International star Hazel Court described as the Ultimate Scream Queen, worked with both Hammer Films and Roger Corman. She performed with horror films’ leading men at the time Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, and Christopher Lee and was one of England’s top film actresses in the 40’s and 50’s as well as one of the world’s top pin-ups. Hazel’s high-profile career spanned into the US television in the 60’s with shows such as Mission Impossible, The Twilight Zone, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Presents. Court wrote this journey in a chronological starting with her birth in Birmingham, England, and sadly, she passed away on April 15, 2008 the publication of her book, from Tomahawk Press.

Her American audiences recall the films of the early 1960s, based on Edgar Allan Poe stories Premature Burial (1962), The Raven (1963), and The Masque of The Red Death (1964), for her rememberable work. In addition, this last flick regarded by many horror critics as one of Corman’s greatest achievements in that decade. Hazel packs an incredible amount on thoughtful mentions, details and abundance of photos, which she sometimes repeats in the book.

These photos tally over 20, some of which very rare, and carefully chosen, including never before published images of Hazel topless. Some critics, slam the style of inclusion of IMDb summaries of films, suggesting readers could refer to the site for their own info, however this takes away from the pleasure of merely sitting and immersing themselves in the book. As stated previously the book weaves a wonderful recap of her life, early life to stage, film (both large and small screens) and even to her pleasure of artwork in sculpturing.

This book is solely for the Hazel Court fans, and those with a passing interest in learning about actors and the forgotten world of gothic cinema, her daughter Sally Walsh penned the forward in the book. As a personal fan of hers, I read the book straight through in one evening with a glass wine by my side, merely a 152 pages in length. Although, the acquiring it might take a bit of time, as its out-of-print (first published in 2008), hence a bit of hunting, I found mine through a third-party on Amazon.  She is likely to always remain a Horror Queen and Icon, with complete classy style, never spilling negativity and staying extremely polite with remembrance to all whom she worked with cherish every moment and so will you as the reader.

http://tomahawkpress.com/hazel-court-horror-queen/

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