Sabrina, Stockport’s very own Marilyn Monroe
SHE was Britain’s original blonde bombshell and the darling of 1950s TV, Stockport’s Norma Ann Sykes has died after many years living as a recluse in LA.
As a teenager, she couldn’t sing or dance and her acting ability was limited to giggling, pouting and shimmying – but she was exactly what comedy star Arthur Askey wanted in his ‘dumb blonde’ sidekick.
But she had a 41-inch bosom – which she once insured for £100,000 – and a burning thirst for fame.
“I’m using my bust as a jumping off place to bigger and better things,” she announced in her chirpy Lancastrian accent in 1955. And by the time she was 20, her 41-18-35 curves were hot property round the world and making her a fortune.
She had become ‘Sabrina,’ model, movie star, cabaret performer and blonde bombshell - Britain’s answer to Marilyn Monroe in an hourglass package.
She rubbed shoulders with the stars - partying with Elvis in Vegas and Frank Sinatra in Palm Springs and dating a string of famous faces before marrying a wealthy Hollywood doctor.
Sabrina, whose death, at the age of 80 was announced this week, was born in 1936, the daughter of engineer Walter Skyes and his seamstress wife Annie. Young Norma was a talented swimmer. By the age of nine she was swimming a mile a day, winning competitions and planning to swim the channel. The family moved to Blackpool and opened a small hotel. Touring artistes would stay there, sparking the youngster’s fascination with showbiz. But, aged 14, Norma contracted polio, spent two years in hospital and almost lost a leg. Fearing she would never walk again doctors prescribed hours of muscle-building exercises. The workouts transformed her from a sickly seven stone child into a strapping teen with a tiny waist and toned bottom and legs.
But Norma’s illness meant she lost touch with her schoolmates and in 1952, aged 16, she moved to London and lived alone in an attic room in Kings Cross.
She got work as a waitress and housemaid and made jewellery to sell in local shops.
But she quickly realised her striking figure made people stop and stare ‘especially if I was wearing a jumper’ she said later.
She became friends with photographer Sydney Aylett, who helped launch her modelling career, after winning the approval of Norma’s devoted mum, who later travelled the word with her.
Producers renamed her Sabrina after an Audrey Hepburn film, Sabrina Fair. Appearing to Britain’s new TV audiences, Sabrina appeared in tight, low-cut evening gowns – making her arguably the first woman to show her cleavage on British TV.
She became famous for being famous and was soon receiving 1,000 fan letters a week and making £100-a-time personal appearances, when the average weekly wage was £250.
In the US she was known as the ‘British Bosom Lady’ and was soon partying with the stars.
She spent an evening with Elvis and became pals with Sammy Davis Junior, Dick van Dyke and Lucille Ball.
But Sabrina stepped out of the spotlight as instantaneously as she entered it.
In 1967 she got married to wealthy gynaecologist Dr Harold Melsheimer, gave up showbiz and moved into his mansion in Encino, California.
She threw lavish parties, enjoyed the yacht and sports cars and doted on their pet doberman pinscher, which had its own bedroom and bathroom.
But ten years later the marriage ended and Sabrina moved into a small house in a less salubrious part of Hollywood.
Having suffered chronic back pain all her life, she had several operations – one of which left her partially paralysed.
In 1990 her plain-speaking mother Annie moved out to look after Sabrina, but died five years later.
After that, Sabrina became a virtual recluse, relying on a lodger, neighbour and a few close friends for support.
Sabrina died from blood poisoning in Los Angeles on November 24 last year – and it has taken almost a year for the news to come out.
Reflecting on fame during an interview, she commented: “People seem to forget that I was, at one time, the junior breaststroke champion of Manchester.”