Barbara Steele (born 1937) is a British actress renowned for her association with Italian Gothic horror cinema of the 1960s.

She rose to prominence with Mario Bava's *Black Sunday* (1960), a film that established her as a genre icon. With her intense dark eyes and an ethereal aura, she often portrayed tormented, mysterious, or demonic female figures, perfectly suited for the gothic and surreal atmospheres of those films.

Among her most significant works are *The Horrible Dr. Hichcock* (1962), *Castle of Blood* (1964), and *An Angel for Satan* (1966). Although she also worked in American and European productions (such as David Cronenberg's *Shivers*), Steele remains an undisputed symbol of Italian Gothic and an unforgettable face of cult cinema.