Barbara Murray

A self-assured and stylish actress, Barbara Murray was born into a showbusiness family, the daughter of actors and granddaughter of professional ballroom dancers. She was first thrust into the limelight as a six year old, dancing in the family variety act. Barbara and her mother were evacuated to Wales upon the outbreak of World War II. In the immediate aftermath of the war, she found work on stage scarce and instead made ends meet as a photographic model. However, at seventeen, she successfully auditioned with the Rank Company of Youth (famously dubbed the "Charm School"). She was offered a five-year contract at a salary of £10 a week to be groomed for B-movie stardom at a converted church hall next to Rank's two-stage Highbury Studio, under the tutelage of a formidable martinet named Mollie Terraine. Her fellow Charm School graduates included Christopher Lee and Diana Dors. Barbara's theatrical and film debuts eventually coincided in 1949, the former in regional repertory with the Ne