Hazel Court

Infobox actor


imagesize = 150px
name = Hazel Court
birthdate = Birth date|1926|2|10|mf=y
location = Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England
deathdate = death date and age|2008|4|15|1926|2|10
deathplace = Lake Tahoe, California, USA

Hazel Court (February 10 1926 – April 15 2008) was an English actress known for her roles in horror films during the 1950s and early 1960s.

Court was born in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. Her father was G.W. Court, a notable cricketer who played for Durham CCC. At the age of fourteen, she studied drama at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and the Alexander Theatre, also in Birmingham. At the age of sixteen she met the director Anthony Asquith in London, which won her a brief part in the 1944 film "Champagne Charlie".

Court won a British Critics Award for her role as a crippled girl in "Carnival" (1946). She also appeared in "Holiday Camp" (1947) and "Bond Street" (1948). Her first role in a fantasy film was in "Ghost Ship" (1952). She also appeared in the campy "Devil Girl from Mars" and "Doctor Blood's Coffin".

Hazel Court wanted to act in comedy films, and from 1957 to 1958 she was in the TV comedy series "Dick and the Duchess". But she continued to appear in horror movies. In 1957 she had a part in the film "The Curse of Frankenstein", where she gained the status of a "cult siren", partly due to her display of cleavage. She travelled back and forth between Hollywood and England, appearing in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock's TV series. She had parts in "A Woman of Mystery" (1958) and "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" (1959) among others.

By the early 1960s, Court had permanently moved to the United States. She was featured in the Edgar Allan Poe horror movies "The Premature Burial" (1962), "The Raven" (1963) and "The Masque of the Red Death" (1964), the last two with Vincent Price.

From 1949 until 1963, when they divorced, she was married to Irish actor Dermot Walsh. 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. She retired from the film acting business in 1964 to concentrate on being a wife and mother. They had met while shooting an "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" episode, and the couple had a son, Jonathan, and a daughter, Courtney.

In 1981 she appeared briefly in the third "Omen" film, ', although she was uncredited. She has also appeared in episodes of several TV series, including ', "Dr. Kildare", "Twelve O'Clock High", and "The Twilight Zone".

In addition to acting, she was also a painter and sculptor, and studied sculpting in Italy. Court wrote her autobiography, "Hazel Court - Horror Queen", which was released in the UK in December 2007 and due to be published by Tomahawk Press in the US in 2008. [" [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hazel-Court-Horror-Queen-Autobiography/dp/0953192687 Hazel Court - Horror Queen: An Autobiography] " - ISBN 0953192687 ]

Court died of a heart attack at her home near Lake Tahoe, California on April 15, 2008, aged 82. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7352167.stm BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Horror actress Court dies aged 82] ] She was survived by her three children, and two stepdaughters, Anne Taylor Fleming and Avery Taylor.

Filmography

*1944: "Champagne Charlie"
*1944: "Dreaming"
*1946: "Carnival"
*1946: "Gaiety George"
*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"
*1953: "Counterspy"
*1953: "Ghost Ship"
*1953: "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"
*1959: "Breakout"
*1959: "The Man Who Could Cheat Death"
*1960: "Model for Murder"
*1960: "The Man Who Was Nobody"
*1960: "The Shakedown"
*1960: "Bonanza: The Last Trophy
*1961: "Dr. Blood's Coffin"
*1962: "The Premature Burial"
*1963: "The Raven"
*1964: "The Masque of the Red Death"
*1981: ""

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0183764|name=Hazel Court
* [http://www.cultsirens.com/court/court.htm Cult sirens]
* [http://www.tomahawkmedia.co.uk/hazel_court.html Hazel Court Horror Queen]
* [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/16/arts/NA-A-E-MOV-US-Obit-Hazel-Court.php Obituary of Hazel Court] from the Associated Press
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2008/04/18/db1803.xml Obituary: "Telegraph"]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3773251.ece Obituary: "Times"]
* [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/hazel-court-forties-film-heroine-who-later-became-a-cult-favourite-as-a-horror-movie-queen-of-scream-811187.html Obituary: "Independent"]
* [http://film.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/0,,2275405,00.html Obituary: "Guardian"]

Persondata
NAME= Court, Hazel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English actress
DATE OF BIRTH= 10 February 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH= Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England
DATE OF DEATH= 15 April 2008
PLACE OF DEATH= Lake Tahoe, California, USA