RIP Ingrid Pitt

The Queen of Hammer horror dies at 73

Ingrid Pitt has died at the age of 73, reports the BBC.

The Hammer horror icon shot passed away in a London hospital days after collapsing. Doctors reportedly told her she was suffering from heart failure.

Marcus Hearn, the official historian for Hammer, called Pitt a “talented actress and fine writer”.

“She was partly responsible for ushering in a bold and brazen era of sexually explicitly horror films in the 1970s, but that should not denigrate her abilities as an actress,” he said, adding: “All fans of Hammer and of British horror are going to miss her terribly.”

Pitt, known as the queen of Hammer Horror, was born in Poland in 1937. Survived imprisonment in a concentration camp she went on to great success, scoring roles in Doctor Zhivago, The Wicker Man, Who Dares Wins and Wild Geese II.