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Nell Campbell

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Nell Campbell
Campbell at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2019
Born
Laura Elizabeth Campbell

(1953-05-24) 24 May 1953 (age 71)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Other namesLittle Nell
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active1973–present
OrganisationNell's (1986–2004)
Children1
RelativesCressida Campbell (sister)
Musical career
Genres
InstrumentVocals
Labels

Laura Elizabeth Campbell (born 24 May 1953), better known as Nell Campbell or by her stage name Little Nell, is an Australian actress, singer, and former club owner. She is best known for her role as Columbia in the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the original stage play from which it was adapted. Campbell released her EP, The Musical World of Little Nell (Aquatic Teenage Sex & Squalor), through A&M Records in 1978. She appeared as Nurse Ansalong in the 1981 film Shock Treatment. In 1984, she appeared as Beth in the BAFTA and Oscar-award-winning drama film The Killing Fields.

Early life

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Campbell was born in Sydney, to Ruth and Ross Campbell. Ross, a writer,[1] referred to her as "Little Nell" (after a character in Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop) in his family life column in the Sydney Daily Telegraph. She grew up with three siblings: Sally, Patrick, and Cressida. Elder sister Sally was a property master, a set designer, and (subsequently) a fashion designer; younger sister Cressida Campbell is an artist; elder brother Patrick (who died in 2020) was a solar engineer at the University of New South Wales. Nell began dancing when she was 10, in order to remain healthy following being diagnosed with hepatitis A. She was called Laura E. Campbell until the age of about 17, when she went by the nickname "Sonny" (pronounced to rhyme with "Donny"), short for "Sonata". She attended high school at Abbotsleigh School for Girls in Sydney, supporting herself as a waitress.

Career

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Campbell decided to use the name "Little Nell" as a stage name after her arrival in Britain in the early 1970s with her family. She sold clothes at Kensington Market; her stall was next to Freddie Mercury's.[2][3] She also worked as a busker and as a soda jerk in a café, where her tap dancing is often noted as the reason why she was cast as Columbia in the original production of The Rocky Horror Show following an impromptu audition.[4] She reprised the role in The Rocky Horror Picture Show,[5] released in 1975, and starred as Nurse Ansalong in the 1981 sequel, Shock Treatment.

After The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Campbell signed a recording contract with A&M Records. Her debut single was "Stilettos and Lipstick" backed with "Do the Swim", released in 1975. She also recorded a disco version of the song "Fever" in 1978, which was again backed with "Do the Swim". The B-side of both of these releases became better-known, perhaps helped by a performance on British television in which she accidentally (and repeatedly) exposed her breasts. While edited out of the original broadcast in 1975, the unedited version was shown worldwide on bloopers shows (beginning with the British show It'll be Alright on the Night in 1977).[6] Following this notoriety, another effort was made to promote the recordings made in 1975 and 1976. In 1978, a "triple B-side" extended play titled The Musical World of Little Nell (Aquatic Teenage Sex & Squalor) was released which featured both "Do the Swim" and "Stillettos and Lipstick" along with the track "Dance that Cocktail Latin Way" (also known as "Tropical Isle") which originally appeared as the B-side of her second single from 1976. Following some success with the EP, the other two tracks, singles "Fever" and "See You Round like a Record", were released as a single but that was to be her last release on A&M. A final single, "Beauty Queen" from the film The Alternative Miss World, was released on PRE Records in 1980.

Campbell in 2015

Campbell has also appeared in several stage productions, including the Off-Broadway play You Should Be So Lucky and the Broadway musical Nine.[7] She appeared as Sandra LeMon in the British TV series Rock Follies of '77.

In 1986, Campbell opened the nightclub Nell's on West 14th Street in Manhattan (New York) with Keith McNally and Lynn Wagenknecht. In 1995 she opened two restaurants in New York: The Kiosk (uptown) and E&O (downtown). Nell's was sold in 1998 to Noel Ashman and his business partner, actor Chris Noth, right before Campbell gave birth to her daughter, Matilda Violet, with ex-boyfriend and business partner, Eamon Roche.[citation needed] The club closed in 2004.[7]

Campbell has written several magazine articles, including regular segments called "MamaTalks" and "FirstLook" in the now defunct Talk magazine, starting in the December 1999 issue.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1974 Barry McKenzie Holds His Own Nerida Brealey Feature film
1975 The Rocky Horror Picture Show Columbia (A Groupie) Feature film
Lisztomania Olga
Alfie Darling Party Guest
1976 Summer of Secrets Kym
1977 Jubilee Crabs
Journey Among Women Meg
1980 The Alternative Miss World Herself
1981 Shock Treatment Nurse Ansalong Feature film (sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
1982 Pink Floyd – The Wall A Groupie
1983 Dead on Time Female Teller Short film
Stanley Amy Benton
1984 The Killing Fields Beth Feature film
1985 I Wanna Be a Beauty Queen The Opening Act
1998 Great Expectations Erica Thrall Feature film
2000 Joe Gould's Secret Tamara
The Intern The Host
2013 The Last Impresario Herself
2019 Palm Beach Unimpressed Grandmother Feature film
2021 Seriously Red Doc Nell

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1975 The London Weekend Show Herself / Performer 2 episodes
1977 Rock Follies of '77 Sandra LeMon 6 episodes
It'll be Alright on the Night Herself
1979 Hazell Pamela 1 episode
Shoestring Joanna Lomas
1980 Armchair Thriller Zoe Summers 3 episodes
1981 Funny Man Fiona 1 episode
1981 Countdown Herself / Performer 1 episode; performing her song "Beauty Queen"
1983 Bergerac Mrs. Moberley
1984 TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes Herself 1 episode
1987 Saturday Night Live Herself / Performer
1989 After Dark Herself
1993 Tracey Ullman Takes on New York
2001 Tracey Ullman's Visible Panty Lines
2008 Spicks and Specks 2 episodes
2010 Rake Flick Moyers
2016 Today Extra Guest - Herself TV series, 1 episode
2018 Horror Kung-Fu Theatre Herself
2020 Midnight Movie Macabre
2020, 2022 The Morning Show Guest - Herself TV series, 2 episodes
2022 Today Extra Guest - Herself TV series, 1 episode
2022 Studio 10 Guest - Herself TV series, 1 episode
2022 Weekend Sunrise Guest - Herself TV series, 1 episode

Theatre

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Year Title Role Notes
1973 The Rocky Horror Show Columbia The Royal Court Theatre Upstairs
1975 And They Used to Star in Movies Minnie Mouse Soho Theatre
1977 A Streetcar Named Desire Stella Oxford Playhouse
Censored Scenes From King Kong Iris Fantoccini Open Space Theatre
1978 Stoop Herself Soho Theatre
1985 Women Behind Bars Host Footbridge Theatre at Sydney University
1994 You Should Be So Lucky Polly Off-Broadway
2003 Nine Lina Darling On Broadway at Eugene O'Neill Theatre
2006 The Rocky Horror Tribute Show Herself The Royal Court Theatre Upstairs
2022–2023 All’s Nell That Ends Nell[8] One-woman show
2023 The Rocky Horror Show 50th Anniversary Narrator London

Discography

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Singles / EPs

  • "Stillettos and Lipstick" / "Do the Swim" (A&M, 1975)
  • "See You Round like a Record" / "Dance that Cocktail Latin Way" (A&M, 1976)
  • "Fever" / "Do the Swim" (A&M, 1976)
  • The Musical World of Little Nell (Aquatic Teenage Sex & Squalor) (A&M, 1978)
  • "Fever" / "See You Round like a Record" (reissue) (A&M, 1978)
  • "Beauty Queen" (Pre Records, 1980)

Guest vocals

  • Tuff Little Surfer Boy (featured as "Roxanne" for the song by Truth & Beauty) (1974)

Soundtracks and Cast Recordings

References

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  1. ^ Spencer, Chris; Zbig Nowara; Paul McHenry (2002) [1987]. "LITTLE NELL". The Who's Who of Australian Rock. Noble Park, Vic.: Five Mile Press. ISBN 1-86503-891-1. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2010. Note: [on-line] version established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition.
  2. ^ FitzSimons, Peter (29 January 2022). "Nell Campbell: Rocky Horror brought Meat Loaf and me together". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  3. ^ James, Michael (17 August 2022). "Watch: Nell Campbell of Rocky Horror talks her life and new show". QNews.
  4. ^ Maynard. "Rocky Horror Night with Little Nell". Planet Maynard (Podcast). Event occurs at 8:00. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  5. ^ "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Australian Film Database. Murdoch University. Archived from the original (doc) on 18 September 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
  6. ^ "RockyMusic - Do The Swim (London Weekend Show) by Little Nell video". www.rockymusic.org.
  7. ^ a b "The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Whatever Happened to the Cast?". 29 September 2021.
  8. ^ "All's Nell That Ends Nell - Brisbane Powerhouse - Tickets on sale". Brisbane Powerhouse. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
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