Ingrid Pitt

 

 

 

Most movie enthusiasts will say that the highlight of Ingrid Pitts career was starring alongside screen legends Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton in 'Where Eagles Dare' (1968).

However, fast forward three years and 90% of the worlds male population would soon beg to differ when she appeared nude covered in blood in a bathing scene during the Hammer Horror film 'Countess Dracula' (1971).

It could also be argued that another highlight of her career was starring in the classic tale of Russian revolution 'Doctor Zhivago' (1965), although her name doesn't appear anywhere in the film credits meaning it was merely a blink and you miss moment. It is also possibly little known, but her early life was worthy of a film being made about it before she was even famous.

Ingrid was born with the birth name of Ingoushka Petrov to a curious mix of parentage in Warsaw, Poland on 21st November 1937. Her father was German and her mother, a Polish Jew. Given what was to become of the world less than two years later, it was perhaps inevitable that the family would end up being imprisoned for the remainder of the war.

Ingrid was fortunate enough to survive, and subsequently moved to Berlin where in the 1950's, she met an American Soldier and moved to California. Sadly, the marriage didn't last, meaning she had to return to Europe. It was while back in Germany that she made a small film which somehow managed to capture the attention of Hollywood.

Her debut in the movie business came in the previously mentioned 'Doctor Zhivago' and from there, her career blossomed until a gradual decline in decent offers by the mid-70's.

Returning to mainstream films and TV in the 1980's, Ingrid also found time to become a writer, releasing a novel called 'Cuckoo Run' which she took to James Bond producer Cubby Brocoli who was kind enough to call the books feminine lead, 'a female bond', but this wasn't enough to convince him to turn it into a film.

In her personal life, she married three times as well as having a passion for WWII aircraft while also achieving a Black Belt in Karate.

However, a few days before her 73rd birthday, she collapsed at her South London home and was transferred to a nearby hospital. Sadly, Ingrid wasn't to survive and died two days after her birthday on 23rd November 2010.

But to the hearts and minds of Hammer Horror fans the world over, Ingrid Pitts legend lives on.

Filmography:

Sound Of Horror (1964)
Chimes At Midnight (1965)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
En Beso El En Puerto (1966)
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1966)
The Omegans (1968)
Where Eagles Dare (1968)
The Vampire Lovers (1970)
Countess Dracula (1971)
The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
Nobody Ordered Love (1972)
The Wicker Man (1973)
Who Dares Wins (1982)
Octopussy (1983)
Wild Geese II (1985)
Underworld (1985)
Parker (1986)
Hannah's War (1988)
The Asylum (2000)
Green Fingers (2000)
Dominator (2003)
Minotaur (2006)
Beyond The Rave (2008)
Sea Of Dust (2008)

Television:

Dundee And The Culhane (1967)
Ironside (1967)
Jason King (1972)
The Adventurer (1973)
The Zoo Gang (1974)
Thriller (1975)
BBC 2 Playhouse (1981)
Artemis 81 (1981)
Smiley's People (1982)
The Comedy Of Errors (1983)
Doctor Who (1974-82) 5 Episodes
The House (1984)
Bulman (1987)