Ingrid Pitt

Ingrid Pitt (21 November 1937 – 23 November 2010) was a Polish-British actress best known for her work in horror films of the 1960s and 1970s.

Background

Pitt was born Ingoushka Petrov in Warsaw, Poland, to a German father of Russian descent and a Polish Jewish mother. During World War II, she and her family were imprisoned in a concentration camp. She survived and, in Berlin in the 1950s, married an American soldier and moved to California. After her marriage failed, she returned to Europe, but after a small role in a film, she headed to Hollywood where she worked as a waitress while trying to make a career in the movies. Her natural hair colour was brown, though she frequently lightened it to blonde.

Acting career

In the early 1960s, Pitt was a member of the prestigious Berliner Ensemble, under the guidance of Bertolt Brecht's widow Helene Weigel. In 1965, she made her film debut in Doctor Zhivago, playing a minor role. In 1968, she co-starred in the low-budget science fiction film The Omegans and, in the same year, played "Heidi" in Where Eagles Dare opposite Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.