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Very little is known about Valerie Gaunt, her life or career. She is a true Hammer mystery. All the known facts can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Limited information has been made available by Valerie herself in 2006 to correct some previously published inaccuracies on this site.
She was born on in June 1932 in Birmingham, educated in Malvern, trained at RADA.
Her only movie appearances are in Hammer’s The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958) in which she respectively played Justine, the French maid Cushing has killed off by the creature, and one of the Vampire Women who attack Jonathan Harker in Dracula’s castle. She was signed on for Dracula on November 20, 1957. Prior to these appearances she played "Pam" in 1956 in Father-in-Law, an episode of TV series Dixon of Dock Green. She also seems to have been involved in a teleplay called Chance Meeting where – according to Hammer’s publicity department – she was discovered by Tony Hinds for Curse. She appeared on stage for two years in Repertory; in the play ‘Serious Charge’, London: Garrick Theatre, and in two BBC plays as shown below.
Contrary to rumour, there was no link with Michael Carreras, and she was not the person who attended the Sutton-on-Sea flood anniversary reunion in 2003.
She is retired, married with four children, and prefers to remain anonymous.
Many thanks to my friends from the Bloody Hell of Brit Horror Discussion Group for helping me compile this list of facts about Ms Gaunt.
Also thanks to Valerie Gaunt who through an intermediary has helped clarify some of the aspects of her life and career for this web site.
FILMOGRAPHY
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Dixon of Dock Green: "Father-in-Law" (UK TV Episode, September 1, 1956) |
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Chance Meeting (UK TV) |
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The Curse of Frankenstein (UK, 1957) |
Amazon.com | |
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Dracula (UK, 1958) |
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk |