Key Profumo scandal figure Mandy Rice-Davies dies
Source: AP-Excite
By JILL LAWLESS
LONDON (AP) — Mandy Rice-Davies, a key figure in the "Profumo Affair," a scandal of sex and politics that rocked Cold War Britain, has died. She was 70.
Her PR firm, Hackford Jones, said Friday that Rice-Davies died Thursday evening "after a short battle with cancer."
Rice-Davies was a 19-year-old model and nightclub dancer in 1963 when her friend Christine Keeler had an affair with War Secretary John Profumo. Keeler had also slept with a Soviet naval attache, and the resulting collision of sex, wealth and national security rattled Britain's establishment, almost toppled the government and fascinated the nation.
At a trial that stemmed from the scandal, Rice-Davies was told that aristocratic party host Lord Astor denied her allegation of an affair. "Well, he would, wouldn't he?" she replied from the witness box. The phrase became famous, and Rice-Davies' sparky spirit endeared her to the public.
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FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 30, 2013 file photo, Mandy Rice Davies, former model and showgirl, right, poses with actress Charlotte Blackledge, who plays her in the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical 'Stephen Ward', during the show launch photocall, in London. Mandy Rice-Davies, a key figure in Britain's biggest Cold War political scandal, the {201c}Profumo Affair,{201d} has died. She was 70. Her PR firm said Friday Dec. 19, 2014, that Rice-Davies died Thursday evening "after a short battle with cancer." (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)
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