archytele The Vault

Carole Lesley

Acting Born May 27, 1935 Chelmsford, Essex, England, UK 12 credits

Biography

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 Railway 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.

Ask the Vault

Ask anything about Carole Lesley.

Known for

Film

Doctor in Love

as Miss Kitten Strudwick

Full filmography

  • Doctor in Love (1960) as Miss Kitten Strudwick
  • What a Whopper (1961) as Charlotte 'Charlie' Pinner
  • The Good Companions (1957) as Film Star (as Leslie Carroll)
  • Trottie True (1949) as Clare as a child
  • The Embezzler (1954) as Tea Shop Waitress
  • These Dangerous Years (1957) as Dinah Brown
  • Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957) as Hilda Harper
  • Operation Bullshine (1959) as Pvt. Marge White
  • No Trees in the Street (1959) as Lova
  • Three on a Spree (1961) as Susan
  • The Pot Carriers (1962) as Wendy
  • The Silver Darlings (1947) as Una (child)