Yvonne Buckingham

Yvonne Buckingham
Born
Elizabeth D V Buckingham

(1936-03-28) 28 March 1936
Other namesYvonne Buckingham Slezynger [1]
EducationRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art, 1959–1960
OccupationFormer actress
Years active
  • 1957–1963 UK
  • 1972–1988 Brazil
Known forPortraying Christine Keeler in The Christine Keeler Story
Notable work
  • Sapphire, 1959
  • The Christine Keeler Story, 1963
Spouse
Henri Armand Slezynger
(m. 1965, divorced)
Children4

Yvonne Buckingham (née Elizabeth Buckingham, later Yvonne Slezynger; born 1936)α is a Brazil based former British actress, known for portraying Christine Keeler in the 1963 film The Christine Keeler Story.[2][3][4]

Early life

Buckingham was born Elizabeth Buckingham on the 28 March 1936 in Ripon, Yorkshire to Edward Buckingham and Mary Buckingham {née Atkinson).[5][6][7]

Career

1950s

In an early role, Buckingham played the part of a saloon girl in the Jack Lee direct film Robbery Under Arms.[8] In 1958, she played Mario's girlfriend in the comedy Next to No Time.[9] In 1959, Buckingham played the eponymous role in the film Sapphire about a young woman found murdered on Hampstead Heath, but she did not have a speaking part and appears only briefly, as a dead body and in photographs.[10][11][12]

Following her uncredited role in Our Man in Havana (1959), Buckingham enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[13][14] In 1960, Buckingham graduated with a diploma in acting.[13][14]

1960s

Buckingham had prominent roles in two 1961 films, A Question of Suspense and Murder in Eden. As a result, she forfeited £4,000 which might have been paid from an insurance policy she took out in 1958 when she was aged 20, against failure to become a star within five years.[4]

In 1962, she had a minor background role as "pretty girl" in the Neo Noir film, The Frightened City. In 1963, Buckingham played the lead role in The Keeler Affair, a film about Christine Keeler.[15][16] Before Buckingham had secured the role, it was offered to Keeler who accepted it but because the Actors Equity did not accept her application, it meant that the other cast members could not perform with her.[17]

1970s and 80s

In the late 1980s, she had a role in the Marcio Kogan, Isay Weinfeld directed film, Fogo e Paixão, which was a film about a bus tour through São Paulo where strange people are encountered. One of the tourists, a Japanese man called Kankeo (played by Ken Kaneko), filmed the event and shows it to his friends when he returns home.[18][19][20]

Personal life

In 1965, Buckingham married Belgian-Brazilian businessperson Henri Armand Slezynger in London.[21][22][23] The couple subsequently moved to São Paulo and had four children before later divorcing.[3][24][25]

Buckingham has served as the social director on the English-Speaking Union Brazil São Paulo Branch members committee .[1]

Filmography

Television
Title Episode # Role Director Year Notes #
ITV Television Playhouse The Heat of the Evening Muriel David Boisseau 1958 Season 4, Episode 15
The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre Urge To Kill Gwen Foley Vernon Sewell 1959 (Dec.) Season 1, Episode 1
Inside Story A Girl for George Gloria 1960 Season 1, Episode 5
Arthur's Treasured Volumes A Slight Case of Deception Cynthia 1960 Season 1, Episode 5 Arthur Haynes
The Benny Hill Show Episode #5.1 Various roles 1961 Season 5, Episode 1
Sir Francis Drake (TV series) Mission to Paris Heloise David Greene 1962 Season 1, Episode 20
Z Cars Winner Take All Pam Eric Hills 1962 Season 1, Episode 19
The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre The Sinister Man Miss Russell Clive Donner 1961 Season 2, Episode 7
The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre Solo for Sparrow Jenny Gordon Flemyng 1962 Season 3, Episode 5
No Hiding Place Corpse for the Cup Nora Heneghan Richard Doubleday, Richard Sidwell 1962 Season 4, Episode 26
The Valiant Varneys Episode #1.9 Peter Whitmore 1962 Season 1, Episode 9
Film
Title Role Director Year Notes #
Robbery Under Arms Saloon Girl Jack Lee 1957
Grip of the Strangler Whore Robert Day 1958
Next to No Time Mario's Girl Friend Henry Cornelius 1958
Blood of the Vampire Serving Wench Henry Cass 1958
Passport to Shame Tart Alvin Rakoff 1958
The Captain's Table Yvonne Jack Lee 1959
Room at the Top Girl at Window Jack Clayton 1959
No Trees in the Street Girl J. Lee Thompson 1959
Sapphire Sapphire Robbins Basil Dearden 1959
Desert Mice Waitress Michael Ralph 1959
Our Man in Havana Woman Carol Reed 1959
Urge to Kill Gwen Vernon Sewell 1959 (Dec.) Season 1, episode 1
The Tell-Tale Heart Mina Ernest Morris 1960
The Frightened City Pretty girl at 'Taboo Club' John Lemont 1961
The Sinister Man Miss Russell Clive Donner 1961
Murder in Eden Vicky Wolf Max Varnel 1961
A Question of Suspense Jean Forbes Max Varnel 1961
Solo for Sparrow Jenny Gordon Flemyng 1962
A Kind of Loving Barmaid John Schlesinger 1962
The Keeler Affair Christine Keeler Robert Spafford 1963 Title role
Missão: Matar Iracema Freire Campos Alberto Pieralisi 1972
Fogo e Paixão Martha Miller Marcio Kogan, Isay Weinfeld 1988

Notes

Often miscited as 1937.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "ESU Brazil's Halloween Party". ESU News. March (120). London: English-Speaking Union: 6. 2005. Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Yvonne Buckingham (1937-), Actress". Search the Collection. London: National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  3. ^ a b Xexéo, Artur (1 June 2005). "Artur Xexéo". O Globo (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Grupo de Diarios América. ProQuest 334593562. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  4. ^ a b Farmer, Richard (2017). "The Profumo affair in popular culture: The Keeler Affair (1963) and 'the commercial exploitation of a public scandal'". Contemporary British History. 31 (3): 452–470. doi:10.1080/13619462.2016.1261698.
  5. ^ "She's Launched". Learning on Screen. British Movietone News. United Kingdom: Learning on Screen - The British Universities and Colleges Film and Video Council. 26 June 1958. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  6. ^ "Elizabeth D Buckingham". Civil Registration Birth Index, Births Registered in April, May and June, 1936. 9a. United Kingdom: General Register Office: 76. 1936.
  7. ^ "RG 101/4833C Elizabeth D Buckingham". 1939 Register. Kew: National Archives.
  8. ^ John Howard Reid. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West. Page 126 Robbery Under Arms.
  9. ^ LETTERBOXD Next to No Time
  10. ^ The Baltimore Afro-American 14 November 1959 Page 19 AS SAPPHIRE
  11. ^ The Baltimore Afro-American 21 November 1959 Page 26 SAPPHIRE IS a mystery girl
  12. ^ Phil Hardy. The BFI Companion to Crime. Page 294 Le Samouraï – Scandal, Sapphire.
  13. ^ a b "Yvonne Buckingham | Student & graduate profiles". RADA. London: Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  14. ^ a b Lyon, Barbara (30 April 1961). "The Life for me - by Miss Lyon, And the ruthless challenge of Yvonne". Weekly Dispatch. No. Sunday Dispatch. London. p. 13. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  15. ^ Filmkritik, Volume 8 – Filmkritiker Kooperative, 1964 Page 222
  16. ^ Jack Stevenson. Scandinavian Blue. Page 49.
  17. ^ The Age 3 April 1963 Page 3 Australians Can See Keeler Film
  18. ^ International Film Guide, 1990 Page 95
  19. ^ 39ª MOSTRA Fogo e Paixão, Fogo e Paixão
  20. ^ Fogo e Paixão (1988), IMDb
  21. ^ "Elizabeth D V Buckingham and [Henri Armand] Slezynger". Civil Registration Index; Marriages Registered in January, February, and March 1965. 5c. United Kingdom: General Register Office: 720. 1965.
  22. ^ "Actress Marries". The Cincinnati Enquirer. No. 284. Cincinnati, Ohio. 18 January 1965. p. 5.
  23. ^ "CHERRY AND YVONNE ARE BRIDES TO-DAY". Evening News. London. 16 January 1965. p. 5. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  24. ^ Gomes, Fabiola; Ledgard, Alvaro; Almeida, Arthur (2023). "CASE PROFILE: Unigel granted preliminary creditor protection, preparing for mediation". ION Analytics. New York City: ION Group. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  25. ^ Abujamra, Adriana (23 December 2022). "Novato em lista de bilionários brasileiros, empresário escapou de Hitler e fundou uma das maiores petroquímicas do país". Valor (in Portuguese). Retrieved 9 July 2025.