She Wants to Suck Your Blood
by Tom Lisanti
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With the success of the
Twilight books and movies and the hit HBO series
True Blood,
vampires are all the rage these days. Former '60s actress, the still
beautiful Celeste Yarnall, will find time from promoting her new book
Holistic Cat Care to be a special guest star at this year's
Vampire's Con from August 14-16th in Hollywood where they will screen her cult horror movie
The Velvet Vampire
(1971). According to Celeste, the only known master print is part of
Quentin Tarantino's private collection and he is graciously lending it
for the occasion. Below Celeste remembers the making of the movie.
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In 1971's The Velvet Vampire (whose great tag line
proclaimed, "She’s waiting to love you--to death!") Celeste
plays the mysterious beauty Diana who after meeting married couple
Susan and Lee Ritter (Sherry Miles and Michael Blodgett) at an art
gallery lures them into staying the weekend at her Mojave Desert home.Â
Soon both husband and wife find themselves sexually drawn to their
mysterious host who suffers from a rare blood disease. Unlike vampires
of lore, Diana was able to journey out into the sunlight as long as she
is covered up. In the course of twenty-four hours, Diana feasts on a
mechanic, his girlfriend, and a servant. After making love with Diana,
Lee wants to depart but Susan is fascinated with the charming Diana and
wants to stay. Their delay in leaving costs Lee his life while Diana
meets her gruesome end at the hands of a cult hippie gang. "I dyed my
hair black for this role," says Celeste. "Though the part was a bit
corny, I got into playing a vampire. The film had an interesting
script by Charles S. Swartz, which explained Diana’s condition very
well. This was one of the first films released by Roger Corman’s new
production company [New World] and was more original than some of
Roger’s other films, which were rip-offs of other movies. I became
good friends with Roger and have a lot of respect for his talent."
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Celeste accepted the role of Diana despite the nude scenes ("I had
my daughter Cami to support.") after turning down previous parts that
required nudity including a role in Winning with Paul
Newman. "Though I was only semi-nude, it still bothered me, Charles
Swartz also produced the film and his wife Stephanie Rothman directed
it. They both were very nice and one of the ways that they persuaded
me into doing the nude scene with Michael Blodgett was by making it an
absolutely closed set. After it was lit, everyone left except the
cinematographer, Stephanie, and her husband. The cinematographer’s
name was Daniel Lacambre and he was brilliant. He lit and shot the
film beautifully."
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“I worked well with Sherry Miles but this was a very dark period
for Michael Blodgett," continues Celeste. "He was drinking heavily
throughout the shoot. I was not at all pleased with him as my leading
man. In the scene where I have to stab him and he dies, he’s laying on
top of me. Michael had his hand behind me and he didn’t realize that
as he was acting he was closing his hand around my spine. He really
hurt me--my whole back was bruised. The producers finally got his
girlfriend to come on location. It was murder until she got there.Â
Michael ultimately cleaned up his act became a successful writer."
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Despite the film's less than stellar reviews, The Velvet Vampire
was a hit and has reached cult status due to the fact that it was
directed by the talented and under appreciated Rothman.  Also Celeste
created a fascinating and mysterious vampire figure who had the ability
to intoxicate her guests. Roger Corman was so impressed with Celeste
that she was set to star in his next New World feature Sweet Sugar but she backed out of it at the last minute. "I was offered a small part in Michael Winner's The Mechanic. I chose this instead because Michael had promised me a better part in his next movie called Scorpio. Â
However that role was taken away from me and given to Gayle Hunnicutt.Â
I never knew why I lost this role. Gayle didn't have a bigger name
than I had but I think studio politics were involved. Passing on
Corman's film turned out to be a bad career move!"
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Click here to read more about Tom Lisanti's books for sale
Click here to read more about Celeste Yarnall's books and pet nutrition products for sale