Actor

Carole Lesley

Acting

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Acting credits

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Consistent number of acting credits.

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Movies: 12Series: 0

TMDB ID: 1172827

IMDb ID: nm0140900

Known for: Acting

Born: May 27, 1935

Died: February 28, 1974

Age: 38

Place of birth: Chelmsford, Essex, England, UK

Gender: Female

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1947 - 1962

Years active: 16

Wikidata: Q5044699

Also known as

Maureen Lesley Carole Rippingale • Maureen Rippingale

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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.