Christine Norden

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Christine Norden (born Mary Lydia Thornton) (December 25, 1924 - 21 September 1988) was a British actress.

She was the daughter of a Sunderland bus driver. Her best known appearances were in An Ideal Husband, Mine Own Executioner and Saints and Sinners, an ex-dancer and singer she was typically cast as a brazen seductress.

She became the first entertainer to land on Normandy beaches after D-Day.

She was the mistress of mogul Alexander Korda, who signed her to a seven year contract after allegedly discovered her in 1947 standing in a theatre ticket queue.

She won a British National Film Award in 1949 for her performance in Saints and Sinners. In 1952, she went to New York to begin working on Broadway. She remained until the 1970s when she returned to London to work on stage, screen, and television. She may be the world's only former screen sex goddess to have a mathematical formula named in her honor -- her fifth husband devised the formula.

She was known for her 39 inch breasts and racy image - something enhanced by an onscreen appearance whip-fighting another actress. She was open about her bisexuality^{[citation needed]}, though was married five times. She is reported to have had an affairs with Richard Burton and Ava Gardner, whom she would never discuss in interview, along with Prince Philip. She was also the first actress to appear topless on Broadway. After a bypass surgery, she died of pneumonia at 63.

Her memoirs were discovered after she died, but were considered too racy to be published at the time. Her friend, and royal biographer, Michael Thornton, to whom they were left, has now made part of the story public.