Will There Ever Be Another Actress Like Anne Sellors?

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Anne Sellors was one of the most unique actresses to emerge from the cluttered field of British television thespians in the mid 1980s. Despite having only 3 seconds of screen time, this brilliant actress's legacy lives on. But exactly how much do we know about Anne Sellors?

Anne Sellor's only film appearance was in the 1984 British television drama Threads. The Internet Movie Data Base credits her as "Woman who urinates herself (uncredited)." Threads was the UK's entry into the "nuclear armageddon TV movie of the week" genre, most notable for the number of charred corpses, blood-soaked hospital steps, and formation vomiting sequences. Threads traumatized an entire generation of British school kids, but many people watch it today and call it a "piece of ****" because the special effects in the attack scene "aren't very good."

Ms. Sellors shows up about 40 minutes into Threads, where she can be seen for about half a second half-unfocused in the background of a protest. However, Anne's big moment comes about ten minutes later. A nuclear warhead explodes over the nearby airbase, sending up a huge mushroom cloud that towers over the Moor, and for perhaps a single second, we get a good look at Anne Sellors.

Anne Sellors isn't the most attractive woman in the planet, which probably explains why she hasn't gotten any other film work. She looks to be about 55 years old, has blond hair tied up in a bun, and wears a blue blazer, khaki suit pants, and white pumps. During her brief cameo, she places her hand over her frozen mouth in a convincingly terrifying halting manner.



When studying her performance, it's the "urinating herself" element that makes it so compelling. When the film cuts to her feet, the source of the urine seems to be about two inches above her pant cuffs. Not only that, but the quantity of urine seems unusually large for the time that passes between the two shots. Perhaps her character was intended to be a radioactive mutant whose urethra had grown past her ankle due to the effects of past nuclear tests. It's likely that in an expanded edition of Threads Sellor’s role would have been greatly expanded, perhaps to further demonstrate the danger of nuclear warfare. Alas, the Sellors we got is the only Sellors we’re getting.

Most interestingly of all, of the 1,100 extras who appeared in Threads, Anne Sellors (or perhaps a member of her family) was the only one brave enough to come forward and admit to actually being in the movie. What about the guy who got his leg amputated? Or the old woman holding the burnt baby? The fact that the world even knows who Anne Sellors is speaks volumes about her wonderful, invaluable contribution as an actress. John Carradine appeared in more than 300 movies before he died - but how many people can name every movie he’s ever been in? Didn’t think so.

Anne Sellors seems to have faded into obscurity after Threads, but though she may be gone, she is never really gone from us. Her role as a terrified middle-aged woman who wets her knickers upon sight of a nuclear fireball shouldn't looked upon with derision. Instead, future celluloid sidewalk-irrigators should look upon her as a source of inspiration, a true original and a class act who will never be topped. Ms. Sellor's performance is what truly made Threads a superior film than The Day After. After all, how much would you have to pay Jason Robards to pretend to piss himself? A metric ****load, I'd imagine. Sellors, like the other extras in Threads, received £50 and three square meals. Anne Sellors, I salute you!