David Peel was a handsome British actor who, in his next-to-last film appearance, created one of the most memorable vampires in horror-film history: "Baron Meinster" in Hammer Films' The Brides of Dracula (1960). Peel's final screen appearance was a seconds-long role as the doomed pilot of a private airplane in The Hands of Orlac (1960); he then retired from the screen to become a fine art dealer, at which he excelled.