1172827
Carole Lesley
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.
Known For
Trottie True
as Clare as a child
Doctor in Love
as Kitten Strudwick
What a Whopper
as Charlotte 'Charlie' Pinner
These Dangerous Years
as Dinah Brown
Operation Bullshine
as Pvt. Marge White
The Good Companions
as Film Star (as Leslie Carroll)
No Trees in the Street
as Lova
Woman in a Dressing Gown
as Hilda Harper
Three on a Spree
as Susan
The Pot Carriers
as Wendy
