Melissa Stribling
Born
Melissa Stribling Smith[1]

(1926-11-07)7 November 1926[1]
Gourock, Scotland
Died22 March 1992(1992-03-22) (aged 65)
Watford, Hertfordshire, England[2]
OccupationActress
SpouseBasil Dearden
ChildrenJames Dearden

Melissa Stribling (7 November 1926 – 22 March 1992) was a Scottish film and television actress. She began her professional career in a repertory company, presenting a different play each week at the Grand Theatre, Croydon in 1948. She remains best known for playing the role of Mina Holmwood in the horror film Dracula (1958).

Career

Born in Gourock, Scotland as Melissa Stribling Smith, she started out in 1945 as a member of the Ealing Studios Amateur Dramatic Society,[3] turning professional in 1948 and appearing that year with repertory companies at Croydon, Worthing and Windsor.[4] Her screen career began with a small role in the film The First Gentleman, also in 1948.[2]

In the 1960s and 1970s, she guest-starred in the TV series Benny Hill (1963), ITV Play of the Week, The Avengers, The Persuaders!, The Dick Emery Show, and The New Avengers.[5] Her last appearance was in the film Paris by Night (1988) with Charlotte Rampling.[6]

Stribling is best known for playing the role of Mina Holmwood in the Hammer Films production Dracula (1958), starring Peter Cushing and, in the title role, Christopher Lee.[7] In the film, her character is the victim of a vampire in what has been seen as an erotically charged performance.[8] Dracula and Mina showing sexual pleasure in this way has often been described as a first in British cinema.[9] The film's director, Terence Fisher, remembered her asking him how to play the scene. He replied by saying that she should imagine that she'd had "one whale of a sexual night" and that it should show on her face.[10] Fisher said that she produced a satisfied little facial expression that spoke volumes.[9]Jonathan Rigby complimented her performance in his book English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema, saying that she is "a terrific female lead throughout" the film.[11]

Family

She was married to the film director Basil Dearden; their sons are James Dearden, also a director, and Torquil Dearden, a London-based editor at a company specialising in commercials and corporate videos.[12] After Basil Dearden's death in 1971, she was briefly married to film producer Richard du Vivier.[13]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1948The First GentlemanLady Conyngham
1952Wide BoyCaroline
1952Crow HollowDiana Wilson
1952Ghost ShipParty Girl (Vera)
1953Decameron NightsGirl in Villa
1953Noose for a LadyVanessa Lane
1954Thought to KillMary
1955Out of the CloudsJean Osmond
1956Behind the HeadlinesMary Carrick
1957Murder ReportedAmanda North
1958The SafecrackerAngela
1958DraculaMina Holmwood
1959The Four Just MenMrs BannionEpisode: The Deserter
1959The Adventures of William TellCountess Von MarkheinEpisode: The Young Widow
1960The League of GentlemenPeggy
1961The Secret PartnerHelen Standish
1968Only When I LarfDiana
1968Journey into DarknessHelen AmesEpisode: The New People
1970The Persuaders!Lisa KoestlerEpisode: Powerswitch
1971Crucible of TerrorJoanna Brent
1974Confessions of a Window CleanerMrs. Villiers
1976FeelingsCharlotte Randall
1988Paris by NightLady Boeing(final film role)

References

  1. 1 2 Pendreigh, Brian (10 May 2008). "Once bitten...", Herald Scotland; retrieved 30 May 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Melissa Stribling". BFI. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020.
  3. ↑ 'Ealing Studios Dramatic Society in Four New Plays', Middlesex County Times, 14 July 1945, p.1
  4. ↑ Croydon Times, 3 April 1948, p.2; Worthing Gazette, 21 July 1948, p.2; Wokingham Times, 15 October 1948, p.4
  5. ↑ "Melissa Stribling". www.aveleyman.com.
  6. ↑ Kinsey, Wayne (2002). Hammer films: the Bray Studio years. Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 978-1-903111-44-4.
  7. ↑ "BFI Screenonline: Dracula (1958)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  8. ↑ J. Hogan, David (1997). Dark Romance: Sexuality in the Horror Film. McFarland. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-7864-0474-2. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  9. 1 2 Harper, Sue; Porter, Vincent (2007). British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-19-815935-3. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  10. ↑ Hutchings, Peter (2001). Terence Fisher. Manchester University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-7190-5637-6. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  11. ↑ Rigby, Jonathan (2004). English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema. Reynolds & Hearn. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-903111-79-6. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  12. ↑ Quinlan, David (1983). The Illustrated Guide to Film Directors. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-389-20408-4. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  13. ↑ 'A crossroads of love for Melissa', Sunday Mirror, 3 August 1975, p.21
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