Hazel Court (10 February 1926 â€" 15 April 2008) was an English actress best known for her roles in horror films during the 1950s and early 1960s.
Early life
Court was born in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, lived in the Boldmere area and attended Boldmere School and Highclare College. Her father was G.W. Court, a cricketer who played for Durham CCC. At the age of fourteen, she studied drama at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and the Alexandra Theatre, also in Birmingham, England.
Career
At the age of sixteen, Court met film director Anthony Asquith in London, which won her a brief part in Champagne Charlie (1944). Court won a British Critics Award for her role as a crippled girl in Carnival (1946) and also appeared in Holiday Camp (1947) and Bond Street (1948). Her first role in a fantasy film was in Ghost Ship (1952). One of Court's most remembered films is the cult classic Devil Girl from Mars (1954). She trained at the Rank Organisation's "charm school".
Court wanted to act in comedy films but she also continued to appear in horror films and, in 1957, had what was to become a career-defining role in the first colour Hammer Horror film The Curse of Frankenstein.
In the 1957â€"58 television season, she co-starred in a CBS sitcom filmed in England, Dick and the Duchess, in the role of Jane Starrett, a patrician Englishwoman married to an American insurance claims investigator living in London, a role played by Patrick O'Neal. Court travelled back and forth between Hollywood and England, appearing in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She had parts in A Woman of Mystery (1958), The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) and Doctor Blood's Coffin (1961) among others.
By the early 1960s, Court had permanently moved to the United States. She was featured in the Edgar Allan Poe horror films The Premature Burial (1962), The Raven (1963) and The Masque of the Red Death (1964), the last two with Vincent Price.
In 1981 Court appeared briefly in the third Omen film, The Final Conflict, although she was uncredited. She also appeared in episodes of several TV series, including Adventures in Paradise, Mission: Impossible, Bonanza, Dr. Kildare, Danger Man, Twelve O'Clock High, Burke's Law, Sam Benedict, Gidget, McMillan and Wife, Mannix, The Wild Wild West, Thriller, and in The Fear, "The Invisible Man", and the penultimate episode of the original 1960's The Twilight Zone.
Personal life
Court was married to Irish actor Dermot Walsh from 1949 until their divorce in 1963. They had a daughter, Sally Walsh, who appeared with her mother in The Curse of Frankenstein.
From 1964 until his death in 1998, she was married to American actor Don Taylor, who was divorced in 1955 from actress Phyllis Avery. Court retired from the film acting business in 1964 to concentrate on being a wife and mother. Court and Taylor met while they were shooting an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. They had a son, Jonathan, and a daughter, Courtney.
In addition to acting, she was also a painter and sculptress, and studied sculpting in Italy. Court wrote her autobiography, Hazel Court â€" Horror Queen, which was published by Tomahawk Press in the UK (April 2008) and in the US (June 2008).
Death
Court died of a heart attack at her home near Lake Tahoe, California, on 15 April 2008, aged 82. She is survived by daughters Sally Walsh and Courtney Taylor, son Jonathon Taylor and two stepdaughters, Anne Taylor Fleming and Avery Taylor. She was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea. Hazel Court once said in an interview "Just in case I should pop off to heaven in the night, I always remember to wash up, plump-up the cushions and straighten up after a dinner party. I wouldn't want everyone to come in and find it a mess. It's very English of me."
Selected filmography
- 1944: Champagne Charlie
- 1944: Dreaming
- 1946: Carnival
- 1946: Gaiety George a.k.a. Showtime
- 1947: Holiday Camp
- 1947: Dear Murderer
- 1947: Meet Me at Dawn
- 1947: The Root of All Evil
- 1948: Bond Street
- 1948: My Sister and I
- 1949: Forbidden
- 1952: Ghost Ship
- 1953: Counterspy a.k.a. Undercover Agent
- 1954: A Tale of Three Women
- 1954: Devil Girl from Mars
- 1954: The Scarlet Web
- 1956: Behind the Headlines
- 1956: The Narrowing Circle
- 1957: A Woman of Mystery
- 1957: Hour of Decision
- 1957: The Curse of Frankenstein
- 1958: Alfred Hitchcock Presents â€" 'The Crocodile Case' (TV episode)
- 1958: The Invisible Man Seriesâ€" 'The Mink Coat' (TV episode)
- 1959: Breakout
- 1959: The Man Who Could Cheat Death
- 1959: The Shakedown
- 1959: Alfred Hitchcock Presents - 'Arthur' (TV episode)
- 1960: Model for Murder
- 1960: The Man Who Was Nobody (The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre)
- 1960: Bonanza season 1 ep. 27: 'The Last Trophy' (TV series)
- 1960: Danger Man season 1 ep. 8: 'The Lonely Chair' (TV series)
- 1961: Alfred Hitchcock Presents â€" 'The Pearl Necklace' (TV episode)
- 1961: Danger Man season 1 ep. 29: 'The Contessa' (TV series)
- 1961: Thriller (TV series) - 'The Terror in Teakwood'
- 1961: Dr. Blood's Coffin
- 1961: Mary Had a Little...
- 1962: The Premature Burial
- 1963: The Raven
- 1964: The Masque of the Red Death
- 1964: The Twilight Zone season 5 ep. 35: The Fear (TV series)
- 1964: Rawhide season 6 ep. 17: 'Incident of the Dowery Dundee' (TV series)
- 1967: Mission: Impossible season 2 ep. 10: 'Charity' (TV series)
- 1972: McMillan and Wife (TV series) "The Face of Murder"
- 1981: Omen III: The Final Conflict
References
Interviews:
- Van Helsing's Journal, June, 2010 no.11 "Hazel Court, Horror's Class Act" interview by Lawrence Fultz Jr.
External links
- Hazel Court on IMDb
- Hazel Court at HorrorStars
- Cult sirens
- Hazel Court Horror Queen
- Obituary of Hazel Court from the Associated Press
- Obituary: Telegraph
- Obituary: Times
- Obituary: Independent
- Obituary: Guardian
