Barbara Steele
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Barbara Steele (born December 29, 1937 in Birkenhead) is an English actor. She's best known as the scream queen of Italian gothic horror movies of the 1960s. Her breakthrough role came in Italian director Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960). It's now hailed as a masterpiece of the Italian gothic horror film. Steele starred in a string of horror classics including: The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962), The Ghost directed by Riccardo Freda, as well as the Roger Corman adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Pit and the Pendulum."
French cult film magazine Midi-Minuit Fantastique no. 17 (1967) dedicated two articles by Jean-Claude Romer (a three-page filmography) and Michel Caen (a 27-page analysis) to Barbara Steele. The cover depicts Steele in the Italian film Un Angelo per Satana (1966).
She has worked with following notable directors: Volker Schlöndorff, Joe Dante, Roger Corman, Jonathan Demme, Federico Fellini, Louis Malle and Mario Bava
Documentary
- Clive Barker, Roger Corman, Joe Dante and Tim Burton on Barbara Steele.youtube.com
- "The most fascinating actress ever to appear in horror films with regularity . ... Her beauty is mysterious and unique: her large eyes, high cheekbones, jet-black hair, thick bottom lip, and somewhat knobby chin don't seem synchronized, and as a result her face can be looked on as being either evil ... or sweet." --Danny Peary quoted in Cult Movies.
Partial filmography
- Black Sunday (1960)
- The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
- L'Orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock (The Horrible Dr. Hichcock) (1962)
- 8½ (1963)
- Lo Spettro (The Ghost) (1963)
- Danza macabra (Castle of Blood) (1964)
- I Lunghi capelli della morte (The Long Hair of Death) (1964)
- Cinque tombe per un medium (1965)
- Nightmare Castle (1965)
- the She Beast (1966)
- Young Törless (Der Junge Törless) (1966)
- Caged Heat (1974)
- Shivers (1975)
- Pretty Baby (1978)
- Piranha (1978)
- Dark Shadows (TV series revival) (1991)
- Fellini Ungrateful Celebration (2005)
