Doc Rotten's Halls of Horror: Remembering Ingrid Pitt (1937 - 2010)

In the span of a few years, Ingrid Pitt burst upon the horror scene and left an indelible mark on the halls of horror. With her stunning, voluptuous beauty and top-notch talent, she solidified her position as a leading scream queen in the history of horror. For Hammer Films, she launched the Karnstein trilogy with Vampire Lovers (1970) proving a female vampire lead is just as viable as a male counterpart and starred in a vehicle based on the legends of Countess Bathory with Countess Dracula (1971). For Amicus she donned fangs once again for a short in one of their many anthology films, The House that Dripped Blood (1971). And she also costarred in the British horror classic opus The Wicker Man (1973) starring the great Christopher Lee. In the years following, she continued to star in sparse TV and feature films, and wrote a series of popular books including a 1999 autobiography titled Life’s A Scream: The Autobiography of Ingrid Pitt. On November 23, 2010, the horror community lost a gracious gem, two days after her 73rd birthday. Below are four of her most noteworthy horror outings.


VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970)

After making her debut in movies such as Dr. Zhivago (1965), The Omegans (1968) and, more famously, Where Eagles Dare (1968) as Heidi with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood, Ingrid Pitt signed on with Hammer Films to star in Vampire Lovers. The film is the first in the Karnstein trilogy adapted from the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla and Ingrid stars as Mircalla Karnstein. In the story, Mircalla finds herself in the care of General von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing) and befriends his daughter Laura (Pippa Steele) who is suffering from nightmares and subsequently dies of poor heath. Mircalla subsequently disappears and resurfaces in the home of Dr. Roger Morten. After Mircalla seduces his daughter, Emma (Madeline Smith), and her governess Madame Perradon (Kate O'Mara), the General hunts down the vampire femme fatale.

Read the rest of this article on Horror News Net