Britain's Answer To Marilyn Monroe Norma Sykes Dies In LA

Tragic final years of 'Britain's Marilyn Monroe': How 1950s glamour girl Sabrina died a poverty-stricken paraplegic recluse in LA after botched back surgery destroyed her life....
---See more photos below...

Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe, who once insured her breasts for £100,000 actually died in November last year, but her death has only just come to light.

Born Norma Ann Sykes in a terraced house in Stockport in May 1936, 'Sabrina' had humble beginnings, but went on to shoot for the stars.

She had little discernible talent, lacking the ability to sing or dance, and was often labelled a 'dumb blonde' in the less politically correct 1950s.

However she vanished from the limelight by the 1970s and in later years lived a paraplegic recluse in a scruffy house in north Hollywood.

The buxom blonde was brought up in a terraced house in Heaviley, an area of Stockport, the daughter of mechanical engineer Walter Skyes and seamstress Annie.

A strong swimmer, at nine years old she swam a mile a day at the local baths.

She contracted rheumatic fever and polio in childhood and spent long periods in hospital. After one operation there were fears a leg may have to be amputated. She wore callipers and had scars for life.

Doctors prescribed a series of exercises to build up her muscles, and she spent hours every day swimming in a heated pool and some bodybuilding exercises. Apparently her chest expansion was a result of these workouts.

She left Stockport at the age of 12, when her parents took over a boarding house in Blackpool. She moved to London aged 16 where she soon realised her voluptuous figure, with a 41in bust and 18in waist, was her best asset.

After her first nude photoshoot did not go the way she hoped, she eventually hit the big time, becoming like Diana Dors and June Wilkinson - Britain's equivalent of Marilyn Monroe.

With bright white hair and figure-hugging clothes, she sashayed onto the stage and began a 16-week run on TV show Before Your Very Eyes in 1955.

She seldom spoke, instead opting to pout and feign astonishment as host Arthur Askey joked about her striking appearance. She was reportedly the first woman to show her cleavage on British television.

Askey's producer Bill Ward renamed her Sabrina, after the 1954 film of that title starring Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn, which was released in Britain as Sabrina Fair.

In his autobiography Askey wrote: 'I hit on the idea of having a dumb blonde around the set. We held auditions for a suitable dumb-cluck and found one in Norma Sykes

'She had a lovely face and figure, but could not act, sing, dance, or even walk properly.'

Her fame grew and she started receiving 1,000 fan letters a week.

Personal appearances often descended into riots; about 4,000 people turned up to a shop opening in Sheffield, for which her fee was £100 (the average weekly wage was £7.50 at the time).

Her dress was regularly 'almost torn off' by fans and she frequently sold stories to the press. She was once ejected from the Royal enclosure at Ascot for her unsuitable attire.

She even insured her 'assets' for £100,000 with Lloyd's of London. She owned a Cadillac with the number plate 'S41', in tribute to her bra size.