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Amanda
Hallay looks at the career of the so-called 'Battersea Bardot' - Carol White, who rose to
fame in the sixties following the groundbreaking TV plays Cathy Come Home and Up The
Junction.
Amanda Hallay
Carol White
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Affairs with Frank Sinatra, Warren Beatty, Ian Hendry and many
others, drug abuse, struggles with overweight and alcohol and a helter-skelter career.
This was the life and career of Carol White, English actress whose career started so
promisingly and whose life ended so tragically.
"When I was at stage school I had two idols, Marilyn Monroe and
Brigitte Bardot."
"I was born on April 1st 1943, six minutes into April Fool's day
which would mean I was to be the butt of many jokes."
"I went from 105 lbs to 180 lbs."
"I was a star, and I was frightened out of my life."
Extracts from Carol Comes Home, her autobiography.
Carol fan and lookalike Amanda Hallay gives us her insight into
the life of Carol White, one of our most undervalued and overlooked stars.
I first discovered Carol White after five or six people said; ‘Hey,
Amanda – You look a bit like Carol White, you know!’ I didn’t know, so I
set out to discover who my supposed doppelganger actually was – or rather, who she
wasn’t. She was not (as she has often been tagged) ‘The Battersea Bardot’,
for although she did have lots of piled up blonde hair and a lovely figure, she lacked the
full-on sex-kitten allure of Brigitte; Carol White was simply too fragile.
So little is known about her that it seems strange that she was once the quintessential
‘It’ girl of British kitchen-sink dramas of the 1960s. Shot to stardom in Ken
Loach’s powerful 1965 television drama Cathy Come Home, Carol White went on to star
in a string of Sixties Brit hits, the best of which was Poor Cow, based on the novel by
Nell Dunn. As ‘Joy’, the sluttish, working-class single-mother who must somehow
survive alone whilst boyfriend Terence Stamp in jail, White’s powerful portrayal
earned her critical applause on both sides of the Atlantic. Hollywood came calling, and in
1968 she made Daddy’s Gone a Hunting, a low-budget thriller which in no way showcased
her talents and did nothing to help her gain Stateside success.
Her film career dwindled in the ‘70s, replaced by the drug and booze addiction which
had clouded her personal life. She died forgotten and unknown in 1991 – some sources
say of cirrhosis of the liver, others say a drug overdose.
Personally, I think she died of a broken heart.
The reasons I love Carol White are manifold; first of all, she was a wonderful actress who
was always underrated. Too pretty to be a ‘character actress’ but lacking the
beauty of Julie Christie, Carol’s cinematic career was unfairly limited to playing
the put-upon, working class heroines so favoured by British film of the 1960s. Her role in
I’ll Never Forget What’s-His-Name with Oliver Reed did find Carole in a standard
‘pretty-girl’ leading role, but the film’s flop hindered – more than
helped – her career.
With the end of the ‘kitchen-sink’ genre, so came the end of Carol White.
Although she managed to eke out a few, minor roles in low-budget American thrillers, her
great dramatic ability was never really tested, and (in my opinion) the world lost a woman
who – had she been given encouragement – could have outshone every other actress
of her era.
Secondly, I love Carol White because she was always a bit ‘rough around the
edges’; her beehive was untidy, her roots were always showing, and her mini-dresses
always seemed to need a good iron. I relate to this sort of ‘chic’, and her
somewhat sloppy style has been a great source of personal inspiration.
Thirdly, I love Carol White because I do look a bit like her, and I think we always warm
to people for whom we hold a vague resemblance.
But most of all, I love Carol White because she always seemed so sad.
I would really have liked to have been her friend.
An angel’s face at the factory gates, Rest in Peace, Carol White.
Carol's film and main TV credits.
Eating (1990)
Wrong Guys, The (1988)
Talking Walls (1987)
Spring aka Motel Vacancy (1987)
Naked Cage aka Trouble aka Cage, The aka The Wild Cage (1986)
Body Rock (1984)
Nutcracker aka Nutcracker Sweet (1982)
Squeeze, The (1977)
Helter Skelter aka Massacre in Hollywood (1976)
Made (1975)
Some Call It Loving (1973)
Up the Sandbox (1972)
Dulcima (1971)
Something Big (1971)
Man Who Had Power Over Women, The (1970)
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1969)
Fixer, The (1968)
Poor Cow (1967)
I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967)
Prehistoric Women aka Slave Girls (1967)
Cathy Come Home (1965) (TV)
Playground, The (1965)
Up the Junction (1965) (TV)
Ladies Who Do (1963)
Gaolbreak aka Jailbreak (1962)
Village of Daughters (1962)
Bon Voyage! (1962)
Matter of Who, A (1961)
Linda (1960)
Man in the Back Seat, The (1960)
Never Let Go (1960)
Carry On Teacher (1959)
Web of Suspicion (1959)
Circus Friends (1956)
Article Copyright © 2002-2003 Kittens in Underpants
All Rights Reserved.
This page layout and content is the intellectual property of
www.retrosellers.com
and cannot be
reproduced without express permission.
If we have inadvertently used any image on this web site which is
in copyright and for which we, or our retailers on our behalf, do not have permission for
use, please contact us so that we can rectify the situation immediately. Images in this
article are, to the best of our knowledge, either in the public domain or copyrighted
where indicated. Photos from the retrosellers archives from original press stills.
Visit Amanda's Kittens In Underpants website at
Kittens in Underpants
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