Jill Adams

For the artist, seeJill Adams (artist).

Jill Adams
Born	Jillian Mary Marguerite Siggins (1930-07-22)22 July 1930 London,England
Died	13 May 2008(2008-05-13)(aged 77) Clareance,Portugal
Other names	Elizabeth Gillian
Occupation(s)	Model,actress,restaurateur
Years active	1953–2000
Spouses	Jim Adams ​ (m.1951⁠–⁠1953)​ Peter Haigh ​ (m.1957⁠–⁠1976)​
Parent(s)	Molly Adair Arthur James Siggins

Jill Adams(22 July 1930 – 13 May 2008) was an Englishactress,artistandfashion model.She featured or starred in over 25 films during the 1950s and 1960s.

Early life

Jill Adams was bornJill SigginsinLondonin 1930, the daughter of the silent-screen actressMolly Adair(real name Mary Marguerite Potter). Jill's New Zealand-born father, Arthur James Siggins, had met the Irish-American Adair when she was on location filmingThe Blue Lagoon(1923). Siggins, a former member of theBritish South Africa Policeand an expert animal handler, worked on the filmThe Four Feathers(1921), and later wrote a book about the experience,Shooting with Rifle and Camera.

Jill was one of four children. When she was six years old, Jill moved to Wales where she continued her education, after which she worked for four years on a farm. Her ambition was to become an artist, and she moved to London to pursue that career, taking work as a sales assistant, secretary, and window dresser. After working as a window dresser, by 1944 Adams was an assistant artist at Mr & Mrs Jones, a department store, where she was required to attend fashion shows and sketch the clothes. One day a model failed to arrive, and Adams, found to be the perfect size, stepped in, thus beginning her modelling career, which included a flag-hoisting recruitment poster for theWomen's Royal Naval Service.During her modelling days she was 'discovered' and began an acting career that spanned two decades.

Film career

The same year, Jill Adams had a part in a late-night stage revue,On with the New,starring Anthony Newley, and she began taking bit roles in movies– dancing withNigel PatrickinForbidden Cargo,appearing inThe Young Lovers(1954),The Black Knight(1954),Out of the Clouds(1955), theArthur AskeycomedyThe Love Match(1955), and inDoctor at Sea(1955) withDirk Bogarde.She also appeared in episodes of the television seriesThe ViseandAggie.

Adams had one of her first substantial roles in the sprightly "Quota quickie"movieOne Jump Ahead(1955), in a rare villainous portrayal as a murderess who was once an old flame of a reporter (Paul Carpenter) who is usually "one jump ahead" of the police. Adams was one ofRex Harrison's seven wives in the sophisticated comedyThe Constant Husband(1955).

Her most notable films werecomedies,at which she excelled, such asDoctor at Sea(1955),Value for Money(1955),Private's Progress(1956),Brothers in Law(1957) andThe Green Man(1956), in which she starred withAlastair SimandGeorge Cole.She also did some stage and radio work.

Adams had the leading role in a low budget crime filmOne Way Out(1955) and a TV seriesWideawake(1957). She had roles in episodes ofMy Pal BobandEducated Evans.

Adams appeared with Richard Attenborough inThe Scamp(1957), and was given star billing in an Australian movie,Dust in the Sun(1958), but it had limited distribution.

In 1960/61 she featured in a television series,The Flying Doctor,based on the real-life activities of theRoyal Flying Doctor Serviceserving the Australian outback, but filmed in Australia.

Her career at this point seemed to lose direction.Death Over My Shoulder(1958) andCrosstrap(1960) had been poor "B" movies, and her roles inCarry On Constable(1960) andDoctor in Distress(1963) were small.The Yellow Teddy Bears(1963) was an exploitation thriller (its US title wasGutter Girls), and her small role inPromise Her Anything(1965), starringWarren BeattyandLeslie Caron,was to be her last.

Personal life

In 1951 she married a young American navyyeoman,Jim Adams, whose surname she adopted professionally, which resulted in the birth of a daughter, Tina.

At the peak of her acting career in 1957, Adams married the well-knownBBCTVand radio personalityPeter Haigh,and had a second daughter, Peta Louise. In 1971, the whole family moved to theAlgarve,in southernPortugal,where they ran a small hotel for several years in the village ofAlbufeira.

When her second marriage ended, she continued with arestaurant career,accompanied by her partner Mike. Some years later she retired from the business and with her new partner, Alan "Buster" Jones, an accountant, went to live just outsideLisbon.They later moved to Spain, where they enjoyed homes close toAlicante,thenBarcelonaand eventually in theCosta del Sol.

After Buster died in 1996, she moved back to Portugal, to be with her granddaughter, Emma, and her great-granddaughter, Tania, and began painting again. She hadcancerfrom 2005 until her death in 2008.

Filmography

Film

• Forbidden Cargo(1954) as Michael's Dance Partner (uncredited)
• The Young Lovers(1954) as Judy (uncredited)
• The Black Knight(1954) as Extra (uncredited)
• The Love Match(1955) as Clarrie (uncredited)
• Out of the Clouds(1955) as Bit Part (uncredited)
• One Jump Ahead(1955) as Judy
• The Constant Husband(1955) as Joanna
• Doctor at Sea(1955) as Jill
• Value for Money(1955) as Joy
• One Way Out(1955) as Shirley Harcourt
• Count of Twelve(1955)
• Private's Progress(1956) as Prudence Greenslade
• The Green Man(1956) as Ann Vincent
• Brothers in Law(1957) as Sally Smith
• The Scamp(1957) as Julie Cunningham
• Death Over My Shoulder(1958) as Evelyn Connors
• Dust in the Sun(1958) as Julie Kirkbridge
• Carry On Constable(1960) as WPC Harrison
• Crosstrap(1962) as Sally
• The Yellow Teddy Bears(1963) as June Wilson
• Doctor in Distress(1963) as Genevieve
• The Comedy Man(1964) as Jan Kennedy (uncredited)
• Promise Her Anything(1965) as Mrs. B.M. von Crispin (final film role)

Television

• The Vise(1955) as Wendy Graves
• The Adventures of Aggie(1956) as Pam
• Educated Evansas Gloria
• My Pal Bob(1958) as Jill
• The Flying Doctor(1959) as Mary Meredith
• No Hiding Place(1963) as Peggy Dawson

External links

• Obituary inThe Times
• Obituary inThe Independent