LEGEND: Diana Dors
This week we’re giving love to a legendary blonde bombshell who was a pin-up model, actress and cabaret star. Red Hots Burlesque honors…
DIANA DORS
b. October 23, 1931
The self-described “Hurricane in Mink” Diana Dors grew up fast, pretending to be much older all the way from 13 on. She fell in love with the screen goddesses of her youth, like Hollywood screen goddesses Veronica Lake, Lana Turner and Jean Harlow, modeling herself off these women. At fourteen Dors was the youngest to enroll in acting school at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. This blonde bombshell spent her early years acting in supporting roles taping down her generous bosom in order to show off more of her acting talents. Her first husband Dennis Hamilton helped push her to sex symbol status, her career in her native U.K. mirroring that of Marilyn Monroe’s in the States. Dors also was a famous pin-up model, and by her mid-20s was performing as a cabaret star in the U.K. and the United States. Her name became synonymous with her opulent lifestyle, full of flashy cars and dazzling dresses as well as her voluptuous figure and platinum blonde locks. She once described herself as “the only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva.” Dors passed away in 1984 of ovarian cancer, but has continued to influence the aesthetic of a number of neo-burlesque performers and today’s pin-up models.