Yutte Stensgaard
Encyclopedia
Yutte Stensgaard is a Danish
actress born in Thisted
, Jutland
, Denmark
, best known for her starring role in Hammer
's Lust for a Vampire
.
, studied stenography and became a model for a time. She started her acting career in 1968 in the film La Ragazza con la pistola (English: Girl with a Pistol). She then played parts in such diverse UK TV-series as The Saint
episode "The Desperate Diplomat" (1968), Broaden Your Mind
(1969), Doctor in the House
(1969/70), in which she played the recurring role of Helga, Dave Briddock's girlfriend, On the Buses
(1970) in the episode "The New Uniforms" as Ingrid a swedish tourist, Special Branch
" episode "Miss International" (1970) as Nina Sareth, sci-fi comedy series "The Adventures of Don Quick
" in one episode as Flosshilda in (1970), and the part of Arlene in the Jason King
episode "As Easy as A.B.C." (1971), as well as a larger part in The Persuaders!
episode "The Morning After" (1971), playing Bibi a Judo instructress who assists Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis
), "The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine
" (1972), and anthology series "Dead of Night
" (1972) as Gertrude Wickett in the episode "Bedtime". Her film parts include the Bulldog Drummond film "Some Girls Do
" (1969) as Robot One, as well as small parts in such films as "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
" (1969), "Scream and Scream Again
" (1970) and "Doctor In Trouble
" (1970). As well as appearing in the low-budget sci-fi sex comedy Zeta One
(1969).
Her most famous role is that of the vampire Carmilla/Mircalla in Hammer
's Lust for a Vampire
. The film was the sequel to The Vampire Lovers
which had starred Ingrid Pitt
as Mircalla. The original film was an adaptation of Carmilla
by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, however Lust for a Vampire shared little with the novel and only used the vampire characters, and was thus a completely new story. In the film the bisexual Carmilla infiltrates an all-girl boarding school while falling in love with a novelist.
Stensgaard auditioned for the part of Doctor Who
companion (Jo Grant), alongside third Doctor Jon Pertwee in 1970. Towards the end of her career she appeared in Pantomime and the stage farce "Boeing-Boeing" (1971), she also appeared on TV as a hostess on the popular game show The Golden Shot
(hosted by the late Bob Monkhouse
).
Tony Curtis. She left acting in 1972, went to live in the U.S. and had a son called Sten. She became a devoted Christian and for years worked at a radio station, selling air time and refusing to discuss her acting career. She was tracked down by a Danish horror fan, Nicolas Barbano, eventually agreed to an interview (which appeared in Video Watchdog
), and soon after was guest of honor at a horror convention.
Her image continues to decorate the covers of a great number of book and magazine publications, for instance Marcus Hearn's coffee table book Hammer Glamour (2009), which contains a chapter on her.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
actress born in Thisted
Thisted
Thisted is a town in Thisted municipality of Region Nordjylland, in Denmark. It has a population of 13,005 and is located in Thy, in northwestern Jutland....
, Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, best known for her starring role in Hammer
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
's Lust for a Vampire
Lust for a Vampire
Lust For a Vampire is a 1971 British Hammer Horror film directed by Jimmy Sangster, starring Yutte Stensgaard, Michael Johnston and Barbara Jefford. It is the second film in the so-called Karnstein Trilogy loosely based on the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla...
.
Career
Born as Jytte Stensgaard, she moved to the United Kingdom to improve her English in 1963, she worked as an Au PairAu pair
An au pair is a domestic assistant from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a small monetary allowance for personal use...
, studied stenography and became a model for a time. She started her acting career in 1968 in the film La Ragazza con la pistola (English: Girl with a Pistol). She then played parts in such diverse UK TV-series as The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
episode "The Desperate Diplomat" (1968), Broaden Your Mind
Broaden Your Mind
Broaden Your Mind is a British television comedy series starring Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, joined by Bill Oddie for the second series...
(1969), Doctor in the House
Doctor in the House (TV series)
Doctor in the House is the syndicated title given, by the United States, to a British television comedy series , based on a set of books and a movie of the same name by Richard Gordon about the misadventures of a group of medical students — and their later misadventures as doctors.The first...
(1969/70), in which she played the recurring role of Helga, Dave Briddock's girlfriend, On the Buses
On The Buses
On the Buses was a British situation comedy created by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney which was broadcast in the UK from 1969 to 1973. The writers' previous successes with The Rag Trade and Meet the Wife were for the BBC, but the Corporation rejected On the Buses, not seeing much comedy potential...
(1970) in the episode "The New Uniforms" as Ingrid a swedish tourist, Special Branch
Special Branch (TV series)
Special Branch is a British television series made by Thames Television for ITV and shown between 1969 and 1974. A police drama series, the action was centred on members of the Special Branch anti-espionage and anti-terrorist department of the London Metropolitan Police.The first two series were...
" episode "Miss International" (1970) as Nina Sareth, sci-fi comedy series "The Adventures of Don Quick
The Adventures of Don Quick
The Adventures of Don Quick is a science fiction comedy television series that ran from October–December 1970, on ITV. Starring Ian Hendry and Ronald Lacey, six 50 minute episodes were made, shown in a 60 minute time slot. As of 2008, only the first episode exists, the other five are now missing...
" in one episode as Flosshilda in (1970), and the part of Arlene in the Jason King
Jason King (TV series)
Jason King was a British television series produced from 1971 to 1972. Each episode was one hour in duration , and the series had a run of one season of 26 episodes. As well as its native UK, the series was also screened in countries as far afield as Australia, Norway, Argentina and Peru...
episode "As Easy as A.B.C." (1971), as well as a larger part in The Persuaders!
The Persuaders!
The Persuaders! is a 1971 action/adventure series, produced by ITC Entertainment for initial broadcast on ITV and ABC. It has been called "the last major entry in the cycle of adventure series that had begun eleven years earlier with Danger Man in 1960", as well as "the most ambitious and most...
episode "The Morning After" (1971), playing Bibi a Judo instructress who assists Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
), "The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine
The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine
The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine was a 1971 comedy-variety sketch show starring British comedian, Marty Feldman. Co-produced by ABC TV in America and ATV in England and filmed at Elstree Studios, it featured opening and closing credits by Terry Gilliam, as well as featuring guest appearances by...
" (1972), and anthology series "Dead of Night
Dead of Night (TV series)
Dead of Night was a British television anthology series of supernatural fiction, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in 1972. It ran for a single series; of its seven 50-minute episodes, only three—"The Exorcism", "Return Flight", and "A Woman Sobbing"—survive in the BBC's...
" (1972) as Gertrude Wickett in the episode "Bedtime". Her film parts include the Bulldog Drummond film "Some Girls Do
Some Girls Do
Some Girls Do is a 1969 British comedy spy film directed by Ralph Thomas. It was the second of the revamped Bulldog Drummond films made following the success of the James Bond films of the 1960's.-Cast:...
" (1969) as Robot One, as well as small parts in such films as "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium is a 1969 romantic comedy film made by Wolper Pictures and released by United Artists. It was directed by Mel Stuart, filmed on location throughout Europe, and features many cameo appearances from various stars....
" (1969), "Scream and Scream Again
Scream and Scream Again
Scream and Scream Again is a 1970 British horror film directed by Gordon Hessler and starring Christopher Lee, Vincent Price and Peter Cushing. It is based on the novel The Disorientated Man by Peter Saxon.- Plot :...
" (1970) and "Doctor In Trouble
Doctor in Trouble
Doctor in Trouble is a 1970 British comedy film, the last of the long-running Doctor in the House series of British comedy films. It was directed by Ralph Thomas it stars Leslie Phillips as a doctor who gets accidentally trapped on an outgoing cruise ship while it begins a round the world trip...
" (1970). As well as appearing in the low-budget sci-fi sex comedy Zeta One
Zeta One
Zeta One is a 1969 British comedy science fiction film directed by Michael Cort and starring James Robertson Justice, Charles Hawtrey and Robin Hawdon.-Cast:* James Robertson Justice - Major Bourdon* Charles Hawtrey - Swyne* Robin Hawdon - James Word...
(1969).
Her most famous role is that of the vampire Carmilla/Mircalla in Hammer
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
's Lust for a Vampire
Lust for a Vampire
Lust For a Vampire is a 1971 British Hammer Horror film directed by Jimmy Sangster, starring Yutte Stensgaard, Michael Johnston and Barbara Jefford. It is the second film in the so-called Karnstein Trilogy loosely based on the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla...
. The film was the sequel to The Vampire Lovers
The Vampire Lovers
The Vampire Lovers is a 1970 British Hammer Horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt, Madeline Smith, Kate O'Mara, and Jon Finch. It is based on the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla and is part of the so-called Karnstein Trilogy of films. The other films in...
which had starred Ingrid Pitt
Ingrid Pitt
Ingrid Pitt was an 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...
as Mircalla. The original film was an adaptation of Carmilla
Carmilla
Carmilla is a Gothic novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. First published in 1872, it tells the story of a young woman's susceptibility to the attentions of a female vampire named Carmilla...
by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, however Lust for a Vampire shared little with the novel and only used the vampire characters, and was thus a completely new story. In the film the bisexual Carmilla infiltrates an all-girl boarding school while falling in love with a novelist.
Stensgaard auditioned for the part of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
companion (Jo Grant), alongside third Doctor Jon Pertwee in 1970. Towards the end of her career she appeared in Pantomime and the stage farce "Boeing-Boeing" (1971), she also appeared on TV as a hostess on the popular game show The Golden Shot
The Golden Shot
The Golden Shot is a British television game show produced by ATV for ITV between 1 July 1967 and 13 April 1975, based on the German TV show Der goldene Schuss. It is most commonly associated with host Bob Monkhouse, though, three other presenters also hosted the show during its lifetime...
(hosted by the late Bob Monkhouse
Bob Monkhouse
Robert Alan "Bob" Monkhouse, OBE was an English entertainer. He was a successful comedy writer, comedian and actor and was also well known on British television as a presenter and game show host...
).
Personal life
Stensgaard was married to art directorArt director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
Tony Curtis. She left acting in 1972, went to live in the U.S. and had a son called Sten. She became a devoted Christian and for years worked at a radio station, selling air time and refusing to discuss her acting career. She was tracked down by a Danish horror fan, Nicolas Barbano, eventually agreed to an interview (which appeared in Video Watchdog
Video Watchdog
Video Watchdog is a bimonthly, digest size film magazine started in 1990 by publisher/editor Tim Lucas and his wife, art director and co-publisher Donna Lucas....
), and soon after was guest of honor at a horror convention.
Her image continues to decorate the covers of a great number of book and magazine publications, for instance Marcus Hearn's coffee table book Hammer Glamour (2009), which contains a chapter on her.
Selected filmography
- Zeta OneZeta OneZeta One is a 1969 British comedy science fiction film directed by Michael Cort and starring James Robertson Justice, Charles Hawtrey and Robin Hawdon.-Cast:* James Robertson Justice - Major Bourdon* Charles Hawtrey - Swyne* Robin Hawdon - James Word...
(1969) - Doctor in TroubleDoctor in TroubleDoctor in Trouble is a 1970 British comedy film, the last of the long-running Doctor in the House series of British comedy films. It was directed by Ralph Thomas it stars Leslie Phillips as a doctor who gets accidentally trapped on an outgoing cruise ship while it begins a round the world trip...
(1970) - Lust for a VampireLust for a VampireLust For a Vampire is a 1971 British Hammer Horror film directed by Jimmy Sangster, starring Yutte Stensgaard, Michael Johnston and Barbara Jefford. It is the second film in the so-called Karnstein Trilogy loosely based on the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla...
(1971)
Literature
- Tim Greaves: Yutte Stensgaard: A Pictorial Souvenir (1Shot Publications, England 1992)
- Tim Greaves: Yutte Stensgaard: Memories of a Vampire (1Shot Publications, England 1993)
- Nicolas Barbano: The Strange Loves of Yutte Stensgaard: An Interview with the Vampire, in Video WatchdogVideo WatchdogVideo Watchdog is a bimonthly, digest size film magazine started in 1990 by publisher/editor Tim Lucas and his wife, art director and co-publisher Donna Lucas....
#117 (USA 2005)