A blue plaque is to be unveiled in Budleigh Salterton this weekend in honour of the 1950s film star Belinda Lee, who was born in the town and died tragically young, aged just 25.

Belinda was hailed as Britain's answer to film queens such as Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot. But her private life scandalised the more conservative members of 1950s British society.

She was born on June 15 1935 in Budleigh Salterton, where her father ran the Rosemullion Hotel. She trained at RADA and began her film career at 18 playing ‘glamour’ parts in light comedy, working alongside Benny Hill, Frankie Howerd, Alastair Sim and Norman Wisdom, before progressing to more serious roles. She married the Rank film company's photographer Cornel Lucas in 1954.

In 1957 Lee moved to Italy for movie work and had a well-publicised affair with the 37-year-old married Vatican diplomat Prince Filippo Orsini. A reported suicide pact between the pair made international headlines. The scandal led to the break-up of her marriage and the ending of her contract with Rank Organisation.

She continued making films in Italy, preferring the challenging roles offered in European cinema to the ‘dumb blonde’ stereotypes she’d been given in the UK.

In 1960 she became engaged to the controversial Italian documentary film director Gualtiero Jacopetti. The pair were visiting the US in March 1961 when the car they were travelling in crashed in California, kllling Lee but leaving Jacopetti with only minor injuries. He went on to live to the age of 91 and reportedly said he wanted to be buried alongside Lee in Rome.

Dr Phil Wickham, curator of the University of Exeter’s Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, said: “It is tremendous news that a blue plaque will now celebrate the life of Belinda Lee in her hometown. She is a fascinating figure who deserves to be better known. She was a star in two film industries who challenged the ways in which women were constrained in the post-war years. We are proud that she came from Devon and this plaque will help her to be remembered.

“The changed role of women in society has prompted a re-evaluation of her life and aspirations in today’s more tolerant age. Lee appeared in much more overtly sexual roles than British producers had ever contemplated for her. In the Britain of the 1950s she was limited by a stereotype of demure and unthreatening beauty that fitted expectations of femininity at the time, at least for middle-class young women. The British press disapproved of her Italian career and private life, condemning Lee for being open about her desires. If she had lived perhaps she would have better fitted into the changing ethos of the 1960s.”

The blue plaque will be unveiled at Cliff House, 10 Cliff Terrace, Budleigh Salterton at 12 noon on Belinda's birthday, Saturday, June 15.