Golden Age Starlet Yvonne Furneaux Dies at 98

Yvonne Furneaux, a legend of the Golden Age of cinema, has passed away. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Furneaux died on July 5 at her North Hampton home. Her son, Nicholas Natteau, confirmed that the cause of death was complications from a stroke.

One of Furneaux’s most notable roles was in The Mummy, where she starred alongside Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Despite the movie’s “campy horror” elements, Furneaux gained valuable insights from her co-stars. “If you don’t take a film like The Mummy seriously and put your heart and soul into it, then you can bring it down,” she said in the book, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and Horror Cinema.

Over her career, Furneaux gained international recognition, appearing in Italian, French, German, and Spanish films. One of her early breakout performances was in the 1955 hit, Le Amiche, which became Michelangelo Antonioni’s breakthrough movie. She also featured in La Dolce Vita, a success for director Federico Fellini. Furneaux had a unique ability to elevate any film she was in, often described as possessing a special “kingmaker” quality.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Furneaux demonstrated her talent across a range of films from The Count of Monte Cristo to Repulsion.

“RIP Yvonne Furneaux. Among the splendid La dolce vita cast, Furneaux’s performance was the one that moved me the most. Her beauty graced the screen in other great films such as In nome del popolo italiano,” said a user on X (formerly known as Twitter), paying tribute to Furneaux’s varied filmography.

The House of Hammer podcast also posted a heartfelt message about her passing, stating, “Just learned of the sad passing, earlier this month, of Yvonne Furneaux. Here in Hammer’s The Mummy, she was truly remarkable. RIP.”

Another tribute read, “Yvonne Furneaux was an accomplished actress with serious background & training who became a glamorous figure in European cinema of the 50s & 60s, where she worked with masters like Fellini, Antonioni, Polanski & Chabrol but also made her mark in entertaining genre pictures. RIP.”

Source: The Hollywood Reporter