Carole Lesley
Maureen Rippingale (27 May 1935, in Chelmsford – 28 February 1974, in New Barnet), known professionally as Carole Lesley, was a British actress who had a short but significant career as a "blonde bombshell". Lesley ran away from home at the age of 16, "aiming to become a star". She starred in several films in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the 1957 film Woman in a Dressing Gown, which won the 1958 Golden Globe Award for Best English-Language Foreign Film. She also appeared in Doctor in Love, Operation Bullshine and What a Whopper, and played Helen of Troy in a television play. However Associated decided to end her contract, which devastated her and she disappeared from the public eye. She subsequently lived in a semi-detached house overlooking New Barnet station, but by 1973 was felt by some to be "a deeply depressed, once beautiful woman, still haunted by a glamorous past". She died of a drug overdose.
Known For
Credits
- 1962 · The Pot Carriers as Wendy
- 1961 · What a Whopper as Charlotte 'Charlie' Pinner
- 1961 · Three on a Spree as Susan
- 1960 · Doctor in Love as Kitten Strudwick
- 1959 · Operation Bullshine as Pvt. Marge White
- 1959 · No Trees in the Street as Lova
- 1957 · These Dangerous Years as Dinah Brown
- 1957 · Woman in a Dressing Gown as Hilda Harper
- 1957 · The Good Companions as Film Star (as Leslie Carroll)
- 1954 · The Embezzler as Tea Shop Waitress
- 1949 · Trottie True as Clare as a child
- 1947 · The Silver Darlings as Una (child)