Jill Ireland

She was born Jill Dorothy Ireland on April 24, 1936, in London, England, to a wine merchant, Jack Ireland, and his wife, Dorothy, who were fated to outlive their daughter. She had a brother, who also survived her.

Young Jill started her entertainment career at age 16 as a dancer and made her credited screen debut in 1955, in Michael Powell's Oh. . .

Rosalinda!! (1955), after a bit part in another movie.

Two years later, she married actor David McCallum, whom she met on March 28, 1957, and co-starred in the Stanley Baker action picture, Hell Drivers (1957).

In the mid-1960s, they moved to the United States so McCallum could star as agent "Ilya Kuryakin" in the TV series, The Man from U. N. C. L. E.

They had first met when McCallum introduced them on the set of The Great Escape (1963). With Bronson, she had two children, a daughter born to the couple, and an adopted daughter.

(1964).

She got steady work on American television and would co-star with her husband in five episode of the series in 1964, 1965 and 1967.

Jill Ireland was a British film and television actress, best-known for her marriages to actors David McCallum and Charles Bronson, and for her role as "Leila Kalomi", the only woman Mr. Spock ever loved (in Star Trek: The Original Series: This Side of Paradise (1967)). She appeared in many supporting roles in films in which her second husband, Charles Bronson, starred. She was also known for her public battle with breast cancer, having written two books on her fight with the disease and serving as a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society.

Ireland divorced McCallum, with whom she had three sons, in 1967. The following year, she married Charles Bronson, who was several years away from superstar status.

She had previously appeared in one scene opposite him in Villa Rides (1968) and had also played an uncredited bit part in his movie, London Affair (1970), released that same year. This film made Bronson a major star in Europe.

They co-starred together in the French movie, Rider on the Rain (1970) ("Rider on the Rain"), in 1970.

They starred in 13 more pictures in the next 17 years, a period during which Bronson rivaled Clint Eastwood as the biggest movie star in the world in the early and mid-1970s before his star waned in the 1980s. Ireland only appeared in one TV episode, one TV-movie and one theatrical picture that didn't star Bronson during their marriage.

She had one daughter with Charles Bronson: Zuleika Bronson (born August 4, 1971).

She was diagnosed with cancer in her right breast in 1984 and underwent a mastectomy. She wrote about her battle and became an advocate for the American Cancer Society, which led to the organization giving her its Courage Award. Ireland was presented with the award by President Ronald Reagan.

Of the many movies she appeared in that starred husband Charles Bronson, Assassination (1987) was her biggest role. As the wife of the President of the United States, Bronson's character, a Secret Service Agent, spend the entire movie chasing and protecting her. She was not only an ingenue but was a co-lead in the movie. And this was her last movie role alongside Bronson.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6751 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on June 20, 1989.