Grier soon came to the attention of Jack Hill, a resident of AIP and previously responsible for the likes of The Terror and Spider Baby. Impressed with both her image and persona, Hill cast her in the role of Grear in his women-in-prison flick The Big Doll House, in which she co-starred alongside Judy Brown and Roberta Collins as an inmate involved in a ploy to escape. Produced by Corman, the movie was a surprise success, allegedly earning around $10m at the box office, and prompting Hill to once again return to the genre with his next feature, Women in Cages, released later the same year. This time, Grier would be cast as a ruthless guard overseeing an assortment of sleazy women who once again plan to break out. Following an appearance in Barry Pollack’s 1973 crime drama Cool Breeze, Grier continued with her successful run of women-in-prison pictures with The Big Bird Cage and Black Mama, White Mama, the latter of which saw Grier as the girlfriend of a con who, after stealing his money, finds herself locked away with anarchist Margaret Markov.

By 1973, the blaxploitation cycle had become a major draw at the box office. Up until the turn of the decade, the only black actor that was guaranteed to bring in audiences was Sidney Poitier. But the release of Melvin Van Peebles’ low budget drama Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song in 1971 introduced the public to a whole new world and became a phenomenal success, scoring critical acclaim and leading the way for other filmmakers to follow. Almost immediately, drive-ins and theatres were flooded with the likes of Shaft, Blacula and Black Caesar, and soon Grier began to find more substantial roles away from the women-in-prison genre, beginning with 1973’s Coffy. Once again working with director Hill, Grier starred as the eponymous vigilante heroine, a nurse whose sister falls foul of drugs, forcing Coffy to declare war on the city’s criminals. Still working for AIP, Grier starred in the horror flick Scream Blacula Scream as the reluctant enemy of the legendary vampire.

Once again reuniting with Markov, Grier was cast as Mamawi in Steve Carver’s gladiator flick Arena, depicting a group of slave girls who are forced to fight to the death in the colosseum. But her next project would become the one to define her career, starring as the tough and fiesty Foxy Brown who seeks vengeance against a local gang boss when her boyfriend is gunned down. Initially intended as a sequel to Coffy, Grier and Hill would collaborate once again for arguably their most successful venture, with Grier’s character becoming an iconic symbol of female empowerment throughout the 1970s. In some ways, both Coffy and Foxy Brown could be seen as precursors to the subgenre of vigilante films that would follow, ushered in with Michael Winner’s Death Wish and followed with such flicks as The Exterminator, Vigilante and several Steven Seagal movies.

Grier’s success continued with roles in films such as Arthur Marks’ Friday Foster (alongside future Alien star Yaphet Kotto), once again playing a strong heroine, Sheba, Baby and 1977’s Greased Lightning, in which she would co-star alongside comedian Richard Pryor and Cleavon Little (who, ironically, would win the role initially meant for Pryor in Mel Brooks’ western spoof Blazing Saddles). Inspired by the story of Wendell Scott, an African-American stock car racer who had a successful run during the 1960s, Greased Lightning would give Pryor his first substantial role after a string of comedies and would lead to another dramatic turn in Paul Schrader’s drama Blue Collar (with Kotto). Her next notable film role would see her appear alongside Paul Newman and Danny Aiello in Daniel Petrie’s Fort Apache, The Bronx, a movie that would perform well at the box office but would received mixed reactions from critics.

The 1980s would mark a decline in both the popularity of blaxploitation and the quality of roles that Grier would be offered. Following on from the likes of Something Wicked This Way Comes, her next action-orientated role came with Above the Law (released in some countries as Nico), which would see her team up with Steven Seagal as two cops investigating a drugs ring, with Seagal as a former CIA agent with extensive martial arts training. Directed by Andrew Davis (who would later make the Harrison Ford blockbuster The Fugitive), Above the Law was a huge success and transformed Seagal into an action star. Aside from the occasional minor success (such as Class of 1999 and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey), Grier’s career would continue with low profile roles until John Carpenter cast her in a supporting role in his science fiction action sequel Escape from L.A., shortly followed by Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks!. Her popularity would once again be at an all-time high following a starring role in Jackie Brown, Quentin Tarantino’s ode to the blaxploitation cycle. Following such forgettable efforts as Fortress 2 (and a minor role in Jane Campion’s Holy Smoke alongside Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel), Grier would once again collaborate with Carpenter on the 2001 flick Ghosts of Mars, a loose reworking of his explioitation classic Assault on Precinct 13 that would fail to impress the critics. More recently, she has enjoyed a regular role as Kit Porter in the popular show The L Word. Grier’s status as cult star is still as relevant today as ever, with the public once again taking an interest in the 1970s and blaxploitation arousing interest in a new generation of cinemagoers.

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Soon afterwards, Andress would land the role of Ayesha in the British production She, which was one of many successful ventures for Hammer. Starring alongside Peter Cushing and John Richardson, both of whom had previously appeared in other films for the studio (Dracula and One Million Years B.C., respectively), She would see Andress as a dangerous high priestess who attempts to seduce Richardson due to his resemblance to her dead lover. Marking yet another success for the young star, Andress would soon find herself in demand, her appearance often drawing in the crowds. In 1965, she would make the first of two collaborations with British comedy actor Peter Sellers in Clive Donner’s What’s New Pussycat?, which would also feature Peter O’Toole, Romy Schneider and Woody Allen (who was marking the transition from stand up comedy to filmmaking). The movie became a box office hit and would cement the reputations of all involved.

By this point, Andress had become a huge international star but still opted to work on low-key Italian productions as well. Her next English-speaking role came with The Blue Max, which was shot in Ireland and starred The A-Team’s George Peppard as an ambitious German fighter pilot during the First World War. The following year, Andress would reunite with Sellers for the spy spoof Casino Royale, which saw David Niven as an ageing Sir James Bond forced to come out of retirement to defeat Woody Allen’s Dr. Noah. The troubled project, which would involve a staggering six directors (including The Quatermass Xperiment’s Val Guest and Kenneth Hughes, one year before he shot the blockbuster Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) was only a modest success and was not well received by critics, marking the first high profile disappointment of Andress’s career. The James Bond series would fall on another hurdle with 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (marking George Lazenby’s only appearance in the role) before Connery returned for Diamonds Are Forever two years later.

Following on from another Italian project, Le dolci signore (Anyone Can Play), Andress appeared in the bank-heist flick Perfect Friday, starring alongside David Warner. Eager to rob his own bank, Mr Graham (Stanley Baker) enlists the help of spoilt couple Lord Nicholas Dorset (Warner) and his wife Lady Britt Dorset (Andress), who require a substantial amount of money to keep up their high maintenance. The title of the movie referred to the day that the robbery was planned for, and although it was not quite the success the producers had hoped for the film praised by critics for its performances. For her next role, Andress travelled to Spain to appear in the western Red Sun for director Terence Young. Co-starring Toshir? Mifune (Shichinin no Samurai/Seven Samurai) and Charles Bronson (The Magnificent Seven, which ironically was a loose remake of Seven Samurai), the film appeared several years after Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western trilogy and failed to perform as well as expected.

After returning to Italy to continue working on a variety of projects, Safari Express saw Andress teaming up with the legendary Jack Palance. The movie starred Giuliano Gemma and Peter Martell (real name: Pietro Martellanza) as organisers of safari tours who discover a beauty woman (Andress) suffering from amnesia. This would soon be followed by a loose sequel, Africa Express, in which Andress appeared as a mysterious woman and Palance as the man hunting her. arguably her most notorious Italian role came in 1977 with Sergio Martino’s La montagna del dio cannibale (The Mountain of the Cannibal God), which would later find itself on the UK’s ‘video nasty’ list due to its extreme mixture of sexuality and violence. Andress starred as Susan Stevenson, who is searching for her missing husband in the jungles of New Guinea and finds herself captured by natives and stripped, whilst her companions and slaughtered and eaten.

Andress’ last international success came in 1981 with Clash of the Titans, a $16m fantasy flick directed by Desmond Davis and starring Laurence Olivier, Claire Bloom and Maggie Smith. Upon its initial release, the movie made an impressive $41m at the box office and prompted film critic Roger Ebert to declare it as ‘a grand and glorious romantic adventure, filled with grave heroes, beautiful heroines, fearsome monsters, and awe-inspiring duels to the death.’ Clash of the Titans would mark the end of Andress’ successful run that had lasted, one and off, for two decades. Throughout the 1980s she would occasionally appear in episodes of The Love Boat and Falcon Crest, whilst continuing to appear in both Swiss and movies (the latter including Fantaghirò 3 and Fantaghirò 4, both directed by Lamberto Bava). Now having almost disappeared entirely from the screen at the age of seventy-three, Ursula Andress is still considered one of the sexiest actresses of all time and her role in Dr. No is one of the most iconic in cinema history.

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The first of these roles would be in 1970’s Five Dolls for an August Moon, directed by popular and respected Mario Bava, previously responsible for such misunderstood classics as La maschera del demonio (Black Sunday), Sei donne per l’assassino (Blood and Black Lace) and Operazione paura (Kill, Baby, Kill). Having completed work on the camp comic book flick Danger: Diabolik, Bava had returned to the giallo genre that he had been largely responsible for with the 1963 thriller La ragazza che sapeva troppo (The Girl Who Knew Too Much). Although Five Dolls for an August Moon would feature many of Bava’s trademarks, the film only performed moderately well in Europe and failed to land a release in Italy, resulting in the movie being overlooked by both critics and audiences. Despite the disappointment, Fenech had proved herself to be a competent actress and had no desire to simply return to tacky sex comedies. Soon afterwards, she would make the acquaintance of a filmmaker that would prove to be a valuable asset to her career.

Rome-born director Sergio Martino had come from a family of filmmakers, with his grandfather, Gennaro Righelli, being prominent during the early years of Italian cinema. Fenech had begun dating his brother, producer Luciano Martino, and was cast in a prominent role in the 1971 giallo Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh (The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh), in which she would star as Julie Wardh. Released under such titles as Blade of the Ripper and The Next Victim!, the movie proved to be a modest success and would introduce Fenech to a whole new audience, particularly in America. A fan of thrillers, Fenech had finally begun to work on projects that she could be proud of and would agree to collaborate again with Sergio Martino, their next effort being Tutti i colori del buio (All the Colors of the Dark). Once again working alongside The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh’s George Hilton (who had also appeared in Martino’s La coda dello scorpione/Case of the Scorpion’s Tail), Fenech took the role of Jane Harrison, a disturbed young woman who had recently lost her baby in a car crash and is being plagued by a killer.

Fenech’s next project came with another giallo, Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer? (What Are Those Strange Drops of Blood Doing on Jennifer’s Body?), directed by Giuliano Carnimeo (who would later be responsible for the cult horror Quella villa in fondo al parco/The Rat Man). Once again co-starring Hilton, the movie would see Fenech as a model being stalked in a high-rise apartment block. By now, Fenech had become Martino’s actress of choice and the two had formed a successful creative relationship, having worked together on two critically acclaimed thrillers. Their final giallo together came in 1972 with Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave (Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key), which borrowed extensively from Edgar Allan Poe’s short tale The Black Cat. Starring Luigi Pistilli as an alcoholic writer and Anita Strindberg as his abused wife, Fenech co-starred as Pistilli’s feisty niece, who collaborates with his wife in an effort to dispose of both him and his evil cat.

Fenech had become the poster girl for giallo during the early 1970s and, after the success of Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, decided to search similar projects with different filmmakers. Various softcore sex flicks would keep her working until she was able to find what she was looking for, including roles in the likes of La bella Antonia, prima Monica e poi Dimonia (Naughty Nun), Quel gran pezzo dell’Ubalda tutta nuda e tutta calda (All Naked and Warm), Martino’s Giovannona coscialunga, disonorata con onore (Giovannona Long-Thigh) and Innocenza e turbamento (Innocence and Desire). After several erotic movies, Fenech finally had the chance to return to the world of thrillers, although her next project would prove to be her most controversial due to its mixture, of sex, explicit nudity and graphic violence.

Strip Nude for Your Killer was directed by Andrea Bianchi, previously responsible for Diabólica malicia (Child of the Night), and co-starred Sexy Susan Sins Again’s Femi Benussi (who had appeared in Bava’s psychological thriller Il rosso segno della follia (Hatchet for the Honeymoon) and Solvi Stubing, next seen in the Naziploitation flick Le deportate della sezione speciale SS (SS Special Section Women). Fenech took the role of Magda Cortis, one of many models working for an agency called Albatross who are targeted by a killer. From the movie’s opening scene, in which a woman dies during a backstreet abortion and is taken back to her home by the doctor, Strip Nude for Your Killer was often accused of misogyny and would prove to be one of the sleaziest entries in the giallo cycle. Soon afterwards, the genre would show signs of slowing down, particularly after the death of Bava in 1980.

Fenech continued to collaborate on occasion with Martino on a variety of nudity-based projects, including 1976’s 40 gradi all’ombra del lenzuolo (Sex with a Smile), 1979’s Sabato, domenica e venerdì (Saturday, Sunday and Friday), 1980’s Zucchero, miele e peperoncino (Sugar, Honey and Pepper), 1981’s Cornetti alla crema (Cream Horn) and 1982’s Ricchi, ricchissimi… praticamente in mutande (Don’t Play with Tigers), although all would fail to achieve the success of their earlier work. During the 1980s, Fenech worked primarily on television, appearing in a variety of shows and mini series, although the following decade would be even less productive. Most recently, Fenech took a small role as an art class teacher in Eli Roth’s successful sequel Hostel: Part II, her first movie in several years. Now sixty, the golden era of Fenech’s career is long behind her but the work that she produced during the 1970s continues to be discovered by a new generation of sex and horror fans.

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Although she would make occasional appearances on such shows as Fantasy Island and The Love Boat, Blair’s next significant role came two years later with Chained Heat, a low budget exploitation flick directed by Paul Nicholas that focused on women’s sexual and violent ordeals whilst in prison. Co-starring alongside genre veteran Sybil Danning, Blair took the role of Carol Henderson, who is sent to jail after accidentally killing a pedestrian. In prison she discovers that the institution is run by two rival gangs led by the ruthless Ericka (Danning) and Duchess (Tamara Dobson; Cleopatra Jones), respectively. Whilst Carol quickly makes enemies with her fellow inmates, the sleazy warden (John Vernon; Dirty Harry) shoots homemade movies with several of the prisoners and guard Lester (Henry Silva) makes extra money by dealing drugs to the population. One of many ‘women in prison’ films that was produced during the 1970s and 1980s, Chained Heat became a surprise success and even spawned a sequel a decade later starring Brigitte Nielsen.

Her next role was in the 1984 vigilante thriller Savage Streets, in which she played Brenda, the cocky ringleader of a group of feisty young women. But when they manage to anger a local gang, one of her friends is killed whilst her deaf sister Heather (Linnea Quigley) is brutally raped. With the law having failed her and the perpetrators free from justice, Brenda decides to take matters into her own hands and hunt down those responsible. Directed by exploitation filmmaker Danny Steinmann (who had shot the x-rated flick High Rise in the 1970s under the name Danny Stone), Savage Streets was an extremely sleazy but shamelessly enjoyable blend of Death Wish and I Spit on Your Grave. After appearing in the disappointing Night Patrol, Blair returned to the women in prison genre for 1985’s Red Heat, in which she co-starred alongside Emmanuelle herself, Sylvia Kristel. Blair stars as Christine Carlson, who travels to West Berlin to visit her boyfriend and is kidnapped by Communists and thrown in prison, where she comes to blows with Kristel’s Sofia.

Blair continued with the women in prison films with Savage Island, also released in 1985. Borrowing extensively from Edoardo Mulargia’s Orinoco: Prigioniere del sesso (Escape from Hell/Prison Sex), the South American-set exploitation flick marked the one and only directorial credit for Nicholas Beardsley. Once again teaming up with Roller Boogie’s James Van Patten, Blair starred in another sex and violence b-movie, Nightforce, directed by Don’t Go Near the Park’s Lawrence D. Foldes. Various other action and horror flicks followed, including Moving Target, Silent Assassins and Grotesque, as well as the Italian movie La casa 4 (Witchcraft), before starring in the erotic thriller Bedroom Eyes II. Soon afterwards, Blair spoofed her most famous role when she starred alongside Leslie Nielsen and Ned Beatty in the 1990 comedy Repossessed, once again playing the victim of a demonic possession.

The 1990s saw a decline in popularity and success for Blair, with her twenties behind her and women in prison flicks no longer profitable. A minor role alongside Bobcat Goldthwait in the hit sitcom Married with Children was followed by a string of unsuccessful straight-to-video movies, such as Jim Wynorski’s Sorceress. In 1996, a brief appearance in the blockbuster Scream, which single-handedly made horror fashionable once again, helped to generate moderate interest but Blair chose to remain low key in the years that followed. Although she continues to act, Blair’s career has failed to once again reach the heights that it has enjoyed throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but fans still fondly remember her early work as the queen of exploitation.

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