Christine Noonan

Christine Noonan (born Christine Elizabeth Wright; 8 March 1945 – 6 August 2003) was a British actress. She is best known for her role as the anarchist and love interest of Malcolm McDowell in the 1968 film if..... In one scene, which gained particular notoriety in British cinema of the period, she impersonated a tiger and had sexual intercourse with McDowell's character Mick Travis on the floor of a cafe, which with the later violence in the film led to an X rating, leading Paramount to later cut the sexual content from the film. Noonan has said of the infamous scene in the film: "He was stark naked and I was stark naked, but we were both so busy fighting that I can't remember what he looked like in the nude". Her husband initially protested when he learned of the nature of the role, but he agreed to her acting in it once she explained the point of the film and the context. Noonan also appeared opposite McDowell, although with a more minor role as a girl at a stag party, in the 1973 film O Lucky Man!, and also appeared in the films Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Malatesta (1970) and Backwoods (1987). She found work on the stage in the 1970s, performing in George Etheridge's comedy "She Would If She Could" for the Nuffield Theatre Company at Lancaster University in 1972. Noonan played the role of Barberina in the TV serial Casanova, and her last role was as a business woman in the series Babylon 5 in 1997. She was often out of work as an actress and worked selling wool in an Army and Navy store. She was married to Denis Noonan, and later to Lawrence Dennett, with whom she had 3 children. She died in 2003 at age 58, of cancer.