Suzy Mandel

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Jacqueline Ann Elaine Jefcoate, better known as Suzy Mandel is an ex-actress and model best known for her roles in 1970’s British sex comedies like Confessions of a Driving Instructor (1976), Come Play with Me (1977), The Playbirds (1978) and for her appearances on The Benny Hill Show.

Born in 1955 in London (some sources claim the Isle of Sheppey) Suzy began her career as a coat model then worked in modeling lingerie winning such prestigious awards as ‘Miss Teenage London’, ‘Miss Benson and Hedges’ and ‘Miss TV Times’ (broadcast on UK television in 14/06/1974 and presented by Hughie Green). Her acting career in British sex comedies began in 1976, and soon brought her to the attention of The Benny Hill Show. She appears in multiple roles in two episodes of the 1977 series (broadcast in the UK 26/01/1977 and 23/03/1977)[1] [2][3]. A firm favorite of both British sex film directors and audiences alike Suzy was soon receiving equal billing to Mary Millington, the UK’s biggest sex symbol of the 1970s. She also had her own comic strip and a racehorse named after her [4].

In 1979 she married wealthy American film financer Stanley Margolis, who had ties with Tigon British Film Productions the company that released some of Suzy’s best known films, and would later co-produce the 1993 film True Romance. The couple emigrated to America soon after, where Suzy restarted her acting career appearing in films like The Private Eyes (1981), Mistress of the Apes as well as a walk-on on TV’s The Love Boat. She also appeared in the 1980 hardcore film Blonde Ambition [5](released in the UK as Can I Come Again?), playing Sugar Cane, one half of a talentless duo of singers who become embroiled in the search for a missing brooch. Directed by the eccentric Amero Brothers, the role entailed Suzy to strip while ice-skating, impersonate a drag queen, play the tuba and perform in hardcore scenes- however it should be noted that she used a body double for the latter.

Suzy disappeared from the screen in the mid-eighties, and began working behind the scenes co-producing Love Bites, starring Adam Ant, in 1993. She and Margolis divorced the following year.

In 1996 Suzy claimed in the British Newspaper The People (in an article entitled “Ex-Hill’s Angel Suzy is a real Angel of Mercy”), that she had quit showbiz to work as a Nurse caring for people dying from AIDS after several of her friends had passed away due to the disease. However in 2006 it was discovered she was now working as a production assistant to Adult Video director Jennifer James on a series entitled ‘Inside Erotica’ and has subsequently been spotted at several adult industry socials [6].