Directed by Charles Jarrott Written by John Hale Produced by Hal B. Wallis Vanessa Redgrave as Mary, Queen of Scots Glenda Jackson as Queen Elizabeth I of England Patrick McGoohan as Mary's half-brother James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray Timothy Dalton as Mary's second husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley Nigel Davenport as Mary's third husband, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell Trevor Howard as Elizabeth's advisor Sir William Cecil Daniel Massey as Elizabeth's lover, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester Ian Holm as Mary's advisor, David Riccio Andrew Keir as Ruthven Robert James as Scottish religious reformer John Knox Katherine Kath as Mary's first mother-in-law, Catherine de' Medici Frances White as Mary's companion, Mary Fleming Vernon Dobtcheff as Mary's uncle, the Duke of Guise Raf De La Torre as her other uncle, the Cardinal of Lorraine Richard Warner as Elizabeth's spy master Francis Walsingham Bruce Purchase as the Earl of Morton Brian Coburn as the Earl of Huntly Richard Denning as Mary's first husband, King Francis II of France Maria Aitken as Lady Bothwell Jeremy Bulloch as Andrew