Lady Montdore Sheila Gish Lady Montdore is a composite of Nancy Mitford's mother-in-law, Lady Rennell, and Helen Dashwood (1899-1989), whom Mitford called "Hell Bags." A terrible snob and an outrageous flirt -- especially with her favorite courtier, Boy Dougdale -- she is a woman determined to manipulate the lives of those around her, not least of all her beautiful daughter Polly. Actress Shelia Gish points out that Lady Montdore is not a character who blends into the background. "The Montdores are old English aristocracy, but there is something slightly nouveau about Sonia. Although she is unspeakably grand, of course..." While Gish first read Mitford's novels in the 1960s, she enjoyed re-reading them even more. "I'd always adored the books, and when I read Deborah Moggach's scripts I was thrilled. The books and the screenplay have huge style and a wonderful eccentricity. I think it's important that people know that this is not about 'removed' posh people; it's about the fact that these people are like no one else in the world. There isn't a parallel in France or America or wherever. It's a particularly English thing. It shows our particular madness and our sense of irony." Gish's television credits include Stanley and the Women, The House of Eliott, Danielle Steel's Jewels, Resnick, Rough Treatment, Brighton Belles, and numerous guest appearances on Mystery!'s Inspector Morse. On film she can be seen in Mansfield Park, Highlander, and Highlander: Endgame. In Mitford's words: Lady Montdore She was born a Miss Perrotte, the handsome daughter of a country squire of small means and no particular note, so that her marriage to Lord Montdore was a far better one than she could reasonably have been expected to make. As time went on, when her worldly greed and snobbishness, her terrible relentless rudeness had become proverbial and formed the subject of many a legendary tale, people were inclined to suppose that her origins must have been low or transatlantic, but, in fact, she was perfectly well born and had been decently brought up, what used to be called 'a lady,' so that there were no mitigating circumstances, and she ought to have known better. Love in a Cold Climate, Part I, Chapter 1