Glamour on a Sunderland street
I don’t remember what the actual play was but it starred Ingrid Pitt, the glamorous Polish-born star of Hammer Horror films The Vampire Lovers in 1970 and Countess Dracula (1971), who had also appeared in The Wicker Man and many another film—and in Doctor Who.
Anyway, whatever it was, I photographed it as usual and chatted, as always, with the cast both immediately after the show and when I brought the proofs in for them to order copies if they wanted them.
All, as I say, as usual.
However, one early evening during the run, I was walking down a fairly busy High Street West towards the town centre and suddenly heard someone crying out “Peter! Daaaaarling!” and Ingrid, who was obviously heading to the theatre, rushed across the road and enfolded me in a massive embrace.
“Lovely to see you, darling,” she said, planting a big kiss on my cheek, “but must dash.”
Another big kiss and embrace and off she swept (rather flamboyantly, I must admit), heading towards the Empire.
This was not—oh, definitely not!—typical Sunderland behaviour in the '70s, so many people had stopped to watch. Her presence in the town had been featured in the Sunderland Echo so someone recognised her and said, “that’s the Hammer Horror woman at the Empire!” and I became the focus of much interest. You could see them wondering, “who’s he to attract a big star like that to kiss him in the street?”
My thirty seconds of (anonymous) fame! And, I suspect, the object of jealousy from quite a few men!
I carried on my way as if this was something that happened every day, but boy, did I feel smug!