In this new series, we will explore the lives of the women of Hammer Film Productions. This was the UK studio known for making low-budget horror and fantasy movies with great actors such as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. They also were acting opposite attractive young women in various states of undress.
The women in this series appeared in a variety of movies and tv shows over the years, including movies in the James Bond series, as well as television series such as Star Trek. Some even headlined successful movies and television series of their own. In this inaugural edition, we will delve into four actresses: Caroline Munro, Susan Denberg, Veronica Carlson, and Jenny Hanley.
Veronica Carlson
Veronica Carlson was born Veronica Mary Glazer in Yorkshire, England on September 18, 1944. During her childhood, she moved around a lot due to her father’s military service in the RAF. She would spend a considerable amount of time in Germany. Eventually, her family settled in Buckinghamshire, just south of London.
Carlson studied art at the High Wycombe College of Art and Technology. Upon graduating in 1967, she pursued art as well as modeling and acting, in order to earn a living. She would appear in an uncredited role in the comedy film The Magnificent Two (1967).
Carlson’s big break came when she did a modeling session in which one of her pictures from the shoot landed on the cover of The Sunday Mirror. James Carreras, the boss of Hammer Films, saw the image. He instructed producer Aida Young and director Freddie Francis to offer her an audition for Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1968), starring opposite Christopher Lee. After landing the role, the 1968 Hammer Christmas card featured Carlson.
Carlson’s next Hammer movie was Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969). Cushing and Carlson became fast friends on the set of the film and remained so for the rest of the legendary actor’s life.
Her final movie for Hammer was 1970’s The Horror of Frankenstein, which did not feature either Cushing or Lee. In this movie, which was more comedic in tone, she played opposite Ralph Bates. This was her final role for Hammer, as she refused to perform any nude scenes.
“…When I look back on my Hammer days, I always think how pathetic I was…being a nice middle-class girl, I refused to do anything too revealing…”
– Veronica Carlson
In 1974, Carlson worked with Cushing again in the Tyburn Film Productions movie The Ghoul (1975). The film was directed by Freddie Francis, the director of her first Hammer movie. The film was widely panned by critics. That same year Carlson married businessman Sydney Love. She retired from acting and moved with her husband to Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Carlson passed away on February 27, 2022. She was 77 years old.
Caroline Munro
Caroline Munro was born in Berkshire, England on January 16, 1949. Her father was a lawyer, and her mother a housewife. Munro grew up in Rottingdean, near Brighton, where she attended a Catholic Convent School. She had difficulty in school due to the fact that she suffered from dyslexia. The only subject that she performed decently in was art.
In 1966, Munro’s mundane life changed forever when a male student who studied photography took some pictures of her. On a whim, he sent one of the photos into a newspaper contest in London to find “the face of the year.” Renowned fashion photographer David Bailey judged the contest. Munroe’s picture won the contest.
Munro moved to London at age 17, appearing in a variety of fashion magazines, including Vogue. The following year, she was cast in a minor role in the movie Casino Royale (1967). In 1969, the aspiring actress was cast in a film about an 18th-century criminal named Jack Sheppard titled Where’s Jack. She also landed a role in A Talent For Loving, starring Richard Widmark.
In 1971, Munroe began to appear in horror movies. Her first role in this genre was as Victoria Regina Phibes in The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), opposite Vincent Price. A year later they reteamed for the sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972).
Around this time, Hammer Films signed Munroe to a one-year contract. For Hammer, she appeared in Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) and Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter (1974). Munroe turned down roles in Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971), Vampirella (unproduced), and Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell (1974). This was because the roles required nudity, which went against her Christian beliefs.
In 1973, Munro landed a role in The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad, featuring great stop motion effects by Ray Harryhausen.
“…I was frightened of every opportunity I had. Part of me wanted the success and notoriety and part of me didn’t. Part of me is a private person, but part of me must be a show-off to be able to be in the limelight. It would be lovely–in an ideal world–if I could do the work and then go home and have my private life and be totally anonymous. Unfortunately, it can’t be that way…”
– Caroline Munro
In 1977, Munroe played a villainous henchman in the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me. A year later in 1978, she starred opposite David Hasselhoff in a Star Wars knockoff called Starcrash.
Munro would appear in several other projects throughout the early 1980’s. However, there was only one that was truly memorable; the girl in the glasses in the Adam Ant video for “Goody Two Shoes.”
Munro has appeared sporadically in movies over the past few decades. 2017’s 315 Wicked Way was her most recent role. Munro also attends various conventions in both the UK and the US.
Susan Denberg
Susan Denberg was born Dietlinde Zechner on August 2, 1944, in Bad Polzin, Germany. She grew up primarily in Klagenfurt, Austria. In the early 1960s, she worked as a chorus girl in London, England, and Las Vegas, Nevada before moving to Los Angeles in 1965.
Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Denberg was cast in an episode of 12 O’Clock High. The following year was her most successful. She was cast in the classic Star Trek episode “Mudd’s Women.” Denberg also appeared in an episode of The Wackiest Ship In The Army, as well as the movie See You In Hell, Darling with Janet Leigh.
Denberg also appeared in the August 1966 issue of Playboy, where she stated that she had ambitions to become an actress. She was later one of the finalists for the title of 1967 Playmate of the Year, which she lost to Lisa Baker.
In 1967, Denberg appeared in her final role as Christina in the Hammer classic Frankenstein Created Woman opposite Peter Cushing. Deemed too strong, the filmmakers dubbed Denberg’s accent.
After completing work on this movie, Denberg got mixed up in the London drug scene of the late 1960s. After a drug overdose derailed her life, she returned to Austria where she has lived ever since under her real name Dietlinde Zechner. She never acted again.
Jenny Hanley
Jenny Hanley was born in Buckinghamshire, England on August 15, 1947. Her father was actor Jimmy Hanley who appeared in two Hammer pictures: The Lost Continent (1968) and Room to Let (1950). Her mother was actress Dinah Sheridan, who appeared in The Railway Children (1970).
As a young adult, Hanley worked as both a model and a nanny before attracting the attention of James Bond producer Harry Salzman. He cast her in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Hanley’s next role was in Hammer’s Scars of Dracula (1970).
“…People in the profession used to say that you hadn’t finished acting school until you did your Hammer horror. I did and I loved it…”
– Jenny Hanley
Hanley followed this movie up with appearances in Danny Jones (1972) and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970). She also had a leading role in the 1972 thriller The Flesh and Blood Show. For the rest of the 1970s, Hanley appeared in the ITV children’s series Magpie. She departed the series with its cancellation in 1980.
Voice-over work has comprised the remainder of Hanley’s acting career, as well as guest appearances on the game show Countdown.
