RIP actress Virginia Leith, the star of Stanley Kubricks' first feature "Fear and Desire"( 1953) and the low-budget shocker "The Brain That Wouldn't Die", released in 1962:
Following the Kubrick film, Leith signed a contract with 20th Century-Fox and had leading roles in "Violent Saturday" (1955), "On the Threshold of Space" (1956), "Toward the Unknown" (1956) and "A Kiss Before Dying" (1956).
Leith completed the feature "The Black Door" (1955), but it wouldn't be released until 1962, under the title "The Brain That Wouldn't Die".
"...'Dr. Bill Cortner' (Jason Evers) saves a patient who had been pronounced dead, but the senior surgeon, Cortner's father (Bruce Brighton), condemns his son's unorthodox methods and transplant theories.
"While driving to his family's country house, Cortner and his beautiful fiancée 'Jan Compton' (Leith) get into a car accident that decapitates Jan. Cortner recovers her severed head and rushes to his country house basement laboratory. He and his crippled assistant 'Kurt' (Anthony La Penna) revive the head in a liquid-filled tray. But Jan's new existence is agony, and she begs Cortner to let her die. He ignores her pleas, and she grows to resent him.
"Cortner then decides to commit murder to obtain a body for Jan. He hunts for a suitable specimen at a burlesque nightclub, on the streets and at a beauty contest..."
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Brain That Wouldn't Die"...
