BARBARA SHELLEY

5 Jan

(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

Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

BARBARA SHELLEY

MICHAEL APTED

TANYA ROBERTS