Popular pin-up model Eve Eden (1940) aka Rosa Dolmai was a starlet in British B-films of the late 1950’s and 1960’s.
![Eve Eden]()
Yugoslavian postcard by Grafoplastika DD, Smederova.
Eve Eden was born as Rosa Dolmai (or Delmai or Delmar) in Bath, UK in 1940 (some sources say 1938) and reportedly, she owed her exotic looks to Portuguese and English ancestry. 17 years later she was a waitress who became ‘One of Britain’s many anatomical marvels (39-22-36) in the figure modeling field”, as TidiousTed writes at his blog RetroRamblings.
Rosa was discovered by an unnamed photographer in the Thames Valley Photographic Club where she became a popular attraction for other camera club photographers who named her 'The West Country Lovely'. As Rosa Dolmai or Rosa Dolmaille, she featured in glamour photographer Harrison Marks’ magazine Solo No.3. Her first appearance in his magazine Kamera followed in issue No.11. After that she became a regular model for several months.
She came under contract to 'leading London agent for glamour’ Bill Watts, who was also the agent for Sabrina and Shirley Ann Field.
![Sabrina]()
Sabrina. British postcard in the Greetings series. Photo: Douglas Burn.
Between 1957 and 1959, Rosa Dolmai with her seductive dark looks appeared often in the pocket magazines from TOCO, such as Spick & Span, Foto, Model, QT, Hush, Strip Lingerie, Sleek, X For Men, Beautiful Britons, and Fan Fare, usually in white lingerie, corsets, panties and stockings.
While modelling, Rosa also harboured tap dance aspirations. She worked as a compere for stage shows and made her screen debut on TV as one of the presenters of an episode of the Six-Five Special (1958). Rosa gained bit parts in TV commercials and variety shows with Norman Wisdom and Benny Hill.
Parts were to follow on series like Danger Man and Airline Detective. She had an uncredited bit part in the crime film Naked Fury (Charles Saunders, 1959) and played credited as Eve Eden in the war comedy Operation Bullshine (Gilbert Gunn, 1959).
![Patrick McGoohan (1928-2009)]()
Dutch postcard. Publicity still for the TV series Danger Man (1960-1961) with Patrick McGoohan.
In the following years, pretty Rosa Dolmai continued to appear in glamour magazines. As Eve Eden, she was a dancer in a strip show in the comedy Doctor in Love (Ralph Thomas, 1960), the third sequel to Doctor In The House (Ralph Thomas, 1954). She played small parts on television and in B-films like So Evil, So Young (Godfrey Grayson, 1961) starring Jill Ireland, the crime drama Rag Doll (Lance Comfort, 1961) and The Clue of the Silver Key (Gerard Glaister, 1961).
In Belgium, she appeared in the comedy De ordonnans/At the Drop of a Head (Charles Frank, 1962) with country singer Bobbejaan Schoepen.
After a bondage full-nude layout brought her to public scandal, she dyed her hair blond and reinvented herself as Eve Eden, and landed a bit part as a high priestess in the Beatles’ film Help! (Richard Lester, 1965).
![The Beatles]()
The Beatles. Dutch postcard by Rembrandt N.V., Amsterdam. Sent by mail in 1964.
She had another uncredited part in the sixteenth in the series of Carry On films, Carry On... Up the Khyber (Gerald Thomas, 1968), as one of the wives of the The Khasi of Kalabar (Kenneth Williams). Reviewer Shell-26 at IMDb: “Probably the best of the Carry-Ons. Genuinely funny performances from all the actors and a classic script.”
Later she appeared also in When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth (Val Guest, 1969). Eve Eden continued to pose until the late 1960's. Her dozens of pictorials included spreads in international magazines like Playboy, Hi-Life, Modern Man, Fling, Beau, and Knave.
There’s an unverified rumour that she then married a wealthy South American and retired from modelling.
And finally a word about Eve from the editor of The 60s Glam Database: “Perhaps the most beautiful model of England's Golden Age and certainly today one of the most highly sought after models. Magazine appearances are becoming increasingly collectable.”
Sources: The 60s Glam Database of British Glamour Models of the 1960’s, RetroRambling and IMDb.
Yugoslavian postcard by Grafoplastika DD, Smederova.
Anatomical Marvel
Eve Eden was born as Rosa Dolmai (or Delmai or Delmar) in Bath, UK in 1940 (some sources say 1938) and reportedly, she owed her exotic looks to Portuguese and English ancestry. 17 years later she was a waitress who became ‘One of Britain’s many anatomical marvels (39-22-36) in the figure modeling field”, as TidiousTed writes at his blog RetroRamblings.
Rosa was discovered by an unnamed photographer in the Thames Valley Photographic Club where she became a popular attraction for other camera club photographers who named her 'The West Country Lovely'. As Rosa Dolmai or Rosa Dolmaille, she featured in glamour photographer Harrison Marks’ magazine Solo No.3. Her first appearance in his magazine Kamera followed in issue No.11. After that she became a regular model for several months.
She came under contract to 'leading London agent for glamour’ Bill Watts, who was also the agent for Sabrina and Shirley Ann Field.
Sabrina. British postcard in the Greetings series. Photo: Douglas Burn.
Naked Fury
Between 1957 and 1959, Rosa Dolmai with her seductive dark looks appeared often in the pocket magazines from TOCO, such as Spick & Span, Foto, Model, QT, Hush, Strip Lingerie, Sleek, X For Men, Beautiful Britons, and Fan Fare, usually in white lingerie, corsets, panties and stockings.
While modelling, Rosa also harboured tap dance aspirations. She worked as a compere for stage shows and made her screen debut on TV as one of the presenters of an episode of the Six-Five Special (1958). Rosa gained bit parts in TV commercials and variety shows with Norman Wisdom and Benny Hill.
Parts were to follow on series like Danger Man and Airline Detective. She had an uncredited bit part in the crime film Naked Fury (Charles Saunders, 1959) and played credited as Eve Eden in the war comedy Operation Bullshine (Gilbert Gunn, 1959).
Dutch postcard. Publicity still for the TV series Danger Man (1960-1961) with Patrick McGoohan.
Bondage Scandal
In the following years, pretty Rosa Dolmai continued to appear in glamour magazines. As Eve Eden, she was a dancer in a strip show in the comedy Doctor in Love (Ralph Thomas, 1960), the third sequel to Doctor In The House (Ralph Thomas, 1954). She played small parts on television and in B-films like So Evil, So Young (Godfrey Grayson, 1961) starring Jill Ireland, the crime drama Rag Doll (Lance Comfort, 1961) and The Clue of the Silver Key (Gerard Glaister, 1961).
In Belgium, she appeared in the comedy De ordonnans/At the Drop of a Head (Charles Frank, 1962) with country singer Bobbejaan Schoepen.
After a bondage full-nude layout brought her to public scandal, she dyed her hair blond and reinvented herself as Eve Eden, and landed a bit part as a high priestess in the Beatles’ film Help! (Richard Lester, 1965).
The Beatles. Dutch postcard by Rembrandt N.V., Amsterdam. Sent by mail in 1964.
An Unverified Rumour
She had another uncredited part in the sixteenth in the series of Carry On films, Carry On... Up the Khyber (Gerald Thomas, 1968), as one of the wives of the The Khasi of Kalabar (Kenneth Williams). Reviewer Shell-26 at IMDb: “Probably the best of the Carry-Ons. Genuinely funny performances from all the actors and a classic script.”
Later she appeared also in When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth (Val Guest, 1969). Eve Eden continued to pose until the late 1960's. Her dozens of pictorials included spreads in international magazines like Playboy, Hi-Life, Modern Man, Fling, Beau, and Knave.
There’s an unverified rumour that she then married a wealthy South American and retired from modelling.
And finally a word about Eve from the editor of The 60s Glam Database: “Perhaps the most beautiful model of England's Golden Age and certainly today one of the most highly sought after models. Magazine appearances are becoming increasingly collectable.”
Sources: The 60s Glam Database of British Glamour Models of the 1960’s, RetroRambling and IMDb.