Lost Star: The Life and Loves of Belinda Lee – PRE-ORDER

Belinda Lee, one of the great lost stars of British and European cinema, travelled a road on which there was no turning back. The road’s many curves were taken at speed, sometimes with a recklessness that stunned critics, publicists and friends. It proved to be a journey that ended prematurely, but as popular singer Jacques Brel maintained, it’s not the length of a life that counts, it’s the intensity.

In this book, Professor of British Cinema Steve Chibnall traces her entire journey; but it will not always be in plain sight. There are few of her companions and fellow travellers left, and no personal journal is known to survive. We must search in other places, notably in the ephemera of the newspaper and magazine press. Hers was the journey of a woman who, for a few short years, captivated the attention of legions of journalists, because she challenged the conventions of both respectability and stardom in the years before ‘respectable’ became a term of abuse and stars lustred down to the duller shine of mere celebrity. It was a journey that began in the sunlight of the English seaside and ended in the moonlight of an American desert. Join us as we explore the life and loves of the unique talent that was Belinda Lee.

320pp. 11 x 8.5 paperback
ISBN: 978-1-84583-244-5
Published 1 June 2025

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Chibnall is believed to be the only Professor of British Cinema in the world, and is one of the UK’s senior film historians.  He is director of De Montfort University’s Cinema and Television History Institute’s archives, which include the Hammer Script, Palace and Scala, Peter Whitehead, Andrew Davies, Sir Norman Wisdom, and Indian Cinemas archives.  He is also owner of the Steve Chibnall Collection, which consists of tens of thousands of pieces of British film and popular culture memorabilia.  He has written or edited over a dozen books, published many articles and book chapters, contributed sleeve notes and commentary moderations to DVD releases from Studio Canal, Odeon Entertainment and the BFI, featured on television and radio, and organised events at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Regent Street Cinema and the Cinema Museum, where he is Visiting Professor.