Actress and business owner. In 1956 Jill Adams, was declared by "Picturegoer" magazine to be "one of our best glamour girl bets", and she was much photographed and written about, not so much for her film roles as her purported status as "Britain's Marilyn Monroe." In truth her ready smile proved particularly suited to comedy, where she appeared with some of the top British movie actors of the era. Born in London, she grew up in Hampshire and Wales. Her father, Arthur Siggins, was Australian, though he had travelled widely in Africa and was the author of gung-ho adventures such as "Man-Killers I Have Known" and "Shooting with Rifle and Camera." He met her mother, the silent screen actress Molly Adair, while she was filming "The Blue Lagoon" in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). Educated at home by a governess until the age of nine, Adams later attended Sherfield school, in Hampshire. During the second world war the family moved to Bryn-y-Maen, near Colwyn Bay, in Wales. After working as a window dresser, Adams was by 1944 an assistant artist at Mr. & Mrs. Jones, a department store, where she was required to attend fashion shows and sketch the clothes. One day a model failed to arrive, and Adams, found to be the perfect size, stepped in, thus beginning her modelling career, which included a flag-hoisting recruitment poster for the Wrens. Out of 200 models, she was chosen by Cubby Broccoli to be an extra in the "The Black Knight" (1954) starring Alan Ladd. While appearing in Anthony Asquith's "The Young Lovers" (1954), Pinewood Studios publicists got her to pose for Monroe-style photos. The results had British soldiers based in the Middle East voting her their favourite pin-up, ahead of Monroe and Jane Russell, and earned her a Rank Organisation contract. Yet in "Doctor at Sea" (1955) she was overshadowed by Brigitte Bardot. (Later in the series, in 1963, she provided another Monroe impression, as a movie star in "Doctor in Distress.") The producer-director team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat cast her as one of amnesiac Rex Harrison's wives in "The Constant Husband" (1954). A year later, in Ken Annakin's rugby league comedy "Value for Money" she supported Diana Dors - she may not have been as successful as Dors, but she did not share her traumatic private life. Launder and Gilliat provided her with her best screen role in "The Green Man" (1956), partnered with George Cole in trying to foil droll assassin Alastair Sim. The same year Terry-Thomas was irritated by her in the Boulting Brothers' "Private's Progress." The twins then gave her a bigger role, having to choose between Ian Carmichael and Richard Attenborough, in "Brothers in Law" (1957).
On television, she appeared in an episode of the London private eye series "Mark Saber" (1955). By 1958 she was Bob Monkhouse's wife in the BBC sitcom "My Pal Bob." Unlike its contemporaries, it still exists, but as Monkhouse acknowledged, "not even the tender mercies of rosy nostalgia can render [it] watchable". She was a regular, as a nurse, on ITV's "The Flying Doctor" (1959-60), an Australian co-production.
In 1960 she featured, with Leslie Phillips, in "Carry on Constable." Three years later an early sexploitation film, "The Yellow Teddy Bears," gave her guest-billing as a prostitute; she had earlier observed that British film makers were not so much "afraid of sex", but rather "they don't know it exists." Her last role was in Arthur Hiller's "Promise Her Anything" (1965), with Warren Beatty - set in Greenwich Village, made in Britain. Her first marriage, to a US Navy rating, ended in 1953; in 1957 she married Peter Haigh, a BBC announcer. In 1971, they moved to the Algarve and ran a bar; after this marriage ended in 1976, Adams continued in the restaurant business, sometimes cooking herself. Having earlier been a keen sculptor, in recent years she concentrated on painting, particularly birds and animals, with some success. She died at her home in Portugal, and is survived by three brothers, two daughters (the eldest from her first marriage), one granddaughter, and one great-granddaughter. (Ref: Obituary: Jill Adams - This article appeared in the "Guardian" on Monday August 11, 2008 on p31 of the Obituaries section.)
On television, she appeared in an episode of the London private eye series "Mark Saber" (1955). By 1958 she was Bob Monkhouse's wife in the BBC sitcom "My Pal Bob." Unlike its contemporaries, it still exists, but as Monkhouse acknowledged, "not even the tender mercies of rosy nostalgia can render [it] watchable". She was a regular, as a nurse, on ITV's "The Flying Doctor" (1959-60), an Australian co-production.
In 1960 she featured, with Leslie Phillips, in "Carry on Constable." Three years later an early sexploitation film, "The Yellow Teddy Bears," gave her guest-billing as a prostitute; she had earlier observed that British film makers were not so much "afraid of sex", but rather "they don't know it exists." Her last role was in Arthur Hiller's "Promise Her Anything" (1965), with Warren Beatty - set in Greenwich Village, made in Britain. Her first marriage, to a US Navy rating, ended in 1953; in 1957 she married Peter Haigh, a BBC announcer. In 1971, they moved to the Algarve and ran a bar; after this marriage ended in 1976, Adams continued in the restaurant business, sometimes cooking herself. Having earlier been a keen sculptor, in recent years she concentrated on painting, particularly birds and animals, with some success. She died at her home in Portugal, and is survived by three brothers, two daughters (the eldest from her first marriage), one granddaughter, and one great-granddaughter. (Ref: Obituary: Jill Adams - This article appeared in the "Guardian" on Monday August 11, 2008 on p31 of the Obituaries section.)
Actress and business owner. In 1956 Jill Adams, was declared by "Picturegoer" magazine to be "one of our best glamour girl bets", and she was much photographed and written about, not so much for her film roles as her purported status as "Britain's Marilyn Monroe." In truth her ready smile proved particularly suited to comedy, where she appeared with some of the top British movie actors of the era. Born in London, she grew up in Hampshire and Wales. Her father, Arthur Siggins, was Australian, though he had travelled widely in Africa and was the author of gung-ho adventures such as "Man-Killers I Have Known" and "Shooting with Rifle and Camera." He met her mother, the silent screen actress Molly Adair, while she was filming "The Blue Lagoon" in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). Educated at home by a governess until the age of nine, Adams later attended Sherfield school, in Hampshire. During the second world war the family moved to Bryn-y-Maen, near Colwyn Bay, in Wales. After working as a window dresser, Adams was by 1944 an assistant artist at Mr. & Mrs. Jones, a department store, where she was required to attend fashion shows and sketch the clothes. One day a model failed to arrive, and Adams, found to be the perfect size, stepped in, thus beginning her modelling career, which included a flag-hoisting recruitment poster for the Wrens. Out of 200 models, she was chosen by Cubby Broccoli to be an extra in the "The Black Knight" (1954) starring Alan Ladd. While appearing in Anthony Asquith's "The Young Lovers" (1954), Pinewood Studios publicists got her to pose for Monroe-style photos. The results had British soldiers based in the Middle East voting her their favourite pin-up, ahead of Monroe and Jane Russell, and earned her a Rank Organisation contract. Yet in "Doctor at Sea" (1955) she was overshadowed by Brigitte Bardot. (Later in the series, in 1963, she provided another Monroe impression, as a movie star in "Doctor in Distress.") The producer-director team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat cast her as one of amnesiac Rex Harrison's wives in "The Constant Husband" (1954). A year later, in Ken Annakin's rugby league comedy "Value for Money" she supported Diana Dors - she may not have been as successful as Dors, but she did not share her traumatic private life. Launder and Gilliat provided her with her best screen role in "The Green Man" (1956), partnered with George Cole in trying to foil droll assassin Alastair Sim. The same year Terry-Thomas was irritated by her in the Boulting Brothers' "Private's Progress." The twins then gave her a bigger role, having to choose between Ian Carmichael and Richard Attenborough, in "Brothers in Law" (1957).
On television, she appeared in an episode of the London private eye series "Mark Saber" (1955). By 1958 she was Bob Monkhouse's wife in the BBC sitcom "My Pal Bob." Unlike its contemporaries, it still exists, but as Monkhouse acknowledged, "not even the tender mercies of rosy nostalgia can render [it] watchable". She was a regular, as a nurse, on ITV's "The Flying Doctor" (1959-60), an Australian co-production.
In 1960 she featured, with Leslie Phillips, in "Carry on Constable." Three years later an early sexploitation film, "The Yellow Teddy Bears," gave her guest-billing as a prostitute; she had earlier observed that British film makers were not so much "afraid of sex", but rather "they don't know it exists." Her last role was in Arthur Hiller's "Promise Her Anything" (1965), with Warren Beatty - set in Greenwich Village, made in Britain. Her first marriage, to a US Navy rating, ended in 1953; in 1957 she married Peter Haigh, a BBC announcer. In 1971, they moved to the Algarve and ran a bar; after this marriage ended in 1976, Adams continued in the restaurant business, sometimes cooking herself. Having earlier been a keen sculptor, in recent years she concentrated on painting, particularly birds and animals, with some success. She died at her home in Portugal, and is survived by three brothers, two daughters (the eldest from her first marriage), one granddaughter, and one great-granddaughter. (Ref: Obituary: Jill Adams - This article appeared in the "Guardian" on Monday August 11, 2008 on p31 of the Obituaries section.)
On television, she appeared in an episode of the London private eye series "Mark Saber" (1955). By 1958 she was Bob Monkhouse's wife in the BBC sitcom "My Pal Bob." Unlike its contemporaries, it still exists, but as Monkhouse acknowledged, "not even the tender mercies of rosy nostalgia can render [it] watchable". She was a regular, as a nurse, on ITV's "The Flying Doctor" (1959-60), an Australian co-production.
In 1960 she featured, with Leslie Phillips, in "Carry on Constable." Three years later an early sexploitation film, "The Yellow Teddy Bears," gave her guest-billing as a prostitute; she had earlier observed that British film makers were not so much "afraid of sex", but rather "they don't know it exists." Her last role was in Arthur Hiller's "Promise Her Anything" (1965), with Warren Beatty - set in Greenwich Village, made in Britain. Her first marriage, to a US Navy rating, ended in 1953; in 1957 she married Peter Haigh, a BBC announcer. In 1971, they moved to the Algarve and ran a bar; after this marriage ended in 1976, Adams continued in the restaurant business, sometimes cooking herself. Having earlier been a keen sculptor, in recent years she concentrated on painting, particularly birds and animals, with some success. She died at her home in Portugal, and is survived by three brothers, two daughters (the eldest from her first marriage), one granddaughter, and one great-granddaughter. (Ref: Obituary: Jill Adams - This article appeared in the "Guardian" on Monday August 11, 2008 on p31 of the Obituaries section.)
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