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Barbara Steele
Barbara Steele (born 29 December 1937)[1] is an English actress and producer, known for starring in Italian gothic horror films of the 1960s. She has been referred to as the "Queen of All Scream Queens"[2] and "Britain's first lady of horror".[3] She played the dual role of Asa and Katia Vajda in Mario Bava's landmark film Black Sunday (1960), and starred in The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962), The Long Hair of Death (1964), and Castle of Blood (1964). Additionally, Steele had supporting roles in Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963), David Cronenberg's Shivers (1975), Joe Dante's Piranha and Louis Malle's Pretty Baby (both 1978), and appeared on television in the 1991 TV series Dark Shadows. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for producing the American television miniseries War and Remembrance (1988–89). Steele appeared in several films in the 2010s, including a lead role in The Butterfly Room (2012) and supporting role in Ryan Gosling's Lost River (2014). Early lifeSteele was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire.[4] She studied art at the Chelsea Art School and in Paris at the Sorbonne.[4] Before her film career, Steele acted on stage and also worked as a model. CareerEarly workSteele was signed to a contract by the Rank Organisation. She appeared in several minor film roles during the late 1950s, including in the BAFTA-winning Sapphire (where she appeared opposite future Black Sunday co-star John Richardson) and Upstairs and Downstairs. In 1960, her contract was sold to 20th Century Fox. She guest starred on an episode of the ABC series, Adventures in Paradise, and was cast as the female lead opposite Elvis Presley in the Western film Flaming Star (1960). However, after one week of principal photography, Steele left the production and was replaced by Barbara Eden. Author Adam Victor writes in The Elvis Encyclopaedia that she was fired because studio executives thought her British accent was too pronounced.[5] However, Steele claimed she quit over a disagreement with director Don Siegel.[6] Regardless, a March 1960 Screen Actors Guild strike led Steele to abandon her Fox contract.[7] Italians films and stardomSteele traveled to Italy, with the hopes of working with director Federico Fellini. Soon after her arrival, she was cast in her breakout part, the dual roles of Asa and Katia Vajda in Mario Bava's Black Sunday. There are two accounts describing how Steele came to be cast in the film: one suggests that Bava, while perusing through head shots of British actors under contract at Fox, selected Steele from these photos.[7] Steele, however, recalled that Bava tracked her down after being captivated by photos of her in a Life magazine photoshoot.[8] Bava later commented that Steele "had the perfect face for my films".[7] The success of Black Sunday launched Steele to overnight stardom and defined her status as a scream queen. She would star in a string of Italian horror films throughout the decade, including Riccardo Freda's The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962) and The Ghost (1963); Antonio Margheriti's The Long Hair of Death and Castle of Blood (both 1964), Terror-Creatures from the Grave and Nightmare Castle (both 1965). She also starred in American director Roger Corman's adaptation of The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same title, and the British film Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968). Steele guest starred in British television shows including the spy drama, Danger Man (aka Secret Agent) starring Patrick McGoohan in 1965. In 1961, she appeared as Phyllis in the "Beta Delta Gamma" episode of CBS's Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She also had an supporting role in Fellini's 8½ (1963), and in 1966 appeared in the second-season episode of NBC's I Spy, "Bridge of Spies". Supporting parts and producerSteele returned to the horror genre in the later 1970s, appearing in three horror films: David Cronenberg's Shivers (1975), Joe Dante's Piranha (1978), and The Silent Scream (1979).[9] She also played a lesbian prison warden in Jonathan Demme's directorial debut, the women-in-prison film Caged Heat (1974). She had a supporting role in Louis Malle's critically-acclaimed period drama Pretty Baby (1978). Steele served as associate producer of the TV miniseries, The Winds of War (1983), and was a producer for its sequel, War and Remembrance (1988), for which she shared the 1989 Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special with executive producer Dan Curtis. Steele was cast as Julia Hoffman in the 1991 remake of the 1960s ABC television series Dark Shadows. In 2010, she was a guest star in the Dark Shadows audio drama, The Night Whispers. In 2010, actor-writer Mark Gatiss interviewed Steele about her role in Black Sunday for his BBC documentary series A History of Horror.[10][11] In 2012, Gatiss again interviewed Steele about her role in Shivers for his follow-up documentary, Horror Europa. In 2014, she appeared in Ryan Gosling's directorial debut, the drama-fantasy thriller film Lost River,[12] in which she portrayed the character Belladonna in a supporting role.[13] In 2017, she was inducted into the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards' Hall of Fame. In 2020, she had a guest role on the animated series Castlevania, voicing the character Miranda. Personal lifeSteele was married to American screenwriter James Poe.[1] They were married in 1969 and divorced in 1978.[citation needed] They have a son, Jonathan. FilmographyFilm
Television
Awards and nominations
References
Works cited
Further reading
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barbara Steele.
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