Sarah Ward – this is her real name – was born on June 28, 1951 in London, England, daughter of the seventh Viscount Bangor. The name Lalla by which she’s known comes from her attempts to say her name when she was just a toddler. She’s famous in particular for playing the Time Lady Romana in Doctor Who

Yesterday, the English actress Elisabeth Sladen suddenly passed away. She’s been suffering from cancer for some time but she was a private person so she had kept it a secret.

Elisabeth Sladen’s career is inevitably linked to the famous series “Doctor Who” where she made her debut in 1973 in the serial “The Time Warrior” with the Third Doctor played by Jon Pertwee. Her character, journalist Sarah Jane Smith, was very successful thanks to her performance and stayed in the series with Tom Baker, when the Doctor regenerated, until 1976. Sarah Jane Smith’s departure in the serial “The Hand of Fear” was an event like a regeneration.

In 2006 Elisabeth Sladen resumed her role as Sarah Jane in the new “Doctor Who” series episode “School Reunion” with the Tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant. Later she became the protagonist of the new spin-off “The Sarah Jane Adventures” and appeared again in other episodes of the new “Doctor Who” series.