HAMMER FILMS ACTRESS SUZANNA LEIGH DIES

SAD NEWS TO REPORT, another one of the Hammer family has passed away, actress Suzanna Leigh who starred in the Hammer Films 'THE LOST CONTINENT' (1968) and 'LUST FOR A VAMPIRE' (1971)

Born Suzanna Smyth, the daughter of an auto engine manufacturer, Suzanna Leigh grew up in Belgrave, England, and in convent schools outside London. She began working in movies while still a pre-teen, appearing as an extra in 1958's Tom Thumb (1958) (film-debuting in the "Dancing Shoes" sequence), 1960's Oscar Wilde (1960) with 'Robert Morley' and other English productions. A few years later, she was the star of the 13-episode French TV series, Trois étoiles en Touraine (1966), which every week featured Leigh, her racing car and a different male lead (the "Three Stars" of the series' translated title).

Planning to attend London's Opera Ball, costumed as "Madame Du Barry", Leigh had a sedan chair made, along with costumes for five footmen who carried it (and her) through the streets of the city. Movie producer Hal B. Wallis saw newspaper photos of Leigh's elaborate stunt and imported the 20-year-old blonde to Hollywood for Boeing, Boeing (1965). Following her brush with major studio stardom, she resumed her English acting career, showing up on movie screens, most regularly in chillers. Her 1998 autobiography is entitled "Paradise, Suzanna Style".

"Elvis Presley's kisses held an intensity that melted my very being. I slipped my arms around his neck and our bodies entwined. This was all madness, but we didn't stop. A person could go to the gallows with such a kiss lingering on their lips, knowing life had been good...." Suzanna Leigh

 

IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  . 

CUSHING'S FEMME FATALES: No 1# YVONNE ROMAIN

YVONNE ROMAIN (Yvonne Warren) was born in London and was a young graduate of the Italia Conti Academy. From the age of twelve she appeared in children's shows and repertory theatre around the country. Romain started her film career in her late teens. Her exotic, dark looks and 38-22-36 figure saw her often cast in supporting roles as Italian or Spanish maidens in war films, horror films and comedies.

PLAYING 'BETTY', and before she took her professional name of Romain, Yvonne Warren appeared in the 1957 film 'Murder Reporter', was one of her first speaking roles.   

However, it is for her roles in numerous British horror films that she is perhaps most remembered. She has often been quoted as saying she very much enjoyed Corridors of Blood (1958), where she starred alongside Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee, and also in Circus of Horrors (1960) with actor Anton Diffring. She was also to star in the later Devil Doll (1964), about a malevolent ventriloquist's dummy.

Romain is probably best known for the Hammer film classic, The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) where she starred with Oliver Reed, in his first major role. In the CURSE, Romain plays a mute servant girl , who spurns the advances of the sadistic Marques. She is thrown into a prison cell with a deranged beggar who proceeds to rape her.

AS A RESULT, she later gives birth on Christmas Day to future lycanthrope Leon (Reed), though the effort kills her. Hammer studio's publicity stills for 'Werewolf' capitalised on Romain's obvious charms by having her photographed in typical 'scream queen' poses, alongside Reed in his werewolf make up. This publicity caused a little confusion, as neither she or Reed share no actual screen time together.

Perhaps her biggest role, was in another Hammer production, Captain Clegg (1962), aka Night Creatures (US title), playing alongside Peter Cushing and Oliver Reed again, this time as his fiancée. She also appeared alongside Sean Connery twice, in Action of the Tiger (1957), and the gangster film The Frightened City (1961), where she shared equal billing with the pre-Bond star. Romain also costarred in the Danger Man episode titled Sabotage in 1961.

Soon after, Romain moved to Los Angeles and starred alongside Ann-Margret in The Swinger (1966), her last film Hammer films, 'The Brigade of Kandahar' in 1967 and with Elvis Presley in Double Trouble (1967), which she herself calls a 'dreadful film', though she enjoyed the experience. After a break from the screen, Romain emerged from semi-retirement as the title character in the Anthony Perkins/Stephen Sondheim-scripted mystery thriller The Last of Sheila (1973), her last screen role.

Romain married the film composer Leslie Bricusse, who provided the lyrics for the classic James Bond themes Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice, and she later turned down a seven-year contract with Federico Fellini because it meant working away from her Hollywood-based husband and young son . . . 

IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  . .

GIF GALLERY WEDNESDAY IS GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY

SO HERE WE ARE... with our SECOND #GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY! Keep those requests a-comingand we will do our best to, find that clip and make that gif!  What makes a great gif? Here are two of the things to consider when choosing your gif, the best gifs are a short section of film with no dialogue...remember a gif plays without any audio. Maybe some thing that has high drama or action... a gif can be only 5 to 12 seconds long...

GIFS below are from 'Flesh and the fiends', for Bella Podtetenieff. 'Horror Express'  for Tom Boulton and 'Legend of the Werewolf' for Lexi Conroy.