New songbook honors Hollywood legend Rhonda Fleming

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries


ANNAN, SCOTLAND (ANS) -- Hollywood legend, Rhonda Fleming, is a true Hollywood original and, more importantly, an "Ambassador for Christ" in Tinseltown.

Rhonda Fleming (Photo: Dan Wooding)

Fleming (born Marilyn Louis in Hollywood, California, on August 10, 1923), is an American film and television actress who appeared in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most beautiful and glamorous actresses of her day. She was nicknamed the "Queen of Technicolor" because her fair complexion and flaming red hair that photographed exceptionally well in Technicolor.She appeared with stars like Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Glenn Ford, Burt Lancaster, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Rock Hudson and Ronald Reagan (with whom she made four films) and actually kissed him onscreen.

She brought laughter at a Christian event in Beverly Hills, California, that I attended and organized by Media Fellowship International, when she recalled the times she had kissed Ronald Reagan on screen. "Who would have thought that I was kissing the man who would go on to be the President of the United States," she said.

Her extraordinary career began with top featured roles in David O. Selznick's Spellbound, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, RKO's Out Of The Past and The Spiral Staircase and leading into starring roles in classics such as A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, Gunfight At The Ok Corral, Home Before Dark, Pony Express, Slightly Scarlett, While The City Sleeps and The Big Circus.

And now, thousands of miles away from Hollywood, in the quiet Scottish town of Annan, Claire Lesley Ollerton has released a new songbook called "Special Songs - Limited Edition" that was published on the occasion of Ms. Fleming's birthday.

The pair has been corresponding now for a while and Ms. Ollerton wanted to honor Rhonda with her songbook.
Ms. Ollerton told ANS, that in 1977, she had been "inspired" to write poems and they were subsequently published in 2004 in "Expressions of Love" (ISBN 978-1 898936-58-9) and then revised in 2006.

"I have included three of them as songs in my new songbook published on Ms. Rhonda Fleming's birthday," she went on to say. It is called 'Special Songs - Limited Edition' (ISMN 979-0-9002210-2-5/ISBN 978-1 898936-64-0), and is written under my pen name of Lesley Ollerton.

"At the end of March 2010, I was going through a very stressful time and wasn't improving but the Lord gave me a remit. As I am a trained singer, I began to start a singing ministry performing popular songs including some of Ginger Roger's that I had collected because she was a friend and other songs connected with Christian singers/composers of the 30's, 40's and 50's for older people to bring back happy memories and encourage them in their walk with the Lord.

DVD cover

"However, my health wasn't improving, so a friend loaned me a DVD of 'A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court' to cheer me up and it did because of one song sung by Ms. Fleming called 'When Is Sometime?' That song I played and sang daily when I lived in Lancashire, England, and I just loved the picture of the Princess Alisande on the front cover.
"Little did I know when I first started playing it that I would be writing to that lovely princess approximately forty years later and that she was also a Christian.

"I first contacted Ms. Fleming in May 2010 and told her about the ministry and that it was for the Lord's glory. I received a most encouraging reply and it confirmed that she had been part of a quartet of Christian singers.

"Following on from that information, the Lord prompted me to modernize the lyrics of some of the songs that the quartet sang and incorporate them into the ministry, but The Lord had other ideas and they found themselves plus a few hymns being published in the songbook 'A Musical Mixture' (ISMN 979-0-9002210-0-1) which is dedicated to the glory of the Lord and Ms. Fleming.

Claire (left) with her friend, Barbara, with a copy of the new songbook (Photo: Annandale Observer)

"But The Lord wasn't satisfied with one book and then some of the poems I had written in 1977 kept coming to mind and three are included in the new songbook."

Ms. Ollerton went on to say, "There are fourteen songs in it, seven for children and seven for adults whose music has an international flavor. I asked a local Christian friend, Mrs. Barbara Lewis, who is the director of a children's choir here in Annan, SW Scotland - 'The Rainbow Tribe' -- to check out a couple of the songs' music for me and she gave me some very helpful advice, and that, coupled with the ongoing encouragement that I have received from Ms. Fleming, has made 'Special Songs - Limited Edition' even more special.

"As it is a limited edition of 200 copies they are now being sold on a first come, first served basis and are signed by Ms. Fleming. The price of each book is £50/$85 including postage and packing. After reasonable expenses have been taken out, the remainder of the proceeds from the sale of each book will go to support Ms. Fleming's charities."

Please contact Claire at info@steadfastministries.co.uk for details of how to obtain your copy.

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Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly "Front Page Radio" show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel "Red Dagger" which is available this link.