Eileen Daly

{{Short description|English actress, director, film producer, writer and singer}}

{{about|the actress|the Canadian politician|Eileen Dailly|the American politician|Eileen Daily}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Eileen Daly

| image = File:Miss Eileen M T Daly.JPG

| caption = Eileen Daly

|birth_name = Eileen Mary Theresa Barnes

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1963|06|01|df=y}}

| birth_place = Dulwich, London, England

| occupation = Actress, model, director, producer, writer and singer-songwriter

| website =

| yearsactive = 1979–present

}}

Eileen Mary Theresa Daly{{cite web|url=http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/903202269|title=EILEEN MARY THERESA DALY|author=company check ltd|work=Company Check}} (born 1 June 1963) is an English actress, director, film producer, writer, singer,{{cite web|url=https://www.eileendalyproductions.com/|title=The Many Sides of Eileen|website=Eileen Daly Productions|access-date=12 February 2021}} presenter, songwriter{{cite web|url=https://www.backstage.com/tal/eileen-daly/|title=Eileen Daly|website=Backstage|access-date=12 February 2021}} and former adult film performer.{{cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/big-brother-2015-eileen-daly-5699404|title=Big Brother 2015: Eileen Daly reveals she starred in an underage porn film in 1979|newspaper=Mirror|first1=Carl|last1=Greenwood|first2=Alistair|last2=McGeorge|date=14 May 2015}} She is also a contemporary scream queen, having starred in numerous cult horror films and fronts her own band Eileen and Ben.

Early life

Daly was born Eileen Mary Theresa Barnes in Dulwich, London, to Mary (née Daly) and James Barnes Her parents split up when she was three, with her taking her mother's surname.{{cite web |url=http://www.eileendaly.net/newsite/home.php |title=Eileen Daly |website=Eileen Daly (Official Site) |access-date=2010-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124033455/http://www.eileendaly.net/newsite/home.php |archive-date=24 November 2011 |df=dmy-all }} The granddaughter of boxer Nipper Pat Daly, Daly grew up in Hampton Hill, Richmond upon Thames with her mother and younger brother Dominic. She briefly attended drama school before dropping out to pursue private acting lessons instead. Daly left home at a young age and started glamour modelling to earn her living. Based in London she began starring in various films and magazines, and one of her first magazine appearances was in 1979 with future Ben Dover star and creator Simon Lindsay Honey.{{cite web|url=http://www.bgafd.co.uk/forum/read.php?f=1&i=14842&t=14639|title=Re: Eileen Daly - Electric Blue|first=Ben|last=Dover|date=2 October 2001|work=bgafd.co.uk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923184206/http://www.bgafd.co.uk/forum/read.php?f=1&i=14842&t=14639#close|archive-date=23 September 2015}} She appeared in films produced by Color Climax Corporation including "Big Tit Dreamer" and "Lucky Lesbians".{{cite web|url=http://bgafd.co.uk/actresses/details.php/id/e00045|title=Eileen Daly|work=bgafd.co.uk}} Daly has since worked again with Honey on other projects including Loaded TV's sitcom Sexxx and the quiz show Come Again.

Career

Daly lived for a time with video director Tim Pope,{{cite interview|title=Deadly Beauty: Horror's Scream Queens And Rising Talent: Eileen Daly|website=Horror Society|url=https://www.horrorsociety.com/2015/02/24/deadly-beauty-horrors-scream-queens-and-rising-talent-eileen-daly/|date=24 February 2015|first=Eileen|last=Daly|interviewer=((Dedman13))|access-date=12 January 2021}} who directed promos for bands such as The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees. She appeared in several videos for the British synthpop duo Soft Cell including their hit "Tainted Love" released by Some Bizzare Records. Tim Pope's videos for the band appeared on the video album Soft Cell's Non-Stop Exotic Video Show, a companion release to their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. The collection was originally issued on VHS in 1982 and Betamax and Laser Disk and later re-issued on DVD.{{cite web|url=http://film.thedigitalfix.com/content/id/57287/soft-cells-non-stop-exotic-video-show.html|title=Soft Cell's Non Stop Exotic Video Show|website=The Digital Fix: Film|date=3 June 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418230928/http://film.thedigitalfix.com/content/id/57287/soft-cells-non-stop-exotic-video-show.html|archive-date=18 April 2012}} She continued to work as a model throughout the 1980s, and in 1991 starred in Linzi Drew's page 3 Striptacular video.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/linzi-drews-page-3-striptacular-1991|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203042225/https://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/linzi-drews-page-3-striptacular-1991|archive-date=3 December 2013|title=Linzi Drew's Page 3 Striptacular|website=British Board of Film Classification|access-date=8 January 2021}} In 1996 The People newspaper reported that Daly, who at the time was starring in television advertisements for First Choice Holidays, was a "blue movie queen" who had starred in "kinky videos featuring in bondage and lesbian sex scenes" and said the revelations would come as a shock to the bosses of the holiday booking company.{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-61177451.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610060622/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-61177451.html|archive-date=10 June 2014|title=Revealed! The Kinky Secret of the TV Holiday Mum|newspaper=The People|location=London, England|date=21 January 1996|last=Newton|first=Victoria}}

Throughout this time, Daly also worked as a stripper as well as appearing on several game shows and TV programmes, including roles in the most expensive BBC2 production ever produced at that time, Our Friends in the North. Daly has also taken part in playreadings{{cite web |url=http://www.eileendaly.net/dalymail/june2003.htm |title=June 2003 |access-date=17 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100413205752/http://www.eileendaly.net/dalymail/june2003.htm |archive-date=13 April 2010 |df=dmy-all |first=Eileen |last=Daly |website=The Eileen Daly Fan Club }} at the Royal Court Theatre in London.

Daly was one of the first models for the Agent Provocateur range of lingerie, and appeared on television on The Big Breakfast and Kilroy promoting the brand.

=In print=

Eileen Daly has been a cover model for a range of magazines including Skin Two, Time Out, Bizarre, The Dark Side, The Chronicles, Redeemer, Bite Me{{cite web |url=http://www.eileendaly.net/dalymail/september2002.htm |title=September 2002 |access-date=17 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723113443/http://www.eileendaly.net/dalymail/september2002.htm |archive-date=23 July 2011 |df=dmy-all |first=Eileen |last=Daly |website=The Eileen Daly Fan Club}} and Bloodstone. Many of these magazines have included features on Daly. She also contributed articles and wrote columns for several magazines in the 1990s.

Daly was a regular contributor and columnist for the Dark Side, in which she wrote about low-budget films and interviewed directors, producers (she is herself associate producer on several projects), actors and technicians working in the field. Her column was transferred to DVD and Blu-ray World magazine (itself to cease publication) when the magazine took a break in publication.

=Television=

Daly has acted in a number of television shows and adverts (Toyota and First Choice among them), and has appeared in programmes such as Snuff Box,{{Cite web|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/eileen_daly/|title = Eileen Daly| website=British Comedy Guide }}{{cite web|url=http://www.eileendaly.net/tv-films|title=Screen Queen|website=Eileen Daly (Official Site)|access-date=27 January 2021|archive-date=12 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220212151257/http://www.eileendaly.net/tv-films|url-status=dead}} Our Friends in the North, EastEnders, Vampyria (documentary), Sex & Shopping, Eurotrash, Beck, The Big Breakfast, Kilroy, Fantasy By Gaslight and The Fast Show. She also had an uncredited role as the "example" human female in the Desmond Morris written and presented series The Human Animal about body language, a co-production of the BBC and the Discovery channel broadcast in 1994.

With the formation of Redemption TV by her then boyfriend Nigel Wingrove, Daly was given the chance to present her own magazine show in which she interviewed musicians, actors, friends and celebrities. Interviewees included the actor and comedian Matt Berry, Chris Adamson, Morrigan Hel and the band Nosferatu. During the show she often took part in short skits or sketches with her interviewees. Daly also filmed several introductions to European horror and cult films, released by Redemption TV, when she appeared in character as the "Dark Angel" in a number of specially shot introductions and promos for the television channel Bravo (which then showed mostly science-fiction and horror).{{cite web |url=http://www.scumnation.net/Redemption-TV-intros-circa-1997.html |title=Redemption TV intros circa 1997 |access-date=17 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104214124/http://www.scumnation.net/Redemption-TV-intros-circa-1997.html |archive-date=4 November 2011 |df=dmy-all |website=Scum Nation |date=4 November 2011 }}

In late 2012 Daly filmed a sitcom set in a sex shop called Sexxx for the newly launched Loaded TV channel. The series is ongoing and began transmission in late November 2012. Daly is also a regular celebrity contestant on the Loaded TV game show Come Again, often with former co-star Ben Dover

In 2012 Eileen started her own production company called Gipsyphilia Productions. With this company she started her career as a director, writer and producer. One of the first shows she directed was "Daly Does the Dead",{{cite web|title=Gipsyphilia Productions |url=http://www.gipsyphiliaproductions.co.uk/ |access-date=29 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202172039/http://gipsyphiliaproductions.co.uk/ |archive-date=2 February 2014 |df=dmy }} a ghost hunting show that takes the team to a haunted hotel in Whitby. Eileen wrote the scripts for all the shows and films, although most of the acting is improvisation. Her band Eileen Daly and The Courtesans provided all the music for the productions. In its first year Gipsyphilia Productions made several magazine and ghost hunting shows: "Mr Crispin at your Cervix", "Daly Does Webcam Girl", "Daly Does Porn Stars", "Daly Does Ghosts" and also had several feature films and shows in pre-production.

Eileen took part in the sixteenth series of Big Brother. She was evicted on 5 June 2015.

=Film career=

Daly met Nigel Wingrove and together they started up a company called Redemption Films.{{cite web |url=http://www.scumnation.net/Redemption-and-Salvation.html |title=Redemption & Salvation: All things Redemption... |access-date=17 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409091314/http://www.scumnation.net/Redemption-and-Salvation.html |archive-date=9 April 2010 |df=dmy-all |website=Scum Nation |date=9 April 2010 }} The company used an image of Daly as its logo{{cite web |url=http://www.scumnation.net/Early-Redemption-covers-and-related-images.html |title=Early Redemption covers and related images |access-date=2010-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122203718/http://www.scumnation.net/Early-Redemption-covers-and-related-images.html |archive-date=22 November 2009 |df=dmy-all |website=Scum Nation |date=22 November 2009 }} and this became part of its marketing strategy with Daly featuring as Redemption's Dark Angel in specially filmed intros for the many foreign and cult films released on the label.

Daly has appeared in films such as All About Anna for Innocent Pictures, Cradle of Fear, Messages,{{cite web|url=http://www.film4.com/reviews/2007/messages|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721173941/http://www.film4.com/reviews/2007/messages|archive-date=21 July 2011|title=Messages (2007) – Film Review|website=Film4|access-date=10 December 2020}} Kannibal, Sentinels of Darkness, N(eon), Machines of Love & Hate, Razor Blade Smile, Witchcraft X, Evil Calls: The Raven reuniting her with Kannibal director Richard Driscoll, Sacred Flesh {{cite magazine|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/488 |access-date=17 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625231540/http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/488 |archive-date=25 June 2009 |title=Sacred Flesh (1999) |magazine=Sight & Sound |publisher=British Film Institute |first=Linda Ruth |last=Williams }} and most recently a series of films with the American actor Joe Zaso{{cite web|url=http://www.iconsoffright.com/IV_Zaso.htm|title=Joe Zaso interview|website=Icons of Fright}} culminating in several films with German director and musician Timo Rose. These later films include Darkness Surrounds Roberta, Timo Rose's Beast, Braincell,{{cite web|url=http://www.horrorsociety.com/2009/02/09/braincell-pictures-and-info/|title=Braincell Pictures and Info|website=Horror Society|first=Mitchell|last=Wells|date=9 February 2009}}{{cite web |url=http://www.mjsimpson.co.uk/interviews/eleanorjames.html |title=Eleanor James |website=M J Simpson|access-date=17 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101011171653/http://mjsimpson.co.uk/interviews/eleanorjames.html |archive-date=11 October 2010 |df=dmy-all }} Unrated and Karl The Butcher Vs Axe. She has acted as associate producer on several of her later films.

Daly has portrayed a vampire in at least four different characters and has also provided voices for animated characters, notably in Monsters of the Id.{{cite web|url=http://www.monstersmovie.com/castcrew.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040611071120/http://www.monstersmovie.com/castcrew.htm|archive-date=11 June 2004|title=Meet some of the Cast for 'Monsters of the Id'|website=Monsters Movie}} She has worked with Dave McKean, the artist responsible for the covers of The Sandman comic and the film MirrorMask, on his short film N(eon) which is available on a DVD collection of short films entitled Keanoshow.

Daly starred in the Elisar Cabrera directed Demonsoul as a vampire's human servant/familiar, in the low-budget Alex Chandon directed film Pervirella as the queen of a tribe of Amazon women, in the Elisar Cabrera directed Witchcraft X: Mistress of the Craft as the leader of a coven of vampires, in Razor Blade Smile as Lilith Silver, the protagonist of the film, a frequently fetish-clad hitwoman and adventurer who also happens to be a vampire. Awards for Razor Blade Smile include the Grand Prize at the Gérardmer Film Festival (2000), Honourable Mention at the Sweden Fantastic Film Festival (1998), a "Vampire Oscar" for Daly at Vampyria II in London, and the film won most of the top awards at the first B-Movie Film Festival (1999), including Best B-Film, Director (Jake West), Actress (Eileen Daly), Cinematography and Special Effects.{{cite web|url=http://www.b-movie.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=44|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927192917/http://www.b-movie.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=44|archive-date=27 September 2007|title=British Vampire Flick 'Razor Blade Smile' Wins Top Honours at B-Film Festival|website=B-Movie Theater|date=31 August 1999|access-date=12 April 2007}} SFX magazine voted the character of Lilith Silver the 30th sexiest vampire of all time. Daly has also starred in the Richard Driscoll directed Kannibal (Headhunter) with American scream queen Linnea Quigley where her character was crucified onscreen for the second time (the first being Sentinels Of Darkness), starred in the third segment of Alex Chandon directed Cradle Of Fear as the girlfriend of a man who has lost a leg and has lost his sex drive (Daly's song "Plastic Surgery" is included in one scene), in Machines of Love and Hate as the mother of a young woman accidentally runs down a hitchhiker,{{cite web |url=http://www.monstersatplay.com/review/dvd/m/machinesoflove.php |title=Review: Machines of Love and Hate (2002)|first=Bradley|last=Harding|website=Monsters at Play|access-date=2010-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613204439/http://www.monstersatplay.com/review/dvd/m/machinesoflove.php |archive-date=13 June 2011 |url-status=usurped |df=dmy-all }} in the Jessica Nilsson directed All About Anna where she played Camilla, a flatmate of Anna – one of several films made to appeal to a female audiencehttp://www.innocentpictures.com/content/index.php?id=88&la=en{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} featuring hardcore sex scenes and scenes of an adult nature. The film complies with a "Puzzy Power Manifesto"{{cite web |url=http://www.innocentpictures.com/aaa_manifest.php |title=The Puzzy Power Manifesto |access-date=2010-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412201957/http://www.innocentpictures.com/aaa_manifest.php |archive-date=12 April 2010 |df=dmy-all |website=Innocent Pictures }} which lays down strict guidelines of what should and should not be included in the film in order that it be tailored for female rather than male sensibilities. Daly has also starred in Darkness Surrounds Roberta as the manager of an escort/model agency three girls from which have been murdered,{{cite web|url=http://xploitedcinema.com/catalog/darkness-surrounds-roberta-p-13785.html|title=Darkness Surrounds Roberta|work=xploitedcinema.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080427174728/http://xploitedcinema.com/catalog/darkness-surrounds-roberta-p-13785.html|archive-date=27 April 2008}} in Timo Rose's Beast as the stepmother of lead character Alex (Daly also acted as associate producer on the film),{{cite web |url=http://pretty-scary.net/content/timo-rose%E2%80%99s-beast-2009 |website=Pretty Scary |title=Timo Rose's Beast (2009) |first=Dan |last=Coyle |date=14 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016163955/http://pretty-scary.net/content/timo-rose%E2%80%99s-beast-2009 |archive-date=16 October 2009 |url-status=usurped |df=dmy }} in the Richard Driscoll directed Darkness Calls: the Raven (The Legend of Harrow Woods) (originally titled "Alone in the Dark"{{cite web |url=http://www.eileendaly.net/dalymail/august2002.htm |title=This month starts with some great news... |access-date=2010-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723113224/http://www.eileendaly.net/dalymail/august2002.htm |archive-date=23 July 2011 |df=dmy-all |date=August 2002|website=The Eileen Daly Fan Club}} but changed in order not to clash with the film of the popular videogame) as a psychic who accompanies a group of people into woods that have been cursed and may herself be a serial killer, and in the Kemal Yildirim directed Rose - The Movie a film premiered at the London Independent Film Festival in 2012 and winner of the prestigious "Van Gogh award" at the Amsterdam film festival 2012, as the matriarch in a nightmare world of criminals, drug dealers, street-fighters and pimps.

=Music career=

Daly formed the band Jezebel in 1998. They played music described by Daly as "an eclectic mix of rock, Goth and perverse fairy tales". The first album, Forbidden Fruit {{cite web |url=http://www.eileendaly.net/dalymail/april2004.htm |title=April 2004 |access-date=2010-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723113103/http://www.eileendaly.net/dalymail/april2004.htm |archive-date=23 July 2011 |df=dmy-all |website=The Eileen Daly Fan Club}} was released on 26 March 2004 on the record label Triple Silence, a music label linked to Redemption. A track off the album, entitled "Plastic Surgery" was featured on the Cradle of Fear film soundtrack CD. Another track off the album, retitled You're So Cute, is featured in the film All About Anna, performed onscreen by Daly. Daly released a single entitled "Persuasion" and performed it on Eurotrash on which she was interviewed about her career to date. She worked with producer and musician Steven Severin who had provided music for the film Visions of Ecstasy for Nigel Wingrove.

Daly formed her current band 'Eileen and Ben' with her partner Ben Thirkettle, while her other musical project Jezebel was put on hold. The duo play a combination of what they describe as "gypsy, glam and rock". Their debut single featuring "Webcam Girl" was released in 2007 and followed up with an EP entitled Elfing Around. They have often performed around London and Southern England together with appearances at festivals in Glastonbury, Bram Stoker International Film Festival and in Italy. They released their self-titled debut album one song at a time for digital download throughout 2013 and 2014. In September 2014 they auditioned and progressed as far as bootcamp on The X Factor.