Most fondly remembered for the two films she did for Terence Fisher – The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) – and the three films she did for Roger Corman – Premature Burial (1962), The Raven (1963, above), and The Masque of the Red Death (1964). This stunning English redhead was sometimes cast as a villainess, but was at her most striking as an icon of mature sexuality offered in contrast to a more “innocent” ingenue. That was precisely the role she played in her finest film, The Masque of the Red Death, as consort to Prince Prospero (Vincent Price), threatened by the arrival of young Jane Asher, another redhead, both of them photographed in gorgeous Technicolor by the best cinematographer Corman ever worked with, Nicolas Roeg.
Lush, vibrant, unique … unforgettable.
