Abstract

As with many film stars, Diana Dors embodied a set of contradictions, one of which was that despite her highly constructed glamorous image (based on a Hollywood model of a sex symbol, more specifically the ‘Blonde Bombshell’) she still registered for British audiences as real, authentic and ordinary. This was most clearly exploited in her star vehicle Yield to the Night (J. Lee Thompson, 1956). Here, as I will discuss in this paper, she appeared to expose the real person behind the glamorous sexy image that had been circulating widely in films, publicity and promotional photographs, as well as public appearances, for several years prior to the release of this film. The movie also conveys a strong sense of the real life of a celebrity (i.e., under constant surveillance, constantly attended to but with a high risk of punishment and destruction), that makes this remarkable film a key text for thinking about celebrity and stardom.