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

Photographed closely against a clean studio background, Stensgaard wears a distinctive pale yellow crocheted dress, its intricate openwork pattern creating an elegant contrast with her long blonde hair and composed expression. The tightly framed composition concentrates on her face, costume and unmistakable early-1970s Hammer glamour rather than depicting a specific scene from the film.

In Lust for a Vampire, the Karnstein family resurrects Mircalla, who subsequently enters a nearby girls’ finishing school and becomes the center of an increasingly dangerous series of seductions and deaths. Visiting author Richard LeStrange, played by Michael Johnson, becomes captivated by her, while Ralph Bates, Suzanna Leigh and Barbara Jefford feature prominently as the supernatural mystery surrounding Mircalla develops.

Directed by Jimmy Sangster from a screenplay by Tudor Gates, Lust for a Vampire was photographed during the summer of 1970, with studio production at Elstree and exterior filming at Hunton Park in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. Released in 1971, the film established Stensgaard’s Mircalla as one of the most recognizable female vampire figures of Hammer’s later Gothic period.

The film occupies the middle position in Hammer’s celebrated Karnstein trilogy, following The Vampire Lovers (1970) and preceding Twins of Evil (1971). Drawing upon characters and themes originating in Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, the trilogy developed the Karnstein mythology through Hammer’s distinctive mixture of Gothic horror, romantic obsession and sensual vampire imagery.

Unlike the film’s darker graveyard, castle and finishing-school photography, this image functions as a formal Hammer publicity portrait. Its bright presentation, intricate yellow costume and direct composition emphasize Stensgaard’s screen persona and the glamorous promotional imagery that became closely 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, vampire cinema and Yutte Stensgaard photography, this portrait offers an especially attractive study of the actress during her defining Hammer role. The combination of the yellow crocheted costume, luminous color and intimate studio composition makes it a particularly distinctive example of Hammer’s early-1970s publicity photography.