Roy Ashton

Indeed, some of his best later work included Asylum (1972) and Tales from the Crypt (1972) made for Amicus, and The Creeping Flesh (1973) for Tigon/World Film.

Ashton left Hammer late in 1965 and free-lanced for other companies, including Disney. Though he was, reputedly, no huge fan of the horror genre, he nonetheless proved unable to escape it.

Australian-born Roy Ashton was the man behind Hammer's most famous monsters of the 1960's.

Jekyll (1960), The Curse of the Werewolf (1961), The Gorgon (1964) and The Reptile (1966) (the scaly creature make-up for this one came from a plaster cast of genuine Boa Constrictor skin). He earned his reputation for creativeness and realism through a well-organised methodology. Detailed conceptual sketches would follow meticulous anatomical research, long hours spent examining specimens at the British Museum and the Natural History Museum on Cromwell Road. That said, Ashton was equally instrumental in showing Hammer's 'scream queens', especially Barbara Shelley and Ursula Andress, to best possible advantage.

He succeeded Leakey as head of the department upon the latter's departure in 1959.

During the next seven years, Ashton worked (often out of his own home in Surrey) on some of the most fondly remembered Hammer horrors, including The Mummy (1959) (for which he created a concealed zipper at the back of the costume, which enabled Christopher Lee to extricate himself from his cumbersome 'bandages'), The Two Faces of Dr.

Ashton joined Hammer at Bray Studios in 1957, assisting Philip Leakey, the resident supervising make-up artist on two of the 'big ones': The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Horror of Dracula (1958).

At first, his film work provided the money to allow him to indulge his passion for performing in concerts, but, by the mid-1950's, he began to realise that movies provided a more reliable - and substantial - source of income.

In 1942, Ashton qualified for a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, which fulfilled a long-standing ambition. He would remain forever conflicted between his love of singing and his work as a make-up artist. Following World War II, he became principal tenor at Covent Garden and an alumnus and co-founder of Benjamin Britten's Opera Group, understudy to Peter Pears.

In Britain from 1932, he attended the School of Arts and Crafts in London, and then spent five years with Gaumont British under the tutelage of a German make-up artist from Ufa.