Veronica Carlson, Actress in Hammer Horror Movies, Dies at 77
She starred with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, respectively, in 'Dracula Has Risen From the Grave' and 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed.'
by Mike Barnes (Hd Reporter) 3/1/2022
Veronica Carlson, the British actress who starred for Hammer Films opposite Christopher Lee in Dracula Has Risen From the Grave and alongside Peter Cushing in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, has died. She was 77.
Carlson died Sunday of natural causes at her home in Bluffton, South Carolina, her daughter, Carly Love, told The Hollywood Reporter.
To complete a trilogy at Hammer, Carlson starred with Ralph Bates, Kate O’Mara and future Darth Vader actor David Prowse in the dark comedy Horror of Frankenstein (1970).
Born on Sept. 18, 1944, in Yorkshire, England, Carlson attended art school and graduated from High Wycombe College of Technology and Design.
She had appeared in the 1967 films Casino Royale and Smashing Time when she was noticed by Hammer executive Jimmy Carreras, she recalled in a 2014 interview.
“I had a photograph of me coming out of the waves in a white bikini on the front page of a tabloid newspaper,” she said. “Jimmy Carreras saw that photograph and said he wanted me in his next Hammer movie. So, I went for an audition and I ended up with Dracula Has Risen From the Grave.”
In that 1968 film, directed by Freddie Francis, Carlson, as the niece of a clergyman, is pursued and bitten by Lee in the third of his 10 feature turns as the Prince of Darkness. Then, in Terence Fisher’s Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), her character is raped by Cushing’s Baron Victor Frankenstein.
Cushing “got me through that awful rape scene that was thrown into [the movie],” she said. “We worked on that together, and he resolved the problems as best he possibly could.”
Carlson reunited with Cushing in The Ghoul (1975) and with other Hammer stars of yesteryear in House of the Gorgon (2019).
She also appeared on a 1969 episode of Roger Moore‘s The Saint, starred on the 1972 ITV crime series Spyder’s Web and worked with David Niven in the spoof Old Dracula (1974).
She was an accomplished painter as well.
In addition to her daughter, survivors include her sons, Adam and Marcus; grandchildren Cadence, Canon, Nova, Conor, Alexander, Jaxson and Ava; son-in-law Jon; daughters-in-law Ashley and Rachel; step-daughters Janie and Sally; and nephews Marc and Paul.
R.I.P. Veronica Carlson
Whether they are behind the camera or in front of it, this is the place to discuss all filmmakers regardless of their role in the filmmaking process.
Jump to
- Announcements
- ↳ General Announcements
- Introductions
- ↳ Let Me Introduce Myself...
- The Academy Awards
- ↳ The 10th Decade
- ↳ 97th Academy Awards
- ↳ 96th Academy Awards
- ↳ 95th Academy Awards
- ↳ 94th Academy Awards
- ↳ 93rd Academy Awards
- ↳ 92nd Academy Awards
- ↳ 91st Academy Awards
- ↳ The 9th Decade
- ↳ 90th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 90th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 89th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 89th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 88th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 88th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 87th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 87th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 86th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 86th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 85th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 85th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 84th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 84th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 83rd Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 83rd Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 82nd Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 82nd Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 81st and Other 9th Decade Discussions
- ↳ The 8th Decade
- ↳ The Damien Bona Memorial Oscar History Thread
- ↳ Other Oscar Discussions
- General Film Discussions
- ↳ 2020s
- ↳ Coming Soon
- ↳ 2024
- ↳ 2023
- ↳ 2022
- ↳ 2021
- ↳ 2020
- ↳ 2010s
- ↳ 2019
- ↳ 2018
- ↳ 2017
- ↳ 2016
- ↳ 2015
- ↳ 2014
- ↳ 2013
- ↳ 2012
- ↳ 2011
- ↳ 2010
- ↳ 2000s
- ↳ 2009
- ↳ 2008
- ↳ 2000 - 2007
- ↳ The First Century
- ↳ Dream Projects
- ↳ The People
- ↳ Other Film Discussions
- Miscellaneous Discussions
- ↳ Help Forum
- ↳ DVD Discussions
- ↳ Current Events
- ↳ Broadcast Media
- ↳ The Cam Dagg Memorial Theatre and Literature Forum
- ↳ General Off-Topic