Screams of Terror Interviews

Hammer Film’s Queen of Horror

Ingrid Pitt

 

 

BASIC BIO

Real name - Natasha Petrovana

Occupation - Actress/Author

Birthday - November 21, 1937

Birthplace - Poland

 

BRIEF FILMOGRAPHY

Where Eagles Dare

The Wicker Man

Countess Dracula

The Vampire Lovers

The House That Dripped Blood

The Sound of Horror

Bride of Monster Mania

Monster Mania

The Asylum

 

WEB PAGE: http://www.pittofhorror.com

 

SOT:  What or whom are some of your influences?

 

Ingrid Pitt: Influences? The "what" is easy. Since I was a child

I have had an almost morbid interest in food. I hate all the

'faddism'. What you can eat, what you can't. There is one thing

for certain. No food ain't good. When you have spent a lot of your

childhood without food you learn to appreciate what's going. Even

now I can't bear to see people leaving food on their plate. I must

admit I have a bit of a reputation for finishing off other peoples food.

If you are talking life influences it is more difficult.

'Influences' suggest that you have a choice based on what you have

learned. I guess I haven't learned much. My life has been one of being

pushed by circumstances rather than influenced.  I can't remember once

making a life changing decision without it being pushed up my jumper.

 

SOT: You have been in so many movies and TV shows, Countess Dracula,

Vampire Lovers, The House That Dripped Blood, The Wicker Man, only to

name a few can you tell us about some of them and perhaps a memorable

experience from one?

 

Ingrid Pitt: That's an add-on to the previous question. My movie

career, such as it is, started with a visit to a bullfight in Spain,

probably in 1963. I sat up close to the Barrera and empathized with

the bull. I was in a bit of a state by the end.  A photographer got a

shot of me shredding a handkerchief sniffing and crying for the poor

tormented bull.  Next day a photograph appeared in El Pais.  A director,

Ana Mariscol, saw it and offered me the part in Los Duendes de Andalucia,

a movie about a drunken American tourist who falls in love with a Torero.

An unlikely scenario but why should I be picky? From there I landed several

other films until someone promised me a golden future in Hollywood.

I later found out he was a wanker on the make and found myself waiting

table’s in a restaurant.  There I became friendly with Willy Wilder.

He liked my plum cake and offered me a job, “The Omegans” in the Philippe’s.

Back in LA I blundered from one TV show to another until, at a card

party at the house of the great stunt coordinator, Yakima Canutt,

I met John Wayne, lost all my money and was saved by Yak putting me

forward for “Where Eagles Dare”.  After Eagles it was a fallow patch

until I met James Carreras at the party after the premier of

“Alfred The Great” and he offered me “Vampire Lovers”. And so

it goes on. I started writing because it gave me something to

do between jobs and I've been fairly successful at it. But there

is a lot of luck involved.

 

 

SOT: Do you have a favorite movie or TV show that you were in?  Which

one and why?

 

Ingrid Pitt: I guess that has to be “Where Eagles Dare”. It was mind

blowing. No expense spared and it went on for more than six months.  And

the film goes on. Hardly a week goes by that it doesn't appear on one

channel or another.

 

SOT:  When did you decide that you wanted to be an Actress, and what

helped you make that decision?

 

Ingrid Pitt: When I was in the camp as a child I found I could get

little extras if I camped it up. I suppose I was pretty obnoxious.

After the war I was lucky enough to get a job with Berholt Brecht's

Berliner Ensemble. When one of the actresses was sick I made a brief

appearance on stage before having to leg it for the frontier. I married

a GI Captain, went to America, had a baby and, when the marriage broke

up, got a job with the Pasadena Playhouse. They went bust and I headed

for Europe. Starvation made the decision for me to get a job I guess.

 

SOT:  What are some of the current projects that you are working on?

 

Ingrid Pitt: The biggy at the moment is “THE HAMMER XPERIENCE”. It is a

coffee table book which will be published by Hammer.  The Deadline is July

so if I do my part it should be out for Christmas. I've also got two or

three movies knocking about. But you have to be careful with movies.

It you look at them too hard they have a tendency to disappear up

their own fundamental orifice. I've just had one do that - I'm hoping

it is going to be the only disappointment in 2004.

 

SOT:  What is your favorite horror movie?  Book?

 

Ingrid Pitt: The Exorcise as a movie. But that is only because I saw it

on my first date with the man who was to become my husband. That was 30

years ago. We are still together and happy with it. A film with a

non-romantic attachment is “The Uninvited”.  A very under-rated ghost

movie. Jimmy Herberts “Others” is a book I particularly liked and Stephen

Laws “Somewhere South of Midnight”, in which he based a character on me,

also come high up on my list of interesting reading. And I once read

“War and Peace” from cover to cover. Hands up who can say that?

 

 

SOT: I once picked up “War and Peace” but it hurt my arms to hold it

for too long so I put it back down!

 

SOT:  Could you tell our readers where they should go to get you’re

movies, posters, pictures and other related items?

 

Ingrid Pitt: That's the easy one. I can be contacted on

info@pittofhorror.com and I have an extensive store of photos and

memorabilia on www.pittofhorror.com. You can join the Fan Club on-line

and if you are really keen we can meet up at the annual Fan Club

Reunion and Birthday Bash in November. This year will be the 8th. and

they get better and better. The revelers are a pretty varied lot from

all over the place, America, Switzerland, Germany, France, Poland,

Scotland and, of course, many from all over England.

I also have regular pages in many magazines and write for others on an

ad hoc basis.

 

 

SOT:  What’s a day in the life of a horror film Queen like?

 

Ingrid Pitt:  I should think very much like everyone else's. I rarely

drink blood before midday or vampirise the milkman. I find the coffin

a bit stuffy in the Summer and cold in the Winter so I stick to an

interior spring mattress curled up beside a warm body. I prefer an

Ankh necklace to a crucifix for aesthetic reasons and wear sunglasses

in the sunlight because I have a dickey eye.

 

 

SOT:  Do you have any advice that you could share with us to help

anyone out there that has aspirations of becoming a horror genre actress?

 

 

Ingrid Pitt: I've got enough trouble now. Why should I encourage the

opposition?

 

 

SOT:  Who are some of the other stars that you have worked with and do

you have a favorite?

 

Ingrid Pitt: You obviously meant “stars who have worked with me”.

Well there is Clint Eastwood, a little darling, Richard Burton whose

idea on entertaining was to get drunk and spout Dylan Thomas, Sir

Laurence Olivier who smiled fondly at me and enquired "Ingrid who"

Alec Guinness was a perfect gent, always knew his lines and accused me

of stealing a scene from him - in jest I think- Michael Kitchen who

didn't focus when you had a scene opposite him, very unnerving, Ellen

Bustyn who was traumatized by the director, Peter Cushing who was as

wonderful as everyone says he is, Christopher Lee who is said to be a

little distant and difficult but who I have never found anything other

than polite and charming, Scott Glenn, a troubled soul, And many others

My favorite? Well Alec Guinness was sweet and Peter Cushing a mensch -

but I think I'll go with Clint.

 

 

SOT: Your early life was a very trying time to say the least,

from being in a Nazi concentration camp to your escape from

Berlin, so I guess that it would be safe to assume that you’re

not the type to sit down and give up easily!  Could you tell

us a little about those experiences and let our readers know

how they can get your autobiography “Life’s a Scream”?

 

Ingrid Pitt: The War was a long time ago. I've not forgotten or

forgiven but I have learned to live with it. It was a mistake

dragging it up in my autobiography. In retrospect I should have just

stuck to my life after I left the camp. Because that's what I do now.

LIFE'S A SCREAM in out of print at the moment and I'm waiting for the

soft back addition which should be out late this year or early next.

 

 

SOT:  Being Hammer Films Queen of Horror, I would think that your

favorite genre is Horror, am I wrong?  If so, what kind of film

do you enjoy the most?

 

Ingrid Pitt: I'm not too easy with horror. I was invited to the

Malaga Film Festival two years ago. I sat in the centre of the

auditorium with the directors of the festival sitting on either

side. The first image on the screen was a close-up of a woman

falling onto a glass roof and splattering herself. I cringed but

kept up a brave face. Next a man has his arm ripped off and staggers

about, a fountain of blood painting the set from the stump. That

made me a little queasy. But when one of the women had her eye

gouged out that was enough. I got up and left. So much for the Queen

of Horror stuff.

 

 

SOT:  What has been the highest point of your career so far?

 

Ingrid Pitt: Publishing my first novel - Cuckoo Run. It didn't set

the publishing world alight but it got my foot in the press and I've

had 14 books published since.

 

 

SOT:  What does the future hold for Ingrid Pitt?

 

Ingrid Pitt:  Old age- I hope - interspersed with the odd cameo in

a film here and there. On the book front, after the Hammer Xperience,

I have a faction/novel to do, the follow-up to a book I wrote in 1984

The Perons. This is called The Chauffeur and plots the machinations

of Peron's driver after they were slung out of Argentina. And I have

a taste for magazine work and hope to get more columns where I can

shoot my mouth off without getting a fist in it.

 

 

SOT:  What do you like to do to relax?  Any hobbies?

 

Ingrid Pitt: Sit on the sofa with my husband and watch telly. In a

more energetic mode I play golf for a Charity team called SPARKS. I

used to be quite fantastic at Karate but the sight of a geriatric

trying to do a Mata Geri is too scary to inflict on the unprotected

public. Now I occasionally turn out to present the prizes - and

resist the temptation to show off.

 

 

SOT:  What do I have to do to get an autographed picture of you for my

office wall here at Screams of Terror?

 

Ingrid Pitt: That's a hard one. I'll have to think about that. I

suppose crossing my palm with silver is out? I tell you - it always

works.

 

SOT:  I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your

Busy schedule to talk to me, it has been a real pleasure and an

honor to be able to speak with the Queen of Horror, is there

anything else that you would like to add or say to your fans

and the readers here at Screams of Terror?

 

Ingrid Pitt: Thank you for letting me practice my typing. I would

like to exhort everybody to lead a good and blameless life. To put

aside temptation and savor your inner self. Practice chastity, give

to those more deserving, help those who are in trouble, start

everyday with a prayer and hug your friends and family and a lot of

bosh like that. But I don't, so why should I lay it on you?