Her own recollections regarding that role in Tom Jones are less rosy than mine:

"I'd actually turned it down three times because I really wanted to do some theatre. I had made up my mind to say no once and for all at a lunch I cooked for Tony Richardson, after three or four wooing lunches from him and Vanessa Redgrave. I did all the classic things - salt instead of sugar, burnt the meringues - and, in the midst of all my apologies, I accepted."


After that, she never looked back...