Barbara Steele  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Barbara Steele (born December 29, 1937 in Birkenhead) is an English actress.

She's best known as the scream queen of a string of 1960s Italian gothic horror movies including Black Sunday (1960), The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962), The Ghost (1963), and Roger Corman's "The Pit and the Pendulum" adaptation (1961).

French cult film magazine Midi-Minuit Fantastique no. 17 (1967) dedicated two articles by Jean-Claude Romer (a three-page filmography) and Michel Caen (a 27-page analysis) to Barbara Steele. The cover depicts Steele in the Italian film An Angel for Satan (1966).

Steele had supporting parts in Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963), and appeared on television in the 1991 miniseries Dark Shadows. Steele has appeared in several films in the 2010s, including a lead role in The Butterfly Room (2012) and supporting role in Ryan Gosling's Lost River (2014).

She has worked with notable directors such as Volker Schlöndorff, Joe Dante, Roger Corman, Jonathan Demme, Federico Fellini, Louis Malle and Mario Bava.

Documentary

Steele had a segment[1] in Clive Barker's A-Z of Horror documentary film with comments by Clive Barker, Roger Corman, Joe Dante and Tim Burton.

Selected filmography

• Black Sunday (1960)
• The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
• L'Orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock (The Horrible Dr. Hichcock) (1962)
• 8½ (1963)
• Lo Spettro (The Ghost) (1963)
• Danza macabra (Castle of Blood) (1964)
• I Lunghi capelli della morte (The Long Hair of Death) (1964)
• Cinque tombe per un medium (1965)
• Nightmare Castle (1965)
• the She Beast (1966)
• Young Törless (Der Junge Törless) (1966)
• Caged Heat (1974)
• Shivers (1975)
• Pretty Baby (1978)
• Piranha (1978)
• Dark Shadows (TV series revival) (1991)
• Fellini Ungrateful Celebration (2005)