Who is Mark Lester?
People shocked this week by Mark Lester confession that he is the real father of Paris Jackson. Who is Mark Lester, actually? Is he another claimer like Michael Jackson song character “Bille Jean”?
Lester was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, the son of actress Rita Lester (née Keene) and actor and producer Michael Lester (originally Michael Boris Letzer).[2] He attended the independent Halliford School in Shepperton, Middlesex, and the independent Corona Academy stage school in Hammersmith, London, and had supporting roles in several British television series, including The Human Jungle and Danger Man.
In 1964, at the age of six, Lester was cast in Robert Dhery's movie Allez France! with Diana Dors who was in Oliver twist in 1945. In 1968, at the age of nine, Lester was cast in Lionel Bart's musical Oliver!. He played the title character in the multiple Academy Award-winning musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel, which co-starred Jack Wild, Ron Moody, Shani Wallis and Oliver Reed and was directed by Sir Carol Reed. Lester was good friends with Wild throughout the making of the film and their friendship continued post-production with Lester describing Wild as a "long lost brother". When Wild was nominated for an Academy Award for the film, they were flown together to the USA for the ceremony.
These two child actors later reunited for Melody (1971), which depicted British schoolchildren in love. Tracy Hyde played the role of Melody in the film, which used early music from the Bee Gees and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
In 1969, Lester received critical acclaim for his portrayal of a dysfunctional and withdrawn only child in Run Wild, Run Free, starring opposite Sir John Mills, and then as a disturbed child in the first regular episode of "Then Came Bronson". Lester's acting roles in the UK would begin to wane, however, after starring in Eyewitness (1970), with Susan George and Night Hair Child (1971) with Britt Ekland, "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" (1971), with Shelley Winters; Melody and Black Beauty as he found good roles harder to come by. He extended his range with roles in a series of films in Italy including Redneck (1972) with Telly Savalas and the Western Scalawag (1973), with Kirk Douglas. The final film of his Italian-based career was in the costume drama La Prima volta sull'erba (Love Under the Elms) (1974), which was nominated for the Best Film prize at the Berlin Film Festival. Lester wrapped up his British film career with the lead role in Crossed Swords (UK title: The Prince and Pauper) (1977) in which he was reunited on screen with Oliver Reed, who had played Bill Sykes in Oliver. He also played a small part as the second schoolboy in Fahrenheit 451.
After the poor reception of Crossed Swords Lester gave up acting at the age of 19. He took his A Levels at the age of 28 and became an osteopathic physician, studying at the British School of Osteopathy. In 1993, Lester opened the Carlton Clinic, an acupuncture clinic in Cheltenham. He married in January 1993, but divorced in 2005 and has 4 children from that marriage. He later married a psychiatric nurse named Lisa.
In August 2009, Mark Lester gave an interview to the British tabloid newspaper the News of the World, claiming that he could be the biological father of Paris Katherine Jackson, the daughter of the singer Michael Jackson. Lester claimed to have been a sperm donor for Jackson in 1996, and announced that he was willing to take a paternity test to determine whether he was the father.
He stated in a video interview for the newspaper that his motivation, as godfather of the children, was that he had not been allowed contact with them since Jackson's death: "It's very very upsetting not being able to see all those children, they're my godchildren, and I love them dearly." Brian Oxman, the lawyer for the Jackson family, denied the claim in a television interview stating: “The thing I always heard from Michael was that Michael was the father of these children, and I believe Michael."
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