Mandy Rice-Davies

Mandy Rice-Davies (1964).

Mandy Rice-Davies , born as Marylin Rice-Davies (born October 21, 1944 in Pontyates, Llanelli , Wales ; † December 18, 2014 ) was a British dancer , entrepreneur , actress and author , who was particularly known for her involvement in the professional world. Affair in 1963.

Early years

Rice-Davies grew up in Solihull , a suburb of Birmingham . Her father was a police officer who had given up his job to run a tire trade, her mother was a former actress. As a child, she sang in a church choir and carried newspapers to earn money to support her pony. She was impressed by the life story of Albert Schweitzer . At the age of 15, she began training in the Marshall & Snelgrove fashion store and worked as a model for advertising photography and films.

London

At the age of 16, Rice-Davies broke out of her familiar surroundings and moved to London, where she performed as a dancer in Murray's Cabaret Club . She met Christine Keeler and Stephen Ward , with whom she began an affair. Ward referred her and Keeler to high society parties. She had numerous short-term affairs with men of high society and the demi-world , from whom she received expensive gifts and who also paid for the maintenance of the apartment she shared with Keeler. When she was sixteen, she received a Jaguar sports car from the controversial real estate agent Peter Rachman as a gift, which Rachman's widow reclaimed after his death in 1962. However, Rice-Davies denied ever having been a prostitute , despite several relevant investigations against Stephen Ward. She was just young and wanted to have fun. In the Ward trial, she initially refused to testify, and later appeared to enjoy press attention. In addition, she continued to work as a dancer and model for advertising shots, including for Pepsodent and Pepsi . However, her name kept cropping up in connection with scandals and divorces among celebrities. So she claims to have had an affair with Lord Astor , which he denied. In the process of the Profumo affair she appeared as a witness, although she had never met John Profumo personally.

On April 23, 1963, she was arrested at Heathrow Airport for faking a driver's license, spent nine days in detention and fined £ 2,000.

Israel

Rice-Davies moved to Germany and Spain, where she performed as a dancer and had affairs with wealthy men until, at the age of 21 , she married the Israeli Rafael Shaul, a former steward of El Al . Together with him she opened several restaurants and nightclubs in Tel Aviv , including the fashionable club "Mandy's". She learned Hebrew and converted to the Jewish religion . During the Six Day War , she is said to have looked after Israeli soldiers as a nurse. However, it turned out that at the time in question she had worked in her nightclub and merely posed with wounded soldiers in a nurse's uniform. After the birth of their daughter Dana, Rice-Davies separated from her husband and moved to Spain, from where she continued her Israeli business. She had affairs again with wealthy men, including an Argentine consul and wealthy businessmen from Switzerland and Canada. In 1978 she married the French restaurant owner Jean-Charles Lefevre. The marriage ended in divorce that same year. After the split, she returned to the UK.

Great Britain

In the UK, Rice-Davies turned to acting. She has appeared in various productions, including Tom Stoppard's Dirty Linen , Alistair Foot's comedy Please No Sex, We're British , but also in a supporting role in Romeo and Juliet . In 1980 her autobiography "Mandy" was published. In 1982 she had a role in the erotic film Nana based on the novel of the same name . In addition, she had small roles and guest appearances in television series, such as Absolutely Fabulous , and was a frequent guest on talk shows. In 1986 she played a role in the film Absolute Beginners - Junge Helden . In 1988 she married the American entrepreneur Ken Foreman, with whom she lived until her death. In 2013 she worked on the production of the musical Stephen Ward by Andrew Lloyd Webber .

Rice-Davies passed away at the age of 70 after a brief period of cancer.

Trivia

When Rice-Davies was brought to trial that Lord Astor was having an affair with her, she replied tersely: “Well he would, wouldn't he?” (“Well, of course he does”) . This famous expression found its way into the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations published by Oxford University Press . Regarding the Profumo affair, she said that if she could live her life again, she would wish 1963 had never been. She also said: “I have never regretted anything. I belong to the existentialist school . I did it and that's it. "

reception

The 1989 film Scandal deals with the Profumo affair. Rice-Davies is portrayed in it by Bridget Fonda .

literature

• Mandy Rice-Davies, Shirley Flack: Mandy . Michael Joseph Ltd., London 1980, ISBN 0-7181-1974-6 .
• Mandy Rice-Davies: The Scarlet Thread . Sphere, London 1990, ISBN 0-7474-0028-8 .
  • German as: Die Rosen von Zichron. From the English by Monika Curths. List, Munich and Leipzig 1992, ISBN 3-471-78545-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Chris Maume: Mandy Rice-Davies: Showgirl who became famous for her part in the Profumo affair and went on to enjoy a successful business career. In: The Independent . December 29, 2014, accessed July 29, 2018 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Mandy Rice-Davies-obituary. In: The Telegraph . December 29, 2014, accessed July 29, 2018 . 
3. ^ ^{A b} Profumo affair's Mandy Rice-Davies dies at the age of 70. In: BBC News. December 29, 2014, accessed July 29, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Profumo Affair Christine Keeler and John Profumo | Dieter Wunderlich: Book tips and more. Accessed November 7, 2019 (German). 
5. ↑ https://spartacus-educational.com/SPYdavies.htm