Education
University of Edinburgh.
University of Edinburgh.
Her comic skills were displayed earlier in Alan Bennett"s comedy series On the Margin (1966). Gilan"s acting career has also included roles in Z-Cars (1967) as Vera Cowley, Dixon of Dock Green (1969), Crossroads (1976) as Eileen Blythe, a few episodes of Doctor Finlay"s Casebook (1963-1969) in several roles and The House of Elliot as Ruth Bannister. Her film credits include Agatha (1979) as Mistress
Braithwaite, Chariots of Fire (1981) as Mistress
Liddell, and Empire of the Sun (1987) as Mistress Lockwood. Fawlty Towers (1975)
Gilan"s Fawlty Towers appearance in "The Wedding Party", first transmitted on British Broadcasting Corporation television on 3 October 1975, was as a French antiques dealer who seemed to have a soft spot for hotel owner Basil Fawlty.
He, in turn, indulged her a little, while fending off her hints at a nocturnal encounter while she was under the influence of alcohol ("a little tipsy", as she put it). Her character had an unusual take on his character: "Are you a romantic, Mr.
Fawlty.? Well, I think you are.
I think beneath that English exterior throbs a passion that would make Lord Byron look like a tobacconist." After announcing that, due to the summer heat, she would sleep "au naturel tonight", she subsequently she teased Fawlty that he had left his cassette player in her room as an excuse to gain entry during the night. In May 2009 G.O.L.D. screened Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened, a show that brought the original Fawlty Towers cast back together for the first time since Torquay"s most notorious hotel closed. In the show, Gilan was interviewed and suggested that her French accent sounded more like a Hungarian accent to her now.
Since 1980 she has worked as a motivational speaker at the Oxford Said Business School, helping leaders improve their presentation and communication skills, and lectures at the Imperial College, London.
In 2003 Gilan was consulted on picking the right voice for 118 118 directory enquiry service,
Physical, gamine, a thick shock of short black hair with a heavy fringe. Freckles, dark complexion.
A witty, interested, boyish face, but provocative, mocking, with an exhibitionist smile that is not altogether humorous. Her smile can wither or zap like Dan Dare"s ray gun.
Gilan kept the letters that Adrian wrote to her from his boarding school, Saint Christopher School, Letchworth, in Hertfordshire, and returned them to him half a century later.
