Janina Faye

dracula02.jpg (30785 bytes)

Dracula (1958)

Janina Faye - 2008
Photo credit: Frazer Brown

dracula01.jpg (51289 bytes)

With Melissa Stribling in
Dracula (1958)

Photo Gallery 1
Photos, playbills, posters
Photo Gallery 2
A pictorial history

Personally inscribed photos of Janina are available again
Click the link or scroll to the bottom of the page

May 2022: Please note that Janina is not making any personal appearances until further notice. Check with the venue before attending if you see her name listed as a guest (the London Film Fair, for example).

Janina's Recommendations:

DieCast Movie Podcast Interview with Janina

On 27 March 2022 Janina had a long interview with Steven Turek of the DieCast Movie Podcast. The topics ranged from her appearances in Horror of Dracula, Never Take Sweets From A Stranger, and Day of the Triffids to Janina's work in television and the theatre, as well as her reminiscences, life experiences, and convention appearances.

Life after Flash

Written & directed by Lisa Downs, Life after Flash is a feature documentary that explores the life of Sam J Jones since his iconic performance as ‘Flash Gordon’ in the 1980 classic of the same name, and the aftermath of the young star’s clash with one of Hollywood’s biggest legends, producer Dino De Laurentiis. 

 


Wayne Kinsey - Inside Bray Studios

Wayne Kinsey has published an excellent new book, Inside Bray Studios. This 344-page large-format book is a comprehensive full-colour history of the Hammer Films studios, and is available directly from Wayne at his Peveril Publishing website.

Wayne also has a Facebook page for Peveril Publishing.

Upcoming and Recent Events:
(for past events click here)

The London Film Fair:
Sunday April 19th, 2020

Janina was scheduled to be a special guest at this one-day event on Sunday April 19th at the Royal National Hotel, near Russell Square, but it was cancelled during the pandemic lockdown.


The 30th Festival of Fantastic Films:
October 25th-27th, 2019, Pendulum Hotel, Manchester

Janina was again a guest at this long-running fan-friendly festival.

Other guests included Norman J Warren, Giannetto De Rossi, Deirdre Costello, Pauline Peart, Laurence Gordon Clark, Dana Gillespie.

Janina with Steven Nadler (son of the Festival’s late founder, Harry Nadler) and Norman J Warren. Photo courtesy of Jim Montgomery




Oakley Court Film & Movie Memorabilia Fair:
Sunday February 24th, 2019

Janina was a special guest at this one-day event on Sunday February 24th at the The Oakley Court in Windsor, which was also the site of a successful fair in October 2018. Oakley Court was a filming location for many Hammer and Amacus movies.

Other guests included Caroline Munro, Wayne Kinsey, Graham Humphreys, and Leigh Took.

Full details of Janina's appearance are on the poster for the event, and the Vintage Movie Posters website has information on upcoming shows.


Janina News

• 1960's Never Take Sweets from a Stranger, in which Janina plays the part of Jean Carter, has a new release on Blu-ray from Criterion. Janina notes that this includes an interview with her, and the release is part of a four-disc set with three other classic "Criminal Intent" films from Hammer's 1958-1961 output. The Blu-ray box set is available from Amazon UK and Amazon USA.

• An interview with Janina by Martin Parsons appears in issue #142 of SciFiNow magazine (February 2018). The magazine is also available in digital format.

• On February 18th, 2012, Janina read from Bram Stoker's Dracula to introduce a screening of the Hammer Dracula (1958) in which she played Tania. This was part of the Flicker Club's presentations at the Vault Festival at the Old Vic Tunnels, February 9th through 26th.

• August 2011: The long-lost Anthony Newley TV series from 1960, The Strange World of Gurney Slade, is finally available on DVD. In episode 5 a young Janina played herself, with lots of screen time. See photos in the gallery.

• February 2009: The list of Janina's television roles has been updated and new photos added to the gallery.

• 1962's Don't Talk to Strange Men, in which Janina plays the part of Ann Painter, was released on DVD in the UK on 24 September 2007. Janina notes that this was "an excellent cautionary B-Movie of its time."

The DVD is available from play.com or hmv.co.uk. Here's the synopsis:

A young girl accepts a lift home from a stranger. Moments later she lies dead; another victim of the murderer who is targeting young, impressionable women. Whilst Christina (Jean Painter) is waiting for a bus on a deserted country lane she answers the ringing telephone in the public callbox. She begins to chat with the charming stranger and arranges for the man to call her at the callbox the next night. Fearful for her safety, Christina's parents forbid her to go out alone at night whilst the murderer is still at large. But Christina continues her schoolgirl dalliances with her romantic stranger and arranges to meet him on a dark and lonely night at the callbox.

• UK TV Channel 5 showed Day of the Triffids in its ‘The Best of Disaster’ series, and as part of this episode Janina appeared in an interview about the making of the film.

• Janina was a special guest at an evening dinner with the members of The Horror Show at the George Inn in London, celebrating 25 years of fear, 1981-2006. Janina reports: “A lovely group. I was treated to a great meal, and I spoke briefly to them about Dracula and Never Take Sweets from a Stranger. That was followed by a signing and a showing of Dracula.”

Janina appeared at the Memorabilia show at the NEC in Birmingham on August 14th and 15th, 2004, where she was available to meet fans and sign autographs. Click here to see photos of Janina at the show.

Janina's memories of Eddie Powell

Interview with Janina in
the Cushing Confidential, November 2001

Illustrated article from Theatre World, May 1961,
on Janina's performance as the young Helen Keller
in "The Miracle Worker" at the Royalty Theatre.

Janina's Recommended Reading: Wayne Kinsey's excellent book, Hammer Studios:The Bray Years, published in November 2002, sold out its first printing and has gone back to press. It's available in the USA from Amazon.com, and can also be ordered from Amazon UK.

 

Janina Faye - An Introduction
by Harry Nadler
(Late founder of The Festival of Fantastic Films, Manchester, UK)

I first met Janina Faye in the summer of 1958.

I was just 17 and sitting in the circle of Manchester's Theatre Royal Cinema. But Janina couldn't see me, she wasn't in that audience - she was up on the giant silver screen in a Technicolor Hammer movie entitled DRACULA. Janina played Tanya, the little girl of the Holmwood's housekeeper. She was the centrepoint of that delightful scene with Peter Cushing, who having saved her from the clutches of a vampire, wraps his overcoat around her to keep out the morning cold and gives her his silver crucifix for protection while he re-enters the crypt to put "Aunt Lucy" to rest forever. It's a wonderfully poignant scene.

But I wasn't to know then that almost forty years later, in September 1997 (again in Manchester), I'd meet Janina face to face. The occasion this time was the 9th Festival of Fantastic Films and she came along as our Guest of Honour at the request of our Chairman Gil Lane-Young. So we all owe Gil a great debt of thanks, because the adult Janina Faye is one of the most wonderful people we have ever met in the 11 years of The Festival of Fantastic Films.

Her career as an actress includes theatre and television in addition to the many films she has appeared in and although her main fantasy and horror films were made when she was very young (Dracula, Day of the Triffids, Never Take Sweets From a Stranger etc), her adult work includes a formidable range of roles. There's even a stage version of Dracula with Janina playing the part of Lucy Holmwood... and looking absolutely stunning!

Anyone who has had the good fortune to see Janina act on the large or small screen or even better, at a live stage performance, will know just how talented she is. Her resounding theatre success was undoubtedly in 'The Miracle Worker' (the story of Helen Keller). Laurence Olivier was in the audience, and was so impressed that he brought her flowers backstage and personally asked her to join the National Theatre - which she did.

If you meet her to talk to at a movie convention you cannot fail to come away with memories of a beautiful lady with a wonderful smile and a genuine warmth. I am most privileged to feel that we at the Manchester event have become personal friends of Janina and could not think of a future Festival of Fantastic Films without enjoying the great pleasure of her company.

(With thanks to Stephen Laws)

stranger.jpg (40621 bytes)

fff01.jpg (29537 bytes)

triffids01.jpg (43885 bytes)

Never Take Sweets
From A Stranger (1960)

Harry Nadler and Janina Faye at the Festival of Fantastic Films (1997)

With Howard Keel in
The Day of the Triffids (1962)

Films

Title Studio Date Part Played
       
Circus Friends CFF 1956  
Sea Wife MGM 1957  
No Time For Tears Associated British 1957  
The Story Of Esther Costello Shepperton 1957 Young Esther
Seven Thunders Pinewood 1957 French Child
Sheriff Of Fractured Jaw Pinewood 1958  
Dracula
(Horror of Dracula in the USA)
Hammer 1958 Tania
The Adventures of Hal 5 CFF 1958 Moira
The Headless Ghost Merton Park Studios 1959 Veronica (uncredited)
Room At The Top Romulus 1959  
Floods Of Fear Rank 1959  
We Are Seven Associated British   Irish Girl
The Two Faces Of Doctor Jekyll Hammer 1960 Jane
Never Take Sweets From A Stranger Hammer 1960 Jean Carter
Bobbikins   1960 Voice Of Bobbikins
Hands Of Orlac Shepperton 1961 Child
The Dick Turpin Story Four Seasons Productions   Mary
The Day Of The Triffids Security Pictures 1962 Susan
Don't Talk To Strange Men Romulus 1962 Ann Painter
The Beauty Jungle (aka Contest Girl) Rank 1964 Elaine
Dance Of Death BHE Films 1968 Judith
The Smashing Bird I Used To Know
aka School for Unclaimed Girls (1969)
aka Hell House Girls
aka House of Unclaimed Women
  1969 Susan
Destiny Of A Spy TV Movie 1969 Elena Vanin
John Keats, His Life And Death Encylopedia Britannica Films  1973 Fanny Brawne
Green Fingers Big H Productions 1999 Nurse Foley


Television

Production Company   Part Played
       
The Flying Doctor ABPC 1959 Sally
The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer BBC 1960 Becky Thatcher
The Screaming Woman Rediffusion 1960 Margaret
The Strange World Of Gurney Slade ATV 1960 Herself
The World Of Tim Frazer BBC 1960 Anya
Emergency Ward Ten ATV 1961 Susan Fields
Probation Officer Rediffusion 1961 Jenny Seton
Vice Versa BBC 1961 Barbara Bultitude
Z Cars - "Lucky Accident" BBC 1961 Kate Carr
A Child In The House BBC 1962 Elizabeth Lorimer
Hedgehog BBC 1962  
Emerald Soup ABC 1963 Jo Maxwell
The Human Jungle - 'Thin Ice' ATV 1963 Verity Clarke
Theatre 625 - My Grandmother BBC 1964  
Brindle (aka One of those Days)
TV Pilot Series With Alfie Bass
    Millie
Cluff - "The Manufacturer’s Wife" BBC 1964 Margaret Landless
Tomorrow Just You Wait BBC 1965 Sheila
The World of Wooster – "Jeeves and the Indian Summer of an Uncle" BBC 1966 Maid
All Gas And Gaiters BBC 1967  
Armchair Theatre - "The Girl" ABC 1967 Felicity Mellors
Comedy Playhouse - "Uncle Fred Flits By" BBC1 1967 Julia Parker
The Beauty Operators ITV 1969  
Boy Meets Girl - A Name in Lights BBC 1969 Tamara
Inside Man  - "Revenge For A Visitor" ITV 1969  
Much Ado About Nothing BBC 2 1969  
The Rivals BBC2 1969 Lucy
ITV Saturday Night Theatre -"Toys" YTV 1969 Jenny
Marriage Lines BBC   Pauline
Lucky Jim BBC    
Same Sky BBC   Reeny Brodsky
Canterbury Tales - "The Merchant's Tale" BBC 1970  
Little Women BBC 1970 Amy
Put Out More Flags BBC 1970 Poppet Green
Byron BBC 1970 Teresa Guiccioli
Jackanory - "The Armourers House" BBC 1971 Storyteller
Rainbow   1970 Storyteller
Likely Lads BBC    
Oh Brother BBC    
That's The Way The Money Goes BBC   Doreen
The Fenn Street Gang - "Kill or Cure"   1971  
Please Sir - "Catch a Falling Dropout" LWT   Hermione
Doctor At Large - "Pull The Other One" ITV 1971 Susan Collier
Napoleon And Love Thames TV 1974 Caroline
Angels BBC 1975
1983
Linda Hollis
Cynthia Harris
Thriller - "Good Salary, Prospects, Free Coffin"
(US title: "Mirror of Deception")
ITV 1975 Wendy Philips
My Brothers Keeper Granada 1975-6  
Life Begins At Forty YTV 1978-80  
Wilde Alliance - "Things That Go Bump" YTV 1978 The Girl
The Bill -"'Homebeat" ITV 1984 Mrs. Pullen
The Bill - "Girls Night" Thames TV 1996 Joanne Wilding


Theatre

Production Theatre Date Part Played
       
The Most Happy Fella Coliseum 1956  
The Miracle Worker Wyndham 1961 Helen Keller
Where's Teddy Wyndham 1964 Mary Brown
Spiders Web Flora Robson Playhouse   Pippa
The Crucible The National Theatre Company 1964 Betty Parris
Love For Love The National Theatre Company 1965 Jenny
A Bond Honoured The National Theatre Company 1966 Lidora
The Dance Of Death The National Theatre Company (also released as a film version of the National Theatre production in 1969) 1967 Judith
The Owl And The Pussycat Went To See...... Jeannetta Cochrane Theatre, Southampton Row, London 1973 Pussycat
Little Women Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon 1976 Jo
Ten Little Niggers Theatre Royal, Windsor 1978 Vera Claythorne
The Owl And The Pussycat Went To See......   1978, 1979 Pussycat
Complaisant Lover   1979 Ann
Dandy Dick   1979 Sheba
The Norman Conquests   1979 Ruth
Wait Until Dark   1979 Gloria
Aladdin   1980 Wishee
Dangerous Corner   1980 Betty Whitehouse
The Boyfriend   1982 Hortense
Once A Catholic   1982 Mary Mooney
Tissue   1983  
Abigail's Party   1983 Beverly
Seasons Greetings Shangri-La/British Airways Dinner Theatre 1984 Pattie
Swag Hornchurch 1984 Sonia

Click here for an alphabetical listing of all Janina's roles

Website Questions?  Email the WebMaster

Links to Related Sites

Hammerweb - The Official Website of Hammer Film Productions Limited

The Festival of Fantastic Films - held in Manchester, England, every year

Wayne Kinsey publishes the excellent Hammer fanzine: The House That Hammer Built.
Issue 15 includes 'Bray Studios Revisited', which goes behind the scenes at Hammer's legendary
studio with former production manager Hugh Harlow; the second instalment of a series
on Hammer's special effects technicians; a story on Hammer's stunt men
(which includes  a tribute to the late Eddie Powell); and the first part
of a detailed look at Peter Cushing's career with the company.

For more information, contact Wayne at:
Peveril, Millway, Barnby, Beccles, Suffolk NR34 7PS, UK.

Personally inscribed photographs of Janina may be ordered using PayPal.
Dracula 1 Dracula 2
   
Triffids Dr. Jekyll

Click on the photographs to see larger versions

Each personally inscribed photograph costs US$25,
which includes free postage to anywhere in the world.

Please note that Janina cannot provide photos with just a signature.

Use the buttons below to place your photo order at PayPal, then click here to email the webmaster with the name you would like in the inscription.
The PayPal seller will be shown as [email protected]

You can also add a message for Janina if you wish, although she is unable to provide a personal response.

 
Click button to order Dracula 1 photo
   
Click button to order Dracula 2 photo
   
Click button to order Triffids photo
 
Click button to order Dr. Jekyll photo

Site created 25 September 2000 by Bill Burns, FTL Design
Last updated 31 January, 2024
Articles are copyright © 2001-2022 by their authors;
all unattributed material is copyright © 2001-2022 by Janina Faye