Melissa Stribling
Melissa Stribling was a Scottish film and television actress. She began her professional career in a repertory company, presenting a different play each week at the Grand Theatre, Croydon in 1948. She remains best known for playing the role of Mina Holmwood in the horror film Dracula.
Career
Born in Gourock, Scotland as Melissa Stribling Smith, she started out in 1945 as a member of the Ealing Studios Amateur Dramatic Society, turning professional in 1948 and appearing that year with repertory companies at Croydon, Worthing and Windsor. Her screen career began with a small role in the film The First Gentleman, also in 1948.In the 1960s and 1970s, she guest-starred in the TV series Benny Hill Show|Benny Hill], ITV Play of the Week, The Avengers, The Persuaders!, The [Dick Emery Show], Crown Court (TV series), and The [New Avengers (TV series)|The New Avengers]. Her last appearance was in the film Paris by Night with Charlotte Rampling.
Stribling is best known for playing the role of Mina Holmwood in the Hammer Films production Dracula, starring Peter Cushing and, in the title role, Christopher Lee. In the film, her character is the victim of a vampire in what has been seen as an erotically charged performance. Dracula and Mina showing sexual pleasure in this way has often been described as a first in British cinema. The film's director, Terence Fisher, remembered her asking him how to play the scene. He replied by saying that she should imagine that she'd had "one whale of a sexual night" and that it should show on her face. Fisher said that she produced a satisfied little facial expression that spoke volumes.Jonathan Rigby complimented her performance in his book English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema, saying that she is "a terrific female lead throughout" the film.