'The Wicker Man' actress Ingrid Pitt has died aged 73

'The Wicker Man' actress Ingrid Pitt has died aged 73

Pitt collapsed on Monday on her way to a fans' event in London. She died at a south London hospital after doctors reportedly told her that she was suffering from heart failure.

The Polish-born 'Queen of Horror' appeared in films such as 'Where Eagles Dare', when she moved to the UK, before making her name playing voluptuous vampires in the 1970s Hammer favourites.

In the aforementioned 1973 classic, Pitt had a small but memorable part as the librarian.

Her daughter Stephanie Blake said: "It was heart trouble. She had a couple of bad years, health-wise."


Calling her mother a "fantastic woman", she added: "Anyone who knew my mother would say she was incredibly feisty.

“She could be incredibly generous, loving, and she'll be sorely missed.”

Upon hearing the news, 'Wicker Man' director Robin Hardy said: "She was a very attractive person in every sense.

"She was a perfectly good actress but a very decent person as well."

Blake also said that she hoped her mother would be remembered as the 'Countess Dracula' with the "wonderful teeth and the wonderful bosom."

Her death comes just weeks after Roy Ward Baker, the director of Pitt's movie 'The Vampire Lovers’, died at the age of 93.

Hammer historian Marcus Hearn said Pitt was a "talented actress and fine writer."

“She was partly responsible for ushering in a bold and brazen era of sexually explicitly horror films in the 1970s, but that should not denigrate her abilities as an actress,” he added.

“All fans of Hammer and of British horror are going to miss her terribly”.

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