Barbara Shelley (1932 - 2021)

Barbara Shelley has perhaps the best claim to be Britain's premiere Scream Queen. In a different era she would have been a rival to Valerie Hobson, but she arrived on the scene as the 50s horror cycle was about to start, settled into it fairly early and happily stayed there for most of her film career.  

She was born in London and began her career as a model. This lead to her first film role, in Hammer's Mantrap, appearing under her original name as Barbara Kowin. During a trip to Italy she struck up an acquaintance with Walter Chiari, a popular comedian of the time, and he helped her break into the Italian film industry. He also persuaded her to change her name to Shelley. She made 9 films there, steadily working her way up the billing order, before returning to England.

Her first film was as the lead in Cat Girl, as a woman who may or may not turn into a leopard when aroused. This would become her horror persona: a stately, reserved exterior with ungovernable fires beneath. It's certainly true of her best-remembered roles as the woman turned into a vampire in Dracula: Prince of Darkness, and the scientist with psychic abilities in Quatermass and the Pit. 

She also had a flourishing career in TV and on stage. There's scarcely a TV show she didn't perform in including Eastenders and Crown Court, and of course the sci-fi/fantasy classics Dr Who, Blakes 7 and The Avengers. She retired from acting in the late 80s.

She spend the last few years of her life in a nursing home where she died from Covid complications.    

Filmography 

Barbara Shelley at Amazon UK 

Barbara Shelley at Amazon US