RIP Ingrid Pitt 1937 – 2010

Actress and author Ingrid Pitt, best known for her roles in horror films from the 60s and 70s, such as the Hammer Horror productions The Vampire Lovers and Countess Dracula, has passed away at the age of 73. The Polish-born star died from heart failure at a hospital in south London where she was admitted after collapsing a few days ago. Pitt’s death comes just several weeks after that of Roy Ward Baker, who directed her in The Vampire Lovers. 

Of all the bewitching, beguiling actresses whose presence graced various Hammer Horror productions throughout the years, Pitt is one of the most commanding – and even though she only appeared in two Hammer titles, was still certainly one of the most memorably compelling leading Hammer actors. Indeed, according to Hammer historian Marcus Hearn, Pitt was a "talented actress and fine writer" who was also "partly responsible for ushering in a bold and brazen era of sexually explicitly horror films in the 1970s; but that should not denigrate her abilities as an actress." Hearn went on to say that "All fans of Hammer and of British horror are going to miss her terribly."

Pitt began her career with minor roles in various films such as Doctor Zhivago, Sound of Horror and Chimes at Midnight. Later notable roles included parts in the likes of The Wicker Man, The House that Dripped Blood and Where Eagles Dare. More recently she had her own column in British horror magazine Shivers, and she appeared briefly, but memorably, in Hammer’s web series Beyond the Rave. She was also the author of titles such as Eva's Spell (1985), The Ingrid Pitt Bedside Companion for Vampire Lovers (1998), Life's A Scream: The Autobiography of Ingrid Pitt (1999) and The Ingrid Pitt Book of Murder, Torture and Depravity (2000), amongst others. She will be sadly missed.