Sarah Miles is a renowned English actress whose illustrious career reached its zenith during the iconic Swinging Sixties and early Seventies. Her husband, the accomplished screenwriter Robert Bolt, played a pivotal role in her professional trajectory when he adapted Gustave Flaubert's timeless masterpiece, "Madame Bovary", into a cinematic tale set against the backdrop of the 1916 Easter Rebellion in Ireland. Under the masterful direction of David Lean, the 1970 film "Ryan's Daughter" catapulted Miles to international recognition, earning her a prestigious Best Actress Oscar nomination. Lean himself drew parallels between Miles' exceptional talent and that of the esteemed Julie Christie, who bore a striking physical resemblance to the actress.
However, Bolt's subsequent script for Miles, "Lady Caroline Lamb" (1972),which he also directed, suffered a crushing defeat at the box office and received scathing critical reviews when it was released in 1973. The same year, Miles found herself embroiled in a scandalous controversy when her manager died under mysterious circumstances during the production of "The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing" (1973). Rumors circulated that Miles was having an affair with her co-star, the charismatic Burt Reynolds, while still married to Bolt.
After making a television adaptation of William Faulkner's "Requiem for a Nun" for the Hollywood Television Theatre, broadcast by PBS in 1975, and appearing in "The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea" in 1976, Miles divorced Bolt and her career began to wane. However, she experienced a fleeting resurgence of glory with the 1987 film "Hope and Glory" (1989). Since then, Miles has retired from the acting world, bringing an end to a remarkable career that spanned multiple decades.
