Madeline Smith

Who is Madeline Smith?

Madeline Smith is an English actress. Having been a model in the late 1960s she appeared in many television series and stage productions, plus comedy and horror films, in the 1970s and '80s.

She was born in Hartfield, Sussex. Her father owned an antiques shop near Kew Gardens and in her late teens she had a temporary job at Biba, the famous boutique located on Kensington High Street, London. It was at the instigation of Barbara Hulanicki, founder of Biba, that she became a model. In the late 1960s and early '70s, she was regularly featured in the work of Disc cartoonist J Edward Oliver, who on one occasion devoted an entire strip to her entitled 'The Life and Habits of the Madeline Smith'.

She first worked for Hammer Film Productions in Taste the Blood of Dracula, billed as 'Maddy Smith' and playing an East End prostitute. Among her other film appearances, she played opposite Ava Gardner in Tam-Lin, Peter Cushing in The Vampire Lovers and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, Diana Dors in The Amazing Mr Blunden, Frankie Howerd in Up Pompeii and Up the Front, and Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood. In 1973 she played the Bond girl Miss Caruso in the post-titles sequence of Live and Let Die, the first James Bond film starring Roger Moore. She was recommended for the role by Moore himself, having previously appeared with him in an episode of The Persuaders! on TV.