What a wonderful film it was The Great Escape – made in 1963 – and to mark the 75th Anniversary of the actual escape there have been screenings around the UK .

The presenter Dan Snow toured with the film and was on hand for the Introduction on the night.

Above: Dan Snow posing on the actual motor cycle used in the film.

On the 75th anniversary of the events that inspired The Great Escape, Dan Snow hosts a commemorative evening featuring The D-Day Darlings and special guests including Charles Clarke OBE who was held in that same POW Camp, culminating with a gala screening of the remastered 1963 cult film, starring Steve McQueen.

One of the Screenings on 24th March was at The Kinema In The Woods in Woodhall Spa Lincolnshire – and how very apt that would be as this town was the home of the DamBusters.

Pictured here is Charles Clarke OBE who in fact had been held at the notorious pow camp. Myself and my family had the honour of meeting Charles as he had been staying at The Petwood Hotel in Woodhall Spa earlier this year when we were all resident there.   He told us many stories and was wonderful company.

Charles Clarke volunteered for the Royal Air Force when he was seventeen years old and flew operations as a bomb aimer with 619 Squadron from RAF Woodhall Spa. His aircraft was shot down on his 18th operation and he became a prisoner of war. He was held at Stalag Luft 3 at the time of the ‘Great Escape’.  As the Russians were advancing the camp, he was evacuated and he gave an account of what became known as the Long March.

The BBC had just launched their COLOUR Television service on BBC2 in 1967 – so this is just out of the Fifties era – but nevertheless quite interesting.

The Forsyte Saga had been made – in Black and White – the year earlier – they wished it had been done in colour as we all do.   This Production was an attempt by the BBC to score another big success but it didn’t have the same impact – although very good.

Susan Hampshire who had played Fleur in The Forsyte Saga played the leading role

Vanity Fair (1967) was shown on  BBC 2 over five weeks  –   based on the novel by William Thackeray.

The story follows the lives of two friends, Becky Sharp and Amelia Osborne after they leave boarding school.  Becky Sharp has no money at all, and must live by her wits. Amelia comes from a reasonably wealthy family, but they suffer financial setbacks and–ultimately–bankruptcy.

Any film or TV  adaptation of Vanity Fair depends very much on the actress portraying  Becky Sharp. In this TV series, Susan Hampshire plays Becky, and is excellent.

The role of Becky Sharp needs to be played by someone who is beautiful, and Susan Hampshire very much scores on that requirement.   However, she must not only be beautiful, she must also be intelligent, witty, and, when necessary, deceitful.  This is a great role for Susan Hampshire

From the opening with a puppet show to lovely performances, largely from actors now forgotten, this adaptation still looks good.

Susan Hampshire as Becky Sharp radiates charm with a lovely smile very much in character.

We had a very good friend of the family and a neighbour, who is sadly no longer with us, and he was a great fan of Susan Hampshire. I am pretty sure she reminded him of someone from the past

The character actor Nigel Green, born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1924, was educated in England and studied chemical engineering before winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. By age 24, he was appearing on stage at both the Old Vic and Stratford-on-Avon, and in the early 1950s, he made his film and television debuts.

In 1956, he received serious injuries in an accident, but he fully recovered and established himself as a familiar figure in British film and television.

His  tall, muscular physique was appropriate for playing such characters as Fertog “The Bear” in the television series William Tell (1958), Little John in Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960), and the one I remember him best for –  Hercules in Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

Nigel Green as Samson in Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

Nigel Green as Samson in Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

Nigel Green as Little John in Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960) with Richard Greene

In Zulu – above – an action  scene

Nigel Green  was always convincing even when tackling the most bizarre subject matter.

Television appearances included The Persuaders, “Read and Destroy,” Jason King, “As Easy As ABC” (both 1971), Sherlock Holmes with Peter Cushing,  and Dr. Finlay’s Casebook.  Also of course The Avengers

 ABOVE:  Nigel Green In The Avengers episode The Fog her with Patrick McNee as John Steed of course

Nigel Green had a number of small film roles in the early 1960s until his appearance in the critically acclaimed Zulu (1964), after which his film roles improved.

 In addition to a few British horror films, such as The Skull (1965), The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), and Countess Dracula (1971), Green also appeared in a number of Hollywood films, including Tobruk (1967), The Wrecking Crew (1968) and The Kremlin Letter (1970).

Nigel Green’s later films brought him international recognition and a chance at stardom; however, his career was brought to an abrupt end by his sudden death in 1972 at age 47 from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.

I wasn’t that familiar with this Hollywood Film Star – Suzan Ball – and in reality she did not make many films – but I have come across her in a publication when she had just married Actor Richard Long 1n 1954

Sadly their happiness did not last long as she died on cancer in just over  a year after they married. She was only 21 years old.

They do look very happy in the pictures above and she talks of their life together.

Suzan Ball was born In Jamestown, New York in 1934 In 1947 her family moved to North HJollywood just round the corner from Universal-International. 

In 1951 she got a small uncredited part in Mongram’s Aladdin and His Lamp – and later that same year she signed a contract with Universal-International.  She appeard in Untamed Frontier.

In 1953 she fell deeply in love with Anthony Quinn during the filming of City Beneath the Sea but he was married at that time. The continue their relationship for about a year

There have been many sad stories come out of Hollywood and Suzan Ball’s is one of the saddest.

 ABOVE -with Anthony Quinn in City Beneath the Sea

ABOVE:  With Anthony Quinn

It was whilst she was rehearsing a dance number for East of Sumatra (1953) that Suzan suffered an injury to her right leg. She ignored the injury, but a short while after that she was a passenger in a car that was side-swiped and the same knee struck a door handle. It was painful but she still did not see a doctor about it.

Later that same year she made War Arrow with Jeff Chandler and during the shoot the leg began to give her serious trouble. She reluctantly sought medical advice and was informed by doctors that the limb had developed tumours. When she slipped on some spilled water at home and broke the same leg, Suzan was rushed to hospital and operated on to remove the tumours. The operation was not a success, however, and on January 12, 1954 her leg was amputated. She was still only 19 years old.

with Anthony Quinn again in East of Sumatra (1953)

Suzan made only one picture after the amputation, a western with Victor Mature titled Chief Crazy Horse (1955). In it she played Black Shawl, Crazy Horse’s wife. A double was used for scenes that required her to walk. For close-ups in those scenes she would move her shoulders to simulate a walking motion. The producers wanted to replace her with Susan Cabot but director George Sherman flatly refused to do so.

with Victor Mature in Chief Crazy Horse (1955)

She had become engaged to Richard Long who had stuck steadfastly by her and, in April 1954, they were married.

The bride insisted she walk down the aisle unaided – fitted with an artificial limb beneath her wedding dress.

However, two months later she collapsed and doctors found that the cancer had spread to her lungs.

‘I felt no pity for myself’, she told an interviewer. ‘Nor have I any feeling of regret. Sometimes I pondered, ‘Why has this thing happened to me?’ But it was never in terms of a complaint. I sought a real answer. It is not an easy one to find, and perhaps I will never know.’

with Richard Long

Universal rented a sumptuous home to enable Suzan to spend her final weeks in luxury.  The pressure on her husband was intense.

She died six months after her 21^st birthday on August 5, 1955.

Just a few days earlier  Robert Francis  had died at 25 in a plane crash, and in September, 24 year-old James Dean would be killed in an car accident.  A tragic three months in Hollywood’s history.

Richard Long later married Mara Corday who had been a close friend after they had met during rehearsals for a play ‘The Big Knife’

They went on to have three children together

In 1974 Richard Long suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 47.

These Pictures and the Article accompanying them were in the magazine Photoplay of August 1955

ABOVE and BELOW  – with his wife Sybil

At the time of the Interview for Photoplay Magazine he was filming Alexander the Great in Madrid

A big Cinemascope Production

RICHARD BURTON is quite impressive as Alexander the Great.

FREDRIC MARCH is in excellent form as his father, but when he dies midway through the film suffers.

CLAIRE BLOOM is really good in the leading role and has a few memorable scenes

Richard Burton uses his voice effectively at times, but it’s not one of his best performances.

 Alexander the Great also starred Claire Bloom – she had been in Richard 111 with Sir Laurence Olivier just before this – so she would be well used to Shakespearean Actors.

Prior to that in 1952 she was with Charlie Chaplin in Limelight

Richard Burton ABOVE – looking very relaxed.

Richard’s wife Sybil – formerly Sybil Williams was herself an actress and had met Richard on the set of The Last Days of Dolwyn – they  married when she was just  20 ears old. They remained married for 14 years and had two daughters together.

ABOVE: Richard Burton enjoys a pint at his Welsh local pub – with his father Richard Jenkins and brother Ifor

Diane Cilento with her husband Anthony Schaffer – In their Queensland home Nr Mossman

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CILENTO: Tony and I met in the early seventies I did a picture of his he wrote called ‘The Wicker Man’, which has become a sort of cult film now. I even had to sing in it, it was ridiculous. But- and to have a sort of Scottish accent (in brogue) like that. And when I finished the film he just sort of didn’t leave.
(End of excerpt)

BILLE BROWN, FRIEND: He was certainly immensely successful. The respect came from the fact that ‘Sleuth’ was a huge success financially. I met Diane and Tony at the beginning of their romance. It was an extraordinary and tempestuous friendship – a passionate friendship, I thought.

DIANE CILENTO: I did actually try to finish this. That’s why I came to Australia in 1975 – because Tony was married at that time and I wanted to get away. But I was at the Queensland Theatre Company and a taxicab drew up and it was boiling hot and this man with a trench coat and a hat pulled down and a suitcase got out and he said ‘Not so fast!’ I went up to direct a documentary in north Queensland and he came too. And that’s when I saw this extraordinary place and put a down payment straight away on this land between two waterfalls, backing onto national park

Interview 2012

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: And she literally fell in love, and she just said ‘I’ve bought a farm, I’ve bought a farm in Queensland’. And I remember thinking ‘She’s gone mad. She’s gone completely mad’. Because when she pointed out where it was on the map, we all looked at each other and went ‘Where’s that?’

ABOVE – A couple of the pictures taken when I was lucky enough to visit this unique location inland of Mossman in the Rain Forest North of Cairns in Australia.

At that time the Theatre was not open but last year my daughter and her family went there to the Open Day.  She told me that there was still a lot of work to do – but they were making good progress.

A more recent view – ABOVE – and looking much better

JASON CONNERY, SON: Karnak was a spiritual retreat and not only for her but for many other people. She wanted to build a sort of sanctuary where there could be teachings. And I thought they were all mad, really, because they did meditation, which I didn’t really understand, and they had movement and they had various other practices.

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: I think Tony used to call it ‘the great green hell of Whyanbeel’ when he first got up here because he couldn’t believe that people actually lived up here. You know, and this is this extremely cultured man. He’s always been a kind of international traveller. He did call this place home, though, and as he said, gradually he came to really love it and appreciate what he had here.

JASON CONNERY, SON: She created lawns and then houses and then she had the idea of building this theatre, this amphitheatre in the middle of the rainforest. The theatre was a real co-production between them. They had very much the idea that what they wanted to create was a place where people could go instead of going to just the pub at night.

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CILENTO: If I think about having built such a thing, an open air theatre in a rainforest, obviously, it sounds a bit cracked. And I suppose people could say it’s a folly but I don’t think so. I see it as a sort of a return to what the theatre was at one time when it began.
(End of excerpt)

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: Certainly right up till the end it was a very collaborative and creative marriage. She had finally got a partner who knew what she was talking about and understood her real love of drama.

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CILENTO: But then what began to happen was that Tony got ill. He’d already had a brain tumour and he got very ill after a fall down the stairs. And then Tony had this terrible third operation to have half his intestines out and was sort of fitted with a colostomy bag – all this stuff – and then this lady was on the scene.
(End of excerpt)

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: They’d had this flat in London for a very long time and often Tony would be there and then she’d just surprise him and just turn up.

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CILENTO: And when I got to the flat I saw that there was a lot of luggage and sort of a lot of make up and stuff and that’s when I found out. Tony was mortified and he was standing like that (goes rigid) – looking very grey and very worried.
(End of excerpt)

JASON CONNERY, SON: It was very obvious that someone else was living at the apartment, ah, later to be known as Mrs Capece.

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: I think she was very hurt by it, by the fact that there was somebody else, and she felt very divided about what do you do?

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CILENTO: And I did say to him, you know ‘Well is that lady still there?’ and he said ‘No, no she’s wandered off’. And I said ‘Where? What do you mean she’s wandered off?’ He said ‘Over a cliff!’ But that’s how he used to talk. (laughs) But from then on he called me every day and I did say ‘I- look, I forgive you. I don’t want to… I do think that you must come and recuperate and get better’ but he never got there. I got a telephone call from his brother to say he’d had a heart attack and passed away. I couldn’t believe it, actually, and then I got a telephone call from this lady. When I said to her ‘Well I’m coming to England now straightaway and I’d like to stay at the apartment’, she said, ‘Oh no, I live here’ and she’s changed the locks and that was it. And I mean, I couldn’t believe it. It was a very, very bizarre feeling to be going to your own husband’s funeral that you’ve been with for- been married to for twenty years or something, with some other lady. She was sort of pushing against me at the thing and with a rose and sort of sobbing, you know? It was ridiculous and it was one of those… almost like a, a strange dream.
(End of excerpt)

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: After Tony died in 2001, the housekeeper who had been looking after Tony, Mrs Capece, claimed that she and Tony had had a relationship and that he wanted to marry her. It became apparent that this other companion that Tony had was going to contest the will. And there are names for people like that… and they’re not complimentary. Unfortunately there was a legal battle about where Tony was domiciled. And of course if he’d been domiciled in England and she’d had a relationship with him, she could’ve claimed part of the estate.

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CILENTO (to Giovanna, sitting by a stream): It’s looking pretty incredible, I think, this year we’ve had a very big wet. Because I gifted to him half of Karnak, Karnak was being thrown into the pot of his estate so therefore, if I’d lost the case, it would have gone too.
(End of excerpt)

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: She had to then go to court and prove that she had this life with Tony, but she had to go and expose the intimate details of their life together and bring pictures and books and papers. It was a very bitter battle.

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CLIENTO: The thing that upset me most when I went to England was that the whole of the other side was trying to sort of, denigrate everything that he’d done in Australia, which was write all these plays, live there, build a house, build a theatre, do all those things. It was just like ‘Oh no, he’d abandoned all that’. And all of that sort of thing was a bit shocking to me because I hadn’t expected people to actually try to… obliterate Tony’s life in Australia.
(End of excerpt)

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: My mother prevailed. She actually created a precedent in law. And the court ruled that he was domiciled in Australia. And that meant that Mrs Capece, she couldn’t claim Death duties, which would have been due in England were not due. It also meant that the fact that mum had given Tony part of Karnak. In his will, he gave it back to my mother. All those things my mother believed that that had brought this whole issue to a close and she really thought that now that the court had ordered that the will be distributed and that there was no impediment, that it would be distributed. And she had great hope in that and unfortunately, she still doesn’t have what she was left by her own husband after 11 years. And she was constantly worried about it and constantly going to England and requesting that they finalise this will. They haven’t. And why is it still going? Jason and I don’t know. Why is it eleven years and not completed? Can’t tell you. Mum sold part of Karnak so that she had enough money to keep Karnak going. And we feel that my mother’s health really suffered from the stress of dealing with this interminable legal issue. The constant worry had led her to get a stomach ulcer, which had been treated and it had actually repaired. And then she started ringing me and saying ‘I’m not feeling very well, I’ve got a spider bite’. And of course the spider bite turned out to be actually breast cancer. And I said to her ‘You know, if you let the community know they would really rally’. And she said ‘I hate showing people that I’m weak’. She refused to have straightforward treatment; she wouldn’t have anything to do with it.

MICHAEL GOW, FRIEND: We just supported her as she became frailer and more incapable of getting around quite as much and then she went on this trip to Mexico, to this clinic, which she knew I was always very sceptical about. I called it her eye of newt and toe of frog cure but she got a lot out of it.

JASON CONNERY, SON: My mother felt extraordinary. Unfortunately upon her return to Australia – and this is very much my mum – she was told not to do any physical activity and to totally relax and not do anything. So she immediately went to far north Queensland and mowed two hundred acres of lawn on her tractor and unfortunately in doing that she ruptured her ulcer and then things went downhill very quickly from then.

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: The surgeon rang me and said ‘It’s inoperable, there’s nothing we can do about it’. And so I flew up with my husband and a couple of other close friends and she died in Cairns Base Hospital with us. (Crying) We sang to her and she knew we were there. But I’m not unhappy at how she died, because she died with a- if you like, she died in the saddle. And I couldn’t stand the thought of her melting into a hospital bed. And I love her for her bravery.

(Tribute night – last month)

MICHAEL GOW, FRIEND: It seems extraordinary that it’s exactly a year ago today, October 6th, that Diane left us.

JANE RUTTER, FRIEND: When Diane died, there was a sense amongst close friends of Karnak and of Diane’s – ‘Oh my god, what’s going to happen to this place?’ It’s worth a fortune. And Jason has his own very significant career as a director based in the United States. Giovanna has got her life in Sydney. So it wasn’t as if either of those two were going to just uproot and come and run the place the way Diane had

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: Jason and I came up after the funeral and looked around Karnak and then looked at each other and went ‘What are we gonna do? What on earth are we going to do?’ Because this was Tony and D’s magnificent obsession. We felt that the easy decision would’ve been just to sell Karnak. And- but Jason and I looked at each other and went ‘that would be a complete betrayal of everything mum had fought for and suffered for, and everything Tony had invested in’. And I remember ringing Jason and said ‘I’ve got it, I know exactly what we can do. We can- we can approach educational institutions and see if they’re interested in coming and using Karnak as a resource’.

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER (on stage): And so tonight we’re announcing the formation of the Diane Cilento Foundation and that we’re going to partner with a couple of Queensland Universities to make Karnak a centre of excellence for performing arts. Thanks very much. (applause)

JANE RUTTER, FRIEND: I’m thrilled to bits that the place is going to keep going. And I, you know, I really see that Diane’s vision can can actually blossom into something amazing in the future.

JASON CONNERY, SON: For me, the way I would like my mum remembered is that she was a person who did things her way. I mean, who builds a 600 seat amphitheatre with a restaurant and a bar in the middle of the tropical rainforest? But it’s very much my mum and I will always love her for that.

End of Interview

However despite the problems with Tony Shaffer’s estate Diane Cilento died without leaving a will. She was 78.

Her son and daughter say a formal investigation into Mr Shaffer’s estate is now underway in the UK.

Central Queensland University hopes to hold its first residential theatre course at Karnak next year.

‘Horrors Of The Black Museum’ with the late Michael Gough – who plays Edmund Bancroft, an eccentric writer and amateur crime expert, who irritates local police baffled at a spate of brutal and sensationalistic crimes, apparently without motive. He does know a lot more than the police suspect, and his meek protege Rick (Graham Curnow) is also involved.

Shirley Anne Field was in this one – saw her a couple of years ago in a thriller at the Theatre locally when she took part in a UK tour.

This Film was originally released in “Hypnovista” but the reason to watch it today is Michael Gough’s larger than life performance, and his inventive and imaginative murder methods. Very macabre.

The promotion announced that this film was released in “Hypnovista” which gives an idea of the story – it also gives an idea of the feeble attempts that were made to attract the paying customer to be persuaded that they must see this film.

A frustrated thriller writer wants accurate crimes for his next book so he hypnotises his assistant to make him commit the required crimes.

In “Hypnovista”

In “Hypnovista”

Scenes from the Film ABOVE – The Film was made in Colour

Diana Dors was – as usual – very good in this 1958 film drama about prostitution in London.  She had only gone into the business to earn enough money for plastic surgery to save her younger sister’s face from a previous acid attack by her vicious pimp (played by Herbert Lom) when her sister had previously refused to enter into the life.

However a hero comes on the scene in the shape of a London taxi driver – a Canadian war veteran played by Eddie Constantine and his Taxi Driver pals.

Herbert Lom continues his dirty dealings to attempt to implicate Eddie Constantine in ill deeds

Above – Diana Dors – a VERY good actress indeed

The Picturegoer Magazine of  March 29th 1958 had Two full pages really whetting our appetites for what we would shortly be able to see at our local Cinema.

A bit like ‘Coming Shortly’  in between the Big Picture and the Supporting one – when the film trailers came on – I used to love that.

One of those above was Chase a Crooked Shadow with Richard Todd, Anne Baxter and Herbert Lom. I remember seeing this film at the time – and again some time later. It had quite a twist at the end a very surprising one – but I wondered if. once you had seen it, the impact of the film would have gone. However thinking again, that can’t be true because The Mousetrap – that long running thriller – relies on a twist but I have been back to see it a number of times – in fact early this year at The St Martins Theatre in London’s West End was the last time.

As for The Moonraker with George Baker and Sylvia Sims, that was on Television recently and I watched a lot of it including the famous climax filmed at Durdle Door in Dorset – close to Lulworth Cove.

Some great films on offer here though – Ice Cold In Alex we all know well but I am not so familiar with Frankie Vaughan in Wonderful Things or HMS Ulysses.

Frankie Vaughan though had quite a film career – first with ‘These Danerous Years’ followed up with ‘The Heart of a Man’ which I remember seeing. Then he went to Hollywood to appear with Marilyn Monroe in Lets Make Love.

This film is  available on DVD . It gave us a look at Africa and the jungles in full Colour – Technicolor – which I have to say looked very good. Well it always did at that time.

It was a British Made adventure film of its day, much of it filmed in Africa with stock and studio sets of course. This below is a Studio set cut into location film – but this studio sets fascinates me – done at Elstree.

Towards the end of the film -These TWO pictures from the Elstree ‘Zambezi River’

Elstree Studios: 140 feet of the Zambezi River was built under an iron roof at Elstree Studios, bordered on one side by “jungle”. The water was heated to 70 degrees, and was kept moving by two 10 foot electric paddles at the end of the 150 ft tank.

Elstree Studios: The climatic Scene – David Farrar fights with Dana Andrews on the Banks of the Zambezi – at Elstree

ABOVE – Duel in The Jungle on release  at the Grand Cinema – not sure where though

We have featured this very lovely young actress before – who was spotted dining out with her family in London – and then offered the role of Juliet opposite Laurence Harvey in the 1954 film version of Romeo And Juliet

Susan Shentall loved her time in Italy making the film – and she was apparently very good indeed, but she walked away from being a Film Star.

Susan Shentall left her parents in Derbyshire and made the trip out to Italy to star as Juliet in this major international Technicolor Film – an expensive film at that. She stayed about 40 miles from the filming location in a small hotel at Simione near Lake Garda and travelled to the set by car each day always being ready to go by 9 am.

She had spent most of her spare moments writing letters back to England and seeing that she had an interest in journalism as a career, she would be able to that do very well.

She talked little about money and did not know the salary she was being paid for the film – her contract was with the Rank Organisation and had been overseen and signed by her Father who himself was a successful business man.

However most of the cast and crew who saw her at work as Juliet had no doubts that she could pull this off – and she did.

Incredibly, after what she described in one article as ‘my wonderful year as Juliet’ she turned her back on the film world when she returned to England – got married to Philip Worthington – and raised a family but did not move far away from her childhood area in Derbyshire

Susan Shentall was born on May 21, 1934 in England. Sadly she died quite young on October 18, 1996 in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England.

In an answer in 2007 to a Daily Mail article – Whatever happened to Susan Shentall her own daughter wrotw:

Her Daughter wrote in 2007 :    My mother, Susan Worthington née Shentall, was ‘discovered’ while dining with her parents at the Caprice restaurant in London when she was 18.

She had never harboured any acting aspirations and regarded being cast as Juliet as a bit of fun.

Despite the success of the film and the many offers she received afterwards (including the chance to replace Grace Kelly when the star had to relinquish her MGM contract on marrying Prince Rainier), Susan decided to embrace the life of a country housewife.

She married Philip Worthington and had three children.

Sadly, she died in 1996, aged 62, after a long illness.

As far as I’m aware, the most recent public screening of the film was after the opening of the wonderful Electric Picture Palace in Southwold, Suffolk, five years ago, attended by several members of her family.

Susan Shantell samples a local meal – and looks amused but also looks to be enjoying it.

Lining up a Shot in the warm Italian sunshine

Above: A lovely picture of Susan Shentall – the Director Renato Castellania adjusts her head wear

Above: Susan Shentall listens as  Director Renato Castellania explains what he wants. Mind you heard that he always spoke in French to Susan Shentall. T  hat might be why she looks so serious !

Mervyn Johns on the set – makes a point to Director Renato Castellania