Vanessa Howard

Vanessa Howard was a British film actress and backup singer who attended Phildene Stage School and left at fifteen for a summer revue in Llandudno. She later sang and danced with the George Mitchell Singers, which led to television. After appearing in the West End musical On the Level in 1966 and the play The Impossible Years, she made her film debut in Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1968) and earned early praise. She appeared opposite Peter Cushing in The Blood Beast Terror (1968) and Corruption (1968), then starred in Freddie Francis's Girly (1970), intended to establish her as a scream queen. Though critics praised her work, Girly performed poorly in Britain. Amicus Pictures later cast her as the antagonist in What Became of Jack and Jill?, but shelved it. She retired and made one final television appearance in The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1973.