BARBARA SHELLEY

(13 February 1932 - 4 January 2021)

Barbara Shelley, the Hammer Horror queen, has died at the age of 88 from underlying medical issues following Covid-19. Born Barbara Kowin, she began her career as a model before going to Italy for minor film roles from 1955. On her return to the UK in 1957, she played the title role in The Cat Girl, after which her future fate was sealed as she was taken up by Hammer Films for The Camp on Blood Island, followed by Blood of the Vampire and later on The Shadow of the Cat, The Gorgon, The Secret of Blood Island, Dracula, Prince of Darkness, Rasputin, The Mad Monk and Quatermass and the Pit (1967). In between Hammer productions, in which she often worked with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, Shelley was in other films such as Bobbikins with Max Bygraves, A Story of David with Jeff Chandler, Postman’s Knock with Spike Milligan, and many television series. Television occupied Shelley’s career during the 1970s and the 1980s, after which she turned her hand to interior decorating. The heady days of Hammer horrors were well behind her but she will always be best-remembered for being the First Leading Lady of British Horror. As far as we know, Barbara Shelley never married.

MICHAEL DARVELL