Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Why I Love Linda Hayden

 I would once again do another rambley post of some obscure or forgotten film actress who I just love, sure its abit overly male of me, but hollywood and film the world over has been built on the backs of the concept of a "starlet", its an artform that I think has been pushed aside in favor of cookie cutter packaged women who look like they were built to fit a certain market instead of truly talented. The days of the starlet are gone, but not at all forgotten....

With that said, i would like to show you all Linda Hayden, most of you will not know who she is, and thats fine, because i'm gonna tell you!



Linda Hayden, like many who I've rambled on about started out in what we call "sexplotation" films, which aren't pornographic films, but rather films that feature either alot of nudity, or an overly adult plot, they are infact not much worse then our modern films that garner each country's version of the R-Rating. I first saw Linda in, what happens to be her first film, a shocking but brilliant late 1960s british sexplotition film called "Baby Love", which is of note because she was 15 years old at the filming of, the same age as her character, but given the overly sexual nature of the film, and what Linda's character of Lucy does through out the film, having an underage girl star and preform was unheard of, and still is. Its also illegal in many countries.

 

Though to be honest Linda does it as incredibly well, or as well as can be expected playing a teenage seductress who seduces an entire family in order to later tell each of them what she'd done and laugh at their reactions, the film is also of note for the fact its one of the first sexplotition films to show a scene where two women depicted in a sexual nature, and its also noted for having its much talked about "Movie Theater Scene", where in Lucy and an older gentleman who happens to be there engage in a lude act while watching a film, its of note as being one of the most erotic of the sexplotation age, as well as one of the most creepy to.

 

After her rather shocking role as Lucy, Linda garnered the eye of the visionaries of British film and creators of British Horror known as Hammer Studios, with who Linda would stay for many films, her first was Blood on Satan's Claw as well as the original version of the cult film Night Watch and equaly cult film Madhouse, Satan's Claw is somewhat forgotten joy of cheese horror that often gets lost in the Hammer catalog of awesome where as the others are ranked highly among the droves of Hammer Studio and Horror films in general, she also starred briefly in the forgotten british sitcom "Now Look Here", Linda also continued to do some racey films, among them the film "Expose" which is alot of times also called "The House On Straw Hill" and is seen in the same vain as "The Last House On The Left" its also the film which many see as more of shocking then her first role in Baby Love, and with good reason given the violence and sexual nature of it.



In her later years Linda took smaller roles, and traveled between america and england doing television, and focusing on theater work as well, trying to keep a low profile and let her early overly sexy years on the screen be forgotten or allowed to stand as what they are. Linda doesn't say she regrets her early years, she often says she's proud of what she could do, and what she'd done, saying any other young beautiful girl if given the chance would do what she did, she'll soon be paying homage to it by starring in the soon to be made remake of "Expose", which has an insane buzz around it, and from the script i've seen, i can't say i blame the buzz, it looks really good, and hopefully will be just as good, if not better...


Well thats it for now, I hope you've all enjoyed my post as much as i have... back soon...



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BC




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