Vera Day

Acting

Vera Day

Born 1935-08-04 · London, England, UK

A highly photogenic blonde starlet of the 1950s, petite, buxom Vera Day was once touted as Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe. Having dropped out of school at the age of 15, she had tried her hand in retail and hospitality before finding steadier employment as a beauty parlour assistant and hairdresser's model. Modelling then became her full-time occupation, but Vera had loftier ambitions. Answering an ad for showgirls in a theatrical publication, she went on to audition for bandleader and impresario Jack Hylton. Hylton was sufficiently impressed by her looks and self-assurance to cast her in his West End stage production of Wish You Were Here at the London Casino in 1953. This was followed a year later by a small supporting part (Valerie) in Pal Joey at the Princes Theatre. That same year, Vera married pugilist and bodybuilder Arthur Mason, took on the role of his manager and made her motion picture debut in Dance Little Lady (1954). Resisting offers for grittier, more down-to-earth roles, Vera was happy to be typecast on the screen as glamour girls and dizzy blondes: Mimi in A Kid for Two Farthings (1955), Marilyn's colleague Betty in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) (wearing a brown wig, so as not to upstage her illustrious co-star), Sheila, a local barmaid, in Quatermass 2 (1957), a hooker in The Flesh Is Weak (1957) and a singer who falls victim to Boris Karloff in Grip of the Strangler (1958). A rare leading role came her way in Womaneater (1958), a rather ludicrous low-budget horror offering about a carnivorous tree and (of course) a mad scientist (played by George Coulouris). Little is remembered about this film, except for Vera's tight-fitting sweater and bullet bra. For television, Vera first appeared in an episode of Britain's first soap opera, The Grove Family (1954). Her later guest spots included Dixon of Dock Green (1955), No Hiding Place (1959), The Saint (1962) and The Bill (1984). After a hiatus of 34 years, Vera came out of retirement to play the role of Tanya in Guy Ritchie's gangster epic Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998).

Acting credits

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels poster
8.1

A card shark and his unwillingly-enlisted friends need to make a lot of cash quick after losing a sketchy poker match. To do this they decide to pull a heist on a small-time gang who happen to be operating out of the flat next door.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

1998

Quatermass 2 poster
6.4

In England, a group of space scientists led by Bernard Quatermass, who have developed plans for the first Moon colony, learn that a secret, ostensibly government-run, complex of identical design has been built in a remote part of England and is the focus of periodic falls of small, hollow "meteorites" originating in outer space. Quatermass determines to investigate and uncovers a terrifying extraterrestrial life form which has already begun action to take over the Earth.

Quatermass 2

1957

The Prince and the Showgirl poster
6.4

An American showgirl becomes entangled in political intrigue when the Prince Regent of a foreign country attempts to seduce her.

The Prince and the Showgirl

1957

Hell Drivers poster
6.7

An ex-con trying to go clean ends up working for a crooked trucking company swindling money.

Hell Drivers

1957

A Kid for Two Farthings poster
6.7

Joe is a young boy who lives with his mother, Joanna, in working-class London. The two reside above the tailor shop of Mr. Kandinsky, who likes to tell Joe stories. When Kandinsky informs Joe that a unicorn can grant wishes, the hopeful lad ends up buying a baby goat with one tiny horn, believing it to be a real unicorn. Undaunted by his rough surroundings, Joe sets about to prove that wishes can come true.

A Kid for Two Farthings

1955

I Was Monty's Double poster
6.9

The incredible but true story of how an impersonator was recruited to impersonate General Montgomery to mislead the Germans about his intentions before the North Africa campaign.

I Was Monty's Double

1958

The Riddle poster
4.8

A journalist investigates a series of murders that follows the discovery of an unpublished novel by Charles Dickens in the cellar of an old Thames pub.

The Riddle

2007

And the Same to You poster
5.9

Dickie Dreadnought is the boxing-mad nephew of pious clergyman Reverend Sydney Mullet. To mollify his disapproving uncle, Dickie embarks on an elaborate plan to keep his budding boxing career a secret, with he and his tough-talking promoter Wally Burton both pretending to be devout 'men of the cloth'.

And the Same to You

1960

The Crowded Day poster
5.8

One day in the lives and loves of the staff in a large department store.

The Crowded Day

1954

No artwork available
NR

George Watson's domestic bliss is shattered when his wife discovers he has broken his promise never to gamble again.

A Clean Sweep

1958

Too Many Crooks poster
7.4

Accident-prone Fingers runs a pretty unsuccessful gang. They try and rob wealthy but tricky Billy Gordon - who distrusts banks and fears the Inland Revenue - but he sees Fingers and the boys off. So they decide to kidnap his daughter, only to end up with his wife Lucy. Gordon makes out he couldn't be more pleased, spuring Lucy to take charge of the hopeless bunch of villains.

Too Many Crooks

1959

Stars in Your Eyes poster
6.7

A group of feisty, talented young performers pool their resources and buy a dilapidated theatre to showcase their acts – but unscrupulous property developers also want the theatre and resort to dirty tricks to disrupt the first night's performance!

Stars in Your Eyes

1956

Watch It, Sailor! poster
7.0

Sailor Albert gets a message from the Navy saying he can't marry for certain unexplained legal reasons. Everyone, including his domineering mother-in-law to be, jumps to the conclusion that there must be another woman involved.

Watch It, Sailor!

1961

The Flesh Is Weak poster
5.9

Giani is a pimp who preys on the naïve, ‘just off the bus’ young women who come to post-war London for fortune.

The Flesh Is Weak

1957

Womaneater poster
4.6

A mad scientist captures women and feeds them to a flesh-eating tree, which in turn gives him a serum that helps bring the dead back to life.

Womaneater

1958

A Stitch in Time poster
7.4

An accident in the butchers shop leads Norman Pitkin and Mr Grimsdale to the hospital where, after causing the normal amount of chaos, Pitkin finds Lindy, a little girl who hasn't spoken or smiled since her parents were killed in an aeroplane accident. Pitkin decides to help.

A Stitch in Time

1963

Grip of the Strangler poster
6.0

A researcher investigating a notorious serial killer who was hanged 20 years earlier seemingly becomes possessed by the long dead strangler.

Grip of the Strangler

1958

Up the Creek poster
6.0

Bumbling navy officer Lieutenant Humphrey Fairweather (David Tomlinson) is transferred to HMS Berkeley, an old World War II destroyer, to keep him out of harm's way. But together with Chief Petty Officer Doherty (Peter Sellers), Fairweather gets into more trouble than might be thought possible, with events coming to a riotous conclusion when the Admiralty turn up for an inspection of the ship.

Up the Creek

1958

Fun at St. Fanny's poster
5.8

Gormless 25 year-old Cardew, wealthy beneficiary of the Robinson Will, should have left St. Fanny's School many years ago. However, seedy headmaster Dr. Jankers (music hall favourite Fred Emney) is in the toils of shady bookmaker Harry the Scar (boxer Freddie Mills) and has so-far kept his golden goose perched firmly at the bottom of the class. Blissfully unaware of nefarious intrigue around him, Cardew continues to flirt coyly with the French mistress and gamble for school dinners on the form room roulette wheel. But canny Scots solicitor McTavish has been sent to investigate... Featuring television's Billy Bunter, Gerald Campion, gorgeous Vera Day, Will Hay cohort Claude Hulbert, muddle-mouthed Stanley Unwin, a young Ronnie Corbett, and enough old jokes to fill a Christmas Cracker factory.

Fun at St. Fanny's

1955

Dance Little Lady poster
7.8

When a ballerina's career is ended after she's injured in a traffic accident, her husband decides to try and turn their young daughter into a ballet star. Drama.

Dance Little Lady

1954

It's a Great Day poster
6.4

Big screen spin off from the BBC TV series The Grove Family, ostensibly the first British soap opera. Bob Grove, a builder has problems with the council, over building supplies that he needs to complete a job on a local housing estate. Under pressure to finish the job, his son gets them from a local crook. When the council find out, they call in the police, so the Grove family get together, to clear themselves, in time for the grand opening.

It's a Great Day

1955

The Trunk poster
6.5

An attorney's former mistress and his friend feign her death in order to bilk his new bride of 2,000 pounds.

The Trunk

1962

Saturday Night Out poster
6.0

Five seamen and a passenger are intent on making the most of the 14 hours they will spend in London.

Saturday Night Out

1964

Hammer Glamour poster
7.0

This documentary features interviews with several leading ladies from Hammer's peak period, who share illuminating and amusing anecdotes about the various films they worked on.

Hammer Glamour

2013