Igrid Pitt, my father Richard Svehla and Martine Beswicke at FANEX
After 19 years of sponsoring FANEX, MONSTER RALLY and CLASSIC FILMFEST, Sue and I marvel at the number of motion picture celebrities that we had the honor of meeting and befriending (some for just the weekend; others for a lifetime). And since sponsoring our first show in 1987, we mourned the passing of many guests and friends.
The wonderfully quirky Ingrid Pitt is the latest to leave us, much too young at age 73. Ingrid Pitt fired up the imagination of Hammer horror fans when she led the second wave of more erotically tinged horror movies, starring in The Vampire Lovers, one of Hammer’s better horror movies of the 1970s, and Countess Dracula, an equally entertaining period drama. Yes, her parading around in the nude brought more acclaim than her thespic chops, but she truly created a vampire original in Carmilla, with modern mythology and panache. Working with director Ray Ward Baker and star Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt created an on screen sensibility of the undead that was developed differently than Terence Fisher’s approach to cinematic vampirism. Carmilla was hyper-sexy and used her sensuality to seduce the innocent, both male and female. With her undetermined Eastern European heritage, Carmilla became a purring sex kitten cut quite differently from the Hammer mold. When Pitt appeared on screen, she commanded our attention.
She also commanded our attention in real life as well. We first met Ingrid when we brought her over the pond to appear at our first ever Hammer-themed FANEX in 1997. That was the year I tore my patellar tendon in my right knee and had to work the convention from a wheelchair, pending my immediate surgery the Monday after the show. Jim Clatterbaugh was that year’s chairperson, working closely with Sue and me to sculp the best convention ever. However, Jim managed to alienate Ingrid when he proposed a Hammer Awards program but nominated Ingrid as best supporting actress when she saw herself (as most of us did) as the lead above-the-credits star. The rest of the weekend Sue and I had to do damage control but the wounds were mended quite rapidly. We asked Ingrid to open and star in our Friday night FANEX opening ceremony that year and we asked her to emerge from a coffin wearing her infamous negligee. Sue and I hobbled to the adjoining department store and purchased her a white nightie but she demanded, for her image sake, a black one. So we had to hobble back, return the white and purchase a black one. Well, the effort was well the effort. When Ingrid, under the direction of husband Tony, descended from the coffin, smoke billowing from the coffin, the tremendous applause erupted from excited fans assembled for the forthcoming weekend. Ingrid pranced and became the queen of the convention ball as she received a standing ovation with hoots and whistles filling the auditorium. Sue’s idea had worked better than we even imagined.
Ingrid always played the temperamental diva. But most of that self-absorption was pretend and just part of her show biz persona. Ingrid was always kind and generous and would accommodate our needs with anything we asked her to do. Yes once we had her huddled backstage with several guests awaiting the arrival of other guests so we could introduce all of them on stage. Ingrid became increasingly bored and agitated that she had to wait, but we sent in Mr. Charm, Phil Holthaus, our chief security man, to placate her, get her a chair, rub her shoulders and generally keep her happy as we forced her to wait. Ingrid was a trooper.
But what I liked the most about Ingrid Pitt was her keen sense of appreciation and loyalty to Sue and me. Unlike some of our other convention guests who ignore us after the show, Ingrid and Tony kept in close contact. Running into the pair at the New Jersey Chiller Theatre Expo regularly, Ingrid would sit at our table or invite us to sit at hers. She was always happy to see us, asked about our personal lives and shared her personal experiences with Sue, the FANEX gang and me. She beamed when her daughter Stephanie was married and shared every one of the wedding photos. Ingrid and Tony, hopefully, considered us friends. Ingrid phoned constantly from England to ask us to read her quasi-religious novel, which she wanted us to publish. She wanted us to re-edit and expand her autobiography and insisted on a new title, never liking the title Life’s A Scream very much. And after we published the book, she phoned us to ship her copies that she could sell at conventions all over the world. Sometimes she would simply phone to check in and see how Sue’s arthritis was treating her that month. She always told me, quite playfully, “Gary, you just have to kiss Sue’s belly button. Now promise me!” She honestly believed that such a kiss released cosmic energy and was a natural healing agent for all the aches and pains of life. Even toward the end, in failing health (Ingrid lost the vision in one of her eyes), Ingrid phoned and hoped for us to get together one more time when she returned to the East Coast. She spoke of bottles of wine, a huge feast and catching up with stimulating conversation. Of course, that was never to be, but her sentiments meant a great deal to us. Ingrid always went out of her way to be a friend and keep in close contact.
Sue, who is in pre-production on her third film, wanted to write a small scene for Ingrid which husband Tony would gladly videotape for us. A scripted sequence we could later cut into the final movie. But time got away from us once again and such a script was never completed in time.
With a real life just as dynamic as her numerous movie roles, Ingrid Pitt was a larger-than-life personality that commanded attention both on and off the screen. But more so than her sexy allure and European feline demeanor, Ingrid Pitt was simply a warm and wonderful woman, a woman who was never afraid to say exactly what she felt. She was opinionated, self-promoting, warm and funny. And Sue and I are eternally grateful at having the opportunity to know the real woman as well as enjoy the screen persona. Her spirit, enthusiasm and unique personality will be missed. In the world of film fandom and screen legends, she was truly an enigma.
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