Roy Ashton in his make up studio with Barbara Shelley

A photograph of Roy Ashton (1909-1995) in his make-up studio with Barbara Shelley taken by an unknown photographer in 1965. Ashton applies a bruise to Barbara Shelley's right arm, in preparation for her role as Sonia in the film 'Rasputin the Mad Monk' (1966).

Roy Ashton (1909–95) and Phil Leakey (1908–92) were master make-up artists who worked on many of the British cult horror films of the mid-20th century. A trained artist, Australia-born Ashton began his career at Gaumont-British Film Corporation in 1932 as a means of supplementing his passion for opera singing. In 1955, Ashton became the assistant to Hammer Films’ Phil Leakey, the first makeup artist to receive on-screen credit for ‘Special Make-up Effects’.