February 23 - Terence Fisher

Happy Birthday, Terence Fisher! Born today in 1904, this British film editor and film director is best known for his work for Hammer Films. 

Fisher was the first to bring gothic horror alive in full colour, and the sexual overtones and explicit horror in his films, while mild by modern standards, were unprecedented in his day. 

  

Among his credits, Fisher is best known for directing the 1958 British Technicolor supernatural fantasy/horror film 'Dracula' (or 'Horror of Dracula'). 

  

Based off of the eponymous 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, the film follows vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). He is on a search for his missing friend, Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen). 

  

Eventually, Van Helsing is led to Count Dracula's (Christopher Lee) castle. Upon arriving, he finds an undead Harker in Dracula's crypt and discovers that the count's next target is Harker's ailing fiancée, Lucy Westenra (Carol Marsh). 

With the help of her brother, Arthur Holmwood (Michael Gough), Van Helsing struggles to protect Lucy and put an end to Count Dracula's parasitic reign of terror. 

  

In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine saw 'Dracula' ranked the 65th best British film ever. Empire magazine ranked Lee's portrayal as Count Dracula the 7th Greatest Horror Movie Character of All Time. 

  

Fisher had ben actie from 1948–1974. 

  

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