Hazel Court (1926 - 2008)
When Hazel Court died earlier this year, most attention was given to her later work as a Scream Queen in some of Roger Corman's better work, but that ignores her respectable run in British cinema as one of the loveliest actresses of the post-war period.
Hazel Court was born in Sutton Coldfield. After studying at LAMDA, she got her first break in show business when her sister showed her photograph to Anthony Asquith. This got her a contract with Rank and a line in Champagne Charlie. Her next two film roles were leads, and soon she was supporting her way through Gainsborough's lesser films and getting herself noticed. She played a Huggett in Holiday Camp but didn't stick around for the series.
She married Dermott Walsh in 1949 and that, and the disintegration of Rank, seems to have put a brake on her career for a while. The films she made in the 50s were rather dispiriting - she didn't even get the title role in Devil Girl From Mars - and it took the The Curse of Frankenstein to put her back on the map. Towards the end of the 50s she spent more time in America mainly working on TV but she did fit in the roles for which she was best remembered, culminating in The Masque of the Red Death. In this she played Vincent Price's regal wife and showed just how much her talent had been wasted in the 50s.
After her divorce from Walsh in 1963, she married director Don Taylor and relocated to California. She gave up her career in favour of her family, charitable works and sculpture, but still enjoyed her status as a Scream Queen. Her autobiography was published in the week of her death.
1944 Champagne Charlie
1945 Dreaming
1946 Gaiety George
1947 Meet Me at Dawn
1947 Hungry Hill
1947 Dear Murderer
1947 Holiday Camp
1948 Forbidden
1948 Bond Street
1948 My Sister and I
1952 Ghost Ship
1953 Counterspy
1954 Tale of Three Women
1954 Devil Girl From Mars
1954 Scarlet Web
1956 The Narrowing Circle
1956 Behind the Headlines
1957 Hour of Decision
1957 The Curse of Frankenstein
1958 A Woman of Mystery
1959 The Shakedown
1959 Model for Murder
1959 Breakout
1959 The Man Who Could Cheat Death
1961 Doctor Blood's Coffin
1961 Mary Had a Little...
1962 Premature Burial
1963 The Raven
1963 The Masque of the Red Death
1981 Omen III: The Final Conflict
Hazel Court at Amazon UK
Hazel Court at Amazon US