Scream queen Hazel Court dies, aged 82

Horror film star Hazel Court passed away today aged 82, according to her acquaintance Ron Adams, who has just announced her death at his Monster Bash site.

Court was known for voluptuous roles as often-scheming temptresses in such films as Roger Corman's Masque Of The Red Death, The Raven and Premature Burial, all components in Corman's enduringly popular technicolor 'Poe cycle' of the early 1960s.

The actress was born in England in 1926 and became one of the 'Gainsborough girls' at the Gainsborough production company in the 1940s, but significant screen roles were to elude her until her induction into the horror genre, notably in the Hammer Film The Curse Of Frankenstein(1957), where she played the evil count's unwanted suitor.

Though appearing in the intervening period in the horror classic The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959), her enduring popularity as a 'scream queen' was initiated by her involvement in Roger Corman's 'Poe cycle' of films. Of these films, Court appeared in The Premature Burial (1962), The Raven (1963) and The Masque Of The Red Death (1964), in each case starring alongside Vincent Price - and giving him a hard time; Court's 'Poe' roles found her playing conspiring and treacherous women, and at her worst she was at her best...in the eyes of her many fans.

Court remained in America and married actor/director Don Taylor in 1964; they were together until his death in December of 1998. In later years, Court took an interest in painting and the arts, exhibiting in the USA and in Europe.

No details are known regarding the cause of death at this time.

Court, who made her last screen appearance in 1981 in an uncredited role in Omen threequel The Final Conflict, published her autobiography entitled Hazel Court - Horror Queen: An Autobiography in October of last year.

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