# Jill Haworth
**Jill Haworth** (born Valerie Jill Haworth, 1945, Sussex, England) was an English actress best known for originating the role of [Sally Bowles](https://www.edgepedia.org/sally-bowles) in the original 1966 Broadway production of the musical *Cabaret* and for her teenage roles in three [Otto Preminger](https://www.edgepedia.org/otto-preminger) films, beginning with *Exodus* (1960). She died on January 3, 2011, in Manhattan, at the age of 65.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-jill-haworth-dies-65) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370371/bio/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Valerie Jill Haworth, born 1945 in Sussex, England[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370371/bio/) |
| Breakthrough | Cast by Otto Preminger as Karen, Sal Mineo's love interest, in *Exodus* (1960), while still 15[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/12/jill-haworth-obituary) |
| Signature role | Original Sally Bowles in *Cabaret*, Broadway, opened November 20, 1966; her only Broadway appearance[4](https://playbill.com/person/jill-haworth-vault-0000088003) • [5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/) |
| Run length | She stayed with *Cabaret* for its two-year run; the production ran 1,165 performances[5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/) |
| Later genre work | Low-budget horror films including *It!*, *The Haunted House of Horror*, and *Tower of Evil*[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-jill-haworth-dies-65) |
| Death | January 3, 2011, in her Manhattan apartment, of natural causes[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-jill-haworth-dies-65) |
## Discovery by Otto Preminger
Haworth trained in dance, attended the Corona Stage School, and appeared unbilled as a schoolgirl in a couple of films before director Otto Preminger came across a photograph of her from her acting school.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370371/bio/) Preminger, who had a record of casting young unknown blue-eyed blondes in major parts, chose the 15-year-old Haworth to play Karen Hanson, the young Danish refugee who becomes the love interest of Dov Landau ([Sal Mineo](https://www.edgepedia.org/sal-mineo)) in *Exodus* (1960), his adaptation of [Leon Uris](https://www.edgepedia.org/leon-uris)'s novel.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/12/jill-haworth-obituary) • [5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/) The film won several awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for Mineo.[5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/)
She made three films in France, then worked with Preminger twice more: as Lalage Menton in *The Cardinal* (1963), based on Henry Morton Robinson's novel, a film that won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Drama, and in *In Harm's Way* (1965), Preminger's World War II naval drama starring [John Wayne](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-wayne), in which she played a nurse who is raped by a naval commander played by [Kirk Douglas](https://www.edgepedia.org/kirk-douglas), a plot point that leads to her character's suicide.[5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/12/jill-haworth-obituary) During these years she also began making television guest appearances, starting in 1963, in series such as *Burke's Law* and *Rawhide*.[6](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Jill-Haworth/) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/12/jill-haworth-obituary)
## Cabaret and Sally Bowles
In 1966 Haworth took the role that defined her career: the outspoken cabaret performer Sally Bowles, a character created by [Christopher Isherwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/christopher-isherwood) in *Goodbye to Berlin*, in the [Kander and Ebb](https://www.edgepedia.org/kander-and-ebb) musical *Cabaret* with a book by Joe Masteroff. It was her first starring role, her first singing role, and her only stint on Broadway.[5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/) Joel Grey, as the Master of Ceremonies, performed the opening number, "Willkommen"; Haworth sang the title song, "Cabaret," which begins "What good is sitting alone in your room? / Come hear the music play."[12](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/cabaret-revival) / Come hear the music play."[5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/)
The casting was contested. [Liza Minnelli](https://www.edgepedia.org/liza-minnelli) auditioned for the role, and although she was Kander and Ebb's first choice, director [Harold Prince](https://www.edgepedia.org/harold-prince) rejected her in favor of Haworth, a young British actress with no musical theater experience, insisting on an English Sally.[7](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/cabaret.pdf) • [8](https://openscholar.uga.edu/nanna/record/7001/files/westerman_casey_s_201005_ma.pdf?registerDownload=1&version=1&withMetadata=0&withWatermark=0) Prince defended his choice when critics did not wholeheartedly admire Haworth's singing, saying that "Sally Bowles was not supposed to be a professional singer. The character was not meant to be polished enough for audiences to overlook that she was a wayward English young woman living in Weimar-era Germany. When Jill came in and auditioned, she nailed it right away."[5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/)
The opening night cast had Haworth as Sally, Bert Convy as the American writer Cliff Bradshaw, and [Joel Grey](https://www.edgepedia.org/joel-grey) as the Master of Ceremonies, with the Austrian veteran [Lotte Lenya](https://www.edgepedia.org/lotte-lenya) also in the company.[9](https://www.adsitportfolio.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Cabaret_Program-07-02-22.pdf) • [5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/) The production was a major hit, running 1,165 performances and winning numerous [Tony Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-awards), including Best Musical.[5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/) Haworth remained with the show for its two-year run.[10](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jill-haworth-actress-who-came-to-fame-as-sally-bowles-in-the-first-stage-run-of-cabaret-2191294.html)
The 1972 film version recast the role with Minnelli, whose nationality was changed to American for the screen; she won the Best Actress Oscar for the part.[7](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/cabaret.pdf) • [11](https://www.whattowatch.com/watching-guides/liza-a-truly-terrific-absolutely-true-story-release-date-whats-shown-and-everything-we-know-about-the-liza-minnelli-documentary-movie) Grey, speaking the day after her death, said, "I understood why Hal chose her. She was so Sally Bowles."[5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/)
## Later film and television
After leaving *Cabaret*, Haworth appeared in a number of low-budget horror films, including *It!*, *The Haunted House of Horror*, and *Tower of Evil*, and in the television thriller *Home for the Holidays* (1972), a made-for-TV film scripted by Joseph Stefano, the screenwriter of *Psycho*, in which her character is killed with a pitchfork.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-jill-haworth-dies-65) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/12/jill-haworth-obituary) She worked extensively on American television, with roles on *The Rogues*, *12 O'Clock High*, *Bonanza*, *The Outer Limits*, *Mission: Impossible*, *The FBI*, *The Long, Hot Summer*, *Vega$*, and *Baretta*.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-jill-haworth-dies-65) • [5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/) The *Guardian* obituary judged her best remembered among television work for the 1963 *Outer Limits* episode "The Sixth Finger," in which she played the Welsh girlfriend of [David McCallum](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-mccallum)'s character, a victim of an experiment to speed up human evolution.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/12/jill-haworth-obituary) She also did voiceover work, and in 1974 appeared in *Mutations*, directed by the cinematographer Jack Cardiff, as a student entangled with a scientist ([Donald Pleasence](https://www.edgepedia.org/donald-pleasence)) who crosses humans with plants.[5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/12/jill-haworth-obituary)
Her post-*Cabaret* screen career did not sustain the prominence of the Preminger years, a point the obituaries state directly.[5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/) • [10](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jill-haworth-actress-who-came-to-fame-as-sally-bowles-in-the-first-stage-run-of-cabaret-2191294.html)
## Life and death
Haworth never married and lived in New York from 1967 onward.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-jill-haworth-dies-65) She died in her Manhattan apartment on January 3, 2011, aged 65; news reports attributed the death to natural causes.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-jill-haworth-dies-65) • [5](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/)
## References
1. [Actress Jill Haworth Dies at 65, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-jill-haworth-dies-65)
2. [Jill Haworth - Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370371/bio/)
3. [Jill Haworth obituary, The Guardian (2011)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/12/jill-haworth-obituary)
4. [Jill Haworth (Performer), Playbill Vault](https://playbill.com/person/jill-haworth-vault-0000088003)
5. [Jill Haworth, The Official Masterworks Broadway Site](https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/jill-haworth/)
6. [Jill Haworth (Actor), BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Jill-Haworth/)
7. [Film essay for "Cabaret," National Film Preservation Board, Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/cabaret.pdf)
8. ["Certain Passionate Failures": Camp and the Closet, University of Georgia thesis](https://openscholar.uga.edu/nanna/record/7001/files/westerman_casey_s_201005_ma.pdf?registerDownload=1&version=1&withMetadata=0&withWatermark=0)
9. [The History of CABARET, production program](https://www.adsitportfolio.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Cabaret_Program-07-02-22.pdf)
10. [Jill Haworth: Actress who came to fame as Sally Bowles in the first stage run of 'Cabaret', The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jill-haworth-actress-who-came-to-fame-as-sally-bowles-in-the-first-stage-run-of-cabaret-2191294.html)
11. [LIZA: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story, WhatToWatch](https://www.whattowatch.com/watching-guides/liza-a-truly-terrific-absolutely-true-story-release-date-whats-shown-and-everything-we-know-about-the-liza-minnelli-documentary-movie)
12. [As a ‘Cabaret’ Revival Comes to Broadway—The Untold Origin Story](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/cabaret-revival)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › English actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames H to K*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license