Jill Freud’s Remarkable Life Takes Its Final Bow
Jill Freud’s story has been one of those rare, beautifully layered lives that seem to stretch across generations, art forms and even fictional worlds. So when news came that she had passed away at the age of 98, it felt like the closing of a long, enchanting chapter. And honestly, talking about her now feels less like recounting a headline and more like sharing the legacy of someone whose life had already become a story in itself.
Jill Freud, born June Flewett in 1927 in London, had a childhood shaped by wartime upheaval. As a young teenager, she was evacuated to Oxford, and that twist of fate brought her into the home of C.S. Lewis. Yes—the C.S. Lewis. She worked as a housekeeper at the Kilns, the place where Lewis lived with his brother and Janie Moore. Jill always described their first meeting as “something momentous,” and she later admitted to having a schoolgirl crush on him. She remembered him vividly: tweeds, a walking stick, big shoes, a labrador—a sort of ruddy-cheeked farmer who seemed larger than life to her.
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What she didn’t know then was that Lewis would later use her as inspiration for one of literature’s most beloved characters: Lucy Pevensie, the brave girl who steps through a wardrobe into the icy magic of Narnia. Jill recalled the giant cupboard at the Kilns landing—the wardrobe many believed sparked Lewis’s imagination. Only after his death did she discover the truth, through a letter from Douglas Gresham: she had been the prototype for Lucy.
Lewis even funded her scholarship to Rada, which she delayed so she could help take care of him and Janie Moore when health issues made things difficult. Once she entered the world of acting, she adopted the stage name Jill Raymond and quickly found her way to the West End, eventually starring beside names like Michael Redgrave.
Her life offstage was just as eventful. She married Clement Freud—chef, MP, broadcaster, and grandson of Sigmund Freud—and together they raised five children, including Emma Freud and PR executive Matthew Freud. Jill later built an entire repertory theatre legacy in Suffolk, running companies for three decades and championing regional actors through passion, warmth and even her famous shepherd’s pie.
And still, she kept a sense of humor and mischief well into her 90s. Every day for lunch? A glass of red wine and a packet of crisps. During Covid at age 93? Tap-dancing every morning with three other Freud women.
Her daughter Emma announced her passing with a message that felt heartbreakingly Jill: surrounded by children, grandchildren and pizza, she told everyone to “fuck off” so she could sleep—and simply didn’t wake up. Her last words were “I love you.”
A life fully lived, a legacy woven into literature, theatre, film and family—Jill Freud truly took her final bow with the same spirit she carried all her life.
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