Gillian Hills

Gillian Hills (born 5 June 1944) is an English actress and singer. She first came to notice as a teenager in the 1960s in the British films Beat Girl (1960) and Blowup (1966). She also spent a number of years living in France, where she embarked on a singing career as well as starring in a number of French films.

Career

Born in Cairo, Egypt, Hills was the daughter of teacher, traveller, author, and adventurer Denis Hills. Her mother was Dunia Leśmian, daughter of Polish poet Bolesław Leśmian. She spent her early years in France, where she was discovered by Roger Vadim, who saw her as the next Brigitte Bardot and cast her in a version of Les liaisons dangereuses (1959).

As a teenager, Hills was cast in the lead for the British film Beat Girl (1960), one of the earliest for which John Barry contributed the music score. Her co-star was a young Adam Faith in his first film role. The British Board of Film Censors ordered that cuts be made before they would give an X certificate.

In 1960, Hills signed with the French Barclay record label and released her first EP entitled "Allo Brigitte..ne coupez pas!". In 1961, she appeared at the Olympia Theatre in Paris on a bill with Johnny Hallyday. She remained with the Barclay label until 1964, having released both cover versions and original recordings. In 1965, she signed to the AZ record label run by the radio station Europe 1 and issued an EP that included a cover of the Zombies "Leave Me Be" and her self-penned "Rien N'Est Changé".

At the close of her recording career, Hills returned to England and film, appearing in Michelangelo Antonioni's first English language film, Blowup (1966), starring David Hemmings, with whom her character and that of Jane Birkin shared an energetic romp. This was followed by the film version of the John Osborne play Inadmissible Evidence (1968) and the mystery romance Three (1969). Hills also starred, as Alison Bradley, in the The Owl Service (1969), a television adaptation of the Alan Garner novel. Other film appearances followed, including a cameo in A Clockwork Orange (1971) in which Hills played one of two girls picked up in a record shop by Alex (Malcolm McDowell).

In 1975, Hills decided to stop making films and moved to New York to work as a book and magazine illustrator.

Personal life

Gillian Hills now lives in England and is married to Stewart Young, the manager for AC/DC, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Cyndi Lauper, Foreigner, Billy Squier, Scorpions and Zucchero.

Filmography

Television

Discography

Singles and EPs:

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