Once dubbed “The First Leading Lady of British Horror,” Barbara Shelley was indeed a horror icon and legend thanks to her work with the famed British company Hammer Studios. Sadly, we’ve learned at the start of this week that Shelley has passed away at the age of 88.
Born on February 13, 1932 in the United Kingdom, Barbara Shelley got her start in horror with the 1957 film Cat Girl, a role that paved the way for subsequent spotlights in The Camp on Blood Island (1958), Blood of the Vampire (1958), Village of the Damned (1960), The Shadow of the Cat (1961), The Gorgon (1964), The Secret of Blood Island (1965), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967).
Shelley had said of her time spent with Hammer Studios, “When I first started doing Hammer, all the so-called classic actors looked down on the horror film. There is a great thrill for me in having done Hammer and being known. All the other things I did, nobody remembers those. But the horror films, I’m very grateful to them because they built me a fan base, and I’m very touched that people will come and ask for my autograph.”
She also once reflected, “Hammer was like a family, a very talented family and there was a wonderful canteen down there! To work with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee… I’ve been more than lucky, I’ve been honoured. They were so wonderful to work with, both so generous as actors with a wonderful atmosphere on the set and a wonderful sense of humour.”
Thomas Bowington, Shelley’s agent, said it best in a statement to the press this week. “She really was Hammer’s number one leading lady and the technicolour queen of Hammer.”
