Born Mary Ruth Quilter in Middlesex on 30 November 1945, Mary was raised just outside Dorking in Surrey by her single mother, Joan. When Joan became terminally ill, Mary took up glamour modelling to pay for her care until her death in 1976.
Mary became extremely popular in the softcore porn magazines of the day and eventually began appearing in 8mm hardcore porn films which sold well in Europe.
She met adult magazine publisher David Sullivan in 1974. He renamed her Mary Millington and featured her heavily in his magazines such as Private and Whitehouse, and in his 1977 softcore sex comedy film, Come Play With Me.
This was followed by a larger role in The Playbirds (1978), in which she played a policewoman working undercover as a nude model. She continued working as a call girl, which she had done since her early modelling days.
Her final film appearance was in the Sex Pistols‘ Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, directed by Julien Temple. The film was released theatrically in March 1980 but she did not live to see the completion of the movie.
Mary Millington was found dead in bed at her home at Walton-on-the-Hill in Surrey in 1979 by her husband Richard Maxted. An empty pill bottle and four suicide notes were by her bed. She was just 33.
