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Stencil of Sybil Danning by Andy Richmond, Fitzroy.

Sybil Danning

Sybil Danning

German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1988.

Austrian actress Sybil Danning (1949) was a statuesque blonde beauty who became a dynamic and commanding B-movie queen. Never a helpless victim or mere boy-toy, the voluptuous Danning gained her widest audience with a series of sweat-drenched action pictures in the 1980s. For her work in Chained Heat (1983) and Hercules (1983), she won a Golden Razzie.

Sybil Danning was born Sybille Johanna Danninger in 1949 (some sources say 1952), in Wels, Austria. She is the daughter of a US Army major father and an Austrian (or German, sources differ) mother, and grew up on army bases in such places as New Jersey, Maryland and Sacramento, California. In 1955, Sybil attended Etontown's Star of the Sea Catholic School. In 1961, her mother returned with her two daughters to Austria. At age 14, Sybil worked for her uncle as a dental assistant. Two years later she moved to Vienna, and worked for a dental supply company. She then relocated to Salzburg and worked as an assistant to a top oral surgeon. Danning then enrolled in the Buchner School of Cosmetology in Salzburg and received a diploma in facial treatment, decorative make-up, manicure and body massage. Not allowed to open her own cosmeticss hop, she started doing fashion shows and photo layouts. Danning made her film debut as Lorelei in the sex comedy Komm nur, mein liebstes Vögelein/Come Now, My Dear Little Bird (Rolf Thiele, 1968). She first grabbed audience attention in the violent action film Der Flüsternde Tod/Albino (Jurgen Goslar, 1970), starring Christopher Lee and Trevor Howard. She next portrayed Kriemhild opposite Raimund Harmstorf in Siegfried und das sagenhafte Liebesleben der Nibelungen/The Lustful Barbarian (Adrian Hoven, David F. Friedman, 1971), an "adults only" retelling of the Siegfried legend. She continued to act in such sexploitation films as Die liebestollen Apothekerstöchter/Naughty Nymphs (Franz Antel, Michel Caputo, 1972), and Das Mädchen mit der heißen Masche/Loves of a French Pussycat (Hans Billian, 1972). Sybil studied for three years with noted Munich drama coach Anne-Marie Hanschke, and started to appear in more mainstream features such as Bluebeard (Edward Dmytryk, 1972) featuring Richard Burton, The Three Musketeers (Richard Lester, 1973) with Michael York as D'Artagnan, The Prince and the Pauper (Richard Fleischer, 1977) starring Oliver Reed and Raquel Welch, and the final film in the 'Airport 'series, The Concorde... Airport '79 (David Lowell Rich, 1979), starring Alain Delon. In 1978, Danning moved to Hollywood, where she appeared in such exploitation films as Cat in the Cage (Tony Zarindast, 1978).

According to IMDb, Sybil Danning was "especially excellent and impressive as the fierce Valkyrie warrior Saint-Exmin" in the Science-Fiction cult classic Battle Beyond the Stars (Jimmy T. Murakami, Roger Corman, 1980), , written by John Sayles. This futuristic remake of the Akira Kurosawa classic Shichinin no samurai/The Seven Samurai (1954) helped to establishe her as a B movie star. In the following years, she worked in Hollywood as well as in Europe. In 1983, she appeared as the tough prison inmate Ericka in the women-in-prison cult classic Chained Heat (Paul Nicholas, 1983) with Linda Blair. The film had success at the box office, but was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Actress for Blair and won Worst Supporting Actress for Danning. She played a formidable female swordfighter in I sette magnifici gladiatori/The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (Bruno Mattei, 1983) opposite TV Hulk Lou Ferrigno. It was another imitation of The Seven Samura, which was filmed back-to-back with Hercules (Luigi Cozzi, 1983), a silly version of the Greek legend, also starring Ferrigno. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "She could always be counted upon to possess the widest bustline in any picture she appeared in, though Lou Ferrigno gave her tough competition in The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (1984). Danning was wise enough to package that image in an amusing fashion as hostess of a series of R-rated sex 'n' violence videocassettes of the mid '80s.' Other notable cult roles are the wicked werewolf queen Stirba in Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch (Philippe Mora, 1985) with Christopher Lee, a cunning femme fatale English professor in They're Playing with Fire (Howard Avedis, 1984), the Queen of the Moon in the hilarious Amazon Women on the Moon (Joe Dante, John Landis, Robert K. Weiss, a.o., 1987), the strict Warden Sutter in the amusing women-in-prison parody Reform School Girls (Tom DeSimone, 1986), an alien queen in The Phantom Empire (Fred Olen Ray, 1988) and a rugged lady bounty hunter in L.A. Bounty (Worth Keeter, 1989). Danning did guest spots on the television series Vega$ (1978), Simon & Simon (1981), V (1984), Masquerade (1983), The Fall Guy (1981), The Hitchhiker (1983), Street Hawk (1985) and Superboy (1988). She did a ten-page pictorial for the August 1983 issue of "Playboy". Outside of acting, Danning has also worked on several films as a producer and wrote the story for L.A. Bounty (Worth Keeter, 1989). After a lengthy absence from acting, Sybil Danning made a welcome comeback by appearing as an evil Nazi villainess in the 'Werewolf Women of the SS' mock trailer, directed by Rob Zombie for Grindhouse (Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, 2007) and a nurse in Rob Zombie's remake Halloween (2007), starring Malcolm McDowell. Her most recent feature was the Sci-Fi Horror film Virus X (Ryan Stevens Harris, 2010). Since 1991, Sybil Danning is married to Horst Lasse.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Sybil Danning DOMINATES "The Howling, Part II"

Sybil Danning, actress, personality -- color manip

The poster illustration is by Robert Tanenbaum.

Cover of Monster Land #2 (April 1985) featuring Elvira, Sybil Danning and Jane Badler

In the all too wonderful 1987 movie "Amazon Women on the Moon" (top), Vasquez Rocks stood in as...well... the moon.

In the all too wonderful 1987 movie "Amazon Women on the Moon" (top), Vasquez Rocks stood in as...well... the moon.

In the all too wonderful 1987 movie "Amazon Women on the Moon" (top), Vasquez Rocks stood in as...well... the moon.

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