Barbara Shelley

Actor

About

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Also Known As

Barbara Kowin

Birth Place

London, England, GB

Born

August 15, 1933

Biography

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When Barbara Shelley began her training as an actress, she was shy and resistant to joining repertory theater. Following her teacher's suggestion, she took up modeling in 1951 to gain some self-confidence. In 1953, she went to Rome for a vacation and met famous Italian comic actor Walter Chiari. Over the next four years she appeared in a number of Italian films like the luridly titled "N...

Filmography

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Five Million Years to Earth (1968)

Death Trap (1966)

Dracula--Prince of Darkness (1966)

Rasputin--The Mad Monk (1966)

The Secret of Blood Island (1965)

Man in the Dark (1965)

Photos & Videos

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Gorgon, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) They're Bringing The Body In Now

Gorgon, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) We Are Men Of Science

Biography

When Barbara Shelley began her training as an actress, she was shy and resistant to joining repertory theater. Following her teacher's suggestion, she took up modeling in 1951 to gain some self-confidence. In 1953, she went to Rome for a vacation and met famous Italian comic actor Walter Chiari. Over the next four years she appeared in a number of Italian films like the luridly titled "Nero's Mistress." Returning to England in 1957, her first part was no different from her roles abroad, taking the lead as a woman who becomes a killer cat when angry in 1957's horror film "Cat Girl." The following year she made her first appearance in a film for Hammer Studios in the World War II drama "The Camp on Blood Island." Hammer soon mutated into the leading purveyor of British horror films throughout the 1960s, and Shelley became an iconic scream queen in many of the studio's productions, acting alongside famed scenery-chewers like Christopher Lee in 1966's "Dracula: Prince In Darkness." A regular guest star on American and British TV throughout the 1960s, Shelley finally grew tired of the lack of respect given thespians in horror films, achieving her lifelong ambition of acting on-stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1975 and joining the troupe for two years. In the 1980s she took up interior decorating, and played her last part in 1992.

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

Five Million Years to Earth (1968)

Death Trap (1966)

Dracula--Prince of Darkness (1966)

Rasputin--The Mad Monk (1966)

The Secret of Blood Island (1965)

Man in the Dark (1965)

The Gorgon (1965)

Postman's Knock (1962)

The Shadow of the Cat (1961)

Bobbikins (1960)

Village of the Damned (1960)

The Camp on Blood Island (1958)

Cat Girl (1957)

Leonora Johnson

The Vampire (1957)

Cast (Special)

The Dark Angel (1991)

Pride and Prejudice (1980)

The Comedy of Errors (1978)

Cast (TV Mini-Series)

Life Events

Photo Collections

The Gorgon - Movie Poster

Here is an American movie poster for Hammer Studios' The Gorgon (1964), starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. This poster size is a 60x40, a larger version of the standard one-sheet.

Videos

Gorgon, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) They're Bringing The Body In Now After the murder of an artists’ model in some Carpathian forest, we meet Peter Cushing as the local scientist-doctor, Barbara Shelley his assistant, Patrick Troughton the policeman, and Jack Watson as Ratoff, then the weird discovery, early in Hammer Films’ The Gorgon, 1964.

Gorgon, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) We Are Men Of Science Increasingly emotional assistant Carla (Barbara Shelley) can’t see why doctor Namaroff (Peter Cushing) won’t discuss the spooky Greek-myth angle (i.e. corpses turned to stone) on the local murders, then a victim’s father (Michael Goodliffe), a former colleague, presses a similar point, in Hammer Films’ The Gorgon, 1964.

Gorgon, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) It's Not A Pretty Sight His hair turned gray after his encounter with the title monster (whose dead victims turn to stone), Heitz (Richard Pasco) receives his mentor and family friend Meister (Christopher Lee) from Leipzig, while Namaroff (Peter Cushing) slices up an ex-patient, with his still-more remote assistant Carla (Barbara Shelley), in Hammer Films’ The Gorgon, 1964.

Dracula, Prince Of Darkness (1966) -- (Movie Clip) Luxury Of A Warm Posterior Some foreboding, as bothered Abbot Shandor (Andrew Keir) comes upon English tourists (Barbara Shelley, Francis Matthews, Charles Tingwell, Suzan Farmer) in a Carpathian pub, early in Hammer Films' Dracula, Prince Of Darkness, 1966.

Dracula, Prince Of Darkness -- (Movie Clip) Your Husband... Servant Klove (Philip Latham) sprinkles his master's ashes with the blood of a house-guest, fetches his wife Helen (Barbara Shelley) at which point the star (Christopher Lee) finally appears, in Hammer Films' Dracula, Prince Of Darkness, 1966.

Rasputin, The Mad Monk (1966) -- (Movie Clip) I Am Lady In Waiting Summoned through her dreams, royal courtier Sonia (Barbara Shelley) succumbs still further to lustful Christopher Lee (title character), now lurking in Petersburg, in Rasputin -- The Mad Monk, 1966.

Rasputin, The Mad Monk (1966) -- (Movie Clip) I Require No Reward Having begun his work at a distance, Christopher Lee (title character) ignores his bishop (Joss Ackland), acknowledges the Tsarina (Renee Asherson), and completes his cure of her son (Robert Duncan), in Hammer Films' Rasputin -- The Mad Monk, 1966.

Village Of The Damned (1960) -- (Movie Clip) Credits, Can't Get Through Second sequence, with credits, in Village Of The Damned, 1960, in which military official Alan (Michael Gwynn) seeks permission to visit fictional Midwich, where something's gone wrong.

Village Of The Damned (1960) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, Midwich George Sanders (As "Gordon Zellaby") passes out during a phone call to his brother-in-law (Michael Gwynn) in the opening sequence from director Wolf Rilla's Village Of The Damned, 1960.

Village Of The Damned (1960) -- (Movie Clip) It's All My Fault! Anthea (Barbara Shelley) is the innocent mom walking odd young David (Martin Stephens) when he meets up with some of his fellow maybe-demonic-alien playmates, who get even with a clumsy motorist in Village Of The Damned, 1960.

Village Of The Damned (1960) -- (Movie Clip) I Must Have Dozed Off An awakening cow encourages Bernard (Michael Gwynn) and gathered military authorities to enter Midwich, the fictional Hampshire town which seemed to have gone unconscious, where he finds puzzled brother-in-law Gordon (George Sanders) and Anthea (Barbara Shelley) early in Village Of The Damned, 1960.

Gorgon, The (1965) -- (Movie Clip) She Pounced On Me Immediately following the opening supernatural killing, the introduction of Namaroff (Peter Cushing), assistant Carla (Barbara Shelley), policeman Kanof (Patrick Troughton) and a sample of the monster's talent, in The Gorgon, 1965, directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Films.

Bibliography

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