Barbara Steele

Biography: Exotic, voluptuous, nostril-flaring British actress Barbara Steele originally aspired to be a painter. At 20, she was sidetracked into acting, and within a year she made her film bow in a one-line bit as a student in Bachelor of Hearts (1958). Most of her roles were nondescript until she moved to Italy and launched her horror-film cycle with her performance as a resuscitated witch in Black Sunday (1961). Throughout the next fifteen years, Steele thrived as an internationally popular "scream queen," undergoing the usual ordeals of being whipped, strangled, dismembered and set ablaze, but also dishing it out as well as taking it -- especially in the role of a demonic woman's prison warden in Caged Heat (1974). Steele attracted the attention of the movie cognoscenti when she answered an open call posted by director Federico Fellini, who promptly cast her in a flashy role in 8 1/2 (1963); fourteen years later, she appeared as Violet in director Louis Malle's controversial PrettyExotic, voluptuous, nostril-flaring British actress Barbara Steele originally aspired to be a painter. At 20, she was sidetracked into acting, and within a year she made her film bow in a one-line bit as a student in Bachelor of Hearts (1958). Most of her roles were nondescript until she moved to Italy and launched her horror-film cycle with her performance as a resuscitated witch in Black Sunday (1961). Throughout the next fifteen years, Steele thrived as an internationally popular "scream queen," undergoing the usual ordeals of being whipped, strangled, dismembered and set ablaze, but also dishing it out as well as taking it -- especially in the role of a demonic woman's prison warden in Caged Heat (1974). Steele attracted the attention of the movie cognoscenti when she answered an open call posted by director Federico Fellini, who promptly cast her in a flashy role in 8 1/2 (1963); fourteen years later, she appeared as Violet in director Louis Malle's controversial Pretty Baby (1977). For many years, Steele was the wife of screenwriter James Poe, who wrote a good part for her in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), only to see the role whittled into oblivion by director Sydney Pollack. Steele remained close to Poe even after their divorce, retiring from the screen when Poe died in 1980. Expand

Barbara Steele's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average career score: 68
Highest Metascore: 93
Lowest Metascore: 42 Lost River
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 7
  2. Negative: 0 out of 7
7 movie reviews
Title: Year: Credit: User score:
42 Lost River Apr 10, 2015 Belladonna / Grandma 6.8
71 Piranha Aug 3, 1978 Dr. Mengers 6.3
66 Pretty Baby Apr 5, 1978 Josephine 5.2
58 Shivers Jul 6, 1976 Betts 6.2
67 Caged Heat Apr 19, 1974 Supt. McQueen tbd
93 Jun 24, 1963 Gloria Morin / Gloria Morin 4.7
78 Pit and the Pendulum Aug 23, 1961 Elizabeth Barnard Medina 6.3