Barbara March Scarfe, as Lursa of House Duras {image via Paramount}

Canadian actress Barbara March, wife of actor/director Alan Scarfe, passed away August 11, 2019, after a long battle with cancer. Fans of legitimate theater will remember her for her many Shakespearean roles, especially Lady Macbeth. She was a frequent player at Canada’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival. She was nominated for a Genie Award for Best Actress in the movie Deserters.

SCIFI.radio fans will remember her best as Lursa of House Duras from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Lursa was a Klingon aristocrat, and became head of the House of Duras after the death of her brother. The family were sworn enemies of the House of Mogh, which included Worf, Son of Mogh.

Barbara March also played Prairie Kate in the final Gambler movie, The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw. She appeared in L.A. Law, Total Security, and Night Heat.

Her husband Alan Scarfe posted on Facebook:

My beloved Barbara, my partner in all things for more than forty years, passed through eternity’s gate yesterday evening after a cruel battle with cancer. 

She was wise and compassionate and beautiful and her brilliance, kindness and perspicacity touched many. 

Her stage performances as the Duchess of Malfi at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Isabella in Measure for Measure at Canada’s Stratford Festival, Desdemona, Titania, Lady Macbeth, Ruth in The Homecoming and Rowena in The Gayden Chronicles were without equal and a vast audience will continue to marvel at her portrayal of Lursa of the House of Duras on Star Trek

She was also an accomplished author, artist and poet. Her screen adaptation of her novella The Copper People will soon, I hope, be produced, as will her plays, The Razing of Charlotte Bronte (also available in Italian in a fine translation by Chandani Alesiani) and a comic satire, Pinteresque. 

She was a fountain of original ideas and possessed a unique depth of understanding. 

Tosia and Rick and Jon and I and all her family and friends will miss her terribly. 

But now, I know, she is truly free to dance.

Barbara March Scarfe, 1953-2019 {image via Alan Scarfe’s Facebook page}

Barbara March was born October 9, 1953 in Toronto, Ontario. She earned a BFA from the University of Windsor. She played Lursa in three episodes of Next Gen, one episode of DS9, the movie Star Trek Generations, and voiced the role for the video game Klingon Honor Guard. She was also a popular guest at science fiction conventions, often attending in makeup and costume as Lursa Duras.

March is survived by her husband, Alan Scarfe, (Dr. Talmadge in Seven Days, Arch Magus in Earthsea, Admiral Mendak in Star Trek: TNG), daughter Antonia “Tosia” Scarfe, a musician, and stepson actor Jonathan Scarfe (Axel Miller in Van Helsing, Rev. Calvin in Grimm). She also had two step-grandchildren. We offer our condolences to her family.

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Susan Macdonald
Susan Macdonald

Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress ”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions,  Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.