Born in Birmingham in 1926, Hazel Court took an interest in acting from an early age and was soon appearing in school and local plays. Looking to make a full career out of performing she attended and graduated from the London Academy of Dramatic Arts. The move into films came by chance in 1944 when her sister Audrey showed off a photograph of Hazel to Norman Loudon, the owner of Shepperton Studios. He encouraged her to appear in films and she got her first credit with a speaking line in Ealing Studio’s music hall comedy Champagne Charlie (1944). She became the first woman to be contracted by Rank Studios and a selection of productions followed with Hazel reaching progressively higher billing and attracting more attention, particularly with the film Carnival (1946) where she won a Picturegoer magazine award for her portrayal of a crippled girl. In 1948 she narrowly missed out on what would have been her biggest film role to date in the Powell and Pressburger ballet fantasy The Red Shoes (1948). The key role of Vicky Page had been initially promised to ballet dancer and actress Moira Shearer but when she was unwilling to take the role they looked to cast Hazel with a body double being used in the dancing scenes but ultimately Moira Shearer relented and took the role.
In
1948 Hazel met Irish actor Dermot Walsh on the set of My Sister
and I (1948) and the pair were married the next year. She took
some time off from the screen during which time the couple had a
daughter, Sally. Hazel returned to the screen a few years later
alongside Dermot in the small British horror film Ghost Ship
(1952) from director Vernon Sewell. She worked for him again in
Counterspy (1953) and began a short run of low budget British
films including the perfectly titled sci-fi shocker Devil Girl
from Mars (1954) and a selection of crime and mystery films. Her
best known role came in 1957 with a return to horror in Curse of
Frankenstein (1957). The British Hammer Films company had evolved
from a quota quicke production firm in the late 1940s to a major
player in the British cinema scene with the success of their
Quatermass Xperiment (1955) and its follow-ups. Looking for a
new project they settled on the classic Frankenstein tale and cast
Peter Cushing in the lead role with the then little known Christopher
Lee
as the creature, Hazel was offered the major role as Elizabeth
and played it with some real conviction and her young daughter Sally
gave a brief appearance as a younger version of the character at the
film's start.
However, while
this appearance gained Hazel a cult following in years to come, it
was a television part that secured her short term recognition as she
played the co-leading role alongside Patrick O'Neal in Dick and
the Duchess, an American sit-com set and filmed in Britain. For
the next two years Hazel would appear in a variety of television
shows, from ATV’s early sci-fi series Invisible Man (1958/9)
to the action packed Danger Man (1960-2) with Patrick
McGoohan. Across the Atlantic as well she appeared in the highly
popular Western adventure Bonanza (1959-73), an episode of the
classic Boris Karloff hosted Thriller (1960-2) series and in four
stories from Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(1955-62).
The
impact of the Hammer film was being felt around the world and the
sudden demand for gothic horror inspired the American director Roger
Corman and his producers American International Productions (AIP) to
stop making low budget sci-fi double-bills and pool their resources
to make some big looking horror films. House of Usher (1960)
set the scene and sequels quickly followed. Hazel was invitied to
play the female lead in Corman’s third film Premature Burial
(1962) a solid effort although the film is now better remembered for
being the only entry in the series not to star Vincent Price. In
interviews at the time she emphasised how important it was to take
the parts seriously despite their often rather daft nature but her
next role required quite the opposite – The Raven (1963) was
another Corman production, this time uniting Price with Peter Lorre
and Boris Karloff in a semi-comic take on the Poe films with Hazel in
the all important role of Lenore. Corman found her very good to work
with and cast her again in his penultimate Poe film the serious and
often surreal Masque of the Red Death (1964) where she played
the devil worshipping Juliana who clashes with the naïve young
Francesca (played by Jane Asher).
Curse
of Frankenstein (1957) UK Warner Brothers Region 2 DVD | Hazel
Court has an important part to play in Hammer's first horror film that
would inspired a decade of gothic horror around the world. Highly recommended. |
Masque of the Red Death (1964) MGM Region 1 DVD | The highlight of the AIP horror cycle, Hazel Court has an unusual role as a willing disciple of the devil. Highly recommended. |
Premature Burial (1962) MGM Region 1 DVD | An
interesting story is let down by a poor climax but Corman is solid as
usual and Ray Milland makes an interesting lead in this AIP horror. Partly recommended to fans of the series. |
The Raven
(1963) MGM Region 1 DVD | A light hearted take on the classic poem provides the story for this
well directed film with a well played performance from Hazel Court. Recommended to fans of the AIP horror series. |
The Invisible Man: Season 1 (1958) Episode 8: The Mink Coat Network UK R2 DVD | An
early British sci-fi show of rather varied quality that included a
variety of familiar British character actors in major roles. In The Mink Coat, Hazel Court plays an entertainer who gets drawn into a conflict with dangerous smugglers. |