Yutte Stensgaard is photographed in a striking color publicity portrait associated with Hammer Film Productions’ Lust for a Vampire (1971), in which she stars as Mircalla / Carmilla Karnstein.

Framed closely against a clean neutral background, Stensgaard wears a distinctive blue-and-white patterned halter dress that emphasizes the polished glamour photography used to promote the film and its new leading vampire. Her long blonde hair, vivid blue eyes and direct expression create an image quite different from the darker Gothic interiors, graveyards and supernatural scenes seen elsewhere in the production.

In Lust for a Vampire, the Karnstein family resurrects Mircalla, who enters a nearby girls’ finishing school and gradually draws those around her into a series of seductions and deaths. Visiting author Richard LeStrange, played by Michael Johnson, becomes dangerously captivated by her, while Ralph Bates, Suzanna Leigh, Barbara Jefford and Mike Raven figure prominently in the unfolding story. Hammer’s own synopsis identifies Stensgaard as Mircalla, the resurrected Karnstein vampire at the center of the film.

Directed by Jimmy Sangster from a screenplay by Tudor Gates, the production was photographed in 1970 with studio work at Elstree and location filming in Hertfordshire. Released in 1971, the film became Stensgaard’s defining Hammer role and one of the most recognizable vampire productions of the studio’s early-1970s period.

Lust for a Vampire forms the middle entry in Hammer’s Karnstein cycle, following The Vampire Lovers (1970) and preceding Twins of Evil (1971). The trilogy drew upon the vampire mythology of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, with Stensgaard assuming the role of Mircalla/Carmilla played by Ingrid Pitt in the preceding film.

Unlike a production still depicting a particular scene, this photograph functions as a formal Hammer publicity portrait, concentrating entirely on Stensgaard’s appearance and screen persona. The bright studio presentation, patterned blue dress and intimate composition make it one of the more distinctive glamour images associated with Lust for a Vampire.

Carefully restored from archival source material and professionally lab-developed, this museum-quality photograph is presented uncropped*, preserving the complete image area contained in the archival source material. Meticulous restoration recovers* natural color balance, tonal detail, facial clarity, texture and photographic integrity while retaining the authentic character of the original color image.

For collectors of Hammer Horror, Yutte Stensgaard photography and vampire cinema, this portrait offers an especially attractive representation of the actress during her most celebrated genre role. The combination of the blue patterned dress, luminous studio color and close glamour composition gives the image a character markedly different from the film’s darker Gothic production photography.