Hazel Court was born on 10 February 1926.
She was a British actor. But by about 1960, she seems to have moved full-time to the United States and worked mostly in television. Psychotronic fans know her best for three of the Corman Poe Cycle films.
In England, she starred in two Hammer horror films. She starred with Peter Cushing in The Curse of Frankenstein. And then she starred with Anton Diffring and Christopher Lee in The Man Who Could Cheat Death. Both those roles are pretty boring. She is a pretty woman with bad taste in men.
Court appeared in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. These definitely expanded her roles from the previous ones. In the last of these, “The Pearl Necklace,” she plays a conniving cougar. She’s way too smart to be relegated to “good girl” roles.
Around this time, she also starred in the American International Pictures films. First was The Premature Burial, the only non-Vincent Price Poe film. She’s evil but not with joie de vivre she shows in the follow-up, The Raven. Finally, she’s a satanist in The Masque of the Red Death. That one is not a well-written part but she performs it well.
Court starred in other psychotronic films. If you get the chance, you should definitely see Ghost Ship (1952), Devil Girl from Mars, and Doctor Blood’s Coffin (1961).
By the late 1960s, she slowed her work. And at the start of the 1970s, she stopped acting completely, except for a brief appearance in Omen III: The Final Conflict. Interestingly, her husband, Don Taylor, directed Damien: Omen II.
There is really only one choice to celebrate Hazel Court’s birthday: The Raven. I’ve watched the film far too many times. So much of it kind of annoys me now. But I never tire of her scenes. But for most viewers, the whole thing is a joy.
Hazel Court via IMDb under Fair Use.
