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.
Nell Campbell | |
|---|---|
 Campbell at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2019 | |
| Born | Laura Elizabeth Campbell 24 May 1953 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Other names | Little Nell |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1973–present |
| Organisation | Nell's (1986–2004) |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Cressida Campbell (sister) |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Labels | |
Early life
editCampbell 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
editCampbell 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 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
editFilm
edit| 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
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | GTK | ||
| 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 | |
| 2015 | Mornings | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2016 | Today Extra | Guest - Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2017; 2022 | Studio 10 | Herself & Patricia Quinn | 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
edit| 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
editSingles / 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
- The Rocky Horror Show (Original London Cast) (1973)
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
- Shock Treatment (1981)
References
edit- ^ 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.
- ^ FitzSimons, Peter (29 January 2022). "Nell Campbell: Rocky Horror brought Meat Loaf and me together". The Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ James, Michael (17 August 2022). "Watch: Nell Campbell of Rocky Horror talks her life and new show". QNews.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Australian Film Database. Murdoch University. Archived from the original (doc) on 18 September 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
- ^ "RockyMusic - Do The Swim (London Weekend Show) by Little Nell video". www.rockymusic.org.
- ^ a b "The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Whatever Happened to the Cast?". 29 September 2021.
- ^ "All's Nell That Ends Nell - Brisbane Powerhouse - Tickets on sale". Brisbane Powerhouse. Retrieved 9 January 2023.