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Barbara Shelley

Highest Rated: 93% Village of the Damned (1960)

Lowest Rated: 57% Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1966)

Birthday: Feb 13, 1932

Birthplace: London, England, UK

When Barbara Shelley began her training as an actress, she was shy and resistant to joining repertory theater. Following her teacher's suggestion, she took up modeling in 1951 to gain some self-confidence. In 1953, she went to Rome for a vacation and met famous Italian comic actor Walter Chiari. Over the next four years she appeared in a number of Italian films like the luridly titled "Nero's Mistress." Returning to England in 1957, her first part was no different from her roles abroad, taking the lead as a woman who becomes a killer cat when angry in 1957's horror film "Cat Girl." The following year she made her first appearance in a film for Hammer Studios in the World War II drama "The Camp on Blood Island." Hammer soon mutated into the leading purveyor of British horror films throughout the 1960s, and Shelley became an iconic scream queen in many of the studio's productions, acting alongside famed scenery-chewers like Christopher Lee in 1966's "Dracula: Prince In Darkness." A regular guest star on American and British TV throughout the 1960s, Shelley finally grew tired of the lack of respect given thespians in horror films, achieving her lifelong ambition of acting on-stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1975 and joining the troupe for two years. In the 1980s she took up interior decorating, and played her last part in 1992. Barbara Shelley died on January 4, 2021 at the age of 87.

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Highest rated movies

93% 78% Village of the Damned
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88% 74% Quatermass and the Pit (Five Million Years to Earth)(The Mind Benders)
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81% 66% Dracula, Prince of Darkness
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67% 48% The Gorgon
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57% 41% Rasputin, the Mad Monk
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Somewhere in Italy -- Company B
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End of the Line
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Maigret
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A Story of David
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Death Trap
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Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Fanex Files: Hammer Films Unknown (Character) - 2008
No Score Yet No Score Yet Maigret Louise Maigret (Character) - 1988
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Spy Killer Danielle (Character) - 1969
No Score Yet 100% Five Million Years to Earth Barbara Judd (Character) - 1967
88% 74% Quatermass and the Pit (Five Million Years to Earth)(The Mind Benders) Unknown (Character) - 1967
No Score Yet No Score Yet Somewhere in Italy -- Company B Selena (Character) - 1966
81% 66% Dracula, Prince of Darkness Helen Kent (Character) - 1966
57% 41% Rasputin, the Mad Monk Sonia (Character) - 1966
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Secret of Blood Island Elaine (Character) - 1965
67% 48% The Gorgon Carla Hoffman (Character) - 1964
No Score Yet No Score Yet Blind Corner Anne Gregory (Character) - 1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet Man in the Dark Anne Gregory (Character) - 1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet Death Trap Jean Anscombe (Character) - 1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet Stranglehold Chris Morrison (Character) - 1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet Postman's Knock Jean (Character) - 1962
No Score Yet 47% Shadow of the Cat Beth Venable (Character) - 1961
No Score Yet No Score Yet A Story of David Abigail (Character) - 1960
93% 78% Village of the Damned Anthea Zellaby (Character) - 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet Deadly Record Susan Webb (Character) - 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet Bobbikins Valerie (Character) - 1959
No Score Yet 29% Blood of the Vampire Madeleine Duval (Character) - 1958
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Solitary Child Harriet (Character) - 1958
No Score Yet 14% Cat Girl Leonora Johnson - née Brandt (Character) - 1957
No Score Yet No Score Yet End of the Line Unknown (Character) - 1957

TV

Credit
68% 78% Doctor Who Sorasta (Character) 1984
No Score Yet No Score Yet Man in a Suitcase Unknown (Guest Star) 1967
No Score Yet 87% The Avengers Unknown (Guest Star) 1967
No Score Yet No Score Yet Wackiest Ship in the Army Unknown (Guest Star) 1965-1966
No Score Yet No Score Yet 12 O'Clock High Unknown (Guest Star) 1965-1966
100% No Score Yet The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Unknown (Guest Star) 1965
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Farmer's Daughter Pamela (Guest Star) 1965
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hazel Unknown (Guest Star) 1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Lloyd Bridges Show Clare (Guest Star) 1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet El Santo Valerie North (Guest Star) 1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet Danger Man Gina Scarlotti (Character) 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet H.G. Wells' Invisible Man Unknown (Guest Star) 1959