Jill Ireland Biography

Jill Ireland

Jill Ireland began her career as a dancer, making her screen debut in the Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger film Oh, Rosalinda! (1955) and appearing in British television and movies before moving to Hollywood in 1962. She landed her first U.S. television series, Shane, in 1966. Her first husband, David McCallum (Illya Kuryakin on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard on the CBS series NCIS), introduced her to her second husband, actor Charles Bronson. Ireland and Bronson were married in 1968 and acted in many films together and Ireland ultimately served as producer for his work. Near the end of her life she published intimate accounts of her struggle with breast cancer (Life Wish, 1987), and her son's heroin addiction (Life Lines, 1989).