There is a legacy of blond bombshells throughout Hollywood history, going all the way back to the early days. Jean Harlow inspired Marilyn Monroe who became the face of the platinum blond bombshell (though Marilyn dyed her hair to emulate Harlow...who also dyed her hair!). She inspired women after her like Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren, but did you know that the Brits had their own Marilyn? Let's remember Diana Dors, the British Marilyn.
One of the finest quotes about Diana Dors comes from David Thompson who said of her, "Dors represented that period between the end of the war and the coming of Lady Chatterley in paperback, a time when sexuality was naughty, repressed, and fit to burst." Do you know what else was fit to burst? Her bust!
Diana was a mouthy British broad who always stuck up for herself, even when she was a young girl. She loved cinema and especially admired Harlow and Veronica Lake (another blond beauty). She was kicked out of elocution school for talking back to a teacher (and throwing chalk at him!), so in 1946 she enrolled in the London Academy of Music and Drama as their youngest student when she was only 14 years old.
She eventually sent a photo to a pinup model competition and won third place! Third place was enough to get her career started, so she was given early modeling work in the 40s. Diana Dors started her career modeling, often in risque poses - much like Marilyn!
After school and some wild early times including a boyfriend in jail and an early abortion, she started landing real leading roles in movies. It began with comedies and then blonds suffering from the pains of unrequited love. She then starred in sex comedies - just like Marilyn and the girls before her! Who doesn't love a bawdy British comedy? Unfortunately, Diana's husband was frauding her!
This lovely lady in the mid-1950s began being compared to Marilyn Monroe. As the English Marilyn Monroe, she went a similar route by eventually wanting meatier material. Unlike Marilyn, Diana was pretty open about her rejection of certain roles after a while. She said on rejecting some roles, "They still think I'm only good for the dumb blonde parts I played five years ago, I thought everyone in the business knew I'd come some way since then."
She went to Hollywood and enjoyed some success, but she came back to England. She did ALL of this in a decade! By 1960, she was tired of films and fighting her reputation. She then turned to theater and cabaret where she saw a lot of success! Later in life, she became a campy favorite on chat shows as well as a special guest in TV shows and even live cabarets.
She died in 1984 at the age of 52 from complications following surgery to remove cancerous cysts from her ovaries. She lived a lovely life and is still celebrated as the British Marilyn Monroe!
