- Mary Millington
-
Mary Millington Born Mary Ruth Quilter
30 November 1945
Kenton, Middlesex, EnglandDied 19 August 1979 (aged 33)
Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, EnglandAlias(es) Nancy Astley, Susan David, Janet Green, Samantha Jones, June Taylor, Karen Young, Marion Ellis Spouse(s) Bob Maxted 1964-1979 (her death) Height 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m) Hair colour Blonde Ethnicity Caucasian Coordinates: 51°11′26.42″N 0°19′29.59″W / 51.1906722°N 0.3248861°W Mary Millington (born Mary Ruth Quilter[1][2] 30 November 1945–19 August 1979) was a British model and pornographic actress. She has been described as one of the "two hottest British sex film stars of the seventies", the other being Fiona Richmond.[3]
Contents
Early life
Millington was born out of wedlock, and grew up without her father (whose name was John Klein).[4] She was bullied at school due to being born illegitimately, and suffered from low self esteem throughout her childhood and teenage years.[4][5] After marrying at a young age she took the surname Maxted, and lived in Dorking.[3][4] She had to nurse her terminally ill mother for more than ten years, and began her porn career to pay for her care.[4] She became a glamour model in the late 1960s.[3]
Career
Soon after this she met the pornographer John Jesnor Lindsay, and began appearing in 8 mm hardcore porn loops which sold well in Europe.[3] One of her first films was Miss Borehole in 1970.[3] Miss Bohrloch won the Golden Phallus Award at the Wet Dream Festival held in November 1970 in Amsterdam. Millington starred in around twenty short hardcore films for John Lindsay,[6] although only five (Miss Bohrloch, Oral Connection, Betrayed, Oh Nurse and Special Assignment) have so far resurfaced. She then returned to modelling for British pornographic magazines such as Knave and Men Only.[6] She also appeared in softcore short films by Russell Gay (Response, 1974), Mountain Films (Love Games, Wild Lovers) and Harrison Marks (Sex is My Business, c. 1974).
Sex is My Business was shot late on a Saturday night at a sex shop on London’s Coventry Street. The storyline concerns a powerful aphrodisiac being dropped by a customer, the potency of which renders the shop's staff and customers sex crazy. Millington, dressed in a short see-through dress, is the film's main focus of attention, playing a member of staff who drags a customer into the back room for some multi-position sex, thoughtfully turning on the shop's CCTV camera so others can watch. Sex is My Business was considered something of a lost film until a Super 8 mm film print of the film was located and privately transferred to DVD in 2008. The film subsequently made its internet debut on the 26 July 2008 at the (now defunct) site ZDD Visual Explosion, in 2010 Sex is My Business is set to be included as a special feature on the DVD re-release of Come Play With Me. .
In 1975 she met adult magazine publisher David Sullivan,[6] having been introduced to him by her Sex is My Business co-star Maureen O’Malley in February 1975. Although she was still married the pair became lovers.[6] Millington became well-known thanks to her appearances in Sullivan's porn magazines such as Whitehouse and Private.[7] In her first Whitehouse appearance Sullivan claimed that she was the bisexual nymphomaniac sister of the magazines editor Doreen Millington, and so gave Mary a new stage name.[7] She soon became the most popular model in any of Sullivan's magazines.[7] She then had a small part in Sullivan's 1977 softcore sex comedy Come Play with Me, alongside Alfie Bass and Irene Handl[8] Although critically panned, the film was highly successful, running continuously for four years at one London cinema.[8] It then became one of the first British films to sell in large numbers on the new VHS format.[8] This was followed by a larger role in The Playbirds (1978), in which she was cast as a policewoman working undercover as a nude model.[8] Although her poor acting ability was evident, The Playbirds was also a commercial success.[8] Like Come Play with Me it was extensively trailed in Sullivans magazines.[8] At the height of her fame she was also working behind the counter in Sullivans sex shops, mainly in the Whitehouse shop in Norbury.[4] She also continued working as a call girl, which she had done since her early modeling days.[4] She then made a cameo appearance in Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair (1979), which was a flop,[4] and Queen of the Blues (1979). She also appeared in other sex movies such as Eskimo Nell (1975), Intimate Games (1976) and Derek Ford's What's Up Superdoc! (1978). Millington's final appearance was in the Sex Pistols film Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle directed by Julien Temple, which was released theatrically in March 1980. However, neither she nor her punk rock co-star Sid Vicious lived to see the completion of the movie.
One of Millington's most outrageous moments was being photographed topless outside 10 Downing Street. In which Millington, while posing for an innocuous picture with a policeman outside Number Ten, decided to unzip her top, exposing her breasts for the photograph, much to the surprise of those also present which included fellow Come Play With Me actress Suzy Mandel, Whitehouse photographer George Richardson (who took the picture anyway) and the policeman in question (who tried to confiscate the reel of film). According to Simon Sheridan’s biography of Millington, “For this stunt Mary was conditionally discharged and bound over to keep the peace”.[9] Millington's film Come Play With Me still stands as one of the longest-running films in British movie history, and ran continuously at the Moulin Cinema in London's West End from 1977 to 1981. In a publicity stunt for the second year anniversary of the film’s opening, both Suzy Mandel and Millington posed in lingerie on the Moulin cinema’s marquee.[10]
In 1978 she was approached to appear in a hardcore porn film called Love is Beautiful, to have been directed by Gerard Damiano. However, despite Millington and Damiano being pictured together at that year's Cannes Film Festival, the movie (meant to have been produced by David Grant’s Oppidan Films) never materialized. Potential co-stars may have included Harry Reems, Gloria Brittain, and Lisa Taylor. The same year she turned 33, and began being replaced by younger models in Sullivans magazines.[4] She began to spend more time working in her own sex shop, in which she sold illegal material.[5] The shop was raided by the police on numerous occasions, and she claimed the police threatened her and forced her to pay protection money.[5]
Last years and death
She had always been prone to neurosis and depression, which was exacerbated by her cocaine habit.[4] Her mother's death in 1976 also affected her deeply, and her behaviour became unpredictable, which led to her breaking up with Sullivan.[4] Her life had begun a downward spiral into drug use and depression following the raids on her shop. A few months prior to her death she had received a large tax bill which she was unable to pay.[5] Her kleptomania became more pronounced in the last year of her life, with her being arrested for shoplifting in June 1979, and again for stealing a necklace the day before her death.[5] Millington committed suicide at age 33, using a deliberate overdose of paracetamol at her home in Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey.[5] Her husband found her dead in her bed on 19 August 1979.[5] She left four suicide notes which were found near her body.[11] In one of them she had written, "The police have framed me yet again. They frighten me so much. I cant face the thought of prison...The Nazi tax man has finished me as well"[5]
She was buried at the St Mary Magdalene Church, Betchetts Green Road in the village of South Holmwood, Surrey. Her grey granite tombstone is situated at the side of the churchyard and bears the surname "Maxted" – her married name. She is buried in the same grave as her mother, Joan Quilter, who died in 1976.
Legacy
A posthumous exploitation film about her life was released in London in October 1980, entitled Mary Millington's True Blue Confessions. In 1996 Channel Four television screened a tribute to her entitled Sex and Fame: The Mary Millington Story featuring an interview with David Sullivan.
Twenty years after her death, the author and film historian Simon Sheridan put Millington's life into context in his critically acclaimed biography Come Play with Me: The Life and Films of Mary Millington. Further information about her career can be found in Sheridan's follow-up book Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema, the third edition of which was published in April 2007.[12]
In 2004 Millington’s prominence was recognized by her inclusion into the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,[13] edited by Colin Matthew and Brian Harrison. Her entry was written by Richard Davenport-Hines.
2008 saw a London exhibition of the work of the late glamour photographer Fred Grierson, which included several little-seen pictures of Mary taken by Grierson at June Palmers’ Strobe Studios in the early 1970s.
In 2009 Millington was referenced in an episode of Eastenders (broadcast Thursday 18/06/09) when Aunt Sal (Anna Karen), after hearing Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Janus) had been caught in a compromising position on the Queen Vic’s floor, greeted Ronnie with “ooh, here she is, Mary Millington herself”.
In late 2009, an 8 mm copy of one of her early John Lindsay short films “Special Assignment” resurfaced. Unseen since the early 1970s, it was subsequently transferred to DVD, two years later in 2011 another 8mm film starring Millington "Wild Lovers" was also traced and transferred from 8mm to DVD.
Biographical movie
A new documentary movie on Millington's life, entitled "Respectable - The Mary Millington Story", based on the bestselling book by Simon Sheridan, and featuring interviews with Mary's family, friends and co-stars, will be released in the spring of 2012.
Filmography
- Miss Bohrloch (short, 1970)
- Oh, Nurse! (short, 1971)
- Special Assignment (short 1971)
- Oral Connection (short, 1971)
- Betrayed (short, early 1970s)
- Love Games (short, early 1970s)
- Wild Lovers (short, early 1970s)
- Secrets of a Door to Door Salesman (1973, scenes cut)
- Response aka Go Down, My Lovely (short, 1974)
- Sex is My Business (aka Sex Shop) (short, 1974)
- Eskimo Nell (film) (1974)
- Erotic Inferno (1975)
- I'm Not Feeling Myself Tonight (1975)
- Private Pleasures (Shot in Sweden, 1975)
- Keep It Up Downstairs (1976)
- Intimate Games (1976)
- Come Play with Me (1977)
- The Playbirds (1978)
- Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair (1979)
- Queen of the Blues (1979)
- The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (Posthumous, 1980)
- Mary Millington's True Blue Confessions (Posthumous, 1980)
- Mary Millington's World Striptease Extravaganza (Posthumous, 1982)
- Sex and Fame: The Mary Millington Story (TV documentary, 1996)
Magazine appearances
- Around the World in 80 Lays 197? (Beryl Grant)
- Sexpert Vol.2 No.8 197?
- Knave Vol.6 No.3 1974 (Cover and 8 pages inside inc centerfold)
- Fiesta Vol.8 No.5 1974
- Caprice Plus No.4 197?
- New Direction Vol.5 No.8 197?
- Supermag No.4 197?
- Late Night Extra 1974 (As "Nancy Astley")
- Titbits No.4613, 1–7 August 1974, ("Eskimo Nell")
- Fiesta Vol 8 no 5 1974 inside photograph of Mary on the London Underground
- Janus Vol.4 No.7 circa 1975 (cover picture)
- Janus Vol.4 No.8 circa 1975 (cover picture)
- Spick No.261 August 1975 (As "Mary Maxted")
- Beautiful Britons No.238 September 1975
- Rustler Vol.1, No.5, 1976 (Small cover photo, 5 page layout with 11 photographs)
- Club International Vol.5, No.1, January 1976 (5 pages as "Mia" with Pat Astley)
- Beautiful Britons No.247 June 1976
- Playbirds Vol.1, No.1 197?
- Playbirds Vol.1, No.2 197? (Cover and 15 pages inc colour photographs)
- Playbirds Vol.1, No.3 197?
- Playbirds Vol.1, No.4 197?
- Playbirds Vol.1, No.6 197?
- Playbirds Vol.1, No.8 197? (Millington at the Frankfurt trade fair)
- Playbirds Vol.1, No.16 197? (Cover and inside)
- Playbirds Vol.1, No 21 197? (Cover only)
- Playbirds Vol.1, No 24 197? (Inside)
- Continental Film Review Vol.25, No.6, 1978 (The Playbirds)
- Continental Film Review Vol.25, No.7, 1978 (The Playbirds)
- Cover Girl Vol.1, No.3 circa 1978
- Cover Girl Vol.1, No.6 circa 1978
- Private No.28 197?
- Park Lane No.15 197?
- Weekend Sex No.17 197?
- Whitehouse No.10 197?
- Whitehouse No.15 197? (Cover 5 pages article inside)
- Whitehouse No.16 197? (10 pages inc colour photographs and centre spread)
- Whitehouse No.40 197? (Colour trade ad for Playbirds film and four page synopsis)
- Whitehouse No.47 197? (Colour trade ad for the David Galaxy affair plus four page article on film)
- Weekend Sex No.31 197?
- Park Lane No.10 197? (5 pages article plus two pages colour photographs)
- Park Lane No.11 197? (8 pages article)
- Park Lane No.23 197?
- Ladybirds No.1 197?
- New Action MS no 28 (Millington meets Rosemary England photo shoot and queen of the blues trade ad)
- Playbirds erotic film guide No.1 (Millington cover, Come Play with Me feature)
- Climax No.14 197?
- Exciting Cinema No.18 circa 1979 (“Mary Millington meets Rosemarie England in the Flesh”)
- International Cover Girls No.14 1979
- Revel No. 3 (Tribute to Millington)
* David Sullivan’s magazines were often undated, as such the only way of dating them is by which Sullivan produced films were being promoted inside the magazines, i.e. a Sullivan magazine which promotes Come Play With Me would be from 1976/1977, ones promoting The Playbirds would be circa 1978, and ones promoting Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair from 1979.
See also
- Heather Deeley
- Sue Longhurst
- Suzy Mandel
- List of British pornographic actors
- Outline of British pornography
References
- Upton, Julian (2004). Fallen stars: tragic lives and lost careers. Headpress/Critical Vision. ISBN 1900486385. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Gb5ci9IF_SMC&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
Further reading
- Simon Sheridan Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema 2011 (fourth edition) (Titan Publishing, London)
- Simon Sheridan Come Play with Me: The Life and Films of Mary Millington 1999 (FAB Press, Guildford)
- Mary Millington & David Weldon The Amazing Mary Millington (Futura, 1979) ISBN 0708814530
External links
- Official website
- Mary Millington at the Internet Movie Database
- Simon Sheridan's website
- Come Play With Me: The Life and Films of Mary Millington
Notes
- ^ Simon Sheridan Come Play with Me: The Life and Films of Mary Millington 1999 (FAB Press, Guildford)
- ^ Birth name cited at http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/2982
- ^ a b c d e Upton, p.39
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Upton, p.43
- ^ a b c d e f g h Upton, p.44
- ^ a b c d Upton, p.40
- ^ a b c Upton, p.41
- ^ a b c d e f Upton, p.42
- ^ Sheridan, Simon 1999. Come Play with Me: The Life and Films of Mary Millington FAB Press ISBN 0-9529260-7-5
- ^ Suzy Mandel and Mary Millington pictured April 1979
- ^ Hunt, Léon (1998). "Coming Clean...". British Low Culture: From Safari Suits to Sexploitation. Routledge. p. 137. ISBN 9780415151825. http://books.google.com/books?id=3dvtQEetWrsC&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&source=bl&ots=q7LqyrSA3l&sig=XBiko4IbKN1F_Uxda0e8G3gXLPo&hl=en&ei=vU0jSuj3Ao7Ctwf89oDGBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10#PPA137,M1. Retrieved 1 June 2009.
- ^ Sheridan, Simon 2005. Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema Reynolds & Hearn Books ISBN 1-903111-92-7
- ^ Inclusion referenced at http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=69621191088971
Categories:- Drug-related suicides in England
- English pornographic film actors
- Female pornographic film actors
- Pornographic film actors who committed suicide
- 1945 births
- 1979 deaths
- People from Dorking
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