Lesley-Anne Down Survived Three Near-Death Experiences Since Age Ten

Lesley-Anne Down feels she has spent three of her nine lives already. The actress plays the Iron Lady alongside Dennis Quaid in "Reagan" and shows real steel off-screen. She recalls three moments when other people should have killed her. Her terrifying experiences started at just ten years old.

Morgan Fairchild says two men once abducted her from an NYC street while bystanders laughed. Down told Fox News Digital about a little girl who was murdered on the moors in England. "There was a little girl who had dark hair and blue eyes and was my age, 10," she said. "Her name was Leslie Ann Downey." Her mother received phone calls when that identity was announced.

"It wasn't me, of course," said Down. "But it certainly freaked her out." The real victim, Leslie Ann Downey, was about six months younger. Two killers named Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were responsible for the murders. They killed five children between 1963 and 1965 according to The Associated Press. Several victims rest on Saddleworth Moor in northern England. This case became known as the Moors murders.

Hindley and Brady faced arrest in 1965 and later stood convicted of these crimes. The five victims included Downey, Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, and Edward Evans. Their ages ranged from ten to seventeen years old. Bennett's body has never been found. Accounts say Hindley asked Downey to help carry packages to a car before the abduction happened.

Hindley died in 2002 while serving a life sentence. Brady passed away in a psychiatric hospital in 2017. The case terrified Down's family, yet danger would not stay far from home. "A year later, my mother and I were coming back from the launderette with the washing," Down said. She ran ahead leaving the laundry behind. She ran uphill then over a footbridge. A man came from the other side walking toward her. He stopped in the middle of the bridge and said hello. Then he intended to put her in his car.

"He told me he needed a babysitter, and he would call my parents when we got to his house," Down said. She remembered having one foot inside the vehicle before seeing her mother broke the spell. The man vanished then. But she still recalls that horrible feeling swooping in before her mother arrived.

Years later at age eighteen, she ordered a taxi. When a car pulled up in the countryside, she climbed in and quickly noticed something was wrong. "As soon as he's driving away, I'm already feeling that horrible feeling," Down said. She looked around and found no radios or anything a taxi should have. So she asked to pull over. He replied they did not need to stop because they would arrive soon.

Down decided to jump from the moving vehicle. "I opened the door and threw myself out of the 25-mile an hour car," she said. She fell onto the curb in a puddle. She was covered in blood. There was nobody around. What did he do? He pulled the car door shut and drove off at top speed. She could not freeze up because that feeling was familiar to her. She had been through it before.

Down, now seventy-two years old, earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role opposite Patrick Swayze in "North and South." She also starred with Peter Sellers in "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" and Harrison Ford in "Hanover Street." She later appeared on the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful." When asked what advice she would give to women pursuing a career in Hollywood, Down offered a warning. "Never go anywhere alone," she said.

Actress Diane Lane, known for her role as Margaret Thatcher in the film "Reagan," offered some hard-earned advice that goes beyond acting tips. She told fans to always keep an agent or publicist nearby when chasing dreams. Even if they are stuck on a phone call deep inside a lobby, having someone there is non-negotiable.

The decision to step away from Hollywood wasn't made lightly. It happened around 2012. By then, things were going very well for her. She had secured enough stability that she could choose to leave the industry without fear. Lane has since relocated from California to Georgia. She admits no regrets about turning down two chances to play a Bond girl.

Her reasoning might seem old-fashioned to some, but being a Bond girl never really clicked with her. That role meant skimpy clothes and pretty faces with little dialogue. There was no real acting involved, just kissing James in a spacecraft at the end of the movie. She didn't want that label sticking around for life.

The offer to play Thatcher came out of nowhere. Lane accepted it quickly and expressed deep gratitude for the experience. In her view, Margaret Thatcher loved England and its people just as much as Ronald Reagan believed in America. Leaders should embody those shared values. They need to do anything possible to ensure the longevity and success of their nation.

This role marked another unexpected chapter in a life full of surprising turns. Today, Lane is happy with where she has ended up. Her choice was clear: live the life she lives now. The film "Reagan" is available for rent or purchase on digital platforms.