Barbara Steele as Lavinia
Produced as The Curse of the Crimson Altar, Witch House, The Reincarnation and Spirit of the Dead, this is one of Boris Karloff's last films. He portrays a hero, Professor Marshe, an expert in witchcraft. In the English village of Greymarsh, the descendant of a witch burned at the stake forms a cult and is preparing new sacrifices. Said to be based on Lovecraft's "Dreams in the Witch House".
Biography for Barbara Steele
Date of birth
29 December 1937,
Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The most beautiful star of the greatest horror masterpiece of Italian film, "Black Sunday": Barbara Steele was born on December 19, 1938 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England. Barbara is loved by her fans for her talent, intelligence, erotic sexuality, and a mysterious beauty that is unique; her face epitomizes either sweet innocence, or malign evil (she is wonderful to watch either way). At first, Barbara studied to become a painter. In 1957, she joined an acting repertory company. Her feature acting debut was in the British comedy "Bachelor of Hearts" (1958). At age 21, this strikingly lovely lady, with the hauntingly beautiful face, large eyes, sensuous lips and long, dark hair got her breakout role by starring in "Black Sunday," the quintessential Italian film about witchcraft (it was the directorial debut for cinematographer Mario Bava; with his background it was exquisitely photographed and atmospheric).
We got to see Barbara, but did not hear her; her voice was dubbed by another actress for international audiences. After its American success, AIP brought Barbara to America, to star in Roger Corman's "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1961); (though the film was shot entirely in English, again Barbara's own voice was not used). By now, Barbara was typecast by American audiences as a horror star. In 1962, she answered an open-casting call and won a role in Federico Fellini's "8 1/2"; she only had a small but memorable role. Reportedly Fellini wanted to use her more in the film, but she was contracted to leave Rome to start work on her next horror movie, "The Horrible Dr. Hichcock" (1962). Being a slow and meticulous director, Fellini's "8 1/2" was not released until 1963. (Later, when Barbara was cast in lesser roles in lesser movies, she would tell the directors: "I've worked with some of the best directors in the world. I've worked with Fellini!") More horror movies followed, such as "The Spectre" (1963), "Castle of Blood" (1964), "An Angel for Satan" (1966) and others; this success led to her being typecast in the horror genre, where she more often than not appeared in Italian movies with a dubbed voice. The nadir was appearing in "Curse of the Crimson Altar" (1968), which was mainly eye candy, with scantily-clad women in a cult.
Unfortunately, Barbara got sick of being typecast in horror movies. One of the screen's greatest horror stars, she said in an interview: "I never want to climb out of another freakin' coffin again!" This was sad news for her legion of horror fans; it was also a false-step for Barbara as far as a career move. Back in America, she met screenwriter James Poe; they got married, and remained together for many years. James Poe wrote an excellent role for Barbara in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (1969). The role ended up going to Susannah York, and Barbara wouldn't act in movies again for 5 years. Barbara returned to movies in "Caged Heat" (1974); she was miscast: a few years before, Barbara would have been one of the beautiful inmates, not the wheelchair-bound warden. In 1977, she appeared in a film by Roger Corman, based on the true story of a mentally ill woman, "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden." Unfortunately, her scenes wound up on the cutting room floor. (The movie itself is vague. I read the book-- the main character gets the insight that Lactamaeon is based on a large illustration in their family Bible, that scared her as a child. It depicts Archangel Lucifer being thrown from heaven: falling, falling endlessly. This fear of falling from grace in large part caused her own mental illness.) Again, trying anything but horror, Barbara appeared in "Pretty Baby" (1978), but she was in the background the whole time, and her talents wasted.
Barbara would appear in 2 more unmemorable movies. She and James Poe got divorced, (he died a few years later). Barbara did "Silent Scream" (1980). Maybe because her ex-husband was now dead, or because her acting career was going nowhere, Barbara retired from acting for a decade. However, she had a lot of success as a producer. She was an associate producer for the TV mini-series "The Winds of War" (1983), and produced "War and Remembrance" (1989), for which she got an Emmy award. Her horror fans were delighted when Barbara showed up again, this time on TV in "Dark Shadows" (1991), a revival of the beloved 1960s supernatural soap. The still-lovely Barbara acts occasionally, her latest film was "The Prophet" (1999). Even past 60, Barbara is still beautiful and her fans love her.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
The mother of all scream queens, at least to the postwar generation of horror-film fans, Steele owes to her exotic good looks and hypnotic screen presence her standing as something of a fetish object for a particularly intense segment of the cognoscenti. Her dual role as an evil, undead witch and virginal princess in Mario Bava's splendid Black Sunday (1961) set up her madonnawhore credentials quite convincingly, after which a handful of Italian horror directors lined up to see who got to chain Steele to a wall next. Ricardo Freda's The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962) is often cited as the exemplary "appreciation" of Steele. The actress also worked with Fellini (in a supporting role in 8 1963) and German director Volker Schlondorff Young Torless 1966). She took time off from acting after her second marriage, and came back in Caged Heat (1974), playing a sadistic, crippled women's-prison warden who performs a dream striptease. Steele played small parts in both Pretty Baby and Piranha (both 1978) before going behind the scenes to work with TV producer Dan Curtis; she was one of the producers of his epic miniseries "War and Remembrance" (1989; she had a cameo in it as well) and worked in his short-lived revival of the horror soap opera "Dark Shadows" in 1991.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Links:
Prophet, The (1999) .... Agent Oakley
... aka Capitol Conspiracy, The (1999) (USA: video title)
Donald Cammell: The Ultimate Performance (1998)
"A-Z of Horror" (1997) (mini) TV Series .... Herself
... aka "Clive Barker's A-Z of Horror" (1997) (mini) (UK: complete title)
Hollywood Rated 'R' (1997) .... Herself
Tief oben (1994)
... aka Deep Above (1994)
"Dark Shadows" (1991) TV Series .... Dr. Julia Hoffman/Countess Natalie du Pr�s
... aka "Dark Shadows Revival" (1991) (USA: video box title)
Adam Hart i Sahara (1990) (V) .... Portrait of Alicia
Dark Shadows (1990) (TV) .... Dr. Julia Hoffman
"War and Remembrance" (1989) (mini) TV Series .... Elsa MacMahon (Singapore Christmas Party)
"Winds of War, The" (1983) (mini) TV Series .... Mrs. Stoller
Silent Scream (1980) .... Victoria Engels
Cl� sur la porte, La (1978) .... Cathy
... aka Key Is in the Door, The (1978) (USA)
Piranha (1978) .... Dr. Mengers
Pretty Baby (1978) .... Josephine
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977) .... Idat
Space-Watch Murders, The (1975) (TV)
Shivers (1975) .... Betts
... aka Frissons (1975) (Canada: French title)
... aka Parasite Murders, The (1975)
... aka They Came from Within (1975) (USA)
Caged Heat (1974) .... Superintendent McQueen
... aka Caged Females (1974)
... aka Renegade Girls (1974)
Honeymoon with a Stranger (1969) (TV) .... Carla
Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968) .... Lavinia Morley
... aka Crimson Altar, The (1968)
... aka Crimson Cult, The (1970) (USA)
... aka Curse of the Crimson Cult (1968)
... aka Reincarnation, The (1968)
... aka Spirit of the Dead (1968)
... aka Witch House (1968)
Fermate il mondo... voglio scendere (1968) .... Danielle
Handicap (1968)
5 tombe per un medium (1966) .... Cleo Hauff
... aka Cemetery of the Living Dead (1966)
... aka Cinque tombe per un medium (1966)
... aka Coffin of Terror (1966)
... aka Five Graves for a Medium (1966)
... aka Terror-Creatures from the Grave (1966)
... aka Tombs of Horror (1966)
Angelo per Satana, Un (1966) .... Harriet Montebruno
... aka Angel for Satan, An (1966)
Armata Brancaleone, L' (1966) .... Teodora
Junge T�rless, Der (1966) .... Bozena
... aka D�sarrois de l'�l�ve T�rless, Les (1966) (France)
... aka Young Torless (1966) (USA)
Sorella di Satana, La (1966) .... Veronica
... aka Lago di Satana, Il (1966) (Italy)
... aka Revenge of the Blood Beast (1966)
... aka Satan's Sister (1966)
... aka She-Beast, The (1966)
... aka Sister of Satan (1966)
Soldi, I (1965)
Tre per una rapina (1965)
... aka Tiempo de violencia (1966) (Spain)
Amanti d'oltretomba (1965) .... Jenny/Muriel
... aka Faceless Monster, The (1965)
... aka Lovers Beyond the Tomb (1965)
... aka Lovers from Beyond the Tomb (1965)
... aka Night of the Doomed (1965)
... aka Nightmare Castle (1966) (USA)
... aka Orgasmo (1965)
Lunghi capelli della morte, I (1964) .... Helen
... aka Long Hair of Death, The (1964)
Amore facile (1964)
Monocle rit jaune, Le (1964) .... Val�rie
... aka Ispettore spara a vista, L' (1965) (Italy)
... aka Monocle's Sour Laugh, The (1964) (USA: literal English title)
... aka Monocle, The (1964) (USA)
Voci bianche, Le (1964) .... Guilia
... aka Castrati, I (1964) (Italy)
... aka Counter Tenors (1964)
... aka Sex des anges, Le (1964)
... aka Undercover Rogue (1964) (USA)
... aka White Voices (1964) (USA)
Danza macabra, La (1964) .... Elisabeth Blackwood
... aka Castle of Blood (1964) (UK) (USA)
... aka Castle of Terror, The (1964) (USA)
... aka Coffin of Terror (1964)
... aka Danse macabre (1964) (France)
... aka Dimensions in Death (1964)
... aka Edgar Allan Poe's Castle of Blood (1964)
... aka Long Night of Terror, The (1964)
... aka Lunga notte de terrore, La (1964)
... aka Terrore (1964)
... aka Tombs of Horror (1964)
... aka Tombs of Terror (1964)
Maniaci, I (1964)
... aka Beautiful Eyes (1964)
... aka Mangantes, Los (1964)
... aka Maniacs, The (1964)
Baisers, Les (1963)
... aka Baci, I (1963) (Italy)
... aka Voglia matta di donna, Una (1963) (Italy)
Capitano di ferro, Il (1963)
... aka Rampage of Evil (1963) (Europe: English title: video title)
Ore dell'amore, Le (1963) .... Leila
... aka Hours of Love, The (1963) (USA)
Spettro, Lo (1963) .... Margaret
... aka Ghost, The (1963) (USA)
... aka Spectre, The (1963)
... aka Spettro de Dr. Hichcock, Lo (1963)
Tentativo sentimentale, Un (1963)
... aka Amours sans lendemain (1963) (France)
... aka Sentimental Attempt, A (1963) (International: English title)
8 1/2 (1963) .... Gloria Morin
... aka Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963)
... aka Otto e mezzo (1963)
Orribile segreto del dottor Hichcock, L' (1962) .... Cynthia Hichcock
... aka Frightening Secret of Dr. Hichcock, The (1962) (International: English title: literal title)
... aka Horrible Dr. Hichcock, The (1964) (USA)
... aka Horrible Secret of Dr. Hichcock, The (1962)
... aka Raptus (1962)
... aka Secret of Dr. Hichcock, The (1962)
... aka Terrible Secret of Dr. Hichcock, The (1962)
... aka Terror of Dr. Hichcock, The (1962) (UK)
Oeil du monocle, L' (1962)
... aka Eye of the Monocle, The (1962) (USA)
... aka Monocle, The (1962)
Pit and the Pendulum (1961) .... Elizabeth Barnard Medina
... aka Pit and the Pendulum, The (1961) (USA)
Your Money or Your Wife (1960) .... Juliet Frost
Maschera del demonio, La (1960) .... Katia Vajda/Princess Asa Vajda
... aka Black Sunday (1961) (USA)
... aka Demon's Mask, The (1960)
... aka Hour When Dracula Comes, The (1960)
... aka House of Fright (1960)
... aka Mask of Satan, The (1960)
... aka Mask of the Demon (1960)
... aka Revenge of the Vampire (1968) (UK)
... aka Stunde wenn Drakula kommt, Die (1960) (West Germany)
Upstairs and Downstairs (1959) .... Mary
Bachelor of Hearts (1958) .... Fiona