Ursula Howells was educated at St Paul's Girls' School in London, where her father Herbert Howells, a doyen of English church music taught music for 26 years. Following the death of her brother Michael from polio in 1935, her father composed his great choral masterpiece "Hymnus Paradisi". She was evacuated to Scotland during the Second World War and made her stage debut in 1940 with Dundee rep. She made her London debut at the Embassy Theatre in Swiss Cottage in 1945. Her broadcasting debut came in 1946 with Sweet Lavender and she made her screen debut in 1950, with _Flesh and Blood . She was widowed in 1988 and moved to Petworth in Sussex. Although she had no children of her own, she was a loving stepmother to her husband's son and three daughters who survived her.
The daughter of the composer Herbert Howells (1892-1983), her father contracted Graves Disease before she was born in 1915, a potentially fatal illness. He was the first in his country to receive radium treatment and survived almost 70 years.
Educated at St Pauls Girls School and studied for the stage with Anthony Hawtrey at the Dundee Repertory Theatre.
Was an active supporter of the annual Petworth Festival.
During the Ashes series, she revealed that at the age of 16 she had been selected to play cricket for the England Womens team, but had never played because she was thought to be too young.
Her favorite stage roles were Judy in "Frieda", Gabby in "The Petrified Forest" and Nina in "The Seagull".
I wanted to go on stage, and had a scholarship to a school which closed,down, then to another one which was bombed. .
