Valerie Gaunt was born in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire on July 9 1932. She attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and graduated in 1951. Her acting career would be brief. She made her television debut in 1956 in an episode of Dixon of Dock Green. That same year she appeared in an episode of ITV Television Playhouse. In 1957 she made her film debut in The Curse of Frankenstein. She played Victor Frankenstein's ill-fated maid Justine. In 1958 she appeared in Dracula, playing a Bride of Dracula who bites Jonathan Harker. Afterwards she married and retired from acting.
While Valerie Gaunt's career was exceedingly short, she will be always be remembered for her appearances in The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula. She did well as Justine, the maid whose dalliance with Victor Frankenstein proves to be her undoing. Her brief role in Dracula also earned her a place in film history. She is the first vampire in a Hammer film to bear her fangs. While her career may have been brief, she will be always be remembered by Hammer fans.
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