Catriona MacColl (born 3 October 1954), also credited as Katherine MacColl, is an English actress, who has worked extensively in both film and television across Europe.
She is perhaps best known for her work in Italian horror films, as she has appeared in Lucio Fulci's Gates of Hell trilogy; City of the Living Dead (1980), The Beyond (1981) and The House by the Cemetery (1981). She also portrayed the title role in Jacques Demy's Lady Oscar (1979), a live-action adaptation of the manga The Rose of Versailles.
MacColl was born in London on 3 October 1954. In her youth, she trained professionally as a ballerina from the age of five, attending the Royal Ballet School. As a young adult, MacColl suffered a foot injury that prevented her from continuing her career path in dancing.
MacColl began her career in the late 1970s, making her debut in the French romantic drama ', directed by Just Jaeckin, in which she received a small role. In 1975, she starred in a touring production of Death of a Salesman in her native Britain. The same year, she was in the company of the .
In 1979, she received her first leading role in Lady Oscar, a historical drama directed by Jacques Demy based on the Japanese manga The Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda. According to MacColl, because Lady Oscar was not widely released in Europe, her career stalled: <blockquote>"I met all kinds of incredible French directors and of course they all knew Jacques. And they would all say: 'Oh, youâÂÂre the girl who played the lead in the Demy film that never came out?' So, they all knew who I was, but that really didnâÂÂt help me."</blockquote>
She appeared in the first of director Lucio Fulci's Gates of Hell trilogy, City of the Living Dead. MacColl was hesitant to do City of the Living Dead, because she felt the screenplay was badly written. "It seemed to me like a series of special effects without a story," she said in an interview in 2011. She called her agent to seek his advice. He told her to "take the film, because nobody is going to see it anyway." MacColl says her agent turned out to be wrong about that.
She subsequently starred in the other films of the trilogy, The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery (both 1981). She was asked by Fulci to star in his next film The New York Ripper, but she declined.
She has also appeared in such films as Hawk the Slayer (1980), Afraid of the Dark (1991), A Good Year (2006), and the 2011 horror anthology film The Theatre Bizarre.
She also starred in the Swiss short comedy film Employé du mois. In 1988, she starred in Pierre Bourgeade's play The Eagle and the Serpent in London.
MacColl has had a successful career in television. In 1978 she made her television debut in the French series Il était un musicien. Her credits include the mystery series Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, the short-lived BBC series Squadron, the mini-series The Last Days of Pompeii, Dempsey and Makepeace, The Hardy Boys, and the French soap opera Plus belle la vie.
MacColl was married to actor Jon Finch from 1982 to 1987 and lives in France.