Another one of our favorite princess celebrates her birthday today: Barbara Steele. Never quite figured out if she was born in 1937 or 1938 but what the hell? Seems that her next movie comes out in January 2008, which has the charming title of Her Morbid Desires. Cassandra Peterson and Brinke Stevens are also supposed to be in it, so who knows? These Sirens are hard to put down…

1960 – Barbara Steele – Black Sunday

Even if possibly not Barbara Steele’s best performance, this remains her star-breaking role and a glimpse of things to come for the British actress (and for some comediennes soon following). Her presence here in contrasting dual roles remains a chilling visual experience in icy Black & White.

Black Sunday was the first “official” directing job for Mario Bava, who had begun his career as a cinematographer and had filmed bits and pieces of scenes for some years, sometimes replacing original directors in troubled productions. Barbara was initially chosen by the producers looking at some publicity pictures, as she was a “strange type”, according to Bava. Inexperienced and a bit naive, her lack of solid film background became an asset, playing it very raw for the role of the evil witch Asa Vajda and doubly sweet as her descendant Katia. There was an out of this world quality in Barbara’s physical presence, as she looked plucked straight out of the year 1630, where the action takes place. And, oh, that pair of eyes…

In a way, Barbara Steele became film’s first official Scream Queen, as the following years saw her working in mainly horrific projects and gaining a status nearly equal as that of male counterparts Vincent Price or Boris Karloff. To this day, she’s still best remembered for these movies and also as a model for many actresses that followed in her bloody footsteps.

The opening scene remains one of the best in the horror genre (the torture and execution of Asa) and is rightfully being displayed on the cover of Tim Lucas’s labor of love concerning Mario Bava’s life, All the Colors of the Dark, finally available after decades of research.

Next: She’s mean, she’s ugly and she wants to trap you and kill you… in a way, the ultimate female movie monster (gasp, more than the Bride of Frankenstein!?!?).