Barbara Steele

Born: 1937-12-29

Birthplace: Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK

Biography

Barbara Steele (born 29 December 1937) is an English actress and producer, known for starring in Italian gothic horror films of the 1960s. She has been referred to as the "Queen of All Scream Queens" and "Britain's first lady of horror". She played the dual role of Asa and Katia Vajda in Mario Bava's landmark film Black Sunday (1960), and starred in The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962), The Long Hair of Death (1964), and Castle of Blood (1964).

Additionally, Steele had supporting roles in Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963), David Cronenberg's Shivers (1975), Joe Dante's Piranha and Louis Malle's Pretty Baby (both 1978), and appeared on television in the 1991 TV series Dark Shadows. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for producing the American television miniseries War and Remembrance (1988–89). Steele appeared in several films in the 2010s, including a lead role in The Butterfly Room (2012) and supporting role in Ryan Gosling's Lost River (2014). Description above from the Wikipedia article Barbara Steele, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Pretty Baby
Piranha
Shivers
Caged Heat
Lost River
Houseboat
The Pit and the Pendulum
Black Sunday
Sapphire

Top Movie Credits

Pretty Baby Josephine
Gloria Morin
Piranha Dr. Mengers
Shivers Betts
Caged Heat Supt. McQueen
Lost River Belladonna
Houseboat Minor Role (uncredited)
The Pit and the Pendulum Elizabeth Barnard Medina
Black Sunday Princess Asa Vajda / Katia Vajda
Sapphire Student