Jill Dorothy Ireland

Jill Ireland was born on April 24, 1936, in London, England, to a wine importer and his wife. She started her career as a dancer at the age of 12 and later appeared in British television and movies. She signed a contract with the British film studio Rank in 1955 and made her film debut in Oh... Rosalinda!! (1955) as a ballerina. In 1957, she married actor David McCallum after the couple met while working on the film Hell Drivers (1957). They had three sons together, Paul, Valentine, and Jason (who was adopted). They also appeared together in five episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1967). They divorced in 1967. In 1968, she married Charles Bronson, whom she had met when he and McCallum were filming The Great Escape (1963) some years earlier. With Bronson, she had two children, a daughter born to the couple and an adopted daughter. She also appeared in 16 films with him, and was involved in two of his other films as a producer. Ireland was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984. After her diagnosis, she wrote two books, Life Wish (1987) and Life Lines (1989), chronicling her battle with the disease. She also became a spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society and testified before the U.S. Congress about medical costs. She was given the American Cancer Society's Courage Award by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. She died of breast cancer at her home in Malibu, California, on May 18, 1990, at the age of 54. She was cremated and her ashes were placed in a cane which Charles Bronson had buried with him at Brownsville Cemetery when he died in 2003.