Belinda Lee

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

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(s)
Cornel Lucas
(m. 1954; div. 1959)

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).

Biography

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.

She made her film debut with comedian Frankie Howerd in The Runaway Bus (1954). It was directed by Val Guest.[2]

Hammer Films promptly borrowed her to play the female lead in Murder by Proxy (1954), with Dane Clark.[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) 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) with Norman Wisdom; No Smoking (1955); and Who Done It? (1956) with Benny Hill. She replaced Diana Dors in The Big Money with Ian Carmichael which Rank disliked so much they delayed showing it.[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).[6] She followed this with a crime drama 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.[7]

British exhibitors voted her the 10th-most popular British film star at the box office in 1957.[8]

Lee's first film in Italy was The Goddess of Love (1957).

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, 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] Lee's contract with Rank was terminated and she relocated to continental Europe.

Europe

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) 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

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.[10]

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."[11]

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. 43 (2, 185). Adelaide. 24 April 1954. p. 6 (Sunday Magazine). Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  4. "Star Dust". The Mirror. 37 (1836). Western Australia. 4 August 1956. p. 12. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  5. Cornell Lucas
  6. "Film Fan— Fare". The Australian Women's Weekly. 24 (24). 14 November 1956. p. 35. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  7. "Star's Hair Ablaze From Candle". The Canberra Times. 31 (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. "Belinda Lee Dies in Desert Crash" (14 March 1961) The Bakersfield Californian, Newspaper Archive pp. 1, 4
  11. La donna nel mondo on IMDb
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