Horror film aficionados know her from a string of genre works such as THE UNCANNY, TV’s “Tales of the Unexpected,” THE BROOD, THE EXTERMINATOR, DEMONOID: MESSENGER OF DEATH, TV’s “Darkroom,” CURTAINS, and TV’s “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”

Samantha has been acting for roughly 50 years and is still going strong. She was gracious enough to briefly discuss her career with me.

Jonathan Stryker: How did you get your start in acting?
Samantha Eggar: I had finished school, and then I went to art school for two years. I was given a job up in London to work in fashion and a friend of mine said, “Well, you’ve done a few plays in school, and things like that. Why don’t you go and audition?” I had no idea what he meant. I had no idea what I was doing. I had been to a poetry festival, and I just reeled off a couple of poems. I had my own adaptation of Ophelia (a character in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”) and I went in there and did probably the worst audition in the world. And the next thing I know, they’re telling me that I was accepted. My life was then just changed for me. It was never my intention to become an actress. Ever.

JS: What would you have become had you not become an actress?
SE: I loved art. I couldn’t do fashion because I was hopeless at mathematics. To design, you have to know lines and numbers, and I couldn’t do any of that. But I was good at drawing. And I therefore would have become a fashion artist. Those are the people who go to the shows. And I love drawing and painting. So I probably would have stayed in fashion and ended up working for something like Vogue. That’s what I was interested in at the time.

JS: Were you an avid film buff during your formative years?
SE: No, I was educated in a convent so we weren’t allowed to go to the cinema. I do remember seeing a film about the life of St. Maria Goretti (a twelve year-old girl who was raped and stabbed 14 times by a 20 year-old obsessed with her; she was elevated to sainthood after she forgave her attacker on her deathbed). We also saw HENRY V with Laurence Olivier. I also saw BAMBI, and I cried so hard that they had to take me out of the cinema. I disgraced everyone, so that was the extent of my film education until the age of 18.

JS: THE COLLECTOR made a big impression on me. I think it’s one of your best films. How did the role of Miranda come to you?
SE: Through an audition. You see, in England, especially at that time, I had already done about five films, and the business was amazingly low-key. We didn’t get any awards, or thanked or praised for anything. I mean, you just went to work. I trained in the theater. I had done two and-a-half years in drama school, two years in repertory, I had worked in the West End and simply by fluke I did film. And then through another fluke I got THE COLLECTOR. A lot of other people had auditioned for it because being an ingénue part there were a lot of young girls trying out for it. I mean, it was just luck that I got it. In retrospect, I was honored that I had the opportunity to work with (director) William Wyler. Again, I didn’t realize that I was working with such a giant in the field. I only realized that years later.

JS: What can you tell me about Terence Stamp?
SE: (laughs) Terence and I were in drama school together and we basically worked in silence through the whole film. And that’s all that I am prepared to say about it! (smiles)

JS: In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s you appeared in a series of thrillers for both television and theatrical exhibition. I’m thinking of THE UNCANNY by Denis Héroux, TV’s “Tales of the Unexpected,” THE BROOD by David Cronenberg, TV’s “Darkroom” hosted by James Coburn, and my personal favorite, Richard Ciupka’s CURTAINS. Did you consciously pursue these types of roles in this genre?
SE: Well, after I did THE COLLECTOR, I said that I wanted to do a comedy. So, I did WALK, DON’T RUN. After that I decided that I wanted to do a musical, so I did DOCTOR DOLITTLE. When my children were of the age wherein I wanted to stay at home with them, because I had travelled with them for about eight years taking them all over the world and now they were in school, I had bought my first house here in America, and so all of these titles that you just mentioned were the kinds of projects that fit into the small amounts of time that would enable me to spend with my children. I did a lot of work in Canada because I was very valuable to them as an English actress due to the pay scale. So, I would work four weeks here or five weeks there on a particular shoot, instead of three to four months. I also enjoyed doing these roles which were completely against type and not the sort of roles that I was used to playing in the past.

JS: David Cronenberg is known for making movies about people and their bodies in revolt. Where you familiar with his films when you played Nola Carveth?
SE: Well, that was one of his earliest movies, so no, I had not been familiar with him at all.

JS: That’s true, he had only done SHIVERS, RABID and FAST COMPANY at that time.
SE: He worked like the French do. We had a crew of ten people. It was fantastic working with him, just a collegiate group of people. Everybody involved was very well-versed in film. And I found him to be incredibly intelligent. He was really exceptional.

JS: What can you tell me about Oliver Reed? He’s one of my favorite actors.
SE: Oliver and I lived in the same village and I had known Oliver all of my life. I had done THE LADY IN THE CAR WITH GLASSES AND A GUN with him in 1970 so we had worked together professionally. And Oliver was…well…Oliver! He was in the bar! (laughs) That’s where you could find him, always drinking. I believe that’s where he died, too. It’s very sad because underneath that tough exterior was this really decent, kind, soft human being. But, many people act like that.

JS: CURTAINS is one of my favorites. Was that a short shooting schedule for you?
SE: Yes, same idea. Again, this was beneficial to the Canadians, I don’t remember exactly how long the shoot was. It was a hectic film with a large cast. Not much attention was paid to any one individual. When you’re shooting with a large cast it’s the worst to shoot. It’s very hard because you wait around for days as they do all of the camera set-ups and just really waiting for the camera to be on you. It was much different than the intimacy of something like THE COLLECTOR where there are just two performers in it. In a way, I was just working and then rushing home to the children and was always worrying about what was going on back at home, you know, that kind of thing. My daughter actually plays one of the inmates in CURTAINS.

JS: I love that mask that John Vernon makes you wear in the audition scene. It’s so creepy. I don’t suppose that you have it, do you? (laughs)
SE: No, no I don’t. (laughs) That would be great to have that! In those days, nobody collected anything like that. Look at all of the things that we could have had.

JS: I know! The doll in the film was so creepy. Are you partial to the horror and science fiction genres at all?
SE: No. I think that all that I want in my life now are comedies!

JS: What scares you?
SE: People in positions of power not telling the truth.

JS: Wow. And you still live here (in America)!
SE: (laughs) I’ve just become a US citizen…hoping to change the regime!

JS: Thank you for your time.
SE: (smiles) My pleasure.