MANDY Rice-Davies, the blonde showgirl at the centre of the Profumo affair
that nearly toppled the Government, has died at the age of 70.
The former model and dancer was a key figure in the scandal that featured call
girls, Soviet spies and high society orgies.
It brought Harold Macmillan’s government to its knees, hastened the end of 13
years of Tory rule and the start of the swinging Sixties and left Mandy
branded one of the most notorious women in Britain.
But she shrugged off her reputation and became a successful actress, author
and businesswoman who described her life post-Profumo as “one slow descent
into respectability”. Mandy, who was married three times, died on Thursday.
A spokesman for her PR agency Hackford Jones said yesterday: “It is with deep
sadness that the family of Marilyn Foreman — also known as Mandy Rice-Davies
— have confirmed that she passed away yesterday evening after a short battle
with cancer.”
She was 19 when her pal Christine Keeler was exposed for having an affair with
British war minister John Profumo — while she was also said to be sleeping
with Soviet naval attache Yevgeny Ivanov.
Because it was the height of the Cold War, the story was political dynamite.
Profumo initially denied the affair in the House of Commons and was later
forced to resign.
The scandal also sparked a series of political events that led to Harold
Macmillan’s resignation.
Profumo and Christine were introduced at a party by osteopath Stephen Ward —
and he was later taken to court.
Mandy and Christine were branded call girls and Ward was accused of living off
their “immoral earnings”.
During the Old Bailey trial Mandy was told Lord Astor — a pal of Ward — had
denied having an affair with her.
The unimpressed teenager reduced the courtroom to howls of laughter when she
replied: “Well he would, wouldn’t he?”
Her response — which made the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations — seemed to sum
up the younger generation’s disrespectful attitude to the establishment.
Tragic Ward took an overdose during the court case. He was taken to hospital
and found guilty in his absence, but died days later.
The scandal also earned Mandy a reputation as one of the leaders of the
Sixties sexual revolution.
But she later insisted the decade’s saucy reputation was overstated. She said:
“In those days there were good girls and there were bad girls.
“Good girls didn’t have any sex at all and bad girls had a bit.”
After the trial Christine, now 72, slid into a life of obscurity.
Mandy became a cabaret singer and moved to Germany. From there she travelled
to Spain and Israel where, at 21, she wed ex-air steward Rafael Shaul.
They set up a string of clubs and restaurants and Mandy started acting in
Israeli theatre.
But after daughter Dana, now 46, was born, Mandy and Rafael split.
In 1978 she married French restaurateur, Jean-Charles Lefevre.
When that ended after less than a year, she returned to Britain and landed
several acting jobs.
Mandy appeared in a number of TV shows, including Absolutely Fabulous. Her
movies included Absolute Beginners in 1986.
She wrote her autobiography Mandy in 1980 and nine years later wrote novel The
Scarlet Thread.
Her third husband was businessman Ken Foreman, chairman of Attwoods waste
disposal group.
The couple, who got married in 1988, had three homes in London, Miami and the
Bahamas and used to holiday with Margaret Thatcher.
It was a big step up for the policeman’s daughter from Solihull. Mandy said
she wished the events of 1963 had never happened.
She insisted: “The only reason I still want to talk about it is that I have to
fight the misconception that I was a prostitute.
“I don’t want that to be passed on to my grandchildren.”
She was involved in the development of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Stephen
Ward, which opened last December.
She also campaigned to clear Ward’s name at a 2013 press conference for a book
that claimed he was innocent.
Mandy once revealed: “My biggest fear was living a drab, boring life. Well, I
certainly didn’t end up doing that.”
She could have run the country
By ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER, Composer and friend
ANDREW Lloyd Webber, who wrote the Profumo-inspired musical Stephen Ward,
spoke of his “dear friend” Mandy Rice-Davies.
He said: “I am deeply sad to hear the news about Mandy. I would have written
Stephen Ward five times over just to have met this life-enhancing woman.
“Mandy was enormously well-read and intelligent. I will always remember
discussing with her subjects as varied as Thomas Cromwell’s dissolution of
the monasteries and the influence of the artist Stanley Spencer on Lucian
Freud.
“With a different throw of the dice, Mandy might have been head of the Royal
Academy or even running the country.”
John Profumo
PROFUMO became a Tory MP at 25 and War Secretary in 1960.
He was tipped as a future PM but had to quit after his affair with Keeler was
revealed.
He spent the rest of his life doing charity work. Profumo died in 2006 aged
91.
Christine Keeler
KEELER met Stephen Ward in a Soho cabaret club and he introduced her to
Profumo in 1961.
Since the scandal she has worked in a dry cleaner’s shop, sold advertising and
been a school dinner lady.
She is 72 and lives alone in South London.
Stephen Ward
WARD was a society osteopath who met Keeler when she was 17.
When the Profumo-Keeler affair became public, Ward was charged with
immorality.
During his 1963 trial he took an overdose and died. He was found guilty “in
absentia”.