Hazel Court, 82; Actress Co-Starred With Karloff

Hazel Court, 82, an English actress who co-starred with Boris Karloff and Vincent Price in horror movies in the 1950s and 1960s, died April 15 at her home near Lake Tahoe, Calif., after a heart attack.

Ms. 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 director Roger Corman's take on the classic Edgar Allan Poe poem.

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

"The Premature Burial" (with Ray Milland), "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 decades later.

Ms. Court, the daughter of a professional cricket player, was born Feb. 10, 1926, in the English town of Sutton Coldfield. She appeared in stage productions as a teenager and was spotted and signed by the J. Arthur Rank Organisation, which owned movie studios and theaters.

She got her first movie bit part by the time she was 18 and went on to become an actress and pinup girl.

Ms. Court co-starred with Patrick O'Neal in the 1957 British TV comedy series "Dick and the Duchess." In the late 1950s, she came to the United States to work on the TV show "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."

Besides acting, Ms. Court was a commissioned sculptor and painter whose works appeared in public galleries.

She wrote an autobiography, "Hazel Court -- Horror Queen," that will be published in Britain, according to her family.