The Powell & Pressburger Pages Dedicated to the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and all the other people, both actors and technicians who helped them make those wonderful films. A lot of the documents have been sent to me or have come from other web sites. The name of the web site is given where known. If I have unintentionally included an image or document that is copyrighted or that I shouldn't have done then please email me and I'll remove it. I make no money from this site, it's purely for the love of the films. [Any comments are by me (Steve Crook) and other members of the email list]

The Guardian (UK)

Valerie Hobson

Actress and wife of John Profumo, 1917-1998

It was Hobson who first produced a dry towel for Christine Keeler at Cliveden after the girl's own towel had been soaked during horseplay around the pool in which she had been swimming naked. It indicated the same mixture of decency and decorum that had powered her work as an actress. Those who called her only a clotheshorse without warmth or feeling were to be proved wrong when disaster struck, just as those who thought her generosity was a fair-weather phenomenon were to be proved wrong.

By her own account, Hobson as a child was far less attractive than her sister. "I was a very plain wishy-washy child. Large wistful eyes. A real gumdrop. My sister could never believe this pasty-faced mouse was her sister. Everybody called me Monkey."

- Dennis Barker, The Guardian

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Talk about "Stand By Your Man" :)

BTW for those who don't know the tale it's told in the film Scandal (1989) with John Hurt as Stephen Ward. The cast includes "Valerie Profumo" played by Deborah Grant.

     Steve

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