Claire Davenport

Claire Davenport (24 April 1933-25 February 2002 ) played the Empress in the Doctor Who television story Marco Polo. This was her first known television acting credit.

Ms. Davenport became known for her "junoesque" form and was often cast in character roles which highlighted her large physique. Outside her early role on Doctor Who, she may perhaps be most recognised as the Swiss masseuse who grapples with Inspector Clouseau for control of a vacuum cleaner in The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), as the circus fat lady in The Elephant Man (1980), and especially as, the rotund dancer who shakes, shimmies, and kicks in the court of Jabba the Hutt's palace in (1983).