Belinda Lee

BELINDA LEE d1961. Outstandingly beautiful English Rank Film Organisation actress of the 1950s usually typecast in blonde "sexpot" roles. Of all the young "starlet" actresses of the period, she stands out as one of the most notorious yet anonymous of them all after leading all the "Glitterati" at The 1955 Cannes Film Festival. She was married to the photographer Cornel Lucas between 1954-1959 ; when they divorced she moved to Italy where she continued playing voluptuous temptresses in Italian films. In 1958, Italian newspapers reported that Miss Lee had taken an overdose of sleeping pills. Three days later, Papal Prince Filippo Orsini (who had been linked to her by the papers) was reported to have been hospitalized after slashing his wrists. Police refused to comment on the newspaper reports linking the two romantically. Orsini, whose injuries were light, refused to tell the police why he had done it. Lee said that she had been suffering from insomnia and had taken an overdose by mistake. Both were married to others at the time, so averting a scandal after The Vatican had indicated that Orsini would lose his title if it were proven that he had attempted suicide. In 1961, Belinda Lee died aged just 25 in a car accident whilst driving between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, where she had been acting in a film.