Mrs. Steerforth Cherie Lunghi The wealthy, widowed mother of David's friend, Steerforth, Mrs. Steerforth is blind to the faults of her handsome but amoral son. Her refusal to help when he ruins Emily compounds the tragedy that subsequently occurs. Cherie Lunghi has been criss-crossing the Atlantic to work in Britain and the U.S. for the last four years. Her base was in America so that her daughter Natalie could be near both her mother and father, film director Roland Joffe (The Mission, in which Cherie starred). "I thought how lovely to do a period piece with such a cast. And it also fitted in with my timing to come home. I just think Dickens is wonderful. He's part of British heritage and where I come from. There's a feeling of continuity." Lunghi says, "Mrs. Steerforth is an obsessive, infatuated mother. She lives vicariously through her son and wants him to be a success. She's a snob. She can't see what he really is, and what she's making him. He's a terribly indulged man. His mother never taught him right or wrong. He's got the idea that he can do what he pleases with women."