Death Notice: Hazel Court

Hazel Court always seemed too classy for most of the things you saw her in - GHOST SHIP (1952), DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS (1954), THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957), THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH (1959), DR. BLOOD'S COFFIN (1961), PREMATURE BURIAL (1962), THE RAVEN (1963), THE MASQUE OF RED DEATH (1964), OMEN III: THE FINAL CONFLICT (1981) - but she never seemed stuck up or fussy and when the script required her to be pecked to death by birds or pawed by a mossy Cornish zombie she gamely took her medicine. She had never aspired to be a scream queen, her tastes running more towards comedies and musicals, but like a trouper she took the work that came her way and when movie roles became fewer and farther between she accepted work in television, appearing in episodes of such shows as DANGER MAN, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, THRILLER, THE WACKIEST SHIP IN THE ARMY and GIDGET. She starred in 12 episodes of the ITV series DICK AND THE DUCHESS with Patrick O'Neal and played recurring roles on 12 O'CLOCK HIGH and DR. KILDARE. Crisp, professional, alluring and always a bit motherly in a complicated, gloriously Oedipal way... that was Hazel Court.

Born on February 10, 1926, in the West Midlands town of Sutton Coldfield (now a part of Birmingham, the original village was granted a charter by Henry VIII), Hazel Court was a cricketer's daughter who parlayed an interest in acting into study at Birmingham Rep and The Alexander Theater. As a protege of director Anthony Asquith, she made her film debut with one line in CHAMPAGNE CHARLIE (1944) and went on to a contract with the J. Arthur Rank Organization. The actress was married to actor Dermot Walsh, whom she divorced in 1963, and to actor-turned-director Don Taylor, who died in 1998. She is survived by two children and a legion of fans who take to their beds this night with broken hearts.