Linda Hayden (actress)

This article is about the actress. For the mathematician, see Linda B. Hayden.

Linda Hayden
Hayden in Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Born	Linda M. Higginson (1953-01-19) 19 January 1953 Stanmore, Middlesex, England
Occupation	Actress
Spouse	Paul Elliot ​ (m. 1987)​

Linda Hayden (born 19 January 1953, Linda Higginson) is an English film and television actress. She is best known for her roles in 1970s British horror films and sex comedies.

Career

Hayden was born in Stanmore, Middlesex. She trained with the Aida Foster stage school in dancing, singing and stage acting before making her film debut at the age of 15 in the controversial Baby Love (1969), playing a schoolgirl who seduces her adoptive family. She next featured in two horror films; playing Alice Hargood in Hammer's Taste the Blood of Dracula, (1970), followed by a memorable performance as the demonically possessed Angel Blake in The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), made by Tigon. In 1972, she played a pregnant teenage hitchhiker in Something to Hide, driving Peter Finch to murder and madness.

Hayden appeared opposite Robin Askwith, her then-boyfriend, in the popular sex comedies Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1974), Confessions from a Holiday Camp (1977) and, with Fiona Richmond, in Let's Get Laid (1978); as well as the obscure cult film Queen Kong (1976). She also shared the stage with Askwith, in Richard Harris and Leslie Darbon's farce Who Goes Bare. Hayden and Richmond had previously appeared together in the thriller Exposé (1976), which was known as Trauma in the US and House on Straw Hill in Australia, and banned in the UK as a video nasty. In a documentary on the DVD of The Blood on Satan's Claw, Hayden says that Exposé is the only movie she regrets making and was not the film she had made originally.

Following a brief role in The Boys from Brazil (1978), Hayden concentrated on stage and television work. In 1980 she appeared in the ITV series The Professionals as 'Gerda' in the episode 'Black Out' and as 'Annie,' Terry McCann's girlfriend in the Christmas special Minder on the Orient Express, 1985. She also took a role in the thriller Underground at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre and London's Prince of Wales Theatre in 1983, as well as a 1997 episode of The Bill.

Now semi-retired, she featured as Mrs Brown in Martin Kemp's 2010 remake of Exposé, with Jane March playing Linda—Hayden's role in the 1976 original.

Writing

In March 2023, Hayden penned an introduction to the LGBT+ horror novel, Satan's Lamp. Referring to her first film role as Luci in Baby Love, she writes, 'I was transfixed to see myself on an eighty-foot-high poster in Times Square... making me look like an evil creature and sending all the wrong messages... But in an odd twist of fate, this billboard turned out to be an augur of my future with the horror genre.'

Personal life

She is the sister of the company actress Jane Hayden (b. 1957), who played a number of roles on films and TV in the 1970s. Hayden was in a relationship with fellow actor and co-star Robin Askwith in the 1970s. She married Paul Elliot in 1987.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	Baby Love	Luci
1970	Taste the Blood of Dracula	Alice Hargood	Hammer production
1971	The Blood on Satan's Claw	Angel Blake	Tigon production
1972	Something to Hide	Lorelei
1973	Night Watch	Girl in Car	Embassy Pictures
1974	Vampira	Helga
	Madhouse	Elizabeth Peters	Amicus Productions
	Barcelona Kill	Linda	La redada (original title)
	Confessions of a Window Cleaner	Elizabeth Radlett	Columbia Pictures
1976	Exposé	Linda Hindstatt	House on Straw Hill (alternative title)
	Queen Kong	The Singing Nun
1977	Confessions from a Holiday Camp	Brigitte	Columbia Pictures
1978	Let's Get Laid	Gloria
	The Boys from Brazil	Nancy	20th Century Fox
2010	Stalker	Ms. Brown
2012	Run for Your Wife		Cameo

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	The Charlie Drake Show		2 episodes
1971	Now Look Here	Sally	4 episodes
1972	Crown Court	Linda Davies	Episode: "Traffic Warden's Daughter - Part 1"
1973	Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em	Linda	Season 1, episode 1 "Getting a Job"
	Marked Personal	Gillian Gibson	2 episodes
1975	Village Hall	Helga	Season 2, episode 3 "The Rough and the Smooth"
	My Brother's Keeper	Jennie	Season 1, episode 1 "Pig in the Middle"
1976	Heydays Hotel	Irmgarde	TV film
1977	The Galton & Simpson Playhouse	Henry's Secretary	Season 1, episode 2 "Swap You One of These for Another of Those"
1978	Robin's Nest	Jan	Season 3, episode 4 "Away from All What?"
1979	Robin's Nest	Millie Winters	Season 4, episode 1 "Should Auld Acquaintance?"
1980	Mackenzie	Krista	Season 1, episode 7 "Sole Agent"
	The Professionals	Gerda Helm	Season 4, episode 7 "Black Out"
1981	Dick Turpin	Sal	Season 3, episode 4 "Dick Turpin's Greatest Adventure - Part 4"
	Shillingbury Tales	Mandy Smith	4 episodes
1982	Let There Be Love	Annabelle	Season 1, episode 3 "Dad's the Word"
1983	Cuffy	Mandy	Season 1, episode 1 "Cuffy and a Carpetbagger" Season 1, episode 6 "Cuffy and a Green Eye"
	Just Good Friends	Sonia	Season 1, episode 1 "After All This Time"
	Hart to Hart	Ute	Season 5, episode 7 "Passing Chance"
1984	Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense	Ellen Jarvis	Episode 8 "Black Carrion"
1985	Minder	Annie	Episode: "Minder on the Orient Express"
1986	The Kenny Everett Television Show		2 episodes
1988	Mr. H is Late	Sunbather	Television short
1989	The Return of Sam McCloud	Nancy Cratchett	TV film
1991	The Upper Hand	Diana Wilkinson	Season 2, episode 9 "A Friend in Need"
1992	Shelley	Mrs. Archer	1 episode
1997	The Bill	Wendy Pierce	Season 13, episode 112 "Performance Anxiety"

External links

• Linda Hayden at IMDb