Barbara Steele
BARBARA STEELE
Today, I want to talk to you about another true “dark lady,” an icon of horror cinema: the English actress Barbara Steele.
Her initial studies were aimed at a career as a painter, but in the second half of the 1950s, she joined a small theater company and made her film debut in 1958 with the movie A Stranger in Cambridge.
Fame came shortly after, in 1960, with Black Sunday, the first film directed by our very own Mario Bava, where the actress plays a dual lead role.
Her performance did not go unnoticed. In fact, Roger Corman gave her a significant role in The Pit and the Pendulum, alongside Vincent Price.
After this brief American stint, Steele returned to Italy, where her career continued primarily in horror films, directed by the leading filmmakers of the genre.
Among her performances during this period are The Horrible Dr. Hichcock, The Ghost, Castle of Blood, and The Long Hair of Death…
From an interview with her…
Barbara Steele, how does one become a horror icon?
In my case, without realizing it at all. I had been cast in Britain for a few small roles, and then I was noticed by an Italian casting looking for faces for a small horror film to be shot in Italy.
It was a horror film, and at that time—we’re talking about the very early ’60s—horror was predominantly British. Those were the years of Hammer Films, of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, two wonderful theater actors who had, in fact, reinvented the way scary stories were told.
I had auditioned at Hammer but didn’t get the part, while in Italy, they chose me immediately. They told me the director, Mario Bava, was doing his first film. Technically, this was true, but he was actually very experienced, having worked with many directors and helped make their fortunes because he knew exactly how films should be made. And indeed, Black Sunday was an incredible success worldwide and is still very popular today.
Was it a form of nonconformity for you? Especially considering that around that time, you made a rather sharp comment about Doris Day…
Yes, it was a remark I made in an interview with a French magazine, and Doris never forgave me and stopped speaking to me.
I had merely said that I liked the perverse roles I was offered, while I despised the “professional virgin” roles that were offered to Doris Day, who had even starred in a couple of thrillers playing the innocent victim of circumstances.
It wasn’t a critique of her but rather of that type of female presence. I could have made a thousand other examples, like the icy blondes Hitchcock always cast in his films.
Hitch was evidently morbidly attracted to these cold blondes. I could never have accepted such a role, even though I was blonde in some of my films. It wasn’t an attack on Doris, but she took it very badly. Well, let’s just say I didn’t lose sleep over it.
And in which role have you appreciated her the most? Let us know in the comments ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Source: ANMC
