Jackie Burroughs dead at age 71

The British-Canadian actress was best known for her role as Hetty King in TV's Road to Avonlea.

Burroughs died yesterday of stomach cancer, surrounded by family in her Toronto home. She was one of Canada's most respected actors. Aside from starring in the popular television adaptations of Lucy Maude Montgomery's Road to Avonlea and Anne of Green Gables, she also earned rave reviews for her stage roles at the Stratford Festival and was a classically trained dancer. She was born in Lancashire, England in 1939, and moved to Canada in the early 1950s. She was briefly married to Zalman Yanovsky of the 1960s rock band the Lovin' Spoonful, with whom she had a daughter. Today, those who knew her praised Burroughs as an energetic and highly creative person. Sarah Polley, who co-starred with her in Road to Avonlea, described her as "an artist in the most true, pure, brutal sense of the word."