Today we remember the lovely Hazel Court who was born on this day,
during her career she worked with several horror legends, Vincent Price
in The Masque Of The Red Death (1964) , Boris Karloff and Vincent Price
again in The Raven (1963) , Christopher Lee in Hammer's The Man Who
Could Cheat Death (1959) and of course with Peter Cushing in The Curse
Of Frankenstein (1957) … What are some of your favourite performances of
Hazel's?
ORDER YOUR COPY DIRECT FROM TOMAHAWK: HERE
Her
book 'Hazel Court- Horror Queen: An Autobiography' is a good read, not
too deep or detailed, but with some very nice images through out. It
took a while for this one to come round, health and time... also one
image, that really put that cat among the
pigeons..caused a certain amount of bad feeling, that made Court not so
happy to explore the exposure of conventions and book promoting. In the
Hammer films, The Man Who Could Cheat Death..a film that Cushing was
originally slated to appear in... a shot of Court was filmed,
topless...for inclusion in the famous, 'continental print'.. I am not
sure of the history, if that shot ever was included in those prints, I
am pretty sure it wasn't. There is a story that the footage was
destroyed at the editing room, BUT a few frames were given to Court, as a
memento.
Years later, some how one of these frames turns up in a
certain fanzine... fill in the name here yourselves.... printed without
consent from Court. She was furious. It wasn't the first time that this
periodical had compromised individuals....in an interview with this
magazine, a key player in the Star Wars saga had 'off the record'
referred to another key players, 'silly facial hair', which as these
things tend to, got back to that individual. They were not happy. Also
the using of Roy Skeggs Hammer Films Ltd headed note paper as the header
and title of a reworked version of the magazine, went down badly... but
such is the world of fanzines, when you are trying to stand out from
the crowd, give scoops and compete with others, in what was back then a
crowded market, of good to very good fanzines, all competing and trying
to make a name. But, eventually Court did come back to the frame,
sadly...I think I am right in saying that the book was released
posthumously, Court sadly leaving us in 2008, just months before the
book was finally released...
IT'S OUR 60TH ANNIVERSARY PCAS 1956 -2016!
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