Heather Deeley

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Heather Deeley, born 1956 in Suffolk, was an actress in 1970s British sex comedies best known for playing the lead role in Derek Ford’s 1975 film Sex Express a.k.a. Diversions[1]. 1975 was her big year as an actress during which time she appeared in five films (aside from Sex Express the others were Erotic Inferno, Girls Come First, I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight and Secrets of a Superstud). Erotic Inferno in which she co-starred with the similarly ill-fated Mary Millington, was also notable for being one of the few British sex films to have been viewed by moral reformer Lord Longford, who saw the film and two others to gain first hand experience of sex films in order to then morally condemn them. Cinema X magazine praised Deeley’s performance as an “AC/DC minx” in the film, Lord Longford’s opinion of her acting is not recorded. Secrets of a Superstud was shot at Twickenham Film Studios as “Custer’s 13”, the asexual shooting title acting as a cover to hide the fact that a pornographic version of the film was also being produced.

By the year’s end Heather was being dubbed Britain’s next big sex symbol, on account of her more than competent acting and lack of inhibitions (she was openly bisexual and performed in hardcore scenes of most of her films). Her boyfriend of the time was however heavily into drugs and through him she developed an addition to cocaine, and began to gain a reputation for being unreliable. In her final film 1977’s Hardcore she is relegated to a bit part, and failed to show up on set for a further film. According to David McGillivray’s book Doing Rude Things, after her 1977 “disappearance” Heather was briefly sighted working in a Soho peep show, apart from that no one has heard from her in over thirty years and the question “Whatever happened to Heather Deeley” remains unanswered to this day. In the book McGillivray dubs her one of the casualties of British sex films “Heather Deeley had a meteoric career lasting two years, was washed up at the age of 21, and is now completely forgotten.”

[edit] Unreleased Films

Apart from the films of hers that were released, Heather also appeared in a film called Pink Orgasm, which was filmed during Heather’s big year 1975, but was never completed or released. In it Heather was to have played several roles including the wife of a character played by Victor Spinetti and Eve (as in Adam and Eve). The film also starred Julia Bond, Steve Amber and US porn actor Harry Reems. With the exception of Spinetti most of the cast were seasoned hardcore performers, indicating that the film would have been also filmed in a harder version for export. The animator Bob Godfrey was to have provided X-rated cartoon inserts for the film and the film would have also used music by the band Aphrodite’s Child. Director David Grant (producer) lost interest in completing the film, although 15 minutes of material was shown to the press in 1975 and the film was written up in Cinema X magazine (vol8, no5), which also published several stills from the film.

In addition the British Film Institute credits Deeley with appearing in a film called The Session (1974)[2]. “The adventures of a harassed photographer, his girlfriend and his two models on a boat trip” the film also stars Ava Cadell and Andee Cromarty. However the film was never submitted to the British censor indicating that like Pink Orgasm it was never completed/released.

[edit] References

Sheridan, Simon 2005. Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema Reynolds & Hearn Books ISBN 1-903111-92-7
McGillivray, David 1992. Doing Rude Things: The History of the British Sex Film 1957-1981 Sun Tavern Fields Books
Cinema X Magazine 1975 Vol 7. No 7. “Lord Longford’s Selection: Erotic Inferno”
Cinema X Magazine 1976 Vol.8 No.5 “Pink Orgasm”