Valerie Leon had roles in high-profile films such as The Italian Job, The Wild Geese and Revenge of the Pink Panther and had a starring role in the Hammer horror film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb.
12 Facts About Valerie Leon
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Valerie Leon was born in Hampstead, London in 1943 to Henry and Daphne Valerie Leon and is the eldest of four children.
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Valerie Leon's father was a director of a textile company, and her mother, who trained at RADA, ended her acting career to become a full-time mother.
4.
Valerie Leon did a spell of modelling before returning to England.
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Valerie Leon's career began as a trainee fashion buyer at Harrods.
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Valerie Leon appeared in six films of the Carry On series: Carry On Up The Khyber, Carry On Camping, Carry On Again Doctor, Carry On Up the Jungle, Carry On Matron and Carry On Girls, and appeared in two James Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me as a Hotel Receptionist and as Lady in Bahamas in Never Say Never Again.
7.
Valerie Leon was cast in this at the insistence of Sir James Carreras, head of Hammer.
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Tim Brooke-Taylor 8.
From 1969 to 1976, Valerie Leon played the woman driven wild by a man wearing Hai Karate aftershave in a highly successful series of British commercials for the product.
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Valerie Leon parodied her role in The Goodies episode "It Might as Well Be String" by attacking Tim Brooke-Taylor.
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Valerie Leon appeared in several UK national tours of plays in the 1970s and 80s, and more recently has appeared on stage throughout the UK in her one-woman show, Up Front with Valerie Leon.
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Valerie Leon was married to the television producer Michael Mills from 1974 until his death in 1988.
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The couple had two children: a son, Valerie Leon, born in 1975 and a daughter, Merope, born in 1977.