of Eliot.