British actress, and Criterion alum, Pamela Green passed away on May 7th, at the age of 81, due to complications from a long running battle with Leukemia.
Green is best known for her roles in films like Krull and Perfect Friday, but her most famous role may be her turn in Michael Powell’s brilliant thriller, Peeping Tom.
She began her career as a model to pay her way through art school, and began acting in the early 1960’s. The actress also broke ground for women and sexuality on screen, as she became the first nude woman in a British film release, with the aforementioned Peeping Tom. Powell actually fell so in love with her sets and costumes that she had created for her photo shoots, that he later decided to add many of the actresses designs into his film, and much of what is shown in Green’s scenes, are her very own pieces of work.
It’s a sad loss, but if anything, at least we have the late actresses work forever entwined with the Criterion Collection.
Michael Powell
A frank exploration of voyeurism and violence, Michael Powell’s extraordinary film is the story of a psychopathic cameraman’”his childhood traumas, sexual crises, and murderous revenge as an adult. Reviled by critics upon its initial release for its deeply unsettling subject matter, the film has since been hailed as a masterpiece.