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Barbara Steele is a Actor British born on 29 december 1937 at Birkenhead (United-kingdom)

Barbara Steele

Barbara Steele
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Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 29 december 1937 (86 years) at Birkenhead (United-kingdom)

Barbara Steele (born 29 December 1937) is an English film actress. She is best known for starring in Italian gothic horror films of the 1960s. Her breakthrough role came in Italian director Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960).

Steele starred in a string of horror films, including The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962), The Ghost (1963) directed by Riccardo Freda, The Long Hair of Death (1964) and Roger Corman's 1961 adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Pit and the Pendulum, among others. She also starred in Castle of Blood (1964), Terror-Creatures from the Grave and Nightmare Castle (both 1965) and Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968).

She guest starred on various British television shows including the spy drama, Danger Man starring Patrick McGoohan. She made her American television debut in 1960 as Dolores in the "Daughter of Illusion" episode of the ABC series, Adventures in Paradise, starring Gardner McKay. In that same year she was replaced in the Elvis Presley film Flaming Star after a disagreement with director Don Siegel. In 1961, she appeared as Phyllis in the "Beta Delta Gamma" episode of CBS's Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She also had an important role in Federico Fellini's celebrated 8½ in 1963.

Steele was cast as Julia Hoffman in the 1991 remake of the 1960s ABC television series, Dark Shadows. In 2010, she was a guest star in the Dark Shadows audio drama, The Night Whispers.

In 2010, actor-writer Mark Gatiss interviewed Steele about her role in Black Sunday (1960) for his BBC documentary series A History of Horror. In 2014 she appeared in the directorial debut of Ryan Gosling's drama-fantasy thriller film Lost River, in which she portrayed the character Belladonna in a supporting role.

Biography

Carrière
D'abord modèle, Barbara Steele décroche, vers la fin des années 1950, un des tout derniers contrats de 7 ans signés par la compagnie cinématographique anglaise J. Arthur Rank Organisation, pour laquelle elle ne tournera du reste qu'une poignée de petits rôles secondaires. Très vite, ce contrat longue durée est racheté par la Twentieth Century Fox, qui voit en elle la future partenaire d'Elvis Presley, dans les Rôdeurs de la plaine (1960) que doit réaliser Don Siegel. Révoltée par le traitement que lui inflige Hollywood, elle abandonne le projet et rompt son contrat.

Pensant avoir définitivement sabordé sa carrière, elle part alors pour l'Italie, où le succès l'attend à Cinecitta avec le film de Mario Bava, Le Masque du démon (1960). Elle devient subitement une vedette du fantastique en Europe, enchaînant de nombreux rôles de personnages inquiétants. Elle travaille ainsi plusieurs fois avec des cinéastes spécialisés dans le genre, tels que Riccardo Freda (L'Effroyable secret du docteur Hichcock et Le Spectre du professeur Hichcock) et Antonio Margheriti (Danse macabre et La Sorcière sanglante) , entretenant ce succès durant la décennie 1960.

À partir des années 1970, elle se fait plus rare sur les écrans, malgré de notables interprétations pour les auteurs en devenir Jonathan Demme (5 Femmes à Abattre en 1974), David Cronenberg (Frissons en 1976) et Joe Dante (Piranhas en 1978).

Dans les années 1980, elle se lance dans la production télévisée avec, en 1983, l'ambitieuse série Le Souffle de la guerre (dans laquelle elle se réservera un petit rôle), ainsi que sa suite, Les Orages de la Guerre (1988), toutes deux avec Robert Mitchum en vedette.

Dans les années 1990, elle fait un retour remarqué dans le fantastique, avec le rôle du Docteur Julia Hoffman, dans la mini-série Dark Shadows (1991), adaptation par Dan Curtis de sa propre saga quotidienne Dark Shadows (1966-1971).

Dès lors, la toujours très belle Barbara Steele se consacre à la production, répondant néanmoins présente pour d'occasionnels courts rôles dans de modestes productions.

Malgré une notoriété internationale intimement liée à sa florissante carrière dans l'épouvante, elle dénigra longtemps celle-ci, valorisant plutôt ses participations, pourtant épisodiques, à un cinéma dit « d'auteurs », tels que Federico Fellini (8½ en 1963), Mario Monicelli (l'Armée Brancaleone en 1966), Volker Schlöndorff (Les Désarrois de l'élève Törless en 1966), ou encore Louis Malle (La Petite en 1978).

Aujourd'hui réconciliée avec son incontournable contribution au cinéma populaire, elle assume pleinement son statut d'icône de l'horreur, faisant souvent remarquer qu'elle fut longtemps l'unique « femme forte » du registre fantastique.


Vie privée
Barbara Steele épousa l'écrivain et scénariste américain James Poe en 1969, avec qui elle eut un fils, Jonathan Jackson Poe, né en aout 1971. Ce mariage coïncide justement avec le net ralentissement de la carrière de l'actrice, avant un timide retour en deuxième moitié des années 1970.

Elle divorça de son mari dans l'année 1978, deux ans à peine avant la mort prématurée de ce dernier.

Il avait écrit tout spécialement pour elle un rôle dans son scénario On achève bien les chevaux (1969), que Sydney Pollack tourna finalement avec une autre actrice anglaise, Susannah York.


Parutions littéraires
Barbara Steele, la Diva du cinéma d'épouvante italien par Eric Escofier (165 pages 2013)
Revue Scream (éditée par Denis Eric)
n° 5 Barbara Steele 1 partie 58 pages (janvier 2014)

Best films

Piranha (1978)
(Actress)
8½ (1963)
(Actress)
The Monocle's Sour Laugh (1964)
(Actress)
The Key Is in the Door (1978)
(Actress)

Usually with

Luigi Magni
Luigi Magni
(2 films)
Mario Bava
Mario Bava
(1 films)
Del Howison
Del Howison
(3 films)
Roger Corman
Roger Corman
(4 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Barbara Steele (46 films)

Display filmography as list

Actress

Lost River
Lost River (2015)
, 1h35
Directed by Ryan Gosling
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Fantastic, Fantasy, Horror, Noir
Actors Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan, Eva Mendes, Matthew Smith, Ben Mendelsohn, Reda Kateb
Roles Belladonna
Rating57% 2.851622.851622.851622.851622.85162
Single mother Billy lives in a rundown Detroit neighborhood with her two sons, Bones and Franky. Billy and Bones both love Franky but are fairly distant from each other. In his spare time, Bones salvages copper piping from abandoned houses in town while trying to avoid a vicious local criminal named Bully, who has claimed the copper piping for himself. One day, Bully catches Bones taking copper piping, which Bones abandons and flees. Later, Bones reclaims the stolen piping from Bully's hiding place and manages to escape from Bully's sidekick, Face. Billy, meanwhile, meets with a banker, Dave, regarding a loan that Carl (the father of her sons) left her so that she could stay in the home, which originally belonged to her grandmother. Since Billy is unemployed, she is unable to repay the bank, and must begin searching for a job in order to pay for the house. Dave gives her his business card and offers her a job, leaving out the details of what it is.
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's “Island of Dr. Moreau”, 1h37
Origin USA
Genres Documentary
Themes Films about films, Documentary films about business, Documentary films about the film industry, Documentary films about films
Actors Fairuza Balk, Richard Stanley, Robert Shaye, Michael Gingold, Edward R. Pressman, Marco Hofschneider
Roles Self (archive footage)
Rating74% 3.7400353.7400353.7400353.7400353.740035
In Lost Soul Gregory looks at the filming of The Island of Dr. Moreau, specifically the period during which director Richard Stanley spent on the project. Stanley was brought on to the project early but was fired only a few days after principal photography began and was replaced by John Frankenheimer. The documentary looks into Stanley's vision for the film, as he had spent years working on the movie's script and had intended for Bruce Willis to star as Edward, a role that was later given to Val Kilmer- a move that Stanley viewed as a mistake. Lost Soul features interviews with several people involved with the movie's production and focuses on various aspects of the film, including numerous changes to the script and reports that Kilmer was difficult to deal with on set.
The Butterfly Room
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Horror
Actors Barbara Steele, Ellery Sprayberry, Heather Langenkamp, Ray Wise, Erica Leerhsen, Camille Keaton
Roles Ann
Rating54% 2.7142252.7142252.7142252.7142252.714225
Ann, a reclusive elegant lady, with an obsession for butterflies, is surprisingly befriended by the eerily beautiful young Alice. Using her seductive innocence, Alice establishes a disturbing mother daughter relationship with Ann. Lured into her twisted world, Ann soon discovers that she is not the only recipient of the girl's affections. Ann uncovers the truth; Alice takes advantage of lonely older women by using her childish and sweet demeanor in exchange for money. Enraged by Alice's facade and the other women partaking in a relationship with the young girl, Ann murders her mother as well as another woman who often gifted Alice nice things.
The Boneyard Collection
Directed by Edward L. Plumb
Genres Comedy, Horror
Actors Forrest J Ackerman, Peter Atkins, George Kennedy, Cassandra Peterson, Candy Clark, Brad Dourif
Roles Vanessa Peabody (segment "Her Morbid Desires")
Rating37% 1.8632151.8632151.8632151.8632151.863215
The Boneyard Collection
Directed by Edward L. Plumb
Genres Comedy, Horror
Actors Forrest J Ackerman, Peter Atkins, George Kennedy, Cassandra Peterson, Candy Clark, Brad Dourif
Roles Vanessa Peabody (segment "Her Morbid Desires")
Rating37% 1.8632151.8632151.8632151.8632151.863215
Be Pretty and Shut Up!, 1h55
Directed by Delphine Seyrig
Origin France
Genres Documentary
Themes Films about films, Feminist films, Politique, Films about television, Documentary films about business, Documentary films about the film industry, Documentaire sur une personnalité, Political films
Actors Jenny Agutter, Juliet Berto, Ellen Burstyn, Candy Clark, Jill Clayburgh, Patti D'Arbanville
Roles Self
Rating68% 3.418223.418223.418223.418223.41822
Le film consiste en une série d'entretiens entre Delphine Seyrig et vingt-trois actrices françaises, anglaises, américaines et une québécoise qui évoquent leur expérience professionnelle, les rôles qui leur sont proposés et leurs relations avec les réalisateurs et les équipes techniques.
Silent Scream, 1h27
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Horror, Crime, Slasher
Themes Serial killer films
Actors Rebecca Balding, Cameron Mitchell, Avery Schreiber, Barbara Steele, Yvonne De Carlo, Tina Tyler
Roles Victoria Engels
Rating58% 2.90022.90022.90022.90022.9002
Four college students, unable to find on-campus housing, take up residence in Mrs Engels's (De Carlo) hilltop mansion, where she lives with her strange son, Mason (Reardon), and her daughter, Victoria (Steele), whom Mrs Engels secretly keeps hidden in the attic, a botched lobotomy having left her mute and homicidal. After one of the students is found dead, a police investigation is launched, which uncovers the history of the mansion and its owners, as the remaining students become endangered.
Piranha
Piranha (1978)
, 1h34
Directed by Joe Dante
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Comedy, Horror comedy, Horror
Themes Films about animals, Natural horror films, Comedy horror films
Actors Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Dick Miller, Barbara Steele
Roles Dr. Mengers
Rating59% 2.950292.950292.950292.950292.95029
Two teenagers come upon an apparently abandoned military installation. They take advantage of what appears to be a swimming pool to skinny dip. The teenagers are attacked by an unseen force and disappear under the water. A light activates in the main building and a silhouetted figure investigates the screams, but is too late to help.
The Key Is in the Door
Directed by Yves Boisset
Origin France
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Actors Annie Girardot, Patrick Dewaere, Stéphane Jobert, Éléonore Klarwein, Barbara Steele, Malène Sveinbjornsson
Roles Cathy
Rating60% 3.0207753.0207753.0207753.0207753.020775
Marie, professeur de français, divorcée, la quarantaine, pratique dans son métier, comme dans sa vie privée, compréhension et libéralisme à l'égard de la jeunesse : mais lorsque sa fille part avec Laurent, un élève rebelle, il faut à Marie tout l'amour de Philippe, jeune médecin épris de vie, pour sortir de son désarroi et laisser de nouveau la clé sur la porte.
Pretty Baby, 1h50
Directed by Louis Malle
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Historical
Themes Films about children, Films about sexuality, Erotic films, Films about pedophilia, Films about prostitution, Erotic thriller films
Actors Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, Susan Sarandon, Antonio Fargas, Diana Scarwid, Barbara Steele
Roles Josephine
Rating65% 3.2555453.2555453.2555453.2555453.255545
In 1917, during the last months of legal prostitution in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, Hattie is a prostitute working at an elegant brothel run by the elderly, cocaine-sniffing Madame Nell. Hattie has given birth to a baby boy and has a 12-year-old daughter, Violet, who lives in the house. When photographer Ernest J. Bellocq comes with his camera, Hattie and Violet are the only people awake. He asks to be allowed to take photographs of the women. Madame Nell agrees only after he offers to pay.
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, 1h36
Directed by Anthony Page
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy-drama
Themes Medical-themed films, Films about psychiatry, Films set in psychiatric hospitals
Actors Kathleen Denise Quinlan, Bibi Andersson, Lorraine Gary, Ben Piazza, Sylvia Sidney, Martine Bartlett
Roles Idat
Rating63% 3.198213.198213.198213.198213.19821
The film was directed by Anthony Page. It follows a girl who is ill with schizophrenia. A doctor is asked to help her out of her state.
Shivers
Shivers (1975)
, 1h25
Directed by David Cronenberg
Origin Canada
Genres Science fiction, Horror
Themes Medical-themed films, Films about sexuality, Erotic films, Zombie films, Films about viral outbreaks, Disaster films
Actors Paul Hampton, Barbara Steele, Lynn Lowry, Joe Silver, Joan Blackman, Vlasta Vrána
Roles Betts
Rating63% 3.1511653.1511653.1511653.1511653.151165
Dr. Emil Hobbes is conducting unorthodox experiments with parasites for use in transplants. He believes that humanity has become over-rational and lost contact with its flesh and its instincts, so the effects of the organism he actually develops is a combination of aphrodisiac and venereal disease. Once implanted, it causes uncontrollable sexual desire in the host.
Caged Heat
Caged Heat (1974)
, 1h23
Directed by Jonathan Demme
Origin USA
Genres Action
Themes Prison films, Films about sexuality, Erotic films, Sexploitation films, LGBT-related films, Women in prison films, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film
Actors Erica Gavin, Roberta Collins, Barbara Steele, Carmen Argenziano, Cheryl Smith, Joe Viola
Roles Supt. McQueen
Rating52% 2.649022.649022.649022.649022.64902
Trois femmes s'évadent d'un pénitencier. Au péril de leur vie, elles montent une opération de commando pour délivrer leur amie restée aux mains de geoliers sadiques...
Ciao, Federico!, 1h
Origin USA
Genres Documentary
Actors Federico Fellini, Giulietta Masina, Nino Rota, Giuseppe Rotunno, Dante Ferretti, Martin Potter
Roles Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Rating64% 3.238613.238613.238613.238613.23861
Reportage, en 1968, sur le tournage du film Satyricon. Interviews de Federico Fellini, commentaires de quelques-uns de ses acteurs, ainsi que des membres de son entourage.