Meet The British Marilyn Monroe: Diana Dors And Her Strange And Troubled Life

Born Diana Fluck on October 23, 1931, Diana Dors was possibly the product of an affair that her mother had been having with her lodger. Like Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, Dors became enraptured by the silver screen, with her heroines being the likes of Veronica Lake, Lana Turner, and Jean Harlow. She couldn’t see herself embracing a traditional life, and craved a life of fame and fortune. 

Towards the end of the Second World War, 14-year-old Diana entered a pin-up girl contest for Soldier Magazine. She won third-place and seized the opportunity to join the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), becoming the college's youngest student, starting in January 1946.

Diana made her first on-screen debut in 1947 and was offered a film contract. It was decided that she would change her name from Fluck to Dors, as she later explained, “I suppose they were afraid that if my real name Diana Fluck was in lights and one of the lights blew…” 

The Slow Path to Stardom

At the age of 15, Diana signed a contract with the J. Arthur Rank Organization (Britain's major film studio), and joined Rank's "Charm School" for young actors. She appeared in several films, often being dubbed the “best thing” in these pictures. Despite only being a teenager, she was already being described as being “all woman.”

Her first leading role was in the 1949 film Diamond City, but the film was a critical and commercial failure. It was also during this time that Diana is reported to have had her first illegal abortion on a kitchen table which cost her £10.00 (the equivalent of over £200 today). 

Her boyfriend Michael Caborn-Waterfield had arranged for the abortion. Already, Diana was being controlled by a domineering partner, a pattern that would sadly follow her throughout her adult life.

In 1951, Diana’s luck changed and she starred in the comedy film Worm's Eye View, which was one of the most popular films at the British Box Office. She auditioned for the lead in Lady Godiva Rides Again, but was given a supporting role instead. 

A Rocky and Abusive First Marriage

In 1951, Diana met Dennis Hamilton Gittins on the set of Lady Godiva Rides Again. He managed to charm his way into her life, and they were married five weeks after meeting. Hamilton immediately took control of managing her stardom, deciding what roles she could and couldn’t accept. Diana would later claim that she didn’t even love her new husband, and in her own words described herself as “the fly caught in the spider’s web.” 

In 1954, Hamilton had the idea of exploiting the new trend of 3D photography along with his wife. He arranged for a series of nude and semi-nude photographs of Diana to be shot and be published as Diana Dors in 3D. From that time on, she was known as Britain’s answer to Marilyn Monroe. 

Hamilton was most likely behind her decision to turn down a seven-year contract with Rank, worth £100,000 (the equivalent of over £2.6 million in today’s money). Everything about Hamilton’s involvement with Diana’s career was to make him money. He arranged for her to have at least one more abortion, to avoid motherhood ruining her career. 

The Failure to Break Hollywood 

Desperate to prove her worth as a serious actress, Diana went onto star in the highly acclaimed Yield to the Night in 1956, which was nominated for Palme d'Or at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. Her performance caught the attention of Hollywood, and she decided to venture there. As you can probably guess, things didn’t go according to plan.

In 1956, Diana signed a contract with the Hollywood studio RKO and made a couple of movies, The Unholy Wife and I Married a Woman, both of which were poorly received. Diana later claimed that starring in the films had damaged her career. She was even offered a contract that stated she would have a starring role, on the condition she divorced Hamilton. She refused, and the role went to another actress. 

Diana’s relationship with Hamilton reached a boiling point at a pool party in August 1956. While lining up to have her photo taken, Diana was pushed, along with her husband, fully clothed into the swimming pool. What should have been a fun and harmless photo op quickly became soured when Hamilton proceeded to emerge from the pool and punch a photographer. 

Guests apparently left in a hurry, and as a result, the National Enquirer ran a headline: "Miss Dors Go Home—And Take Mr. Dors With You." It was clear that the couple had outstayed their welcome.

The Scandals Continue 

Due to her films flopping, RKO decided to terminate Diana’s contract with them in December 1958, alleging she “has become an object of disgrace, obloquy, ill will and ridicule.” Enough was enough for Diana, and she decided to separate from Hamilton. Upon separating from her husband, she discovered that her company Diana Dors Ltd was in serious debt. 

In desperate need of cash, she gave an interview for News of the World, detailing her and Hamilton’s wild sex parties. The interview was serialized in the tabloid for 12 weeks. She was famously condemned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who called her a “wayward hussy,” following revelations in the paper. 

It was revealed that in October 1952, the couple had a joint birthday party where they invited 80 “unshockable” guests along with “20 top-notch prostitutes.” In one bedroom, there was a circular bed with a two-way mirror above it through which the host and invited guests could view the activities below. 

Though she never publicly revealed their names, Diana often joked that, if she was to name all of the well-known people who’d had sex in her house, she’d have been able to publish “my own version of Who’s Who.” According to Diana’s third son, she may have never participated in any of the sex acts, but she did record them for her own personal collection. 

In 1959, Hamilton died unexpectedly. Although the two of them had been living separately, they were still technically married, and Diana inherited Hamilton’s debts. Later, during her bankruptcy trial in the late 1960s, she stated that when her marriage to Hamilton had ended, she had signed away £100,000 worth of assets “at the point of a gun.” 

The Final Years

In 1968, Diana married Alan Lake, her third husband and the man she claimed was the love of her life. The couple had a son, Jason Dors-Lake, in 1969 (Diana already had two children from her second marriage to Richard Dawson). Despite now having a child in her house full time, the orgies allegedly continued up until her death in 1984. 

At the age of 10, Jason was shown pornography and would later witness group sex sessions taking place at the house. As he would later explain, he “thought it was completely normal. It was definitely not how a child should be brought up.” Jason had also been subjected to drugs, and was ”smoking pot” at 9 years old. Later in life he would develop drug and alcohol addictions. 

The parties came to an end in 1984, when Diana died at the age of 52 from ovarian cancer. After her death, Alan Lake became deeply depressed and burned all of her clothes. On October 10, after conducting a telephone interview with a journalist, Lake walked into Jason’s bedroom and committed suicide by firing a shotgun into his mouth. Their son, Jason, was just 15 years old.

In 2015, Chloe Black claimed that she had been sexually abused by Diana Dors and Alan Lake and strangely started a relationship with Jason. Their relationship was turbulent to say the least, and resulted in Jason being accused of physical violence, which he was ultimately found not guilty of committing. When asked about the allegations of his parents being pedophiles, Jason stated, “I was exposed to a lot of things when I was younger, but never anything between adults and children.”

Closing Thoughts

With all of this being said, I can’t help but feel sympathy for Diana Dors. Her beauty and sexuality were consistently exploited by the men she loved and trusted most. However, the biggest victim was Jason, who was unable to fight his own demons and took his own life in 2019. Fame doesn’t just damage the star, but impacts the lives of all those who surround them. I’m left haunted by Jason’s own words, “Maybe it would have been better for me if Mum hadn’t been famous. I would have had my innocence.” I can’t help thinking that he’s right. 

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