Camie (Koo Stark)
"[George Lucas] had this incredible drive to put what he'd created onto celluloid so that the audience could share his vision. I guess that's why Star Wars is so extraordinarily successful." ―Koo Stark
Koo Stark (born Kathleen Dee-Anne Stark) is the actress who portrayed Camie in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. Stark was originally considered for the role of Princess Leia, but instead landed the role of Camie, whose scene did not make it into the film's final cut. Stark has also been a photographer and a model, and was once involved with Prince Andrew, Duke of York.
Successful freelance photographer and sometime girlfriend of HRH
Prince Andrew, she fell out of favour when her involvement in soft-porn films
Emily (1977) and Cruel Passion (1977) became known. She is the daughter of film
producer Wilbur Stark. Koo has been a practicing Buddhist since 1994. She lives
in New York and London. The role of Rost in Doctor Who - Attack Of The Cybermen
was meant for her but she allegedly had a disagreement with the production team
over her fee and was replaced by Sarah Berger. Daughter Tatiana born March 17,
1997.After being diagnosed with breast cancer in August, 2002 and following the
emergency mastectomy in America she had to endure weeks of chemotherapy – and
the loss of her trademark long hair. It was her five-year-old daughter,
Tatiana, who first noticed the rock in Koo’s breast as the pair hugged. After
doctors in London repeatedly failed to spot the cancer, Koo was diagnosed in
America last August and had her breast removed two days later. In December
2003, underwent her second mastectomy. Although she lives in London, her family
still resides in the U.S., so she had the surgery and recovered near them. Has set
up a cancer organization called, Keep Abreast.
A rare interview from Koo Stark from 1997 when the Special Editions of the Original Trilogy was released. Speaking at a London film fair conducted by writer/ex-STARBURST magazine columnist Richard Holliss.
Thanks to cosmic lost and found on YouTube.
"She weaves an interesting tale of how Carrie was in negotiations so as a backup they brought Stark in, then created the Cammie role when Carrie signed. Looking at the two names now Carrie/Cammie maybe that's just a weird coincidence, but she does have the same general appearance. Probably a ploy to get Carrie to sign, bring in someone else so that the other side realizes the urgency of the negotiations. If you read her Wiki page she did drop off the radar but most likely because of health concerns, breast cancer, and all the press from dating a UK Royal probably made the public light annoying."
Recent newspaper stories regarding Koo Stark (note: tabloids are biased and muck-raking, take with a pinch of salt)
(from Daily Mail, February 2011)
"She dated Prince Andrew for 18 months and for a while they seemed set to marry. But Koo Stark, who could so easily have been the Duchess of York and was once a regular visitor to Buckingham Palace, has fallen on such hard times that she is about to apply for state benefits. The 54-year-old single mother and best-known of Prince Andrew’s former girlfriends is today fighting bankruptcy proceedings in the High Court. And the Daily Mail has learned that earlier this week she collected the necessary forms from her local town hall in Kensington, West London, to enable her to apply for income support and housing benefit. Miss Stark, who has been on the brink of bankruptcy for two years with debts of around £250,000 and has a 13-year-old daughter Tatiana from a relationship with American-born banker Warren Walker, a scion of the mighty Forbes publishing empire. Miss Stark’s bankruptcy hearing has been prompted by her lengthy stay two years ago at the five-star Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in Knightsbridge. The actress-turned-photographer moved there after becoming homeless, following a dispute with her previous landlord Earl Cadogan over who should pay to rid her Kensington mews
(from standard.co.uk, February 2011)
American-born Miss Stark dated Prince Andrew after his return from the Falklands War. The two had first gone on a blind date when he was on leave from the Royal Navy in the autumn of 1981. He took her on holiday to Mustique, invited her to Balmoral to meet his family and marriage seemed on the cards. But when it emerged that Miss Stark had acted in a mildly erotic film called Emily some years earlier, the romance ended. She subsequently married and divorced Green Shield Stamps heir Tim Jefferies, while Andrew went on to wed Sarah Ferguson. However, she remains friends with the Prince and in 2002 when she had an emergency mastectomy for breast cancer in the U.S. he sent a bouquet of flowers and a note of encouragement. Miss Stark, who believes the cancer was partly caused by the stress of her court battles with Mr Walker over custody of their child, was also invited to Andrew’s 50th birthday party at St James’s Palace last year. Years after she and Andrew broke up she recounted how, when she was due to join the Royal Family in Scotland and missed her train, the Queen came to the phone while she was panicking at King’s Cross station and told her not to worry about being late. Nearly three decades later, Miss Stark’s circumstances could not be more different. Prince Andrew's ex-girlfriend applied for housing benefit despite living in a £2 million London flat, it was revealed today. Koo Stark, an American-born former model and actress, was declared bankrupt last week over an unpaid £38,680 hotel bill. But the 54-year-old single mother still manages to live in a Knightsbridge street, a few minutes' walk from Harrods. She reportedly applied for benefits so she could stay living in the neighbourhood and not disrupt the education of her 11-year-old daughter, Tatiana. Her two-bedroom flat costs about £1,000 a week to rent. Other properties in the street sell from £1.9 million to £16 million. The Daily Mirror today reported that Ms Stark's debts were about £250,000 over the past six years. The bankruptcy proceedings followed her stay at the five-star Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in Knightsbridge, where rooms cost at least £275 a night. Ms Stark shot to fame in 1982 when she dated Prince Andrew. She later married and divorced Tim Jefferies, heir to the Green Shield Stamps fortune.
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