Rise to Fame

The world’s first supermodel, Twiggy became internationally known, modeling extensively in France, Japan and America, in 1967. Twiggy enjoyed a year’s modeling contract with Woman’s Mirror, an Australian magazine. Always dressed in the latest fashion, she willingly attended all of London’s trendy parties and public events. Despite being somewhat flighty and giggly, her cockney accent and disarming sense of humor merely made her more appealing to the public. Her boyish, skinny features made her instantly different from other models of her time and were perfectly fitted to the 1960s rising hemlines and bold shapes of mod fashion. Seeing how she impacted such success in the fashion world, de Villeneuve suggested she try singing and acting as well. Twiggy recorded her debut album, ‘Beautiful Dreams’ in 1967, with Mercury Records UK. It won numerous awards, including a silver disc for sales in excess of 150,000 copies and included her hit ‘Here I Go Again’, which reached number 17 on the UK charts. It seemed this rising star could do no wrong. Twiggy was in Peter Clifton’s music documentary ‘Popcorn’ in 1969, that included rare interviews and weird footage of stars such as Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, the Bee Gees, Mick Jagger and Otis Reading. She then met iconic film director Ken Russell in 1970 and he encouraged her to turn her talents to film, but to hone them by studying voice, acting and dance. He cast her as an extra in his horror film ‘The Devils’ in 1971, that starred Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed. Twiggy made her lead role debut as Polly Browne in Russell’s romantic musical, ‘The Boy Friend’ in 1971, set in the 1920s and adapted from the original theatre production. Her performance won her two Golden Globe awards, Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy and for New Female Star of the Year. To correspond with the film release, MGM produced a DJ LP for radio stations. It featured excerpts from the film soundtrack, as well as an interview with Twiggy from a Hollywood press conference. In 1977, Twiggy married American actor and former baseball player, Michael Witney. He was her co-star from ‘W’ in 1974. They were wed at the Richmond registry office, had their honeymoon in Sardinia. Their daughter, Carly, was born in 1978. Their marriage shortly ended after six years. At the age of 51, Witney died of a heart attack. Throughout the 1980’s, Twiggy continued to act and do films and television in both the US and the UK.  Returning to modeling in 2005, Twiggy joined reality television show ‘America’s Next Top Model’ as one of the judges, led by Tyra Banks, in Cycles Five, Six and Seven.