Ingrid PittFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ingrid Pitt

Born

Ingoushka Petrov

21 November 1937

Warsaw, Poland

Died23 November 2010 (aged 73)

South London, England

Occupation Actress, writer

Years active 1964–2010

Spouse(s)

Laud Roland Pitt Jr (divorced)

George Pinches (divorced)

Tony Rudlin

Children Steffanie Pitt-Blake

Ingrid Pitt (21 November 1937 – 23 November 2010) was an actress best known for her work in horror films of the 1960s and 1970s.[1]

Contents

1 Background 2 Acting career 3 Writing career 4 Personal life 5 Death 6 Legacy project 7 Filmography 8 Bibliography (partial) 9 References 10 External links

Background

Pitt was born Ingoushka Petrov in Warsaw, Poland, to a German father of Russian descent and a Polish Jewish mother.[2] During World War II, she and her family were imprisoned in a concentration camp. She survived; and, in Berlin in the 1950s, married an American soldier and moved to California. After her marriage failed, she returned to Europe; but, after a small role in a film, she headed to Hollywood where she worked as a waitress while trying to make a career in the movies. Her natural hair colour was brown, though she frequently lightened it to blonde.

Acting career

In the early 1960s, Pitt was a member of the prestigious Berliner Ensemble, under the guidance of Bertolt Brecht's widow Helene Weigel. In 1965, she made her film debut in Doctor Zhivago, playing a minor role. In 1968, she co-starred in the low-budget science fiction film The Omegans and, in the same year, played "Heidi" in Where Eagles Dare opposite Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.

She appeared as Queen Galleia with John Pertwee and Roger Delgado in 'The Time Monster',which was the fifth Serial of the ninth season of 'Doctor Who', broadcast in six weekly parts between 20th May - 24th June 1972. She also appeared as

It was her work with Hammer Film Productions that elevated her to cult figure status. She starred as "Carmilla/Mircalla" in The Vampire Lovers (1970), based on Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's novella Carmilla, and played the title role in Countess Dracula (1971), based on the legends around Countess Elizabeth Báthory. Pitt also appeared in the Amicus horror anthology film The House That Dripped Blood (1971) and had a small part in The Wicker Man (1973).

In the mid-1970s, she appeared on the judging panel of the British ITV talent show New Faces.[3]

During the 1980s, Pitt returned to mainstream films and television. Her role as Fraulein Baum in the 1981 BBC Playhouse Unity, who is denounced as a Jew by Unity Mitford

(Lesley-Anne Down), was uncomfortably close to her real-life experiences. Her popularity with horror film buffs saw her in demand for guest appearances at horror conventions and film festivals. Other films Pitt has appeared in outside the horror genre are: Who Dares Wins, (aka The Final Option), Wild Geese II, and Hanna's War. Generally cast as a "baddie", she usually manages to die horribly at the end of the final reel. "Being the anti-hero is great – they are always roles you can get your teeth into."

It was at this time that the theatre world also beckoned. Pitt founded her own theatrical touring company and starred in successful productions of Dial M for Murder, Duty Free (aka Don't Bother to Dress), and Woman of Straw. She also appeared in many TV shows in the UK and the U.S. – Ironside, Dundee and the Culhane, Doctor Who (The Time Monster, Warriors of the Deep), Smiley's People, etc.

In 1998, Pitt narrated Cradle of Filth's "Cruelty and the Beast" album, although her narration was done strictly in-character as the Countess Elizabeth Báthory, as she portrayed in Countess Dracula.

In 2000, Pitt made her return to the big screen in The Asylum, starring Colin Baker and Patrick Mower and directed by John Stewart. In 2003, Pitt voiced the role of "Lady Violator" in Renga Media's production Dominator. The film was the UK's first CGI animated film.

After a period of illness, Pitt returned to the screen in 2006 for the Hammer Films-Mario Bava tribute, Sea of Dust.

Writing career

Pitt's first book, after a number of ill-fated tracts on the plight of Native Americans, was a novel, Cuckoo Run, a spy story about mistaken identity. "I took it to Cubby Broccoli. It was about a woman called Nina Dalton who is pursued across South America in the mistaken belief that she is a spy. Cubby said it was a female Bond. He was being very kind."

This was followed in 1984 by a novelisation of the Peron era in Argentina ("The Perons"), where she lived for a number of years: "Argentina was a wild frontier country ruled by a berserk military dictatorship at the time. It just suited my mood."

In 1984, Pitt and her husband Tony Rudlin were commissioned to script a Doctor Who adventure. The story, entitled The Macro Men, was one of a number of ideas submitted by the couple after she appeared in the Season 21 story arc Warriors of the Deep (1984). The plot concerned events surrounding the Philadelphia Experiment—the urban legend about a U.S. Navy experiment during World War II to try to make the USS Eldridge destroyer escort invisible to radar. Pitt and Rudlin had read it in The Philadelphia Experiment - Project Invisibility (1979) by paranormal writer Charles Berlitz, grandson of the founder of the Berlitz Language Schools. It involved The Doctor (Colin Baker) and companion Peri (Nicola Bryant) arriving on board the ship in 1943 in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and becoming involved in a battle against microscopic humanoid creatures native to Earth but previously unknown to humankind. The couple had several meetings with script editor Eric Saward and carried out numerous revisions, but the story progressed no further than the preparation of a draft first episode script

under the new title The Macros. The story was released in June 2010 by Big Finish Productions as The Macros in their Doctor Who: The Lost Stories audios, five months before Pitt's death.

In 1999, her autobiography, Life's a Scream (Heinemann) was published; and she was short-listed for the Talkies Awards for her own reading of extracts from the audio book, "I Hate Being Second".

The autobiography detailed the harrowing experiences of her early life—in a Nazi concentration camp, her search through Europe in Red Cross refugee camps for her father, and her escape from East Berlin, one step ahead of the Volkspolizei. "I always had a big mouth and used to go on about the political schooling interrupting my quest for thespian glory. I used to think like that. Not good in a police state."

The Ingrid Pitt Bedside Companion for Ghosthunters (2003) was Pitt's tenth book. It was preceded by the The Ingrid Pitt Bedside Companion for Vampire Lovers (1998) and The Ingrid Pitt Book Of Murder, Torture & Depravity (2000).

Pitt's credentials for writing about ghosts spring from a time when she lived with a tribe of Indians in Colorado. Sitting with her baby daughter, Steffanie, by a log fire, she was sure that she could see the face of her father smiling at her in the flames. "I told one of the others and he went all Hollywood Injun on me and said something like 'Heap good medicine'. I guess he was taking the mickey."

Other writing projects include a different look at Hammer Films entitled The Hammer Xperience. She also wrote a story under the pen name Dracula Smith, which was illustrated within the Fan club magazine and is rumoured to be waiting to be snapped up for production.

Pitt wrote regular columns for various magazines and periodicals, including Shivers magazine, TV & Film Memorabilia, and Motoring and Leisure. She also wrote a regular column, often about politics, on her official website, as well as a weekly column at UK website Den of Geek.[4] In 2008, she was added to the merchandising of Monster-Mania: The Magazine.[5]

In 2011, Avalard Publishing acquired the reprint rights to Cuckoo Run (1980) and four other titles, including Annul Domini: The Jesus Factor (March 2012), a speculative novel about what would have happened if Jesus had never made it to Jerusalem.

Personal life

Pitt married three times: Laud Roland Pitt Jr, an American GI; George Pinches, a British film executive; and Tony Rudlin, an actor and racing car driver. Her daughter, Steffanie Pitt-Blake, is also an actress.

She had a passion for World War II aircraft. After revealing this on a radio programme, she was invited by the museum at RAF Duxford to have a flight in a Lancaster.[6] She held a student's pilot licence and a black belt in karate.[7]

Death

Pitt died in a south London hospital on 23 November 2010, a few days after collapsing, and two days after her 73rd birthday.[8]

Legacy project

Seven months before she died, Pitt finished narration for Ingrid Pitt: Beyond the Forest (2011), an animated short film on her experience in the Holocaust, a project that had been in the works for five years. Character design and storyboards were created by two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Bill Plympton. The film is directed by Kevin Sean Michaels; co-produced and co-written by Dr. Jud Newborn, Holocaust expert and author, "Sophie Scholl and the White Rose"; and drawn by 10-year-old animator, Perry Chen. There will a feature-length documentary, also by Michaels, to follow.[9][10][11]

Filmography

FilmYear Title Role Notes1964 Sound of Horror Sofia Minelli1965 Chimes at Midnight Uncredited1965 Doctor Zhivago Uncredited1966 Un beso en el puerto Dorothy

1966A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Courtesan Uncredited

1968 The Omegans Linda1968 Where Eagles Dare Heidi

1970 The Vampire LoversMarcilla/Carmilla/Mircalla Karnstein

1971 Countess Dracula Countess Elisabeth Nodosheen

1971 The House That Dripped Blood Carla LindSegment: "The Cloak"

1972 Nobody Ordered Love Alice Allison1973 The Wicker Man Librarian1982 Who Dares Wins Helga

1983 Octopussy Gallery MistressVoice; uncredited

1984 Bones1985 Wild Geese II Hooker1985 Underworld Pepperdine1986 Parker Widow1988 Hanna's War Margit2000 The Asylum Isobella2000 Green Fingers Mrs. Bowen Short film2003 Dominator Lady Violator Voice

FilmYear Title Role Notes2006 Minotaur The Sybil2008 Beyond the Rave Tooley's Mum Direct-to-video2008 Sea of Dust Anna

TelevisionYear Title Role Notes

1967Dundee and the Culhane

Tallie Montreaux

Episode: "The 1000 Feet Deep Brief"

1967 Ironside Irene Novas Episode: "The Fourteenth Runner"1972 Jason King Nadine Episode "Nadine"1973 The Adventurer Elayna Episode: "Double Exposure"1974 The Zoo Gang Lyn Martin Episode: "Mindless Murder"1975 Thriller Ilse Episode: "Where the Action Is"1981 BBC2 Playhouse Fraulein Baum Episode: "Unity"

1981 Artemis 81Hitchcock Blonde

Television film

1982 Smiley's People ElviraEpisodes: season 1.1, season 1.2; television mini-series

1983The Comedy of Errors

Courtesan Television film

1972–1984

Doctor WhoGalleia/Dr. Solow

5 episodes

1984 The HouseCountess Von Eisen

Television film

1987 Bulman Laura Episode: "Chicken of the Baskervilles"Writer

Year Title Notes2011 Ingrid Pitt: Beyond the Forest Short film; released in 2011

Bibliography (partial)

Cuckoo Run (1980) The Perons (1984) Eva's Spell (1985) Katarina (1986) The Ingrid Pitt Bedside Companion for Vampire Lovers (1998) The Autobiography of Ingrid Pitt : Life's A Scream (1999) Ingrid Pitt Bedside Companion for Ghosthunters (1999) The Ingrid Pitt Book of Murder, Torture and Depravity (2000) Annul Domini (2012) Dracula Who...? (2012)

References

1. ̂ Margalit Fox (25 November 2010). "Ingrid Pitt, Horror Star Who Survived Nazis, Dies at 73". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/25/arts/25pitt.html?

hpw. Retrieved 25 November 2010. "Lovely and voluptuous, the actress Ingrid Pitt was given a choice early in her film career: pornography or horror. Ms. Pitt, who had spent her childhood in a Nazi concentration camp, later scoured Europe in search of her vanished father and still later was forced to flee East Germany a step ahead of the police, chose horror. It was a genre she knew firsthand. ..."

2. ̂ Ingrid Pitt3. ̂ Pitt, Ingrid (8 September 2008). "The Ingrid Pitt column: talent shows". Den of Geek.

Dennis Publishing. http://www.denofgeek.com/captainsblog/111232/the_ingrid_pitt_column_talent_shows.html. Retrieved 24 November 2010.

4. ̂ Pitt, Ingrid (29 January 2008). "Doctor Who: Warriors of the Deep". Den of Geek. http://www.denofgeek.com/captainsblog/8782/the_ingrid_pitt_column_doctor_who_warriors_of_the_deep.html.

5. ̂ "Monster Media". 2008-02. http://www.monstermania.net/Magazine.htm.6. ̂ "Ingrid Pitt". The Daily Telegraph (London). 24 November 2010.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/8158061/Ingrid-Pitt.html.

7. ̂ Cotter, Robert Michael (2010). Ingrid Pitt, Queen of Horror. McFarland & Co. pp. 170, 205. ISBN 978-0-7864-5888-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=hGHGSSQB1oQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.

8. ̂ "Hammer horror actress Ingrid Pitt dies aged 73". BBC News (BBC). 23 November 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11823418. Retrieved 23 November 2010.

9. ̂ Child, Ben (25 November 2010). "Ingrid Pitt made film about concentration camp childhood-Prior to her death, Hammer horror muse narrated animated short film about her childhood experience of the Holocaust". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/nov/25/ingrid-pitt-film-concentration-camp. Retrieved 25 November 2010.

10. ̂ . perrys previews. http://www.perryspreviews.com/?p=1779. Retrieved 24 November 2010.

11. ̂ . http://www.judnewborn.com.

External links

Ingrid Pitt at the Internet Movie Database Obituary in The Guardian Obituary in The Independent Pitt of Horror Ingrid Pitt: Beyond The Forest biopic Ingrid Pitt at HorrorStars Renga Media Weekly column at Den Of Geek

v t e

Hammer Film Productions cast and crewFilm directors Roy Ward Baker

Michael Carreras Terence Fisher Freddie Francis John Gilling Seth Holt Peter Sasdy Don Sharp

Notable actors and actresses

Ralph Bates Peter Cushing Veronica Carlson John Carson Jennifer Daniel Edward de Souza Clifford Evans Suzan Farmer Michael Gough Andrew Keir Duncan Lamont Christopher Lee Miles Malleson Francis Matthews André Morell Richard Pasco Jacqueline Pearce Ingrid Pitt Oliver Reed Michael Ripper Yvonne Romain Barbara Shelley Patrick Troughton Thorley Walters Barry Warren Noel Willman

Miscellaneous

Jack Asher (cinematographer) Roy Ashton (make-up artist) Don Banks (composer) James Bernard (composer) Michael Carreras (producer) Arthur Grant (cinematographer) Anthony Hinds (producer, writer) William Hinds (founder, producer) Phil Leakey (makeup artist) Eddie Powell (stuntman) Michael Reed (cinematographer) Bernard Robinson (designer) Jimmy Sangster (writer, director)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ingrid_Pitt&oldid=516680975"

Categories:

1937 births 2010 deaths British non-fiction writers British novelists British television actors British film actors British Jews British voice actors British people of Russian descent British people of Polish descent German film actors Holocaust survivors Polish Jews Polish actors German television actors

Source Material: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingrid_Pitt

More: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0685839/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countess_Dracula

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampire_Lovers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_That_Dripped_Blood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Geese_II

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopussy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_Eagles_Dare

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Zhivago_(film)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimes_at_Midnight