Caroline Jane Munro was born on the 16th of January 1949 in Windsor, Berkshire, England
She is an English Actress, Model & Singer.
Her father was a Lawyer and her mother was a homemaker.
Her career began in 1966 when her mother and a photographer friend entered some headshots of her into The Evening News's "Face of the Year" contest:
"I wanted to do art. Art was my love. I went to art school in Brighton but I was not very good at it. I just did not know what to do. I had a friend at the college who was studying photography and he needed somebody to photograph and he asked me. Unbeknownst to me, he sent the photographs to a big newspaper in London. The fashion photographer, David Bailey, was conducting a photo contest and my picture won."
— Caroline Munro.
This led to modelling work for Vogue magazine at the age of 17.
She moved to London to pursue modelling work and became a cover girl for fashion and television advertisements while there.
She had bit parts in films such as “Casino Royale” (1967) and “Where's Jack?” (1969).
One of her photo advertisements led to a screen test and a one-year contract with Paramount.
With Paramount she was cast as Richard Widmark's daughter in the comedy western
"A Talent for Loving” (1969).
Photographs of Munro were used to portray Victoria Regina Phibes, the wife of the title character (played by Vincent Price) in "The Abominable Dr Phibes" (1971), and its sequel,
"Dr Phibes Rises Again" (1972).
The chairman of Hammer Films, Sir James Carreras, spotted Munro on a Lamb's Navy Rum poster/billboard. He swiftly asked his assistant, James Liggett, to find her and screen test her.
She was promptly signed to Hammer Films with a one-year contract this proved to be a real turning point in her career.
She was first cast in...
"Dracula A.D. 1972" (1972)
This was Hammer's 12th Vampire Movie and the 6th that starred Christopher Lee.
This film also briefly features Peter Cushing as Van Helsing.
Caroline Munro plays Laura Bellows a character who comes to a grizzly end.
She then had a more substantial part in Hammer's...
Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter (1974)
This film is pretty bonkers! I do cover this in my "Top 20 Hammer Horror Films " Blog.
In the film Munro plays a she plays a grubby faced, barefoot peasant farm girl named Carla who encounters Kronos and his servant Professor Hieronymus Grost and just tags along and joins the adventure.
We need to take a moment to consider the great Hammer roles she turned down...
"Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde" (1971) & "Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell" (1974)
Due to her having a policy to not appear nude in films. Which is obviously her choice and I respect her for that because I'm sure in the British film industry in the 1970's she must have been under pressure to do so.
What is sad is Hammer never got to make their "Vampirella" movie which would have seen Munro cast in the lead role.
I think it would have been pretty special.
In between her two Hammer Films she squeezed in an appearance in a truly amazing cult movie...
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973)
Is a fantasy adventure film directed by Gordon Hessler but its most famous for having its stop-motion creature effects made by the master of the form Ray Harryhausen.
Caroline plays the female lead in the film "Margiana".
In 1976 she played "Princess Dia" in Amicus Production's movie,
"At the Earth's Core" (1976)
which is a British/American fantasy-science fiction movie where Munro appears alongside Peter Cushing playing the eccentric "Dr. Abner Perry" and B movie legend Doug McClure who plays butch hero "David Innes" this movie is so much fun!!
Caroline was also a "Bond Girl" playing "Naomi" in "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977)
Munro also starred in the most notorious Star Wars rip off/cash in movies of all time....
"Starcrash" (1978)
If you don't know about Star Crash... I'm almost jealous.
Starcrash is a space opera film directed and co-written by Italian schlock master Luigi Cozzi the film starred Marjoe Gortner (who was an Evangelist preacher since he was 4 years old), David Hasselhoff!! and famous proper actor Christopher Plummer .
the film is a total gratuitous "cash-in" on the unprecedented success of Star Wars.
It was shot in Rome and the film features a musical score composed by John Barry.
It is almost unwatchable garbage!!
But Caroline does increase the movies "Watch-ability"
Caroline has never stopped acting she has acting credits right up to 2023
She also had a singing career recording music between 1967 - 1985 under her name
"Caroline Munro" or as a duet billed as "Hamilton & Munro",
"Judd And Miss Munro" & "Judd Hamilton And Caroline Munro"
For a change with these blogs... Caroline is still very much alive and is still active and acting and looking great at 75 years young. She still attends Horror conventions on occasion.
