Valerie Leon

Valerie Leon (born 12 November 1943) is an English actress who had roles in a number of high-profile British film productions, including the Carry On series.

Valerie Leon
Born (1943-11-12) 12 November 1943
Hampstead, London, England, UK
OccupationActress
Years active1967–present
Spouse(s)Michael Mills (1974–1988, his death)
Children2
Websitehttp://www.valerieleon.com/

Early life

Leon's father was a director of a textile company, and her mother, who trained at RADA, ended her acting career to become a full-time mother. Valerie is the eldest of four children.

Career

Leon's career started as a trainee fashion buyer at Harrods. One day, in April 1965, Leon went to an audition which led to her becoming a chorus girl. Leon appeared in a touring production of The Belle of New York. When the tour in Britain was cancelled after some weeks, Valerie contacted Central Casting and started to work as an extra in movies - her first film was That Riviera Touch for which she was hired as a girl in bikini. The following year, 1966, she appeared with Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London's West End.

Leon appeared in several of the Carry On films and has been a Bond girl twice: in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Never Say Never Again (1983). Other film appearances include Revenge of the Pink Panther, The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (as the secretary Tanya), a hotel receptionist in The Italian Job, and a callgirl in No Sex Please, We're British. The 1971 Hammer horror film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb gave Leon a dual starring role, as a reincarnated Egyptian queen.

On television, Leon is probably best remembered for her part as the tall buxom woman driven wild by a small, puny man wearing Hai Karate aftershave, in a highly successful series of commercials for the product.

Numerous other TV credits include The Saint, Randall and Hopkirk, Up Pompeii!, The Avengers, Space: 1999, The Persuaders, Last of the Summer Wine, The Goodies episode "It Might as Well Be String", and the 1968 version of Johnny Speight's provocative comedy-drama If There Weren’t Any Blacks You’d Have To Invent Them as a nurse.

Recently, she has been making appearances on stage in the UK in her reminiscence show called "Up Front with Valerie Leon".

Personal life

Leon was married to the television comedy producer Michael Mills from 1974 until his death in 1988. The marriage produced two children: a boy, Leon, born in 1975 and a girl, Merope, born in 1977;[1]

Merope is a journalist formerly on The Guardian newspaper[2] where she was West Coast of America editor.[3] She joined Tortoise Media in October 2018 [4]

Appearances in reference works
  • Paul, Louis (2008). "Valerie Leon". Tales From the Cult Film Trenches; Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 164–171. ISBN 978-0-7864-2994-3.

Filmography

References
  1. "Official website, including biography and showreel". Valerie Leon. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  2. Mills, Merope (19 February 2001). "That's my girl". The Guardian.
  3. "Merope Mills". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  4. https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/guardian-assistant-editor-merope-mills-joins-james-hardings-tortoise-media-team-with-sense-that-news-can-be-done-differently/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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