Hammer Horror Series 1 - VALERIE LEON - UNSIGNED VOIDED Autograph Card HA2, 2007

Valerie Leon (born 12 November 1943) is an English actress who had roles in a number of high-profile British film productions, including the Carry On series.

Early life

Her father was a director of a textile company, and her mother, who trained at RADA, ended her acting career to become a full-time mother. Valerie is the eldest of four privately educated children.

After leaving school, she became a trainee fashion buyer at Harrods, before playing truant one day to go to an audition which led to her becoming a chorus girl, and then appearing with Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London's West End.

Film appearances

Leon appeared in several of the Carry On films and has been a Bond girl twice: in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Never Say Never Again (1983). Other supporting appearances include Revenge of the Pink Panther , The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (as the secretary Tanya), a hotel receptionist in The Italian Job , and a callgirl in No Sex Please, We're British , alongside fellow Carry On actress Margaret Nolan. The 1971 Hammer horror film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb offered Leon a rare lead role, as a reincarnated Egyptian queen.

Television

On television, Leon is probably best remembered for her part as a tall buxom woman driven wild by a small and puny man wearing Hai Karate aftershave, in a series of commercials for the product.

She also appeared in The Saint , Randall and Hopkirk , Up Pompeii! , The Avengers , Space: 1999 , The Persuaders , and in The Goodies comedy episode "It Might as Well Be String".

Personal life

Leon was married to the television comedy producer Michael Mills from 1974 until his death in 1988. The marriage produced two children: a boy, Leon, born in 1975 and a girl, Merope, born in 1977; Merope is a journalist on The Guardian newspaper and currently West Coast of America editor.

Appearances in reference works

• Paul, Louis (2008). "Valerie Leon". Tales From the Cult Film Trenches; Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 164–171. ISBN 978-0-7864-2994-3.

Filmography

• Smashing Time (1967) as Tove's Secretary

• Carry On... Up the Khyber (1968) as Hospitality Girl (uncredited)

• Carry On Camping (1969) as Miss Dobbin

• The Italian Job (1969) as Royal Lancaster Hotel receptionist (uncredited)

• Zeta One (1969) as Atropos

• Carry On Again Doctor (1969) as Deirdre Filkington-Battermore

• Carry On Up the Jungle (1970) as Leda, Leader of the Lubbie Dubbies

• This, That and the Other (1969) as Bath Girl

• The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1970) as Glenda

• The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970) as Tanya

• All the Way Up (1970) as Miss Hardwick

• Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971) as Margaret Fuchs / Queen Tera

• Carry On Matron (1972) as Jane Darling

• No Sex Please, We're British (1973) as Susan

• Carry On Girls (1973) as Patricia Potter/Paula Perkins (dubbed by June Whitfield)

• Can You Keep It Up for a Week? (1974) as Miss Hampton

• The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1976) as Redhead

• Queen Kong (1976) as Queen of the Nabongas

• The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) as Hotel Receptionist

• The Wild Geese (1978) as 1st Girl Dealer

• Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) as Tanya

• Strangers (1982) (TV Series) as Jeanette

• Never Say Never Again (1983) as Lady in Bahamas

• Carry On Laughing's Christmas Classics (1983) as Various characters

• A Neutral Corner (2006) as Flo

• The Green Green Grass (2007) (TV Series) as Kat's Mother

• Pitfire of Hell (2016)

• Golden Years (2016) as Gilda

• For The Love of Ella (2017) as Tara

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb is a 1971 British film starring Andrew Keir, Valerie Leon, and James Villiers. This was director Seth Holt's final film, and was loosely adapted from Bram Stoker's novel The Jewel of Seven Stars . The film was released as the support feature to Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde . Another film based on Stoker's The Jewel of Seven Stars , The Awakening , was released in 1980.

Plot

An expedition led by Professor Fuchs (Keir) locates the unmarked tomb of Tera (Leon) an evil Egyptian queen. A cabal of priests drugged her into a state of suspended animation and buried all of her evil relics with her. Fuchs is obsessed with Tera and takes her mummy and sarcophagus back to England, where he secretly recreates her tomb under his house. For days "before her birthday," his daughter Margaret (also Leon) - who bears an uncanny resemblance to Tera and was born at the instant they recited her name - has recurring nightmares. Fuchs gives her the old queen's ring and tells her to "wear it always." Of course, this only makes matters worse. Queen Tera's evil power begins to tempt Margaret, as she learns how she's feared by her father's former colleagues.

Margaret notices a man lurking in the vacant building across the street. He is Corbeck (Villiers), an expedition member who's now her father's rival. Corbeck wants to restore Tera to life and he persuades Margaret to help him gather the missing relics. The problem is, each time one is given up the person who'd held it dies. When they have all the relics, Corbeck, Margaret and Fuchs begin the ancient ritual to reawaken Tera. At the last moment Fuchs learns that the queen's revival will mean Margaret's death. Together Fuchs and Margaret overpower and kill Corbeck, as the house quakes above them. Queen Tera awakens and kills Fuchs, but not before Margaret stabs her. Margaret and Tera are grappling over an ancient dagger when the house finally collapses on them.

Later in the hospital, we see a woman whose face is wrapped in bandages. We're told she's the sole survivor, and that all the others in the Professor's basement were "crushed beyond recognition." The bandaged woman slowly opens her eyes and struggles to speak. But who is she, exactly - Margaret Fuchs or Queen Tera?

Production

Besides providing a rare leading role for Valerie Leon, the film is notable for its troubled production. Peter Cushing was cast in the film and completed one day's filming before leaving the production after his wife was diagnosed with emphysema. Cushing was replaced by Andrew Keir. The release in the United States by Anchor Bay Entertainment contains still photographs of Cushing's day on the production. Director Seth Holt died of a heart attack five weeks into the six-week shoot, collapsing into cast member Aubrey Morris's arms and dying on set. Michael Carreras directed the final week's filming.

According to the book Hammer, House of Horror: Behind the Screams by Howard Maxford, the budget for the film was £200,000.

The film was shot at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire.

Cast

• Andrew Keir as Julian Fuchs

• Valerie Leon as Margaret Fuchs/Queen Tera

• James Villiers as Corbeck

• Hugh Burden as Geoffrey Dandridge

• George Coulouris as Berigan

• Mark Edwards as Tod Browning

• Rosalie Crutchley as Helen Dickerson

• Aubrey Morris as Doctor Putnam

• David Markham as Doctor Burgess

• Joan Young as Mrs. Caporal

• James Cossins as Older Male Nurse

• David Jackson as Young Male Nurse