If not for censorial prudishness, Hazel Court would have been first leading lady in British cinema to go topless in a mainstream, domestically released motion picture — either a praiseworthy or a dubious accolade, depending on one’s individual viewpoint. Court is said to have earned an extra £2000 for appearing au naturel, and her own pride in her pioneering spirit is evidenced by the inclusion in her autobiography of a still image from a deleted nude shot, and at least one uncensored print is rumoured to exist.
The Man Who Could Cheat Death — Hammer Falls Foul of the Censors
The film was Hammer’s The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959), an adaptation of a Barré Lyndon play about — well, the title pretty much says it all — previously filmed in 1945 as The Man in Half Moon Street. The remake was helmed by Hammer’s star director Terence Fisher, and Court’s co-stars were icy Anton Diffring, familiar from umpteen Nazi officer roles, and studio stalwart Christopher Lee, in a relatively colourless supporting part.
Granted, the nudity was by no means vital to the plot — the censor's report lists a total of three shots which occur during a modelling scene — but it would have added extra oomph to a handsome but stagey production. However, presumably pursuing a policy of “allow this and it’ll open the floodgates”, the censors deemed the brief exposure gratuitous and excessive, and cuts and/or reshoots were ordered.
By the early 1970s, breasts were bared as often as fangs in Hammer films. But in this first wave of homegrown horrors, the focus was on elegant English roses such as Hazel Court and Barbara Shelley, rather than earthy imports like Ingrid Pitt and Yutte Stensgaard. In 1959, any glimpse of skin would carry a powerful frisson for being such an utterly unexpected lapse of decorum in an era when physical frankness was regarded as the preserve of Continental sexpots. Even without the groundbreaking nudity, however, Court's portrayal of a confident, liberated woman makes a strong impact in this rather minor Hammer offering.
Hazel Court’s Pre-Hammer Film Career
By the time she made her Hammer debut in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Court had been busy in the British cinema industry for a decade and more. Among the more notable of her early films are Ken Annakin’s Holiday Camp (1947), a fascinating social document of the era, and Forbidden, aka Scarlet Heaven (1948), an excellent little noir thriller from director George King (previously responsible for several entertaining Tod Slaughter potboilers), in which Court shone as a vivacious working-class fairground girl who falls for married man Douglass Montgomery. She also popped up in the enjoyably cheap and campy Devil Girl From Mars (1954), though not as the eponymous alien.
Our Fascination With Beautiful Faces
Much of the appeal of the cinema and TV lies in the opportunities afforded the viewer to study beautiful or otherwise fascinating faces up close. Hammer’s lurid colour palette exploited Hazel Court’s regal, redheaded, green-eyed gorgeousness to the full, and she looked entirely at home in corseted period costume. She was also — an important genre requirement — an expert, uninhibited screamer.
Hazel Court Stars in a Trio of Roger Corman Films
Having notched up a couple of Hammers, Court stopped off in Cornwall for the contemporary chiller Dr Blood’s Coffin — another film which could have used a little nudity to liven up proceedings — before contributing her ample cleavage to Roger Corman’s collection of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations. First there was The Premature Burial (1962), with Ray Milland. Then came The Raven (1963), in which Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre spoofed themselves something rotten. And perhaps most memorably, Corman’s atmospheric The Masque of the Red Death (1964), photographed by Nicolas Roeg. Seldom just a simpering Gothic heroine, Court proved herself adept at playing scheming villainesses.
Husbands Dermot Walsh and Don Taylor
Court’s first husband was Irish actor and sometime co-star Dermot Walsh — they were cast together in the eerie Ghost Ship (1952) — and her second was American actor turned film-maker Don Taylor, who had played Robin Hood in Hammer's Men of Sherwood Forest (1954), and went on to direct a broad range of films, including cult Spaghetti Western The Five Man Army (1969), horror sequel Damien: Omen II (1978) and sci-fi drama The Final Countdown (1980).
Horror Typecasting and TV Appearances
Her stint as a scream queen would make Court to some extent a victim of cinema typecasting, denying her opportunities outside the genre, even though earlier roles had demonstrated talents that went far beyond the decorative. During her horror heyday she also made frequent guest appearances in TV shows on both sides of the Atlantic, such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone and Danger Man, and even starred in a short TV series of her own, Dick and the Duchess. From the mid-1960s, in virtual retirement from the big screen, she concentrated on motherhood and, with the encouragement of friend Vincent Price, on artistic pursuits, gaining acclaim as a painter and sculptor.
Hazel Court’s Autobiography Published Posthumously
In more recent years she became active on the convention circuit, much to the delight of horror fans. Sadly, Hazel Court succumbed to heart failure in 2008 at the age of 82, shortly before the publication of her long-awaited autobiography, in which she tells her own story with charm and kindhearted discretion.
Hammer could hardly have had a more effective asset in those crucial years when the studio began experimenting with sexually charged, luridly coloured Gothic horror, and Court’s photogenic presence, sincere acting and piercing screams also served Roger Corman very well indeed when he ventured into similar territory. She understood exactly what the genre demanded, and never gave less than her best.
Sources
- Court, Hazel, Horror Queen — An Autobiography, Tomahawk Press, 2008
- Frank, Alan G, The Films of Roger Corman: ‘Shooting My Way Out of Trouble’, BT Batsford, 1998
- Kinsey, Wayne, Hammer Films: The Bray Studio Years, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2002
Richard Raymond - I've also written novels and film & TV scripts. My science fiction e-novel Dreambox Junkies is available from US online publisher ...
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