Robin Dalton

Robin Ann Dalton AM (née Eakin; 22 December 1920 – 8 July 2022)^[1][2] was an Australian literary agent, film producer, and memoirist who lived in London for most of her adult life. She was also a journalist, television performer, and intelligence agent.^[3]

Life and career

Robin Ann Eakin was born in 1920 in Sydney, an only child, and grew up in Kings Cross, New South Wales. Her father was a doctor whose clientele included elements of the Sydney underworld as well as more respectable members of society.^[4][5] She was frequently in the social pages of Sydney newspapers in her late teens.^[6] A 1940 marriage to a barrister named John Spencer^[5] did not last more than a few months, as he divorced her on the grounds of adultery.^[7]

In 1946, she flew to London. While in Australia she had met David Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, Prince Philip's cousin and best man at his wedding to Princess Elizabeth, and in London their affair continued,^[6] but they were prevented from marrying by her status as a divorcee.^[7] She entered high society and met numerous international celebrities, which led to her doing espionage work for the Thai Government.^[4][6][5]

She then met an Irish doctor named Emmet Dalton, whom she married in 1953. They had two children, Lisa and Seamus,^[7][5] but Emmet died suddenly at age 33 during heart surgery. In 1963 she started a life with William Fairchild, who became her third husband in 1992^[7] and died in 2000.^[4]

Robin Dalton became a literary agent, acting for writers such as

She produced such films as Emma's War (1987), Madame Sousatzka (1988), Country Life (1994) and Oscar and Lucinda (1997).^[4][6]

Honours

She was appointed a