The 'funny' reason Diana Dors changed her name

Described as Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe, the "blonde bombshell" Diana Dors changed her last name before she made it big in Hollywood.

The Swindon-born actress starred in films including Alfred Hitchcock's Run for Doom and appeared on the front of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover before she died in 1984.

Forty years on, some of Ms Dors' closest friends and family have spoken to BBC Radio Wiltshire about the real person behind the showbiz glitz and glamour.

Nick Owen, who worked with the star later in her life, said he loved that she had changed her name for a "funny" reason.

The singer and actress was originally called Diana Fluck around the time she got her first lead role in the film Romance on the High Seas.

"She herself said she always worried if she became a big star, and that was the target, but she'd always worry that if she became a big star and her name was up in neon lights and the bulb went on the L, that it would be embarrassing," said Mr Owen.

"I loved that," he added.

Ms Dors was proud of coming from Swindon, say her family, but her relationship with her hometown had not always gone smoothly.

The mayor accused her of bringing shame on the town when stories of her "adult" parties became public.

Actor and singer Jess Conrad, who was friends with the star, remembers TV presenter David Jacobs arriving at one of her afternoon parties.

"He arrived thinking, like they all thought, but they were always wrong, that he should get his clothes off straight away," said Mr Conrad.

"He took his clothes off in the hall.

"In he went and they were all beautifully dressed. It was tea time."

Ms Dors apparently introduced her guest, saying: "You have a thrill this afternoon. David Jacobs in the nude."

"It was so funny. He was so embarrassed," added Mr Conrad.

In 1978, Diana Dors returned to Swindon to sign copies of her book and was asked if it had always been her "burning ambition" to get away and "become a big star".

"Oh yes," she said, adding it had been "inevitable".

She said the town had given her happy and sad memories after losing her parents, so she did not return very regularly.

A statue of the actress was brought to the town in 1991, with a bronze bust placed in Swindon Museum and Art Gallery in 2015.

Then, in 2017, a blue plaque was unveiled on the building where the actress was born.

"The people of Swindon these days are extremely proud of having her," said her granddaughter Ruby Lake.

Anna Cale, who wrote a book about Ms Dors, said "she had a big shock" when she moved to London aged 14 with dreams of making it as a movie star.

"It was not the big glamourous experience she was expecting," she said.

"She lived in a socio-boarding house for young girls and had to scrimp and save."

After the film Yield to the Night came out in 1956, "audiences really took to her and critics were really complimentary, it opened the door to Hollywood", she explained.

Ms Lake added: "I think they expected her to be this sort of blonde bimbo, but actually she was an incredibly sharp and intelligent woman.

"When anyone tried to make her feel uncomfortable, she was always able to bite back in a very classy way."

Mr Conrad was a constant companion to Ms Dors throughout her life, describing their friendship as "very, very close".

He said she was "very funny and very showbiz".

She was like "one of the chaps," he added.

Following huge success on screen, but strained marriages to Dennis Hamilton and Richard Dawson, Diana Dors met her third and final husband Alan Lake in 1968.

"They were very much in love," said Ms Cale.

"It really gave her confidence, I think, in her acting career."

She started to find success as more of a character actor towards the end of the 60s, she explained.

"She did some really interesting roles," Ms Cale said.

That included an appearance on Top of the Pops in 1981 before she was given a regular slot hosting a dieting segment on TV-am with Nick Owen in 1983.

"I got to know her really well. She was a lovely person," he said.

Ms Dors was diagnosed with cancer in 1982 and while filming the movie Steaming in 1984, she was told it had spread and she had just weeks to live.

"I think I must have done one of the last interviews with her," said Mr Owen.

"She was very open and honest. It was very moving and I felt really quite upset as I left her."

Diana Dors died on 4 May 1984 in hospital in Windsor, aged 52.

"She just drifted away," said Mr Conrad.

"Diana Dors died in my arms and she looked wonderful."

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