Veronica Carlson
Carlson in 1995
Born
Veronica Mary Glazier [1][2]

(1944-09-18)18 September 1944
Emley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died27 February 2022(2022-02-27) (aged 77)
Bluffton, South Carolina, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress, model
Spouse
Sidney Love
​
​
(m. 1974; died 2016)​
[1]
Children3[3]

Veronica Carlson (born Veronica Mary Glazier; 18 September 1944 – 27 February 2022) was a British actress and model who was known for her roles in Hammer horror films. In 2019, she was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.[4]

Life and career

Carlson was born in Emley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England,[1] as Veronica Mary Glazier,[1] the daughter of Edith (Allatt), a housemaid, and William Glazier, an RAF officer.[5] Carlson spent most of her childhood in West Germany where her father was stationed. She attended the Thetford Girls' School, Lady Verney High School, West Wycombe and later the High Wycombe College of Art and Technology, where she studied art. It was here that she caught the acting bug, and she participated in college reviews and operettas.[1]

In her mid-twenties, Carlson played a few minor parts in films and television programmes. She was still at college when she auditioned for the Morecambe and Wise film, The Magnificent Two. She had heard that they needed someone who knew judo, and as she had some basic moves she tried out. Most of the other girls were wearing bikinis, although there was one other person in judo garb. Carlson threw her over her shoulder, and she was given the job.[1]

James Carreras, the head of Hammer Films, saw one of her photographs in a newspaper and offered her a role opposite Christopher Lee in Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968). She starred in two further Hammer Horror films, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) and The Horror of Frankenstein (1970). She starred alongside Peter Cushing, who treated her with a lot of kindness and respect. She said that she found working in Hammer Horror like being part of a big warm family.[1]

She also appeared in the Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) episode "The Ghost Who Saved the Bank at Monte Carlo" in 1969, an episode of The Saint ("The Man who Gambled with Life"(3rd last ep.)) with Roger Moore, and an episode of Department S ("The Double Death of Charlie Crippen").

Carlson was one of the four main characters in the TV thriller series Spyder's Web (1972), along with Anthony Ainley, Roger Lloyd-Pack, and Patricia Cutts. She had a small role in a 1975 episode of Public Eye playing Ingrid, the German girlfriend of Knaggs, a wanted bankrobber/gangster, played by Ray Lonnen.

Carlson went into semi-retirement after marrying and moving to the United States. Giving up on acting was not her intention, but she found that there was an increasing amount of nudity in the industry, which was something she was not prepared to do due to her strict upbringing.[1] In later life she lived in South Carolina, with her husband and three children, where she worked as a professional painter. She emerged from a 24 year retirement to star in the 2019 film House of the Gorgon, alongside fellow Hammer film stars Caroline Munro, Martine Beswick, and Christopher Neame. She also enjoyed meeting fans at film conventions in later years.[1]

Carlson died on 27 February 2022 at her home in Bluffton, South Carolina, aged 77. [3][6][7]

Filmography

Title Year Role Notes
Film
1967 Casino Royale Tall Blonde Uncredited
1967 The Magnificent Two Revolutionary Uncredited
1967 Smashing Time Movie Actress at Premiere
1968 Hammerhead Ulla
1968 Dracula Has Risen from the Grave Maria
1969 Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed Anna Spengler
1969 The Best House in London Lily Uncredited
1969 Crossplot Dinah
1970 Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You Liz
1970 The Horror of Frankenstein Elizabeth Heiss
1974 Vampira Ritva
1975 The Ghoul Daphne
1994 Black Easter Psychiatrist
1995 Freakshow Grace Harmsworth
2016 Stellar Quasar and the Scrolls of Dadelia Sayang
2019 House of the Gorgon Anna Banning
2021 Night of the Devil Short film
TBA The Rectory Lady Whitehouse
Title Year Role Notes
Television
1968 ITV Playhouse Sally "The Photographer" (S1E18)
1969 The Saint Vanessa Longman "The Man Who Gambled with Life" (S6E18)
1969 Department S Gina "The Double Death of Charlie Crippen" (S2E20)
1969 Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) Suzanne "The Ghost Who Saved the Bank of Monte Carlo" (S1E11)
1971 Hine Amanda "Everything I Am I Owe" (S1EP12)
1972 Spyder's Web Wallis Ackroyd Season 1 (main role, all 13 episodes)
1975 Public Eye Ingrid Borg "Hard Times" (S7E7)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Veronica Carlson Obituary". The Times. 4 March 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  2. ↑ "FamilySearch.org". Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  3. 1 2 Barnes, Mike (1 March 2022). "Veronica Carlson, Actress in Hammer Horror Movies, Dies at 77". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  4. ↑ Colton, David (19 February 2019). "Winners of the (Gasp!) 17th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards". RondoAward.com.
  5. ↑ "Veronica Carlson obituary".
  6. ↑ Crowther, Linnea (28 February 2022). "Veronica Carlson (1944–2022), British actress in Hammer horror films". Legacy. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  7. ↑ White, Andrew (1 March 2022). "York-born Veronica Carlson from Hammer horror films dies". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
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