Ayesha from 'She'

A pencil drawing of Ayesha by Roy Ashton (1909-1995) in 1964. The drawing reveals the seventh stage of a special effects make-up sequence. Ayesha, played by Ursula Andress undergoes two thousand years of ageing in the Hammer film, 'She' (1965). Ayesha had achieved immortality by bathing in the ice- blue flames of a mystic fire, but a second visit to the flames proved fatal. The climax of the film shows Ayesha's transformation to the extreme appearance of her true age.

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’.