Lee, Margaret (British actress)

Margaret Lee was born in Wolverhampton ( England) and was educated at the Conti Academy of Theater Arts in London ; which she graduated in 1960. ^[3] Then, to continue her film career, she moved to Rome . Her film debut was in the Peplum Fire Monsters against her son Hercules (1962), where she played a major female role, and her partner on the set was bodybuilder Reg Lewis, but comedic roles brought her popularity, thanks to which Lee reached a "star" status in Italy. Luxurious blonde a la Marilyn Monroe , Lee spent the first half of the 1960s starring in several Italian comedies and parody tapes - some featuring the popular comedic duo Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia. It is unlikely that at least one of these films was in British distribution and was generally translated into English, but in Italy these films were quite successful, turning Margaret Lee into a very famous movie actress.

Around the mid-1960s, Margaret Lee moved away from comedies and began to appear in a long series of paintings in the growing popularity of the Europie genre, where she often performed the roles of fatal sexy women. Her appearance also underwent a metamorphosis: a sexy blonde gave way to a burning brunette. Among the most famous paintings of this period: The Tiger is strangled by Claude Chabrol's dynamite (1965), Agent 077: Fury from the East (1965) Sergio Grico and Kiss the girls to death (1966) Henry Levin.

The beauty and talent of Margaret Lee attracted the attention of international film producer Harry Alan Towers. It was to him that Lee owed the subsequent solid foundation on the world screen. Towers selected her in several of his projects with "star" compositions, starting with the British thriller Circus of Fear (1966), staged by John Lowellin Mosca. This was followed by the spy comedy Our Man in Marrakesh (1966) directed by Don Sharp, action Five Golden Dragons (1967) Jeremy Summers, the thriller Venus in Furs (1969) and the Bloody Judge (1970) Jesus Franco and, finally, the drama Dorian Gray (1970) Massimo Dallamano

Lee's partner in several of these films (The Circus of Fear , Five Golden Dragons , Kaplan saves his skin and Venus in furs ) turned out to be the famous witty actor Klaus Kinsky , the “star” from the Harry Towers clip. The Kinsky Lee tandem was so successful and popular in Italy that the actors continued to act together at every opportunity until the early 1970s. Their joint filmography includes 12 paintings.

With the exception of collaborating with Towers, Lee did not participate in any other international projects, but in 1972 she appeared as an “invited star” in the British series The Protectors , in the episode “The Numbers Game”.

Whether Margaret was also popular on Italian television in the 1960s, appearing as a show girl with famous singer Johnny Dorelli . She starred with Dorelli in his movie debut of Dorellic's Adventures , also known as How to Kill 400 Dupons (1967).

In 1969, Margaret Lee as Cinderella appeared in a special program on the Italian television Cinderella .

By the early 1970s, Lee’s film career was sliding further down into operational cinema; the culmination was her appearance in the extremely cruel and clumsy horror made by Fernando Di Leo Beast with cold blood (1971), again with Klaus Kinsky. In 1974, Margaret Lee said goodbye to Italian cinema, and then returned to England. However, at home, her career did not resume, and in 1981, Lee again came to Italy. The revival of the actress did not happen here: in 1982, she appeared in the comedy Dino Risi Sesso by e volentieri (1982), where she reunited with her old partner Johnny Dorelli. The following year, she closed her filmography with the slurred crime comedy Neapolitan Blow (1983), after which Lee left the cinema completely.

• Maciste contro i mostri (aka Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules , 1962)
• I tre nemici (1962)
• Due samurai per cento geishe (1962)
• Totot di notte n. 1 (1962)
• Cleopatra (1963) - uncredited
• Avventura al motel (1963)
• La ballata dei mariti (1963)
• Gli imbroglioni (aka The Swindlers , 1963), dir. Lucio Fulchi
• Sansone contro i pirati (aka Samson Against the Pirates , 1963)
• Siamo tutti pomicioni (1963)
• I quattro tassisti (1963)
• Vino whiskey e acqua salata (aka Wine, Whiskey and Salt Water , 1963)
• Via Veneto (1963)
• Adolescenti al sole (1964)
• Due mattacchioni al Moulin Rouge (1964)
• I due pericoli pubblici (aka Two Public Enemies , 1964)
• In ginocchio da te (1964)
• I maniaci (aka The Maniacs , 1964), dir. Lucio Fulchi
• I marziani hanno dodici mani (aka The Twelve-Handed Men of Mars , 1964)
• Un mostro e mezzo (1964)
• La vedovella (1964)
• Agente 077 dall'oriente con furore (aka Agent 077: From the Orient with Fury , 1965)
• Casanova 70 (1965)
• I due sergenti del generale Custer (aka Two Sergeants of General Custer , 1965)
• Io uccido, tu uccidi (aka I Kill, You Kill , 1965)
• Letti sbagliati (1965)
• Le lit à deux places (aka The Double Bed , 1965)
• Il morbidone (aka The Dreamer , 1965)
• On a volé la Joconde (1965)
• Questa volta parliamo di uomini (aka Let's Talk About Men , 1965)
• Questo pazzo, pazzo mondo della canzone (1965)
• Lo scippo (1965)
• La ragazzola (1965)
• Tiger strangled with dynamite (aka Our Agent Tiger , 1965)
• Le carnaval des barbouzes (aka Killer's Carnival , 1966)
• Circus of Fear (1966) starring Christopher Lee
• Djurado (aka Johnny Golden Poker , 1966)
• Il ladro della Gioconda (aka The Mona Lisa Has Been Stolen , 1966)
• New York Chiama Superdrago (aka Secret Agent Super Dragon , 1966)
• Our Man in Marrakesh (1966)
• Se tutte le donne del mondo (aka Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die , 1966)
• Tre notti violente (aka Web of Violence , 1966)
• Arrriva Dorellik (aka How to Kill 400 Duponts , 1967)
• Colpo maestro al servizio di Sua Maestà britannica (aka Master Stroke , 1967)
• Le Tigre sort sans sa mère (aka Da Berlino l'apocalisse and Spy Fit , 1967)
• Dick Smart 2007 (1967)
• Five Golden Dragons (1967)
• Franco, Ciccio e le vedove allegre (aka Franco, Ciccio and the Cheerful Widows , 1967)
• (aka Leather and Nylon , 1967)
• Banditi a Milano (aka Bandits in Milan , 1968)
• I bastardi (aka Sons of Satan , 1968)
• Coplan sauve sa peau (aka Coplan Saves His Skin , 1968)
• Pas de roses pour OSS 117 (aka OSS 117 - Double Agent , 1968)
• Questi fantasmi (aka Ghosts - Italian Style , 1968)
• Cry Chicago (aka ¡Viva América! Or Mafia Mob , 1969)
• 5 per l'inferno (aka Five for Hell , 1969)
• Two-faced (aka Double Face , 1969) starring Klaus Kinski
• Il Cenerentola (1969) - TV special
• Frau Wirtin hat auch eine Nichte (aka House of Pleasure , 1969)
• Sai cosa faceva stalin alle donne? (aka What Did Stalin Do to Women?, 1969)
• Un sudario a la medida (aka A Candidate for a Killing , 1969)
• Venus in Furs (1969)
• Appuntamento col disonore (aka Rendezvous with Dishonour , 1970)
• Portrait of Dorian Gray (1970)
• (aka The Bloody Judge , 1970)
• Bano de sangre (aka Blood Bath ) - unreleased
• Le belve (1971)
• La bestia uccide a sangue freddo (aka Slaughter Hotel , 1971)
• Nokaut (aka The Rogue , 1971)
• Papesatan, papesatan aleppe (1973)
• Gli assassini sono nostri ospiti (aka The Killers Are Our Guests , 1974)
• La sensualità è un attimo di vita (1974)
• Sesso e volentieri (1982)
• Stangata napoletana (aka Neapolitan Sting , 1983)