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'''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.
FamilyShe was married three times:
- Dennis Hamilton (3 July 1951–3 January 1959, his death)
- Richard Dawson, (''Hogan's Heroes, Family Feud), (12 April 1959–1966, div.); two sons Mark Dawson and Gary Dawson
- The actor Alan Lake (23 November 1968–her death); one son Jason Lake, and lived at Sunningdale, Berks
She also left four grandchildren: Lindsay Dors Dawson, Tyler Emm Dawson, Emma Rose Dawson, Lauren jr Dawson and Ruby Lake.
Diana Fluckcquote 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:
cquote 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.
RecordingsThe 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).
DeathIn 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 fortuneBefore 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- Dancing with Crime (1947)
- The Shop at Sly Corner (1947)
- Penny and the Pownall Case (1948)
- My Sister and I (1948)
- Here Come the Huggetts (1948)
- The Calendar (1948)
- Holiday Camp (1948)
- Oliver Twist (1948)
- Good Time Girl (1948)
- Vote for Huggett (1949)
- ''It's Not Cricket (1949)
- A Boy, a Girl and a Bike (1949)
- Diamond City (1949)
- Dance Hall (1950)
- ''Worm's Eye View (1951)
- Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)
- ''My Wife's Lodger (1952)
- Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? (1952)
- The Last Page (1952; AKA Man Bait)
- The Weak and the Wicked (1953)
- ''It's a Grand Life (1953)
- The Great Game (1953)
- ''The Saint's Return (1953)
- Value for Money (1955)
- Miss Tulip Stays the Night (1955)
- An Alligator Named Daisy (1955)
- A Kid for Two Farthings (1955)
- ''As Long as They're Happy (1955)
- Yield to the Night (1956)
- The Love Specialist (1956)
- The Unholy Wife (1957)
- The Long Haul (1957)
- Tread Softly Stranger (1958)
- Passport to Shame (1958)
- I Married a Woman (1958)
- Scent of Mystery (1960)
- On the Double (1961)
- ''King of the Roaring 20's - The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961)
- ''Mrs. Gibbons' Boys (1962)
- West 11 (1963)
- Bikini Baby (1963)
- Allez France ! (1964)
- The Counterfeit Constable (1964)
- The Sandwich Man (1966)
- Baby Love (1968)
- Berserk! (1968)
- Danger Route (1968)
- Hammerhead (1968)
- ''Queenie's Castle (1970-1972)
- ''There's a Girl in My Soup (1970)
- Deep End (1971)
- Hannie Caulder (1971)
- Nothing But the Night (1972)
- Every Afternoon (1972)
- The Amazing Mr. Blunden (1972)
- Swedish Wildcats (1972)
- The Pied Piper (1972)
- All Our Saturdays (1973)
- Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973)
- From Beyond the Grave (1973)
- Craze (1973)
- Theatre of Blood (1973)
- Three for All (1974)
- The Amorous Milkman (1974)
- Bedtime with Rosie (1975)
- A Man with a Maid (1975)
- Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1976)
- Keep It Up Downstairs (1976)
- Adventures of a Private Eye (1977)
- Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair (1979)
- Steaming (1985)
Television roles
Copyright Citations
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