Christine Norden (born Mary Lydia Thornton; 28 December 1924 – 21 September 1988) was a British actress.

Early life

Norden was born in Mowbray Terrace,

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

. She was the daughter of a bus driver. Her childhood home was in Hylton Road, Sunderland, and she was educated at Hylton Road Primary School and Havelock School.

Career

Norden gained experience singing and dancing while performing in wartime ENSA concerts and variety shows as a teenager. One claim to fame was that she was the first entertainer to land on Normandy beaches after D-Day. At the age of 20 she was "discovered" in a cinema queue and given a screen test by Sir

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; ; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)

. Her screen debut was as a

nightclub singer A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...

in the 1947 film '' Night Beat''. In an interview with the ''

Sunderland Echo The ''Sunderland Echo'' is a daily newspaper serving the City of Sunderland, Sunderland, South Tyneside and Easington (district), East Durham areas of North East England. The newspaper was founded by Samuel Storey (Liberal politician), Samuel ...

'' on 3 June 1952, she said: "Please don't refer to me as the girl who was discovered in a cinema queue. I'm so tired of that tag. You see, nobody believes it, and it aggravates me so much because it happens to be true." Her best-known appearances were in '' An Ideal Husband'', '' Mine Own Executioner'' and the 1949 film ''Saints and Sinners''. She won a British National Film Award in 1949 for the latter performance.''Sunderland Echo'', January 7, 1977, page 2 After appearing in ten films within five years, Norden left Britain for America in 1952, where she settled in New York and married her third husband, US Air Force sergeant Mitchell Dodge. She went on to become an American citizen in 1960, starring on Broadway in the musical '' Tenderloin'' at around the same time. She also caused a sensation in 1967, when she became the first actress to appear topless off Broadway, in the comedy '' Scuba Duba''. Norden returned to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in the 1970s to work on stage, screen, and television, but retained an apartment in New York and held several exhibitions of her paintings in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Personal life

Norden married five times. Her first husband was bandleader Norman Cole, by whom she had a son, Michael. Her other husbands included British film director

Jack Clayton Jack Isaac Clayton (1 March 1921 – 26 February 1995) was an English film director and producer, known for his skill directing literary adaptations. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for his feature-length debut, Room a ...

and musician Herbert Hecht. Her 1977 biography, ''The Champagne Days Are Over'', also detailed other romantic links.

Death

She died in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, aged 63, from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

following heart bypass surgery. She was survived by her son, Michael Cole, and her widower, George Heselden, a retired mathematician who used to work for the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

Filmography

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Norden, Christine 1924 births 1988 deaths English film actresses English stage actresses Deaths from pneumonia in England Actresses from London Actresses from Sunderland 20th-century English actresses