Friday 17 March 2017

134 Cat Girl ( 1957)

This  joint  British  and  American  venture  was  an  unofficial  remake  of  the  seminal  Cat  People  of  1942 . It  introduced  one  of  the  the  most  famous  British  scream  queens.

Leonora  Johnson  is  invited  home  by  her  mad  Uncle  Edmund  to  pass  on  both  his  fortune  and  a  dark  family  secret  , a   controllable  leopard  that  acts  on  its  owner's  blood  lust  which  he  then  uses  to  off  himself. When  Leonora's  cheating  husband  Richard (  deep-voiced  Archers  stalwart  Jack  May )  is  the  next  victim , psychiatrist  Dr  Marlowe  ( Robert  Ayres )  , an  old  flame, gets  involved  with  her  case.

Barbara  Shelley  ( as  Leonora )

Sex:  There's  a  sexual  undertone  to  the  whole  story  and  Barbara  shows  a  fair  bit  of  flesh  for  the  time

Death : Run  over  by  Marlowe


Barbara  was  originally  Barbara  Kowin, born  in  London in  1932. She  was  a  model  in  the  early  fifties  before  making  a  few  films  in  Italy. She  returned  to  England  to  make  this  which  kickstarted   a  distinctive  career  in  British  horror  as  we  shall  see. Barbara  retired  in  the  early  nineties  and  is  now  85.

Kay  Callard  ( as  Dorothy  Marlowe ) 

Sex : No

Death : Survives


Kay  was  a  Canadian  actress  who  worked  mainly  in  England. Her  career  was  pretty  much  finished  by  the  sixties  but  she  made  sporadic  appearances  after  that. She  died  in  England  in  2008  aged  74.

Patricia  Webster  ( as  Cathy )  

Sex : Cathy  is  Richard's  mistress

Death : Survives


Patricia  was  more  of  a  TV  actress  than  a  film  star. She  disappeared  from  view  at  the  end  of  the  sixties.

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