Unknown 'dolly birds' of the 1960s

[cornershop15]

Webster's Dictionary definitions of 'dolly bird'

British: a pretty young woman

Examples of DOLLY BIRD

"Back in the swinging '60s she was one of London's most celebrated dolly birds ..."

First Known Use of DOLLY BIRD

1964

Related to DOLLY BIRD

Synonyms: babe [slang], beauty queen, cookie (or cooky), cutie (or cutey), beauty
[British], enchantress, eyeful, fox, goddess, honey, knockout, queen, and stunner.

Related Words: belle, charmer, peach; bathing beauty, cover girl, pinup girl; bimbette [slang], bunny, houri, sex kitten, sexpot,
sex symbol; cutie-pie, dish, doll, dreamboat [slang], hottie, looker, pretty; coquette, femme fatale, siren, temptress, and vamp.

I think you get the idea. Maybe all these words would fit the description of the 'actresses' I have in mind for this thread. They're not required to do much and it's usually for a few seconds of screen time. I've already done this with Unnoticed Actors and Actresses, of course, but they are all credited, wheras the subjects here have never been identified ... as far as I know.

This is more of a spin-off thread from Who are these people? (which also begat 'Who Are These Policemen?), with the emphasis entirely on glamourous Extras this time. I'd say they are usually in their 20s and have non-speaking roles in films and ITC shows from this period. Some may have graduated to bit parts (are Caron Gardner and Maggie Wright good examples?), or even the female lead in Valerie Leon's case (Blood from the Mummy's Tomb).

But I feel certain that the majority of 'dollies' I have in mind didn't make much progress in their careers, if any, as they would have been recognised by now. Hopefully I can be proved wrong - certainly in the case of my first subject. This beauty appears towards the end of The Champions episode The Fanatics, filmed in July 1967. The setting is the Houses of Parliament, where the eponymous heroes (Stuart Damon, William Gaunt and Alexandra Bastedo) attend a party and are on the lookout for a 'Fanatic' whose mission is to assassinate their boss Tremayne (Anthony Nicholls).

The last person you'd suspect. She does have a somewhat 'dangerous' look, however. A femme fatale?:


Our first Dolly Bird actually succeeds in shooting Tremayne but he's saved by his bullet proof vest:

Who is she? Looks like a foreign lady. Italian, perhaps? In another capture, which I'll post soon, I'm very much reminded of Jane Merrow in one of her ITC roles. Also in this episode is another mystery girl who makes the briefest of appearances, but with far less of an impact.

As 'dolly birds' is very much a Sixties expression, I'm wondering what to call the two other threads I have in mind for this series. What would you call glamorous extras from the 1950s? And the '70s? "Stunners" might be a good candidate for the latter ... 'Unknown stunners of the 1970s'?

[wearysloth]

Ingenues perhaps?

anyway could your picture be Jenny Hanley

[Moor Larkin]

Pick a film — pretty much any big film — freeze a scene, then look past the main actors. Notice the woman behind the counter. The people at the bar. The fans cheering loudly in the stands, like in the Oscar-winning film, “The Fighter.”

They’re all extras, or background actors (BAs for short). Some prefer to be called atmospheric artists.

During my visit Peri sat at her desk, with posters for “The Proposal” and “Mall Cop” looming behind her, and admitted to being “freaked out” because she still didn’t have any “pretty girls.” This is the story of Peri’s life. She and her extras casting director Ashley Skomurski constantly surf through a database of 60,000 potential extras — but somehow there never seem to be enough. They need fresh faces, Peri said, and she encourages everyone — even me — to apply online and upload my headshot to the Boston Casting website.
http://www.wbur.org/2011/07/11/movie-extras

[Mark O]

Ingenues perhaps?

anyway could your picture be Jenny Hanley

At first glance I thought this may be Alexandra Bastedo with a red wig on, but perhaps it's not..

'Dollybirds', that's a term one doesn't hear these days, 'sex-kitten', 'glamour-puss', all deemed non PC now I guess, even though the terms are in a reality meant to be a tribute to the individual concerned, not sure what term would describe the plastic dummies (men and women) seen on 'The only way is Essex', not that I really watch that rubbish lol..

Interesting thread cornershop, thanks for starting it, plenty of 'Dollybirds' in the On the Buses episodes and films, look forward to reading some more..

[cornershop15]

Thanks, Mark. Alexandra Bastedo is just as bizarre a suggestion as Jenny Hanley to be honest! In fact, it's
Alexandra who wrestles the gun from the attractive villainess. Here is one of the other captures I promised:




You'll understand now why I was reminded of Jane Merrow ...


Darling Jane in the Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) episode Who Killed Cock Robin? (filmed August 1968):

[Freddy]

Ingenues perhaps?

anyway could your picture be Jenny Hanley

Certainly looks like her and I watched Magpie avidly.

[Mr Sloane]

Can't we just merge this thread with sexiest actresses ?

[Steve Crook]

Can't we just merge this thread with sexiest actresses ?

There's a rule in that thread that they have to be actresses. Not just wannabes or extras

This thread is on its way to being closed down as pointless. It's really just another of tne of the "name this extra" threads and we've already got enough of those

Steve

[cornershop15]

There are also dozens of Diana Dors and Dirk Bogarde threads here but for the last couple of years members have only posted at one of each. So why aren't the earlier ones considered "pointless"? And what about the Films On TV threads, with details of what was going to be shown that week (years ago)? They're still here.

I am again led to believe this is more of a personal dislike, with the usual suspects trying to break my spirit, once more belittling the considerable effort I put into posts. Not like that at 'Sexiest Actresses' is it? Just one picture after another - probably via Google Images. But before we even have the chance to identify the first (and maybe even only) subject, I find I'm at risk of having yet another thread removed, despite being called "interesting" earlier on.

I only wanted to make things easier as 'Who are these people?' has now had more than 500 replies. It's worked before, with 'Who Are These Policemen?'. And it's also easier to find appearances by Jim Brady and Victor Harrington now that I've created threads for them. I honestly don't know what the problem is here. Some members are good at spotting locations, others Extras. Isn't it better to have a challenge and make progress rather than offer another opinion at The Royal Family thread?

As I said in the opening post, these 'dolly birds' may well have gone on to better things as actresses, like Rita Hayworth and Ginger Rogers, or had a higher profile with a totally different career (Carole Caplin, for instance). That's what I hope(d) to find out.

[ShirlGirl]

There's a rule in that thread that they have to be actresses. Not just wannabes or extras

This thread is on its way to being closed down as pointless. It's really just another of tne of the "name this extra" threads and we've already got enough of those

Steve

May I suggest merging it with one of those? - for anyone who gives a hoot about wannabees and uncredited extras!

[cornershop15]

Have you not read my posts here, ShirlGirl? This is totally different to those threads. You've had absolutely nothing to offer at the others (hastily removing your dismal contributiuon elsewhere recently) but you couldn't resist the opportunity to kick me when I'm down, could you?

[ShirlGirl]

Have you not read my posts here, ShirlGirl? This is totally different to those threads. You've had absolutely nothing to offer at the others (hastily removing your dismal contributiuon elsewhere recently) but you couldn't resist the opportunity to kick me when I'm down, could you?

Steve said the thread might be closed so I suggested it be merged elsewhere. How is that kicking you? Just because I’M not interested in obscure extras doesn’t mean no-one else should be.

The post you refer to was deleted because I realised I had misunderstood something, therefore my response was not valid.

[Mr Sloane]

There's a rule in that thread that they have to be actresses. Not just wannabes or extras

This thread is on its way to being closed down as pointless. It's really just another of tne of the "name this extra" threads and we've already got enough of those

Steve

......................................deleted

[Mark O]

I hope the thread isn't closed, if need be then just merged perhaps, but I think 'Dollybird', which is really referring to a different era, is different to 'sexy', Marlene Dietrich and Zsa Zsa Gabor could be called sexy, but they were no 'Dollybirds'.

We're talking of a time when trendy Boutiques had sections for 'dolls' and 'guys', even Coronation street got in on the 'swinging' spirit of the late 60's when Gamma garments became a Fashion Boutique, there are photos in Coronation street books of a fashion show taking place, with a young Emily wearing the latest 'gear'.


Link to an article about the 'swinging' Brit films of the era...........

http://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/07/24/...ng-london-film

[Moor Larkin]

And it has to be admitted that many "actresses" conformed to the dollybird stereotype in their efforts to become proper actresses. So, it's interesting to reflect what lay behind these unknown faces - girlfriend of the director? I watched a British Pathe presentation not so long ago where some *dollybird*- looking actress was being *promoted* by a Svengali-like old geezer, who was a film critic. It's an interesting sideline. Actresses in particular have always had this issue of their physical appearance giving them an entree into showbiz. The dollybird phase may seem patronising but is it any moor or less unhealthy than the modern version where they sometime seem to have a porno-movie behind them?

It might be useful to put a timeline on the dollybird phase..... 1955 to 1968 perhaps. Before that, just being pretty was not such an issue and after that, it was just flesh laid bare. It could be an interesting discussion on that period in British film history, rather than just a gallery of unknown beauty, but that can be educational too in that it proves you DO need moor than just a pretty face or svelte proportions to make it as a movie actress.



PS... Just noticed that cornershop said 1964 was the first-known use of the term - however, browsing the pages of the mid-Fifties move mags seems to indicate to me that the nature of pretty girls, with increasingly less clothing on, on magazine covers has a background. Belinda Lee was furiously promoted by husband, Cornel Lucas, as a cover girl, prior to her becoming the most popular actress in Britain, by 1958.

[Freddy]

I'd hate to see this thread merged or closed down, dolly birds were part of the sixties, fashion rather than sex, and they range from Inga in The Jokers, Anneke Wills in 'Strange Report' to Lucille Hewitt in 'Coronation Street'.

[Freddy]

If there is concern about the number of 'Extras' threads would it not be possible to subsection them in the Actors/Actresses division as has been done in the Off-topic section with the music videos. Class it as Extras and that would make it an easy reference for visitors who want to look up familiar faces etc.

[cornershop15]

Thanks for your support, Mark, and for that link. I hope others who have woken up to all this will be on my side and understand that this thread has little in common with 'Sexiest Actresses'. There's barely time for them to look sexy, or make much of an impression (the Girl with a Gun is a rare exception). But, unlike ShirGirl, some of us are still curious to know who they are, and if we've seen them in anything else.

Rather than talk of it being deleted or merged with a thread that's already had 1,872 replies (and counting) why don't people admit that this is not their sort of thing and leave us to it, as they do with the Locations experts? Most of these Extras have never been acknowledged or even noticed before. I didn't expect 'Who are these people?' to be so popular two years after I started it all. Because we've seen so many, I thought it would be a good idea to create a few 'spin off' threads, where new faces can be introduced. And I still think it's a good idea.

For all it's worth, this is the other mystery girl I mentioned from The Champions - The Fanatics:

The only moment her face is clearly seen. Just to remind those who are familiar with this episode, she's the lady who faints when lover Stuart Damon heroically rescues her bracelet from the barbecue.

EDIT - Thanks also to Freddy and Moor Larkin for their considerate posts.

[didi-5]

If there was a possibility of an Extras subforum for these kind of threads they could at least all be grouped together? And this kind of thread can help give unknowns credit (through IMDb for example) that they would lose otherwise.

Doesn't seem a 'pointless' idea to me?

[DaveWright72]

Personally I think there are far too many "pointless" threads about who's your favorite actor/actress? Who's sexiest? Who's terrible? Who's nasty? etc. etc. ad infinitum I don't feel the need to barge into those threads talking about how asinine they are. So how about getting rid of some of the "let's all gossip like 12-year old schoolgirls" threads, and not get all worked up about a thread that might actually provide some useful information to the people that are interested in that sort of thing? Hardly pointless on a site dedicated to film, is it?