Gillian Hills
Gillian Hills (born 5 June 1944) is a British 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".
