Celebrating The Life Of Mary Millington!
She was one of England’s most famous “Sex Kittens” – an Icon who had a wild life but a tragic death at a very young age…now, a new box set helps tell her story…
Iconic British Sex Kitten Mary Millington…
My “2021 Sex Kitten Countdown” celebrates the life and career of Mary Millington – and looks at a terrific new documentary and box set that has her most popular films and a new movie all about her life!
Millington was born in 1945 in Middlesex England.
She was planning a career as a Veterinary Nurse, but a chance meeting with London photographer John Lindsay changed that plan!
Lindsay made her a Pin-Up Model and an immediate sensation.
It was a time when the rules were being changed, and more provocative movies and photos were the rage…it was a perfect time for Mary to become a Star!
She became a hugely successful Pin-Up Model, featured on a variety of men’s magazines, but she got her start making stag films at a time when they were still illegal…
Millington had twenty screen roles, but those early performances were underground sex films or uncredited appearances like this:
She was uncredited in the 1974 film “Eskimo Nell”, which I have profiled because it was made by one of the James Bond 007 Directors!
This wacky British sex farce has a wild story attached, and you can see the trailer and read more by clicking on my story here:
Other films also offered small parts for Mary, although one gave her a juicy lesbian encounter:
Erotic Inferno (1975)
Millington acted in this under her married name Mary Maxted.
It was also known by the alternative title “Adam and Nicole.”
Here are a few of her other films:
I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight (1975)
Private Pleasures (Shot in Sweden, 1975)
Keep It Up Downstairs (1976)
However, her Modeling career was really taking off at that time:
Millington was a hugely successful Pin-Up Model – with photo spreads and magazine covers – and some very provocative pictures as well:
Another small role in “Intimate Games” (1976) followed – a film that was packed with British Sex Kittens:
Yes, that film starred Felicity Devonshire, who I featured in my “2020 Sex Kitten Countdown” – she had a great career:
You can see much more of her by clicking on my story here:
Mary continued to pose nude in dozens of photo spreads in British men’s magazines. Pornography was still illegal at this time, but Mary pushed the envelope to be sure…
At this point, Mary stopped working in hardcore films. In 1974, she met Publisher and Film Producer David Sullivan, who promoted her through his magazines and produced her greatest success!
“Come Play with Me!”
It was a perfect starring vehicle for Mary and it made her a big star indeed!
The story was easy and fun: it centered around a health-resort where both the clients and the employees easily take their clothes off and have a little fun!
Here’s what she said about the films she was making:
“Blue movies are great, educational and great tension-relievers. We all need horny thrills, right?”
Well, her fans agreed with her, making “Come Play With Me” an incredible success!
The softcore sex comedy ran for a record-breaking four years at the same theater in England!
“The Playbirds” (1978) was next, and the plot gave Mary a lot of chance to get naked.
Scotland Yard sends Lucy (Mary Millington) under cover to investigate foul play at Playbird magazine.
As Mary’s fame grew, she appeared in more films and many graphic photo spreads. As she said at the time about herself:
“I treat sex as something to be enjoyed, something to be savored, something to cling to, something to be indulged in whenever possible. The old slogan “Make love not war” was a very good one.”
Her last big film had a long title:
“Confessions From The David Galaxy Affair”
Check out this plot: Playboy David Galaxy is a suspect in a robbery case and needs an alibi, and the only credible witness to his innocence won’t help. He also has to prove his mettle with “the only woman in the world who’s never had an orgasm.”
Well, talk about playing against type!
Mary Millington’s Sad Decline…
However, even with this massive success, Mary was troubled.
She suffered from depression and was feeling pressure from frequent police raids on her sex shop.
Things got worse. She had received a large tax bill which she was unable to pay.
The documentary spends some time documenting her decline, especially the big “reveal” that she was a well known kleptomaniac!
She was caught shoplifting, and the press turned very negative against her.
Her kleptomania became more pronounced in the last year of her life, with arrests for shoplifting in June 1979, and again for stealing a necklace the day before her death.
The Actress Commits Suicide At The Age Of 33…
Shockingly, Millington committed suicide at age 33, by an overdose of tricyclic antidepressant anafranil, paracetamol and alcohol at her home in Walton-on-the-Hill in Surrey.
Her husband found her dead in her bed on 19 August 1979. She left four suicide notes which were found near her body.
In one of them she wrote this:
“The police have framed me yet again. They frighten me so much. I can’t face the thought of prison… The Nazi tax man has finished me as well.”
In another note, to her solicitor Michael Kaye (partly published in Private magazine), Millington wrote:
“The police have killed me with their threats…the police have made my life a misery with frame ups. The tax man has hounded me so much- I will be made bankrupt, he mustn’t get anything of his £200,000 demands. He is a religious maniac.”
In another note, to David Sullivan, she wrote:
“Please print in your magazines how much I want porn to be legalised, but the police have beaten me”.
Now, check this out:
This incredible new box set has five films PLUS a feature length documentary about her life – and comes with a collectible booklet as well!
The documentary is terrific, with tons of vintage footage from all of her films – no hardcore material but CLOSE. It also has a ton of great new interviews from hose close to her, and even a recorded interview from Mary as well!
Twenty years after her death, the author and film historian Simon Sheridan put Millington’s life into context in the biography “Come Play with Me: The Life and Films of Mary Millington.”
Judy Matheson Takes Part In The Tribute!
I found out about this box set when Actress Judy Matheson, now going by her married name of Judy Jarvis, posted this on Facebook:
“Very honoured to be invited to be a small part of the fascinating actress Mary Millington’s legacy, as yesterday I recorded the narration for just one in the fabulous “Mary Millington Movie Collection” Blu-ray box set, out in November on the Screenbound label, produced & directed by the wonderful Simon Sheridan.”
Matheson has had a great film and TV career in England:
She’s good friends with Helen Mirren, and starred in such films as “The Flesh And Blood Show” and “Lust For A Vampire” – see all of her great roles by clicking on my story here:
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Categories: 70's Films, Books / Media, Camp Cult Classics, Documentary, Euro-Sleaze, Exploitation Films, Grindhouse, JRsploitation, Nudity, sex kittens, Sexploitation Films, Talent / Celebrites
JR-Sploitation! 
Hey there.
The film still you’ve included to illustrate ESKIMO NELL is actually from the WRONG film. It’s a shot of Australian film and TV sexpot Abigail in “The True Story of Eskimo Nell” (retitled “Dick Down Under” in the UK). I can understand the confusion as it was released in 1975, the same year as the “other” ESKIMO NELL. I presume that’s why it was given a different title in England. 🙂
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Taking it out now!
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Hello again.
I noticed in the link to your review of ESKIMO NELL that you’ve got the same problem over there. You’ve run the Abigail pic again as well as another pic of her with co-star Serge Lazaroff (he’s wearing a cowboy hat while on top of her).
These stills are very familiar to me as I actually captured these particular grabs from the DVD re-release back in the mid-2000s and ran them in the mainstream magazine I worked for at the time, PEOPLE (a soft-core porn mag NOT to be confused with the American version of the same name). The stills were then purloined by someone on the internet and have been reused ever since. 🙂
Cheers,
Dann
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Thanks for the note I will move them now!
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She was a household name here, John, and rarely out of the news. I once read where she accused Vice Sqaud officers of raiding her shop because she wouldn’t pay them bribes for protection. I never understood why she was so popular, to be honest. There were much better looking women in the business at the time, but she seemed to hit a nerve with her more ‘ordinary’ look.
Best wishes, Pete.
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That’s a terrific observation Pete…I assumed it was because she had some XXX-rated work at a time when that was still very risky…an “underground” star to a degree – but wow, “Come Play With Me” was a massive hit!
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She was all over the ‘cheap and cheerful’ rather downmarket Men’s Girlie magazines, John. She showed, and did, a lot more than many of her contemporaries, that’s for sure. 🙂
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She benefited by being David Sullivan’s girlfriend during much of the 1970s. He published a bunch of downmarket porno mags that she appeared in on a regular basis. He also bankrolled a couple of her big films. Sullivan went on to publish the Daily Sport, probably the sleaziest (yet funniest) of the British tabloid newspapers.
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Yes, I mention him in the story professionally but not the personal stuff…
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