INGRID PITT: PRELUDE TO AN INTERVIEW
With the Chicago
Fantastic Film Festival (www.cf3fest.com)
only days away as I
write this in June of 2002, I am looking forward to many of the fest’s events.
There is an art show with Famous Monsters great Basil Gogos, as well as
an art show with Scott Gustafson, Gary and Thomas Gianni, Douglas Klauba and
more. Legendary Chicago theatrical
director and cult filmmaker Stuart Gordon (whose H.P. Lovecraft’s
Re-Animator is still a terrific ride) will be screening his new film H.P.
Lovecraft’s Dagon
But I can tell you
right now what I am looking forward to the most -- the chance to meet and
interview the star of a film that our film society has shown more than ten times
to appreciative audiences since we began almost twenty years ago.
I am speaking of Ingrid Pitt. And
the film is The Vampire Lovers.
I was sixteen years
old and “dating” a twenty-three-year-old hippie girl when I first saw The
Vampire Lovers. Here was a
film that delivered on the promise of the ads and the posters. A blend of sex with the vampire curse. I saw it in Atlanta, Georgia, and went back two more times --
with two more girlfriends! The
combination of a bisexual female vampire and Ingrid Pitt’s portrayal of her
was something I had never seen in a horror movie before. It worked then, and it still works. The Hunger wouldn’t exist without this movie.
A Google search of
Pitt’s name came up with fascinating information I had never known before.
She is an accomplished author with several books out, which while sadly
unavailable here in the States can be obtained through her fan club which she
runs at www.pittofhorror.com.
She is featured in the horror classic The Wicker Man, and
played opposite Clint Eastwood in the still awesome Where Eagles
Dare. She is all over the
TV edition of Dr. Zhivago, and even appeared with two of the good
doctors in Dr. Who. Born
Ingouska Petrov on a train taking her mother to the infamous Stutthoff
concentration camp, she worked with Bertolt Brecht’s widow, Helene Weigel,
after World War II. However, her criticism of the socialist regime forced her to
flee for her life to freedom -- and to the movies.
She doesn’t like to
watch herself on film. She
doesn’t remember any sexual tension between the women in The Vampire
Lovers; women were not really her thing.
She has worked with Clive Barker in an unreleased film. She loves her grandchild dearly and is happily married.
Trust me, the above sketch does not even begin to cover this lady’s
interests and life experiences. She
embraces getting older. Very rare
for an actress!
She also called me
“darling” in the pre-interview. If
you had told me as a teenager that the awesomely beautiful star of The
Vampire Lovers would someday call me “darling”, I never would have
believed it!
Interview and festival
report to follow. If you see me at
the fest, come up and say hi!
Cheers,
Michael Flores
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