| Diana Dors |
from the trailer for the film
The Unholy Wife (1957) |
| Born |
Diana Mary Fluck
23 October 1931(1931-10-23)
Swindon, Wiltshire, England |
| Died |
4 May 1984 (aged 52)
Windsor, Berkshire, England |
| Other name(s) |
Diana d'Ors |
| Occupation |
Actress |
| Years active |
1947–1984 |
| Spouse(s) |
Dennis Hamilton (1951-1959)
Richard Dawson (1959-1966)
Alan Lake (1968-1984) |
Diana Dors (23 October 1931 – 4 May 1984) was an English actress and sex symbol. She was born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, England and was educated at Colville House in Swindon. She was considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood.
Career
Diana Dors studied at LAMDA and aged 16 was under contract to the Rank Organisation, appearing in many of their films. It appears that from a certain period, her appearance became markedly similar, if not identical, to Marilyn Monroe's. She often played characters suffering from unrequited love, perhaps an unfortunate parallel to her private life.
She also had significant acting ability, which was destined never to be fully utilised (most of her later work is made up of sex-themed comedies that featured scenes near to soft-core pornography). Her success was such that, aged 20, she was the youngest registered owner of a Rolls Royce in the UK.
According to film buffs, her best work as an actress was when she played a murderess in the 1956 film Yield to the Night. She was also willing to play repulsive characters in films such as The Amazing Mr. Blunden, The Unholy Wife, and Timon of Athens.
Dors never had quite the same following in the United States, but recently has made a comeback due to her films having been shown on classic movie channels such as Turner Classic Movies. She also worked under the name of Diana d'Ors.
During the summer of 1961, she filmed an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Show (based on Robert Bloch's story "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", and which co-starred Brandon De Wilde) that was so grisly, it was barred from airing and not released for many decades.[1]
Family
She was married three times:
She also left four grandchildren: Lindsay Dors Dawson, Tyler Emm Dawson, Emma Rose Dawson, Lauren jr Dawson and Ruby Lake.
Diana Fluck
| “ |
They asked me to change my name. I suppose they were afraid that if my real name Diana Fluck was in lights and one of the lights blew... |
” |
According to Dors' autobiography, she was once asked and readily agreed to open a fête in her home town of Swindon, England. Prior to the festivities, Dors lunched with the local vicar, during which she informed him that her real name was Diana Fluck. The vicar became somewhat worried about his planned speech. After lunch, they arrived at the fête at the appointed time. The vicar, totally unnerved about mispronouncing "Fluck", introduced Diana with these immortal words:
| “ |
Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I introduce to you our star guest. We all love her, especially as she is our local girl. I therefore feel it right to introduce her by her real name; Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the very lovely Miss Diana Clunt. |
” |
Recordings
The earliest recordings of Diana Dors were two sides of a 78 rpm single released on HMV Records in 1951. The tracks were "I Feel So Mmmm" and "A Kiss And A Cuddle (And A Few Kinds Words From You)". HMV also released sheet music featuring sultry photos of Diana on the cover. She also sang "The Hokey Pokey Polka" on the 1954 soundtrack for the film As Long As They're Happy.
Diana Dors only recorded one complete album, Swinging Dors, for the Columbia Records/Pye label, in 1960. The LP was originally released on red vinyl. The orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott, who later underwent a sex change and became female. Swinging Dors was, obviously, a swing album, and Dors demonstrated a likeable, unaffected singing voice.
In 1964, she recorded a single for the Fontana label, It's Too Late/So Little Time. In 1966, she recorded a single for the Polydor label, Security/Gary. In 1977, she recorded a single for the EMI label, "Passing By"/"It's A Small World". In 1982, although battling cancer, she recorded a single for the Nomis label, "Where Did They Go"/"It's You Again" (a duet with her son, Gary Dors).
Death
In a 1977 episode of the British TV show Parkinson with the actor Kenneth Williams and the anthropologist Desmond Morris (whom Dors said she had dated when they were teenagers in Swindon), Dors commented on what seemed to be the common deaths of young blonde sex symbols, such as Jean Harlow and Jayne Mansfield. Dors said she would base herself on Mae West in living a long life. Unfortunately, however, she died seven years later on 4 May 1984 from a recurrence of ovarian cancer, first diagnosed two years earlier. She was 52 years old.
Dors left a mark on popular culture; the "50s blonde bombshell look" popularized by Dors and, in the US, by "The Three 'Ms'" Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren and Marilyn Monroe.
Alleged fortune
Before she died, Dors apparently hid away what she claimed to be over £2million in banks across Europe. Eighteen months before her death, she gave her son Mark Dawson a sheet of paper, which she told him was a code that would reveal the whereabouts of the money.
Her widower, Alan Lake, supposedly had the key that would crack the code. But Lake committed suicide only five months after Dors died, leaving Dawson an apparently unsolvable code. Dawson, however, was determined to discover his late mother's fortune. He sought out computer forensic specialists Inforenz, who recognised the encryption as the Vigenère cipher. Inforenz then used their own cryptography software to suggest a ten-letter decryption key, DMARYFLUCK (short for Diana Mary Fluck, Dors' real name).
Although the company was then able to decode the entire message and link it to a bank statement found in some of Lake's papers, the location of the money is still unknown. Some speculate whether there may have been a second sheet, whose information might have led to the discovery of the money. Channel 4 made a television programme about the mystery and created a website where users can read more and help solve the mystery.
Filmography
Television roles
References
- Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema by Simon Sheridan (Reynolds & Hearn Books) (third edition) 2007
- Fallen Stars by Julian Upton (Critical Vision) 2004
External links
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Dors, Diana |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
Fluck, Diana Mary |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
Actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
1931-10-23 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Swindon, Wiltshire, England |
| DATE OF DEATH |
1984-5-4 |
| PLACE OF DEATH |
Windsor, Berkshire, England |
