Vlad Orlok

Hello

I am a huge fan of Bela Lugosi and of the Hammer movies, but i never thought that they ever worked together. So my surprise was very large as i found out that Bela Lugosi actually participated in the British "Mystery of Marie Celeste" from 1935. Prior to that i had heard that Hammer very often made contracts with cheap American actors, so i was very surprised as i saw Bela's name pop up in a Hammer movie. I really thought that he was much too expensive for Hammer in 1935. At that time he must have been on top of his career.

One thing is Lugosi. But as i wrote in the title of this thread, i also want to know more about the other American actors who participated in the Hammer movies. How expensive were they. How many of them were stars at that time, or became stars later on?

Please tell me about Lugosi and all the other American actors from the Hammer movies only!

Jan

stevie boy

Donlevy in the Quatermass films

Dave Rattigan

Yeah, it was quite common to import American stars, to encourage an audience on the other side of the Atlantic.

Offhand, these are a few I can think of:

Paul Henreid, Stolen Face, 1952
Forrest Tucker, The Abominable Snowman, 1957
Tom Poston, The Old Dark House, 1962
Bette Davis, The Nanny, 1965
Tallulah Bankhead, Fanatic aka Die! Die! My Darling!, 1965
Bette Davis, The Anniversary, 1967
Joan Fontaine, The Witches, 1967

Cary Grant almost did The Phantom of the Opera in 1962, but was replaced (by Edward de Souza, according to Anthony Hinds, not Herbert Lom, as is usually supposed). Robert Webber was in Hysteria, but I'm not sure if he was just coincidentally American, or they thought he had some star value, as I can't remember him ever being all that big a star.

I remember Robert Preston doing one, too

batman

Lugosi was notorious for accepting almost any work offered to him (except, of course, Frankenstein) and even during his 'glory' period he appeared some very low budget films and even a few serials. Unlike Karloff, Lugosi never had the security of a long term contract and when the 'horror boom' of the early 30s stalled, he found himself out of work and bankrupt, he also lost his luxurious home in the Hollywood Hills. Even Universal exploited him when they heard of his desperate need for cash and paid him about 10% of the amount Karloff earned per picture. Lugosi didn't help himself, he continued to think of himself as an in demand actor and expected the studios to come to him. The majors never did, so he had to work for the likes of Monogram and PRC for most of the remainder of his career, with occasional visits to Universal and TCF. Karloff actually worked for Monogram too, on the Mr Wong series, when horrors went out of favour, but he wasn't as typecast as a 'horror star' as Lugosi and was able to weather the storm more successfully, especially as he had another income from oil investments.

Bats.

Jingle bells Batman smells ... I heard that at school Daddy.

BAT QUIZ 16 HAS JUST BEEN POSTED IN THE COMPETITION THREAD - 06/01/09

dremble wedge

Howard Duff in Spaceways
Dan Duryea in 36 Hours
Dane Clark in Murder by Proxy
Richard Widmark in To the Devil - A Daughter to name a few...

batman

... plus Nastassia Kinski.

Bats.

Jingle bells Batman smells ... I heard that at school Daddy.

BAT QUIZ 16 HAS JUST BEEN POSTED IN THE COMPETITION THREAD - 06/01/09

DB7

He'd also appeared in Break in the Circle a few years earlier. I'm sure most of Terence Fisher's 50s B's also had an imported US lead. (as part of their distribution deal at the time)

batman

That's right ... Tom Conway for one.

Bats.

Jingle bells Batman smells ... I heard that at school Daddy.

BAT QUIZ 16 HAS JUST BEEN POSTED IN THE COMPETITION THREAD - 06/01/09

ProfMarcus

Forrest Tucker (the unfortunate spoonerism) in Hammer's The Abominable Snowman and another British effort, The Trollenberg Terror . . . which to my mind makes it very odd that when Hammer came to make Quatermass And The Pit, they cast James Donald, the most "English" of actors, as Roney, although in the BBC version the part had been taken by Canadian Cec Linder. I assume that by the mid-sixties, in the wake of the Beatles, British accents were fashionable in the States and more likely to put bums on seats that American has-beens.

. . . and new thumbscrews for me . . .

christoph404

Surprised no ones mentioned Raquel Welch so far! Or how about Ursula Andress? Or Rosenda Monteros. I will leave you to work out the Hammer films they were in!....

Nita St. James

Don't forget Stephanie Powers also in Die! Die! My Darling!

…time is short. So you gotta ask yourself: Are you a fighter, Fish Queen, or are you zombie food?

Windthrop

The last completed Hammer film, to date, had as its leads - Cybil Shepherd and Elliot Gould The Lady Vanishes

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

batman

Yutte Stensgard in Lust for a Vampire.

Bats.

Jingle bells Batman smells ... I heard that at school Daddy.

BAT QUIZ 16 HAS JUST BEEN POSTED IN THE COMPETITION THREAD - 06/01/09

Joe Fraguela

Another few more Americans:-

James Olson - Moon Zero Two (1969)
Dean Jagger - X The Unknown (1956)
MacDonald Carey - The Dammed (1963)
Robert Webber - Hysteria (1964)
Stephanie Powers - Crescendo (1969)
Raquel Welch - One Million Years BC (1966)
Don Murray - The Viking Queen (1966)
George Brent & Marguerite Chapman - The Last Page (1952) - Exclusive Films a.k.a Hammer
Robert Preston - Cloudburst (1951) - Exclusive Films a.k.a. Hammer
Forrest Tucker - Break In The Circle - Exclusive Films a.k.a Hammer
Kerwin Matthews - Maniac (1962)
Richard Basehart - Visa To Canton (1961)
Jeff Chandler - Ten Seconds To Hell (1959)
Richard Conte - Mask of Dust (1954) - Exclusive Films a.k.a. Hammer
Dan Duryea - 36 Hours (1953) - Exclusive Films a.k.a Hammer
Paulette Goddard - A Stranger Came Home - Exlcuisve Films a.k.a Hammer
Dane Clark - Murder by Proxy & Five Days (1954), The Gambler & The Lady (1952) Exlcusive Films
Zachary Scott - Wings of Danger (1952) - Exclusive Films a.k.a Hammer
Lloyd Bridges - Third Party Risk (1955) - Exclusive Films a.k.a. Hammer
John Ireland - The Glass Cage (1955) - Exclusive Films a.k.a. Hammer
Alex Nicol - Face The Music (1954) - Exclusive Films a.k.a. Hammer
Beverly Michaels - Women Without Men (1956) - Exclusive Films a.k.a. Hammer
Louis Hayward - The Saint's Return (1953) - Exclusive Films a.k.a. Hammer
Cesar Romero - Lady In The Fog (1952) - Exclusive Films a.k.a. Hammer
Barbara Payton - The Flanagan Boy (1953) - Exclusive Films a.k.a. Hammer
Paul Henreid - ManTrap (1953) - Exclusive Films a.k.a. Hammer

As for the European Actors where should we start:-

Vlad Orlok

Aah... how could i forget about Yutte Stensgard, born as Jytte Stensgaard in Denmark like me. She emigrated from Denmark to USA in 1963.

Another American actor who also starred in a Hammer movie, which you forgot to mention is Joseph Cotten. He participated in the episode "Do Me a Favor, Kill Me" from the Hammer serial "Journey to the Unknown". I also by the way liked Joseph Cotten very much in the English Vincent Price movie: "The Abominable Dr. Phibes".

Being a HUGE Hammer fan i have a few other questions, but i am not sure if it is ok to ask these questions here, or if i should do this in the "looking for some movies" section.

Does anybody here ever heard about...or even saw the movies: Journey Into Darkness (feature movie comprised of the Journey to the Unknown episodes: "The New People" and "Paper Dolls"), Journey to Midnight (feature movie comprised of the Journey to the Unknown episodes: ("Poor Butterfly" and "The Indian Spirit Guide"), Journey to the Unknown (feature movie comprised of the Journey to the Unknown episodes: "Matakitas Is Coming" and "The Last Visitor") and Journey to Murder (feature movie comprised of the Journey to the Unknown episodes: ("Do Me a Favor - Kill Me!" and "The Killing Bottle"). I have these informations from: "Journey to the Unknown" (1968) - Trivia. If someone even could tell me where to find them, i would be extremely thankful!

Finally one last similar Hammer Question: According to this page: HAMMER FILMOGRAPHY, it looks like "The World of Hammer" serial consisted of 26 episodes. But did anyone of you ever hear about these 13 episodes: 1. Comedy 2. Monsters 3. Heroes 4. Heroines 5. Good vs. Evil – The Church in Hammer Films 6. Pursuers and Pursued – Chase and Detection 7. Radio and Television Spinoffs 8. In the Family – Studies of Family Life 9. The Occult and Demonology 10. Mind Games – Psychological Drama 11. Hammer in the Far East 12. Henchmen 13. The Supernatural?

If one of you heard about them, please tell where, and if you eventually also saw them yourself? Am i in so much luck, that i can get a copy somewhere?

Once again i am sorry for beeing so much off-topic. But i tried to warn you through the changed title of the thread. Please tell me if it was ok or not to pose these questions here, or if i used the wrong forum!

I have around 160 Hammer movies in my personal collection, so i am extremely eager to know everything there is to know about Hammer! Everything related, like Amicus, Tigon, Terence Fisher, Jimmy Sangster, Michael Carreras, Peter Cushing, Oliver Reed, Christopher Lee etc. is also something i want to know more about! I guess the British Film Forums is the right place for that!

I have a similar love for Vincent Price, the old Universal monsters, and Japanese samurais and J-horror, but i will try to follow the rules here, and find other places on the internet to pose these questions.

Jan