'Queen of Horror' Ingrid Pitt dies at 73

Ingrid Pitt, who shot to fame starring in a number of cult horror classics, including Countess Dracula, has died at the age of 73.

The Poland-born actress, often dubbed the 'queen of horror' for her roles in classic and camp Hammer films produced by the British studio, passed away at a South London hospital after collapsing a few days ago, the BBC reported.

Doctors are reported to have told her that she was suffering from heart failure.

Pitt's daughter Stephanie Blake said her mother's death had come as a "huge surprise".

"She could be incredibly generous, loving, and she'll be sorely missed," Blake said.

She added that she wanted her mother to be remembered as the "Countess Dracula" with the "wonderful teeth and the wonderful bosom". Indeed, Pitt appeared naked, sometimes seductively, at other times bloodied, in many of her films and was quite a rage in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The actress's death came just weeks after Roy Ward Baker, who directed her cult film The Vampire Lovers, died at the age of 93.

Marcus Hearn, the official historian for Hammer, called Pitt a talented actress and fine writer.

"She was partly responsible for ushering in a bold and brazen era of sexually explicit horror films in the 1970s, but that should not denigrate her abilities as an actress," he said. "All fans of Hammer and of British horror are going to miss her terribly."