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Actress
and glamour model Margaret Nolan was born in Hampstead, London on
29th October, 1943 only ten minutes after her twin sister Geraldine.
Since their father was in the army, their mother took the sisters
and their brother to Waterford in Ireland until the war was over and
they eventually returned to Hampstead in 1966. Margaret began her
film career as a model appearing in 8mm glamour shorts for George
Harrison Marks between 1962 and 1964. These films included ‘One Track
Mind’, ‘Nude in the Sun’ and ‘The Four Poster'. For photographer Russell
Gay, during the same period, she appeared in ‘Vertigo’, ‘Sexational’
and ‘Tensions'. Under the pseudonym of Victoria Kennedy she appeared
in ‘Fantastique’ and ‘Presenting the Fabulous Vicky Kennedy’ and,
in 1963, she appeared in the film ‘It’s A Bare, Bare World.’
The producer of ‘The Saint’ television series, starring Roger Moore,
was shown a photograph of her and he gave her the minor role of Daisy
in the first series. She subsequently began appearing in numerous
BBC TV soaps, plays and comedy shows. Her television appearances in
the Sixties included ‘The Saint’ (1963); ‘Crossroads’, ‘Deep and Crisp
and Stolen’ (1964); ‘199 Park Lane’, ‘After Many a Summer’, ‘Danger
Man’ (1965); ‘Bedsit Girl’, ‘The Enchanted Night’, ‘The World of Wooster’,
‘Adam Adamant Lives’, ‘Buddenbrooks’ (1966);
‘Hugh and I’; ‘A Man Like That’; ‘The Newcomers’, ‘Take a Pair of
Eyes’ in 1966; ‘Compensation Alice’, ‘The Des O'Connor Show’, ‘Death
of a Private’, ‘The Morecambe and Wise Show’ in 1967; ‘Nearest and
Dearest’ in 1968 and ‘The World of Beachcomber’ in 1969.
In 1964 she appeared in ‘Saturday Night Out’. It’s interesting to
note that The Searchers appeared in ‘Saturday
Night Out’ performing a few numbers in a pub scene. It was said that
The Beatles were considered for the appearance but the producers decided
they didn’t want to pay the fares for them coming down from Liverpool
and The Searchers happened to be in London at the time.
Also in 1964 ‘A Hard Day’s Night', ‘The Beauty Jungle’, ‘Goldfinger’;
in 1965 in ‘Ferry Cross the Mersey’,
‘Three Rooms in Manhatten’, ‘Promise Her Anything’, ‘Carry on Cowboy’;
in 1965 ‘The Great St. Trinian’s Train Robbery’; in 1968 in ‘Witchfinder
General’, ‘Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the River’; in 1969 in ‘Can
Heironymous Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?’,
‘Crooks and Coronets’ and in 1969 in ‘The Best House in London'. |
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She
also appeared in ‘Toomorrow’, ‘Carry
on Henry’, ‘Carry On at Your Convenience’, ‘Carry On Matron’, ‘No
Sex Please, We’re British’, 'Carry On Girls’ and ‘Carry On Dick'.
It’s interesting that she appeared in films that featured The Beatles,
Gerry & The Pacemakers and The Searchers.
In ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ she is the hostess
sitting with Paul’s gambling uncle when they arrive in the casino.
Margaret got the lads to autograph her script following the scene.
John Lennon phoned her agent about her the next day. In addition to
film and television appearances, Margaret also took to the stage and,
following an appearance at the Ambience Theatre in Queensway, was
cast in her first West End play, ‘The Giveaway’, in 1969.
Several Brian Rix farces at The Garrick Theatre followed, including
‘She’s Done It Again’ in which she played the juvenile lead for nine
months. Shirley Eaton may be remembered
as the girl in ‘Goldfinger’ who was painted gold from head to foot
and murdered in James Bond’s bed, but
there were actually two golden girls – and Margaret was the other
one! She is the golden girl appearing in the opening credits in which
her body was painted completely gold and images from the film were
projected onto her. She only agreed to be the golden girl in the title
sequence if she were actually given a role in the film and she was
cast as Twink.
The producers offered her a two-year contract to portray 'The Golden
Girl' in publicity promotions, but she declined. Margaret also appeared
in five series of a Spike Milligan show. Following appearances in
the ‘Carry On’ films Margaret retired from acting, having appeared
in no less than 21 feature films and 380 television productions. |
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She
went to live in Spain, together with her husband and two sons, where
she renovated an old farmhouse in Alpujarras, Andalucia, and settled
there for almost thirty years, during which time she began to develop
photomontages, returning to London in 2007.
Although she appeared in five ‘Carry
On' movies, she was furious at how badly the actors were exploited
financially by the producer and director, commenting, “They were such
bastards…they became multi-millionaires". She explained that
no actor ever received any royalties from the ‘Carry On’ films and
illustrates this by saying
“The most anyone ever earned from a ‘Carry On’ film was Sid
James. He got five grand". |
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The cast worked very hard on the films which were produced on extremely
low budgets and it was the cast who did most of the improvisation, yet they
never earned anything from the sale of the videos or the fact that the films
appeared on virtually every television channel on earth. Margaret also recalls
the story of actor Charles Hawtrey: “He was dying of poverty and a representative
of Equity went, on his behalf, to ask for some money in lieu of royalties
so that they could pay for nursing and he was told to f*** off out of the
studios". |
Bill Harry Original
Graphics 
