# Valerie Leon

Valerie Therese Leon (born 12 November 1943) is an English actress and model who has had roles in many film and television productions, including six of the Carry On film series and two James Bond films, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Never Say Never Again (1983) alongside Roger Moore and Sean Connery, respectively. She also had roles in high-profile films such as The Italian Job (1969), The Wild Geese (1978) and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) and had a starring role in the Hammer horror film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971).
Leon also appeared in the Hai Karate television adverts in the 1970s which gained her substantial publicity. She also became known globally as a sex symbol due to her glamorous looks and attractive figure, and was often referred to as the "English Raquel Welch".

## Early life

Leon was born in Hampstead, London in 1943 to Henry and Daphne Leon (née Ehrmann) and is the eldest of four children. Her 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.
After attending the Channing School for Girls, Leon attended the College for Distributive Trades before moving to Paris to become an au pair girl. She did a spell of modelling before returning to England.

## Career

Leon's career began as a trainee fashion buyer at Harrods. In April 1965, Leon went to an audition which led to her becoming a chorus girl in a touring production of The Belle of New York. When the tour in Britain was cancelled after some weeks, Valerie contacted Central Casting and started to work as an extra in movies - her first film was That Riviera Touch (1966) starring Morecambe and Wise, for which she was hired as a girl in bikini. Around the same time, she appeared with Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London's West End.
Leon appeared in six films of the Carry On series: Carry On Up The Khyber (1968), Carry On Camping (1969), Carry On Again Doctor (1969), Carry On Up the Jungle (1970), Carry On Matron (1972) and Carry On Girls (1973), and appeared in two James Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) as a Hotel Receptionist and as Lady in Bahamas in Never Say Never Again (1983). Other film appearances include Revenge of the Pink Panther, The Wild Geese (both 1978), The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970, as the secretary Tanya), a hotel receptionist in The Italian Job (1969), and a callgirl in No Sex Please, We're British (1973). The Hammer horror film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971) gave Leon a dual starring role, as a reincarnated Egyptian queen. She was cast in this at the insistence of Sir James Carreras, head of Hammer. Filmink wrote "he studio’s decision never to star Valerie Leon in anything again when she so patently had abundant star quality only makes sense when you recall Hammer failed to properly re-use all its female horror stars."
Leon's TV credits include The Saint, Randall and Hopkirk, Up Pompeii!, The Avengers, Space: 1999, The Persuaders, Last of the Summer Wine and the 1968 version of Johnny Speight's provocative comedy-drama If There Weren't Any Blacks You'd Have To Invent Them as a nurse.
From 1969 to 1976, Leon played the woman driven wild by a man wearing Hai Karate aftershave in a highly successful series of British commercials for the product. Leon parodied her role in The Goodies episode "It Might as Well Be String" by attacking Tim Brooke-Taylor.
She 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.

## Personal life

Leon was married to the television producer Michael Mills from 1974 until his death in 1988. The couple had two children: a son, Leon, born in 1975 and a daughter, Merope, born in 1977.

## Appearances in reference works

* Paul, Louis (2008). "Valerie Leon". Tales From the Cult Film Trenches; Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 164–171. ISBN 978-0-7864-2994-3.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1966 | That Riviera Touch | Girl in Bikini | uncredited |
| 1966 | The Sandwich Man | Girl in Crowd | uncredited |
| 1967 | Mister Ten Per Cent | Girl at Theatre Party | uncredited |
| 1967 | Smashing Time | Tove's Secretary | |
| 1968 | Carry On Up the Khyber | Hospitality Girl | |
| 1969 | Carry On Camping | Miss Dobbin | |
| 1969 | The Italian Job | Royal Lancaster Hotel Receptionist | |
| 1969 | Carry On Again Doctor | Deirdre | |
| 1969 | Zeta One | Atropos | |
| 1970 | Carry On Up the Jungle | Leda | |
| 1970 | This, That and the Other | Bath Girl | |
| 1970 | The Man Who Had Power Over Women | Glenda | |
| 1970 | The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer | Tanya | |
| 1970 | All the Way Up | Miss Hardwick | |
| 1971 | Blood from the Mummy's Tomb | Margaret Fuchs / Queen Tera | |
| 1972 | Carry On Matron | Jane Darling | |
| 1973 | No Sex Please, We're British | Susan | |
| 1973 | Carry On Girls | Paula Perkins | |
| 1974 | Can You Keep It Up for a Week? | Miss Hampton | |
| 1975 | The Ups and Downs of a Handyman | Redhead | |
| 1976 | Queen Kong | Queen of the Nabongas | |
| 1977 | The Spy Who Loved Me | Hotel Receptionist | |
| 1978 | The Wild Geese | Girl Dealer | |
| 1978 | Revenge of the Pink Panther | Tanya | |
| 1983 | Never Say Never Again | Lady in Bahamas | |
| 2006 | Gas | Hooker / Dentist Receptionist | |
| 2006 | A Neutral Corner | Flo | |
| 2015 | Golden Years | Gilda Parker | |
| 2016 | Pitfire of Hell | Margaret | |
| 2018 | For the Love of Ella | Tara | |
| 2020 | Jeepers Creepers | Fantasy Lover | voice |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1967 | The Saint | Therese | Episode: "To Kill a Saint" |
| 1967 | The Baron | Film Actress | Episode: "Countdown" |
| 1968 | If There Weren't Any Blacks You'd Have to Invent Them | Senior Nurse | TV film |
| 1968 | The Avengers | Betty | Episode: "Whoever Shot Poor George Oblique Stroke XR40?" |
| 1969 | Galton and Simpson Comedy | Girl | Episode: "Friends in High Places" |
| 1969 | Hark at Barker | Lady on Beach | Episode: "Rustless and the Solar System" |
| 1969 | Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) | Kay | Episode: "That's How Murder Snowballs" |
| 1970 | Up Pompeii! | Daili | Episode: "The Senator and the Asp" |
| 1970 | The Des O'Connor Show | Various | 3 episodes |
| 1971 | Misleading Cases | Rowena Stuke | Episode: "The Sitting Bird" |
| 1971 | The Persuaders! | Space Queen | Episode: "The Long Goodbye" |
| 1972 | The Organization | Prudence | Episode: "The Long Goodbye" |
| 1972 | Scoop | Miss Barton | Episode: "The Stitch Service" |
| 1972 | My Wife Next Door | Laura | Episode: "Dream Girl" |
| 1972 | Carry On Christmas | Serving Wench | TV film |
| 1973 | The Tarbuck Follies | Various | TV film |
| 1973 | The Train Now Standing | Brenda | Episode: "A Night to Remember" |
| 1973 | Nobody Is Norman Wisdom | Sylvia | Episode: #1.6 |
| 1973 | Bowler | Miss Ibbotson | Episode: "Bowler's Analysis" |
| 1973 | Doctor in Charge | Miss Wedderburn | Episode: "In Place of Strife" |
| 1974 | Special Branch | Juanita Wayne | Episode: "Sounds Sinister" |
| 1974 | The Jimmy Tarbuck Show | Various | |
| 1975 | Space: 1999 | Thule Girl | Episode: "Death's Other Dominion" |
| 1976 | The Goodies | The Seductress | Episode: "It Might as Well Be String" |
| 1977 | Mike Yarwood in Persons | Rose | Episode: #1.4 |
| 1977 | The Morecambe & Wise Show | Various | Episode: "1977 Christmas Show" |
| 1978 | Whodunnit? | Virginia | Episode: "A Dead Cert" |
| 1978 | The Kenny Everett Video Cassette | Manicurist | Episode: "#1.1" |
| 1978 | Happy Ever After | Fiona | Episode: "The More We Are Together" |
| 1978 | Rings on Their Fingers | Cathie | Episode: "Lead Me to the Altar" |
| 1979 | Morecambe and Wise at the BBC | Various | Episode: "28 February 1979" |
| 1979 | The Dawson Watch | Various | Episode: "The Family" |
| 1980, 1984 | Kelly Monteith | Various | 2 episodes |
| 1982 | Strangers | Jeanette | Episode: "A Swift and Evil Rozzer" |
| 1983 | Let There Be Love | Yolanda | Episode: "Spilling the Beans" |
| 1991 | Roy's Raiders | Lola Courtney | Episode: #1.4 |
| 2006 | Last of the Summer Wine | DW Cheetham | Episode: "Who's That Merry Man with Billy, Then?" |
| 2007 | The Green Green Grass | Katia's Mother | Episode: "Lust in Translation" |