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Often cast in demure roles in her early career, she was able to demonstrate her dramatic abilities, but she found more constant employment when she began to play "sexpot" roles. Typecast as one of several "sexy blondes", she was often compared, unfavourably, to the popular [[Diana Dors]]. Typical of these roles was a supporting part in the [[Benny Hill]] film ''[[Who Done It? (1956 film)|Who Done It?]]'' (1956).
Often cast in demure roles in her early career, she was able to demonstrate her dramatic abilities, but she found more constant employment when she began to play "sexpot" roles. Typecast as one of several "sexy blondes", she was often compared, unfavourably, to the popular [[Diana Dors]]. Typical of these roles was a supporting part in the [[Benny Hill]] film ''[[Who Done It? (1956 film)|Who Done It?]]'' (1956).


==Rank Organisation==
==Biography==
===Supporting Player===
Born in [[Budleigh Salterton]], Devon, Lee was signed to a film contract in 1954 by [[The Rank Organisation]] after being seen performing as a student of the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]].
⚫
Born in [[Budleigh Salterton]], Devon, Lee was as a student of the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]]. She was support there by [[Val Guest]], who has Lee in her film debut, in support of comedian [[Frankie Howerd]] in ''[[The Runaway Bus]]'' (1954). It was directed by [[Val Guest]]. That was distributed by the [[Rank Organisation]] who signed Lee to a long-term contract.<ref>{{cite news|last=Watts|first=Stephen|title=Motion Picture Activities Along the Thames – Peter Brook Clicks As a Movie Director With 'Beggar's Opera' – Other Matters|url=https://nytimes.com/1953/06/21/archives/motion-picture-activities-along-the-thames-peter-brook-clicks-as-a.html|work=The New York Times|date=21 June 1953|page=X5|access-date=June 12, 2020}}</ref>


⚫
[[Hammer Film Productions|Hammer Films]] promptly borrowed her to play the female lead in ''[[Murder by Proxy]]'' (1954), with [[Dane Clark]], released in the US by [[Lippert Pictures]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57952303 |title=Hospital Story Has Them in Stitches |newspaper=[[The Mail (Adelaide)|The Mail]] |volume=43 |issue=2,185 |location=Adelaide |date=24 April 1954 |accessdate=20 July 2017 |page=6 (Sunday Magazine) }}</ref> Guest cast her in a small role in ''[[Life with the Lyons (film)|Life with the Lyons]]'' (1954), again for Hammer.
⚫
She made her film debut with comedian [[Frankie Howerd]] in ''[[The Runaway Bus]]'' (1954). It was directed by [[Val Guest]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Watts|first=Stephen|title=Motion Picture Activities Along the Thames – Peter Brook Clicks As a Movie Director With 'Beggar's Opera' – Other Matters|url=https://nytimes.com/1953/06/21/archives/motion-picture-activities-along-the-thames-peter-brook-clicks-as-a.html|work=The New York Times|date=21 June 1953|page=X5|access-date=June 12, 2020}}</ref>


Lee had small roles in ''[[Meet Mr. Callaghan]]'' (1954), a B-picture crime drama for director Charles Saunders, and ''[[The Belles of St Trinian's]]'' (1954), a hugely popular comedy from [[Frank Launder]].
⚫
[[Hammer Film Productions|Hammer Films]] promptly borrowed her to play the female lead in ''[[Murder by Proxy]]'' (1954), with [[Dane Clark]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57952303 |title=Hospital Story Has Them in Stitches |newspaper=[[The Mail (Adelaide)|The Mail]] |volume=43 |issue=2,185 |location=Adelaide |date=24 April 1954 |accessdate=20 July 2017 |page=6 (Sunday Magazine) }}</ref> Guest cast her in a small role in ''[[Life with the Lyons (film)|Life with the Lyons]]'' (1954), again for Hammer.


Lee had small roles in ''[[Meet Mr. Callaghan]]'' (1954) and ''[[The Belles of St Trinian's]]'' (1954), the latter being a hit at the box-office. She had a good part in a thriller ''[[Footsteps in the Fog]]'' (1955), supporting [[Stewart Granger]] and [[Jean Simmons]], then played a series of decorative parts in comedies: ''[[Man of the Moment (1955 film)|Man of the Moment]]'' (1955) with [[Norman Wisdom]]; ''[[No Smoking (1955 film)|No Smoking]]'' (1955); and ''[[Who Done It? (1956 film)|Who Done It?]]'' (1956) with [[Benny Hill]]. She replaced [[Diana Dors]] in ''[[The Big Money (film)|The Big Money]]'' with [[Ian Carmichael]] which Rank disliked so much they delayed showing it.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75861909 |title=Star Dust |newspaper=[[The Mirror (Western Australia)|The Mirror]] |volume=37 |issue=1836 |location=Western Australia |date=4 August 1956 |accessdate=20 July 2017 |page=12 }}</ref>
Lee had a good part in a thriller ''[[Footsteps in the Fog]]'' (1955), supporting [[Stewart Granger]] and [[Jean Simmons]], directed by [[Arthur Lubin]] for Columbia. She then played a series of decorative parts in comedies: ''[[Man of the Moment (1955 film)|Man of the Moment]]'' (1955), for Rank, with [[Norman Wisdom]], the biggest comedy star in British cinema at the time; ''[[No Smoking (1955 film)|No Smoking]]'' (1955), for Tempean Films, with Reg Dixon; and ''[[Who Done It? (1956 film)|Who Done It?]]'' (1956), for Ealing with [[Benny Hill]].
Lee replaced [[Diana Dors]] in ''[[The Big Money (film)|The Big Money]]'' with [[Ian Carmichael]], a film which Sir John Davis of Rank disliked so much they delayed showing it for two years.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75861909 |title=Star Dust |newspaper=[[The Mirror (Western Australia)|The Mirror]] |volume=37 |issue=1836 |location=Western Australia |date=4 August 1956 |accessdate=20 July 2017 |page=12 }}</ref>


She was married to the photographer [[Cornel Lucas]]<ref>[http://www.cornellucascolection.com Cornell Lucas] {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> from 1954 until 1959.
She was married to the photographer [[Cornel Lucas]]<ref>[http://www.cornellucascolection.com Cornell Lucas] {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> from 1954 until 1959.


===Stardom===
===Stardom===
Rank finally gave Lee a good chance, casting her as a nurse in a medical drama ''[[The Feminine Touch (1956 film)|The Feminine Touch]]'' (1956).<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51272548 |title=Film Fan— Fare |newspaper=[[The Australian Women's Weekly]] |volume=24 |issue=24 |date=14 November 1956 |accessdate=20 July 2017 |page=35 }}</ref> She followed this with a crime drama ''[[The Secret Place (film)|The Secret Place]]'' (1957) and ''[[Miracle in Soho]]'' (1957). She was an aristocrat helping [[Louis Jourdan]] in ''[[Dangerous Exile]]'' (1957), during the filming of which she was injured when her hair caught fire.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91587164 |title=Star's Hair Ablaze From Candle |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=31 |issue=9,154 |date=27 April 1957 |accessdate=20 July 2017 |page=3 }}</ref>
Rank finally gave Lee a good chance, casting her as a nurse in a medical drama ''[[The Feminine Touch (1956 film)|The Feminine Touch]]'' (1956), produced through Ealing under the directon of Pat Jackson.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51272548 |title=Film Fan— Fare |newspaper=[[The Australian Women's Weekly]] |volume=24 |issue=24 |date=14 November 1956 |accessdate=20 July 2017 |page=35 }}</ref> She was a nurse again in a thriller with Donald Sinden, ''[[Eyewitness (1956 film)|Eyewitness]]'' (1956)


British exhibitors voted her the 10th-most popular British film star at the box office in 1957.<ref>"British Actors Head Film Poll: Box-Office Survey" (27 Dec 1957) ''The Manchester Guardian'' p.3, Manchester (UK)</ref>
Lee was top billed in a crime drama ''[[The Secret Place (film)|The Secret Place]]'' (1957), directed by [[Clive Donner]; she also had excellent parts in ''[[Miracle in Soho]]'' (1957) with [[John Gregson]] and in the period drama ''[[Dangerous Exile]]'' (1957), opposite [[Louis Jourdan]]; during the filming of the latter she was injured when her hair caught fire.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91587164 |title=Star's Hair Ablaze From Candle |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=31 |issue=9,154 |date=27 April 1957 |accessdate=20 July 2017 |page=3 }}</ref> British exhibitors voted her the 10th-most popular British film star at the box office in 1957.<ref>"British Actors Head Film Poll: Box-Office Survey" (27 Dec 1957) ''The Manchester Guardian'' p.3, Manchester (UK)</ref>
⚫
===Italy===
Towards the end of 1957 Lee went to Italy to play a model in the Ancient World in ''[[The Goddess of Love]]'' (1957). During the course of the shoot she had a highly publicised romance with a married noble, Prince Orsini.


⚫
Lee returned to Rank to make ''[[Nor the Moon by Night]]'' (1957) which was shot in London and on location in South Africa. During filming, Lee left to go to Italy to visit her married lover. Italian newspapers reported that Lee had taken an overdose of sleeping pills. Three days later, [[Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne|papal prince]] Filippo Orsini, who had been linked to her by the papers, was reported to have been hospitalised after slashing his wrists. Police refused to comment on the newspaper reports linking the two romantically. Orsini, whose injuries were light, refused to tell the police why he had done it. Lee said that she had been suffering from [[insomnia]] and had taken an overdose by mistake. Both were married to others at the time. The [[Holy See|Vatican]] said that Orsini would lose his title if it were proven that he had attempted suicide, and indeed the Pope did remove Orsini and the [[Orsini family]] from their hereditary title of [[Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne]].<ref>"Papal Prince's Title in Jeopardy", (29 January 1958) ''Independent'', Long Beach, California, Access Newspaper Archive</ref>
Lee's first film in Italy was ''[[The Goddess of Love]]'' (1957).


⚫
In July 1958 she was announced for ''Love is My Business'' with Raymond Pelligin directed by Ralph Habib.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety211-1958-07/page/n214/mode/1up?q=%22belinda+lee%22|date=16 July 1958|title=Paris|page=62}}</ref>
⚫
She returned to Rank to make ''[[Nor the Moon by Night]]'' (1957) which was shot on location in South Africa. During filming, Lee left to go to Italy to visit her married lover. Italian newspapers reported that Lee had taken an overdose of sleeping pills. Three days later, [[Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne|papal prince]] Filippo Orsini, who had been linked to her by the papers, was reported to have been hospitalised after slashing his wrists. Police refused to comment on the newspaper reports linking the two romantically. Orsini, whose injuries were light, refused to tell the police why he had done it. Lee said that she had been suffering from [[insomnia]] and had taken an overdose by mistake. Both were married to others at the time. The [[Holy See|Vatican]] said that Orsini would lose his title if it were proven that he had attempted suicide, and indeed the Pope did remove Orsini and the [[Orsini family]] from their hereditary title of [[Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne]].<ref>"Papal Prince's Title in Jeopardy", (29 January 1958) ''Independent'', Long Beach, California, Access Newspaper Archive</ref> Lee's contract with Rank was terminated and she relocated to continental Europe.


While still under contract to Rank, Lee went to France to make ''[[This Desired Body]]'' (1959), a romantic melodrama. Also in France she did ''[[Les Dragueurs]]'' (1959).
⚫
(Rank subsequently puts its efforts into promoting [[Anne Heywood]].<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|first=Dick|last=richards|url=https://archive.org/details/variety214-1959-04/page/n211/mode/1up?q=%22belinda+lee%22|title=Depressingly Few Shine at BO|page=60|date=15 April 1959}}</ref>)


⚫
Lee's contract with Rank was terminated and she relocated to continental Europe.(Rank subsequently puts its efforts into promoting [[Anne Heywood]].<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|first=Dick|last=richards|url=https://archive.org/details/variety214-1959-04/page/n211/mode/1up?q=%22belinda+lee%22|title=Depressingly Few Shine at BO|page=60|date=15 April 1959}}</ref>)
⚫
===Europe===
==European Star==
⚫
In July 1958 she was announced for ''Love is My Business'' with Raymond Pelligin directed by Ralph Habib.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety211-1958-07/page/n214/mode/1up?q=%22belinda+lee%22|date=16 July 1958|title=Paris|page=62}}</ref>
Lee's first film post-Rank was ''[[The Nights of Lucretia Borgia]]'' (1959), shot in Italy, playing the title role. She starred in ''[[The Magliari]]'' (1959), directed by [[Francesco Rosi]], then went to Germany for ''[[Love Now, Pay Later]]'' (1959), playing [[Rosemarie Nitribitt]].

Other films included ''[[Marie of the Isles]]'' (1959), an adventure tale; ''[[Vacations in Majorca]]'' (1959), a comedy; ''[[Messalina (1960 film)|Messalina]]'' (1960), an Ancient history epic where Lee played the title role; ''[[Satan Tempts with Love]]'' (1960) in Germany; ''[[Long Night in 1943]]'' (1960) an Italian war movie; and ''[[Love, the Italian Way]]'' (1960), a comedy.

She appeared opposite [[Cornel Wilde]] in ''[[Constantine and the Cross]]'' (1961) and had leading roles in ''[[Blood Feud (1961 film)|Blood Feud]]'' (1961) and ''[[Ghosts of Rome]]'' (1961), the latter with [[Marcello Mastroianni]].


Lee's last film was the Biblical epic ''[[The Story of Joseph and His Brethren]]'' (1961).
In Italy, Lee starred in ''[[The Magliari]]'' (1959), directed by [[Francesco Rosi]]. She went to Germany for ''[[Love Now, Pay Later]]'' (1959), and to France for ''[[Les Dragueurs]]'' (1959) and ''[[Marie of the Isles]]'' (1959). In Italy, she did ''[[Long Night in 1943]]'' (1960) and played the title role in ''[[Messalina (1960 film)|Messalina]]'' (1960) and [[Cornel Wilde]]'s love interest in ''[[Constantine and the Cross]]'' (1961). Her last film was the Biblical epic ''[[The Story of Joseph and His Brethren]]'' (1961).


===Death===
===Death===

Revision as of 03:39, 2 August 2020

For a Singaporean host and actress of the same name, see Belinda Lee (host).

Belinda Lee
Belinda Lee in Long Night in 1943 (1960)
Born(1935-06-15)15 June 1935
Budleigh Salterton, Devon, England
Died12 March 1961(1961-03-12) (aged 25)
San Bernardino, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1954–1961
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1954; div. 1959)​

Belinda Lee (15 June 1935 – 12 March 1961) was an English actress.

A profile for the British Film Institute's Screenonline website asserts: "of all the Rank Organisation's starlets, Belinda Lee stands out as the most notorious, yet paradoxically anonymous, British actress of the 1950s."[1]

Often cast in demure roles in her early career, she was able to demonstrate her dramatic abilities, but she found more constant employment when she began to play "sexpot" roles. Typecast as one of several "sexy blondes", she was often compared, unfavourably, to the popular Diana Dors. Typical of these roles was a supporting part in the Benny Hill film Who Done It? (1956).

Rank Organisation

Supporting Player

Born in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, Lee was as a student of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She was support there by Val Guest, who has Lee in her film debut, in support of comedian Frankie Howerd in The Runaway Bus (1954). It was directed by Val Guest. That was distributed by the Rank Organisation who signed Lee to a long-term contract.[2]

Hammer Films promptly borrowed her to play the female lead in Murder by Proxy (1954), with Dane Clark, released in the US by Lippert Pictures.[3] Guest cast her in a small role in Life with the Lyons (1954), again for Hammer.

Lee had small roles in Meet Mr. Callaghan (1954), a B-picture crime drama for director Charles Saunders, and The Belles of St Trinian's (1954), a hugely popular comedy from Frank Launder.

Lee had a good part in a thriller Footsteps in the Fog (1955), supporting Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons, directed by Arthur Lubin for Columbia. She then played a series of decorative parts in comedies: Man of the Moment (1955), for Rank, with Norman Wisdom, the biggest comedy star in British cinema at the time; No Smoking (1955), for Tempean Films, with Reg Dixon; and Who Done It? (1956), for Ealing with Benny Hill.

Lee replaced Diana Dors in The Big Money with Ian Carmichael, a film which Sir John Davis of Rank disliked so much they delayed showing it for two years.[4]

She was married to the photographer Cornel Lucas[5] from 1954 until 1959.

Stardom

Rank finally gave Lee a good chance, casting her as a nurse in a medical drama The Feminine Touch (1956), produced through Ealing under the directon of Pat Jackson.[6] She was a nurse again in a thriller with Donald Sinden, Eyewitness (1956)

Lee was top billed in a crime drama The Secret Place (1957), directed by [[Clive Donner]; she also had excellent parts in Miracle in Soho (1957) with John Gregson and in the period drama Dangerous Exile (1957), opposite Louis Jourdan; during the filming of the latter she was injured when her hair caught fire.[7] British exhibitors voted her the 10th-most popular British film star at the box office in 1957.[8]

Italy

Towards the end of 1957 Lee went to Italy to play a model in the Ancient World in The Goddess of Love (1957). During the course of the shoot she had a highly publicised romance with a married noble, Prince Orsini.

Lee returned to Rank to make Nor the Moon by Night (1957) which was shot in London and on location in South Africa. During filming, Lee left to go to Italy to visit her married lover. Italian newspapers reported that Lee had taken an overdose of sleeping pills. Three days later, papal prince Filippo Orsini, who had been linked to her by the papers, was reported to have been hospitalised after slashing his wrists. Police refused to comment on the newspaper reports linking the two romantically. Orsini, whose injuries were light, refused to tell the police why he had done it. Lee said that she had been suffering from insomnia and had taken an overdose by mistake. Both were married to others at the time. The Vatican said that Orsini would lose his title if it were proven that he had attempted suicide, and indeed the Pope did remove Orsini and the Orsini family from their hereditary title of Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne.[9]

In July 1958 she was announced for Love is My Business with Raymond Pelligin directed by Ralph Habib.[10]

While still under contract to Rank, Lee went to France to make This Desired Body (1959), a romantic melodrama. Also in France she did Les Dragueurs (1959).

Lee's contract with Rank was terminated and she relocated to continental Europe.(Rank subsequently puts its efforts into promoting Anne Heywood.[11])

European Star

Lee's first film post-Rank was The Nights of Lucretia Borgia (1959), shot in Italy, playing the title role. She starred in The Magliari (1959), directed by Francesco Rosi, then went to Germany for Love Now, Pay Later (1959), playing Rosemarie Nitribitt.

Other films included Marie of the Isles (1959), an adventure tale; Vacations in Majorca (1959), a comedy; Messalina (1960), an Ancient history epic where Lee played the title role; Satan Tempts with Love (1960) in Germany; Long Night in 1943 (1960) an Italian war movie; and Love, the Italian Way (1960), a comedy.

She appeared opposite Cornel Wilde in Constantine and the Cross (1961) and had leading roles in Blood Feud (1961) and Ghosts of Rome (1961), the latter with Marcello Mastroianni.

Lee's last film was the Biblical epic The Story of Joseph and His Brethren (1961).

Death

In 1961, Belinda Lee died in a car accident near San Bernardino, California, on her way to Los Angeles from Las Vegas, where she had been acting in a film. Her ashes are interred in the Non-Catholic Cemetery (Cimitero acattolico) in Rome, Italy.[12]

Legacy

The 1963 semidocumentary Italian film The Women of the World was dedicated to Lee with a written announcement at the start of the film (which interrupts the title music): "To Belinda Lee, who throughout this long journey accompanied and helped us with love."[13]

Selected filmography

Grave of Belinda Lee at the Cimitero acattolico in Rome

References

  1. ^ "Lee, Belinda (1935-1961)". BFI Screenonline. 2003–14. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  2. ^ Watts, Stephen (21 June 1953). "Motion Picture Activities Along the Thames – Peter Brook Clicks As a Movie Director With 'Beggar's Opera' – Other Matters". The New York Times. p. X5. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Hospital Story Has Them in Stitches". The Mail. Vol. 43, no. 2, 185. Adelaide. 24 April 1954. p. 6 (Sunday Magazine). Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Star Dust". The Mirror. Vol. 37, no. 1836. Western Australia. 4 August 1956. p. 12. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  5. ^ Cornell Lucas [dead link]
  6. ^ "Film Fan— Fare". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 24, no. 24. 14 November 1956. p. 35. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  7. ^ "Star's Hair Ablaze From Candle". The Canberra Times. Vol. 31, no. 9, 154. 27 April 1957. p. 3. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  8. ^ "British Actors Head Film Poll: Box-Office Survey" (27 Dec 1957) The Manchester Guardian p.3, Manchester (UK)
  9. ^ "Papal Prince's Title in Jeopardy", (29 January 1958) Independent, Long Beach, California, Access Newspaper Archive
  10. ^ "Paris". Variety. 16 July 1958. p. 62.
  11. ^ richards, Dick (15 April 1959). "Depressingly Few Shine at BO". Variety. p. 60.
  12. ^ "Belinda Lee Dies in Desert Crash" (14 March 1961) The Bakersfield Californian, Newspaper Archive pp. 1, 4 [1]
  13. ^ La donna nel mondo at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Belinda Lee.
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