Vintage Photo Gallery: When Barbara (Crampton) Met Stuart (Gordon)

Flashing back to a meeting between Maestro and Muse with an exclusive photo gallery.

Some years back, when I was in the thralls of serving as editor-in-chief of FANGORIA magazine, I had the chance to meet an actress I was profoundly in love/lust with as a teen: Barbara Crampton.

Lovely Barbara, she of Stuart Gordon’s RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND, CASTLE FREAK and so many other edgy genre pictures, was in Toronto promoting a screening of Adam Wingard’s surprise hit YOU’RE NEXT, a movie that was effectively serving as Barbara’s “return” to acting after a lengthy absence in front of the lens.

We met in a hotel bar and, for well over an hour, conducted an interview that effectively morphed into a conversation, with many appendages and deviations that strayed from talk of cinema. We talked of an illness that almost finished her. We talked of our children. We talked about life, death and all the meat in between.

I published that interview soon after, a chat that was met with strong fan approval.

But our friendship remained. And soon, I felt the need to put Barbara on the cover. But since we did “the interview” already, we needed a new point of entry.

So the idea hit me: why not get Barbara to sit down with Stuart Gordon and interview him about his craft and about the making those incredible films that she had starred in? Barbara agreed that the idea was sound, so did Stuart. We were off.

Barbara had worked with LA based photographer Ama Lea, a conceptual artist who was getting a reputation for shooting famous horror folk and digitally manipulating the images to turn them into works of cinema-steeped art.

So, for our cover, Ama and I connected. I sent her a JPEG of my favorite film poster, THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE, and told Ama I wanted Barbara in that same negligee holding Stuart Gordon’s head. Genius that she is, she made it happen, photographing both artists separately and making a cutting-edge composite. The resulting work looked like a vintage Warren-esque monster magazine along the lines of VAMPIRELLA or CREEPY and it became an instant classic FANGORIA cover.

But, as part of that same session, Barbara got Ama to hang out with her at Stuart’s office when she conducted the interview, snapping them both while they spoke.

The photos were charming. Watching the master and his muse decades after their collaborations, laughing and sharing stories. Horror film history, captured incognito.

Thing is, due to space, I only used one or two of those photos in print. Dozens more were left unpublished.

Until now…

While searching my archives the other day, I found the photos. And I felt the urge to share them with you, our readers.

So, please, enjoy these candid shots, taken circa late summer 2012.

And please, follow the Goddess Barbara Crampton (who has two new films out this year and more in production) on Twitter and stalk the genius Ama Lea here. Both are among my favorite people.