Very sad to bring the news that actress Barbara Shelley has died today . . you are invited to please share your condolences, messages and comments at the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page where you will find a full obituary . . .
BARBARA SHELLEY was one VERY versatile actress and herself had the character and values of a force to be reckoned with! Like many British actresses of this era, it was her strength of character and no nonsense core values, that carried her and her career through the making of some of the most iconic and respected fantasy features of the 50's and 60's. They were personal qualities that she displayed and served her well, until her end . .
"On
returning back to PCASUK in 2010, she was the first actress I met at an
event in London. She had agreed to record a short jingle, for some pod
casts I was thinking of launching. During a short break, she called me
over and said, 'If we are to get the best out of me, during this
recording, I will need to be in the sun!' I again told her it was an
audio recording, and we weren't videoing her for the jingle, and that
the video camera she could see a friend holding was just for my personal
use. Nope. If there was a camera, she wanted LIGHT! Fair enough, I
thought! So, we moved her to an upstairs room, drew back some very large, grand
red curtains, we got her a very royal velvet armchair to sit in. She
sat, in the sun light and wanted to see, on the play-back, what the
framing and set up would be looking like, on my 'personal memory of
behind the scenes', she wanted to see how she looked, before we did the
audio recording. She was happy if the camera didn't come THAT close. I
followed her instruction. I recorded her 'voice-over' for the jingle
speech, of 45 seconds. After one take, she listened to the play back.
She was happy. I thanked her, and gave her a hug.
My last memory of Barbara, is her walking out of the room, back to her signing duties. 'Thank you Barbara. Most kind of you!' I said, 'Oh you are most welcome... and you can close those curtains now!' she said
We did and now, . . so has she, bless her" - Marcus Brooks (pcasuk)
Barbara
was at her busiest in the late 1950s with 'Blood of the Vampire' and
in the 1960s, she became Hammer Horror's number-one female star, with
The Gorgon (1964), Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966), Rasputin, the Mad
Monk (1966), and Quatermass and the Pit (1967) among her credits. She
also appeared in Village of the Damned (1960). By fans of Hammer films
and the fantasy genre, she was quite deservedly crowned as a 'scream
queen'! Her most famous scream role was probably in #Hammerfilms,
'Dracula Prince of Darkness' when to her annoyance, she was dubbed by
co-star Suzan Farmer.
Her
television appearances include the first Danger Man episode, "View From
A Villa" (1960), plus a subsequent episode that season, "The Traitor"
(also 1960); The Saint (1962), an episode of The New Phil Silvers Show
(1963), two episodes of 12 O'Clock High (1965 and 1966); The Avengers
episodes "Dragonsfield" (1961) and "From Venus With Love" (1967); the TV
miniseries Prince Regent (1979); The Borgias (1981); the Blake's 7
episode "Stardrive" (1981); the Crown Court episode 'Proof Spirits'
(1981), the Doctor Who serial Planet of Fire (1984), and surprisingly,
EastEnders in 1988.
In
her later years, Barbara became a well known and much wanted face on
the autograph and movie collectors events and conventions circuit. She
made many friends from fans and admirers during these events, was always
happy to pose for snaps, helped with animal charity work and loved the
interest and affection. In her 70's she had become one of the few
British fantasy actresses, still standing, and wore her 'Scream Queen'
crown with much pride!
Barbara died on 4 January 2021. She was admitted in hospital in December 2020 for a muscle check up and in that process she contracted COVID-19. She then recovered from the disease. Her agent reported that underlying issues are the cause of death.
BARBARA SHELLEY (Barbara T. Kowin)
13 February 1932 – 4 January 2021
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