Another one lost from the Hammer Family. One that I had always hoped to meet at a convention, but no more. Shane Briant recently passed away at the age of 74, after battling a long illness. He was one of the actors that the studio hoped would take them into the next era of Hammer Horror, giving them new blood and new faces (along with Ralph Bates). He appeared in four pictures inside of three years, the first two being in 1972, Straight on Till Morning and Demons of the Mind. The following year, he had a small role in Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, and in 1973, was the assistant to Cushing’s last appearance as Dr. Frankenstein, in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. He also appeared in the title role for a TV movie adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray, produced by Dan Curtis.

In 1983, he moved to Australia and worked in over a dozen films there and New Zealand, as well as starting to write, publishing eight novels.

Looking at his filmography, the last title that just has “announced” after it, even though it looks like there are plenty of photos, is a film called Sherlock Holmes vs. Frankenstein. The interesting part is that Briant’s character name is listed as Simon Helder, the same name as his character in the last Hammer Frankenstein film. Interesting …. hope that comes out at some point.

The older I get, I realize that the people that I admire from the famous studio that stopped production over forty years ago, are also getting older and the chances of being able to meet them are getting slimmer by the day. But as I always try to point out, the films that Briant appeared in, are still around for us to enjoy, being once again memorized by the performance, looking at this youthful face with the golden blonde hair. So like Dorian Gray, he will never age in our minds.

Our thoughts go out to his friends and family during this difficult time.