Rocky Horror Show star Nell Campbell on Freddie Mercury’s teeth and Queen fame

The Rocky Horror Picture Show star Nell Campbell became friends with Freddie Mercury when they both sold clothes in London's Kensington Market. Photo / Getty Images

The Rocky Horror Show star Nell Campbell was always astonished by her friend Freddie Mercury’s huge teeth – joking “he could eat an apple through a tennis racket”.

The pair became friends before they achieved stardom as they worked stalls that were adjacent to each other in Kensington Market, London, between 1969 and 1970.

Campbell can recall first seeing Mercury on the stall, which was owned by his Queen bandmate Roger Taylor, sipping tea from a polystyrene cup and she remembers his startling overbite, which he eventually hid with a moustache when Queen became global rock icons.

Speaking to The Telegraph, she said: “Those teeth! He could eat an apple through a tennis racket, that boy.”

Mercury had four extra teeth in his upper jaw that pushed his front incisors forward to result in the overbite.

Aside from his appearance, Campbell, 72, can remember how determined the young singer was for Queen, who formed in 1970, to make it big in the music business.

Although Campbell always told Mercury to be realistic about how hard it would be to top the charts, those words ultimately meant nothing to the Queen frontman.

She said: “He was always banging on about his band, trying to get a record deal. I told him, ‘Freddie, it’s a harsh world out there, hang on to the day job!’”

Campbell landed her breakout role as groupie Columbia in 1975’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show when she was spotted waitressing in a cafe near Hyde Park, London, by the musical comedy’s writer Richard O’Brien and director Jim Sharman.

The movie sees a couple, Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon), arrive at “sweet transvestite, transsexual Transylvanian” Dr Frank-N-Furter’s castle, where a party is held, and the mad scientist creates the titular muscle man Rock Horror (Peter Hinwood).

Tim Curry, 79, played Dr Frank-N-Furter, whose memorable pouts and struts were styled on Rolling Stones singer Sir Mick Jagger.

Jagger, 82, famously wanted the role and he tried to buy the film rights to cast himself, which Campbell thinks would have “killed it”.

She said: “Jim Sharman didn’t want rock stars. He wanted interesting, unusual people with street cred.”

Disney bought the rights to The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 2019 as part of its acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the studio that produced and released the cult classic in 1975.

Campbell flashed a boob to the camera as Columbia in the movie and Disney decided to erase her nipple to make it “more family-friendly”.

She said: “They invited Jim Sharman into the studio to edit it and make it more family-friendly. They didn’t want many changes. But they asked him to erase my nipple!

“He told them, ‘I have no experience in erasing nipples.’ They took it out anyway. But I can tell you that the fans were not happy. My nipple belonged in that film!”