Biography of Fiona Richmond (a.k.a.: Amber Harrison)

Fiona Richmond (born March 2, 1945) is an English former glamour model and actress. She became a British sex symbol in the 1970s for her appearances in numerous risqué plays, comedy revues, magazines and films. She has been described as one of the "two hottest British sex film stars of the seventies", the other being Mary Millington.

Richmond met the British strip-club owner and publisher Paul Raymond in 1970 when she auditioned for a part in the nude farce Pyjama Tops at the Whitehall Theatre in London. She was awarded the part and went on to star at the Raymond Revuebar strip club, appear in nude photo shoots and work as an adult entertainment journalist, writing articles about sex for the UK’s top shelf magazines. In 1970 she was the subject of a TV documentary The Actress Said. Her column in Raymond's Men Only magazine, in which she described her supposed sexual adventures with men and women around the world, brought her some fame. In 1974 she appeared as a regular sex adviser on the London Broadcasting Company, a British talk radio and phone-in station. In the same year she made the TV documentary What the Actress said to the Bishop which won a gold award at the Atlanta International Film Festival. In 1976 the News of the World printed a picture of Richmond in the Crystal Palace F.C. players' bath with footballer Malcolm Allison, as a result of which Allison was charged with bringing the game in into disrepute by The Football Association.

She made her film debut (billed under the name Amber Harrison) in Not Tonight, Darling (1971), which led to larger roles in X-rated movies such as the psychological thriller Exposé (1976). Others included Hardcore (1977) – also titled Frankly Fiona – a sex comedy in which she played herself, partially based on an autobiography she had written, and Let's Get Laid (1977), a mistaken-identity comedy that had no connection to the stage show of the same name. She also appeared in Raymond's Electric Blue video series, hosting the first of them in 1979. Her later roles included the Queen of France in the Mel Brooks comedy History of the World, Part I (1981), an appearance in an episode of the TV comedy series The Comic Strip Presents... in 1983, and the role of Fiona the KGB agent in the all-star black comedy Eat The Rich (1987). She also recorded the spoken word album Frankly Fiona in 1973, in collaboration with Anthony Newley, adding erotic talk to Newley's songs.

Richmond appeared in many of Paul Raymond's stage shows. From 1970 until 1974 she starred as a nude swimmer in Pyjama Tops, the West End's first nude production, which ran at the Whitehall Theatre for five years from 1969. The play, set around a transparent-sided swimming pool into which nude actresses periodically plunged, was an English version of the French farce Moumou. Richmond also starred in the play's 1972 tour. In 1974 she appeared on stage at the Windmill Theatre with John Inman in Let's Get Laid, a sex sketch comedy written by Victor Spinetti. The play was the first to be performed in the newly re-opened theatre, and to promote it she rode a horse through Piccadilly Circus in the style of Lady Godiva. In 1977 she starred opposite Divine in the women's prison comedy Women Behind Bars at the Whitehall Theatre. In 1979 she went on tour as the star of Yes, We Have No Pyjamas, another of Raymond's nude productions. She starred in the 1981 Paul Raymond production of Wot! No Pyjamas! at the Whitehall Theatre and its subsequent tour. Semi-naked photos of Richmond appeared on posters outside the Whitehall Theatre, and the Greater London Council took legal action against them. In 1982 she starred in the nude stage farce Space in My Pyjamas which toured the provinces for over 15 weeks. In a TV interview promoting the tour she expressed her intention to give up nude shows in favour of more serious acting.

Richmond has published many fictional and autobiographical books based on her sexual experiences, including Fiona (1976), Story of I (1978), On the Road by Fiona (1979), Galactic Girl (1980), Remember Paris (1980), The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful (1980), From Here to Virginity (1981), In Depth (1982) and Tell Tale Tits (1987). Her last showbusiness appearances in were in the 1990s, including guest spots on James Randi: Psychic Investigator (1991), The Truth About Women (1992), and as an uncredited extra in The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous (1997).

In The Look of Love, the 2013 biopic about Paul Raymond directed by Michael Winterbottom, Richmond was played by Tamsin Egerton. Upon its release Richmond said that the film portrayed a sleazy side of her life that never happened, and that most of her suggested script changes to make the film more accurate had not been not taken up.