Nell Campbell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nell Campbell
Born Laura Elizabeth Campbell
May 24, 1953 (1953-05-24) (age 55)
Sydney, Australia

"Little" Nell Campbell (born Laura Elizabeth Campbell, May 24, 1953) is an Australian actress, club owner and singer.

Contents

[edit] Early Life

She was born in Sydney, to Ruth and Ross Campbell, a writer, who called her "Little Nell" (after a character in Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop) in his family life column in the Sydney Daily Telegraph. Campbell has three siblings, two sisters and a brother, the older sister becoming a set designer, the younger an artist. She was never called Nell at home and was called Laura E. Campbell until around 17, when she actually went by the nickname of 'Sonny' (pronounced 'saw-nee'). She began dancing at the age of ten, after being diagnosed with Hepatitis A, to keep healthy. She attended high school at the Abbotsleigh School for Girls in Sydney.

[edit] Fame

She decided to use the name "Little Nell" as a stage name after her arrival in Britain in the early '70s with her family. She sold clothes at Kensington Market, her stall next to Freddie Mercury's. She also worked as a busker (a street performer) and her tap dancing is often noted as the reason why she was cast as Columbia in the original The Rocky Horror Show. She reprised the role in The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the end of 1974, and starred as Nurse Ansalong in the 1981 follow up, Shock Treatment.

After The Rocky Horror Picture Show, she managed to sign a recording contract with A&M Records, producing three singles. “Do The Swim” was a moderate hit in 1976, and she also created a disco version of the classic "Fever" in 1978. A fourth and last single to date, "Beauty Queen" was recorded in 1980.

Campbell has also appeared in several stage productions, including the Off-Broadway play You Should Be So Lucky and the Broadway play NINE. She co-starred as Sandra LeMon in the British TV series Rock Follies of '77.

From the mid-1980s to 1998, she eventually owned three nightclubs in New York. There was Kiosk and E&O, and she sold the most famous, (which started in 1985) called Nell's, in 1998, right before she gave birth to Matilda Violet, with Eamonn Roche, her ex-boyfriend and business partner. Nell’s was known for turning away celebrities such as Cher. At least two music videos were shot there, including one for The Notorious B.I.G and one for Dana McCoy. Nell was said to have danced on the tables, sometimes provocatively, and often perform songs on stage.

She has also written magazine articles, including regular segments called MamaTalks and FirstLook in the now defunct Talk Magazine, starting in the December 1999 issue.

Campbell returned to Australia after selling her Boerum Hill house in Brooklyn to actor Heath Ledger in December 2005.

[edit] Discography

Singles

Guest Vocals

  • Tuff Little Surfer Boy (featured as "Roxanne" for the song by Truth & Beauty) (1974)

Soundtracks & Cast Recordings

[edit] Films

[edit] Theatre

  • 1973: The Rocky Horror Show, at The Royal Court Theatre Upstairs
  • 1975: And They Used to Star in Movies, at the Soho Theatre
  • 1977: A Street Car Named Desire, at the Oxford Playhouse
  • 1978: Stoop, in London
  • 1985: Women Behind Bars, at the Footbridge Theatre at Sydney University
  • 1994: You Should Be So Lucky, off-Broadway
  • 2003: NINE, on Broadway
  • Censored Scenes From King Kong, at the Open Space Theatre

[edit] TV Roles

  • 1977: Rock Follies of '77 as Sandra LeMon
  • 1977: It'll Be Alright on The Night as Herself
  • 1979: Hazel as Pamela
  • 1979: Shoestring as Joanna Lomas
  • 1980: Dead Man's Kit as Zoe Summers
  • 1983: Bererarc as Mrs. Moberley
  • 1984: TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes as Herself
  • 1987: Saturday Night Live as Herself
  • 1993: Tracy Takes On New York
  • 1995: Rocky Horror Double Feature Video Show as Herself
  • 2001: Visible Panty Lines as Herself

[edit] External links

Languages