Shirley Eaton/ Valerie Leon ~ Carry On Golden Girls

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Talent…

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… These are the lovely ladies and gorgeous girls of eras gone by whose beauty, ability, electricity and all-round x-appeal deserve celebration and – ahem – salivation here at George’s Journal…

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When it comes to the silver screen, is there truly anything more British than either the Bond or Carry On series? Surely not. And in celebration of that (and the fact that spy-fi monolith Goldfinger celebrates its 50th anniversary this autumn), this blog’s serving up a very special post for you here, peeps – a pictorial tribute to a couple of indubitably glorious UK lovelies who’ve enjoyed various brushes with both Bond and Sid James and co. in their time. Yes, we’re talking the blonde (ahem) Bond-shell that’s Shirley Eaton and the bodaciously leggy and buxom Valerie Leon – the latest, you better believe it, double-entry in this blog’s Talent corner…

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Profiles

Names: Shirley Eaton/ Valerie Leon

Nationality: English

Heights: 5’7″ / 5’11”

Professions: Actresses

Born: January 12 1937, Edgware, London/ November 12 1943, Hampstead, London

Known for: Shirley – becoming iconic for all-time as the villainous title character’s companion Jill Masterson in classic Bond film Goldfinger (1964); although, few will probably remember her actual role (let alone her name), much more likely the fact she was full-bodily painted gold from which her character (impossibly in the real world) dies from skin suffocation. In addition to similarly gold-painted co-star Margaret Nolan (in the latter’s case for flashy titles-featuring and marketing purposes only, though), she became the face of the film, even making it on to the cover of Life magazine in late ’64. Away from Bond she memorably starred in three early flicks of the much-loved Carry On series – 1958’s Sergeant, ’60’s Constable and ’59’s Nurse (in which she played the ostensible protagonist). She also appeared in three episodes of UK adventure TV serial The Saint (1962-68) and opposite Mickey Spillane as his own detective creation Mike Hammer in The Girl Hunters (1963). Considered a British sex symbol throughout the ’50s and ’60s, she retired from acting in 1969 to raise her children.

Valerie – perhaps most of all for appearing in five Carry On films in the late 1960s/ early 1970s (just as the movies’ bawdiness became more and more obvious, ergo her figure proved something of a must for the filmmakers): 1968’s … Up The Khyber, ’69’s Camping, ’70’s Up The Jungle, ’72’s Matron and ’73’s Girls. For horror fans, she put in an all-time iconic performance as the protagonist/ antagonist of Hammer’s Blood From The Mummy’s Tomb (1971) and Bond fans will note she also essayed minor but memorable roles in two separate 007 flicks, 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me and 1983’s ‘unofficial’ effort Never Say Never Again, in addition to typically sexiful appearances in other notable UK/ US movies such as The Rise And Rise Of Michael Rimmer (1970), No Sex Please, We’re British (1973), Revenge Of The Pink Panther and The Wild Geese (both 1978). Moreover, an entire generation of male TV viewers will happily recall her featuring in British TV ads for Hai Karate aftershave.

Strange but true: Shirley appeared in a heat for the UK (BBC’s) entry for the 1957 Eurovision Song Contest/ Valerie was apparently cast as the Sardinian hotel receptionist in The Spy Who Loved Me (despite her patent lack of an Italian accent) because she told the filmmakers she didn’t want to play a character that ended up being killed

Peak of fitness: Shirley – in that black underwear of hers, lying face-down and peering through binoculars in Goldfinger, as Bond (and we) ogle her before his introduction/ Valerie – despite all those appearances in low-cut dresses and skimpy bikinis in the Carry Ons, it has to be in her truly-only-almost-there costume as Blood From The Mummy’s Tomb‘s reincarnated Egyptian goddess Tera  

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CLICK on images for full-size

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