‘Raven’ scream queen Hazel Court dies at 82

updated 11:41 p.m. ET April 16, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Hazel Court, a British beauty who co-starred with the likes of Boris Karloff and Vincent Price in horror movies of the 1950s and ’60s, has died. She was 82.

Court died Tuesday at her home near Lake Tahoe of a heart attack, her daughter said Wednesday.

While she had a substantial acting career both in England and on American TV, Court was perhaps best known for her work in such films as 1963’s “The Raven.” She co-starred with Price, Karloff and Peter Lorre in a Roger Corman take on the classic Edgar Allan Poe poem.

Corman directed her in five movies. Like other “scream queens” of the era, Court’s roles often relied on her cleavage and her ability to shriek in fear and die horrible deaths.

“The Premature Burial,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Curse of Frankenstein” and “Devil Girl from Mars” helped propel her to cult status and brought her fan mail even in her later years.

Court had finished an autobiography, “Hazel Court — Horror Queen,” which will be published in Britain, said her daughter, Sally Walsh.

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