Hello I'm Kirstie Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1993 and the presenter was Sue Lolly. My castaway this week is an actress, abandoned by her parents and brought up in children's homes in the north of

England, her beauty and determination attracted the attention of photographers and

film directors. In the 60s she was said to be Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe,

starring in films such as the entertainer and Saturday night and Sunday morning.

She always hoped her fame would help her

career has been accompanied by a search for her roots and for security.

Recent audiences have seen her in the films My Beautiful Laundrette

and Hear My Song,

and this year on television in the character of Mrs Bolton the housekeeper in Lady Chatelis lover.

She is Shirley Ann Field.

Mrs Bolton was a different role Shirley Ann from one you'd ever played before, really,

really quite matronly. Yes, she was. Did you have to think twice before taking it?

No, I wanted to work with Ken Russell. I had to think twice about looking at myself in my costume and my makeup because it was quite a different look for me and it took some time to get ready.

But it gave me a great insight into how people react to women who don't

physically, immediately excite them.

A lot of my girlfriends have told me that when you reach a certain age you become invisible

and I've always said rubbish but when I played Mrs Bolton people never noticed me unless I spoke

people who'd always open doors for me and taken care of me, just odd little things.

So this was a completely new experience?

Very new and I hadn't realized before that I may have been spoiled and not realized it.

...