The original Carry On girl, the gorgeous Shirley Eaton, celebrates a very special birthday today. Shirley will turn 80 years young! Happy Birthday!
Shirley was the original Carry On blonde, combining stunning good looks with an innocent girl next door persona which suited the early Carry Ons in which she appeared ever so well. Joining the team for their very first film, Carry On Sergeant, the 21 year old Shirley starred opposite Bob Monkhouse, Kenneth Connor and Dora Bryan. Shirley returned for a further starring role in the classic Carry On Nurse later the same year. Her final appearance in the series was a featured role in 1959's Carry On Constable, as Sally Barry.
Shirley Eaton starred in many other wonderful films during her career. She was seen in two Doctor films for Betty Box, starred alongside Dennis Price, Terry-Thomas and Peggy Mount in The Naked Truth, worked with Wilfrid Hyde White and Stanley Holloway in Ten Little Indians, co-starred with Bob and Kenneth again in Dentist On The Job and of course, starred with Sean Connery in the classic Bond film, Goldfinger in 1964. On the small screen, Shirley appeared in several episodes of The Saint with Roger Moore and was a regular cast member in Great Scott, It's Maynard with fellow Carry On actors Terry Scott and Bill Maynard.
Shirley took the brave step of retiring from acting at the peak of her fame in the late 1960s to concentrate on raising her young family. Thankfully she returned to the limelight in the late 1990s and is now a regular face at film conventions and in documentaries that focus on the very best of classic British film.
Whatever Shirley is up to today, I hope she has an excellent birthday!
It's hard to believe Shirley is 80 years old. She is still very beautiful indeed.
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