Ingrid Pitt (Ingoushka Petrov) was born on the 21st of November 1937 in Warsaw, Poland.
She was an Actress & Author.
Her father was German and her mother was Polish, both of Jewish descent.
During World War II, she and her mother were imprisoned in Stutthof concentration camp in Poland but escaped.
In Berlin, in the 1950s, Ingoushka married an American soldier, Laud Roland Pitt Jr., and moved to California.
After her marriage failed she returned to Europe, but after a small role in a film, she took the shortened stage name "Ingrid Pitt", keeping her former husband's surname, and headed to Hollywood, where she worked as a waitress while trying to make a career in films.
In 1965, she made her film debut in Doctor Zhivago, playing a minor role.
She also appears in an uncredited role in Orson Welles’s “Chimes at Midnight” (1965)
Her breakthrough role came when she played British spy Heidi Schmidt in “Where Eagles Dare” (1968) opposite Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.
In 1969 Ingrid was cast in the Hammer film “The Vampire Lovers” (1970)
This film came about due to the production company American International Pictures approached Hammer to collaborate on a vampire movie with more explicit sexual content to take advantage of a more relaxed censorship environment.
OK! the film's story is not great and the dialog is pretty flat but the film is loaded with a certain "charm!"
Ingrid was instantly cast in the Hammer 's “Countess Dracula” (1971)
Countess Dracula was inspired by the infamous Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Báthory
(1560–1614), a landowner and noblewoman who was accused of murdering dozens of women and girls.
Although the film was not well received by critics on release, “Countess Dracula” has undergone a reappraisal and is now thought of as one of the more underrated offerings from the much maligned late period of Hammer films.
Ingrid Pitt is definitely not one of the weak link in this movie.
Pitt brings a very potent and regal aura to her role and her performance, especially in the sequences where she is transforming and her body is physically degrading are really on point.
Ingrid also appeared in Amicus films anthology horror film
“The House That Dripped Blood” (1971) in the Segment "The Cloak" alongside British actor John Pertwee. Other segments included performances from Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Denholm Elliott & Joss Ackland.
Ingrid also has a small role in Robin Hardy's British horror classic "The Wicker Man" (1973)
even though she does not have a lot of screen time in the film she is wonderful in her role. Along with Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee & Diane Cilento she is a fantastic addition to this iconic cast .
Ingrid plays the resident librarian on Summerisle.
Photographed here doing standard Librarian stuff!
These roles are more than enough to secure her status as a horror legend and was always in demand to make appearances at horror and film conventions.
In addition to these film roles she also appeared in two different classic Dr Who serials,
appearing as “Queen Galleia of Atlantis” in “The Time Monster”, which was the fifth serial of the ninth season of Doctor Who, broadcast in six weekly parts, from 20 May through 24 June 1972.
and she returned to Dr. Who in 1984,
playing Dr. Solow in “Warriors of the Deep”, which was the first serial of the 21st season of the series, broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 5th to 13th of January 1984
“Queen Galleia of Atlantis”
Other films in which Pitt has appeared outside the horror/Sci-fi genres:
"Who Dares Wins" (1982), "Wild Geese II" (1985) and "Hanna's War" (1988).
Ingrid was also a published author. She wrote a spy novel "Cuckoo Run" which was published in 1980, The book concerned a woman named Nina Dalton who is pursued across South America in the mistaken belief that she is a spy.
This was followed in 1984 by a novelisation of the Perón era in Argentina "The Perons".
Her autobiography "Life's a Scream" was published in 1999, The autobiography detailed the harrowing experiences of her early life—in a Nazi concentration camp, her search through Europe in Red Cross refugee camps for her father, and her escape from East Berlin.
She also wrote the curiosly titled
"The Ingrid Pitt Bedside Companion for Ghosthunters" (2003), "The Ingrid Pitt Bedside Companion for Vampire Lovers" (1998) and "The Ingrid Pitt Book of Murder, Torture & Depravity" (2000).
Pitt wrote regular columns for various magazines and periodicals, including Shivers, TV & Film Memorabilia. She also wrote a weekly column at UK website Den of Geek.
She also held a student's pilot licence and she was a black belt in karate.
Ingrid Pitt passed away of congestive heart failure in a south London hospital on the 23rd of November 2010, two days after her 73rd birthday.
She was obviously a talented, intelligent and beautiful woman.
