Elizabeth Hurley, born in 1965 in Basingstoke, England, carved her niche in cult cinema with her roles in Rowing with the Wind (1988) and Mad Dogs And Englishmen (1995). In Rowing with the Wind, she embodies the spirit of the Romantic era, while her performance in Mad Dogs And Englishmen captures the essence of British eccentricity. Hurley's transition from modeling to acting reflects a bold embrace of diverse artistic avenues, contributing a distinct presence to the films that resonate within the realms of cult and exploitation cinema.
Rowing with the Wind
In the summer of 1816, English poet Percy Shelley, his soon to be wife Mary Shelley (daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft), and Mary's stepsister and companion Claire Clairmont take a holiday with Lord Byron and his physician John William Polidori at a villa rented by Byron at Lake Leman, Switzerland. Byron challenges each of the friends to write a horror story, and Mary begins her novel, Frankenstein. She imagines the monster becoming real, and for the next six years, as tragedy befalls those around her, she believes the creature of her imagination is the cause. Meanwhile, Claire has Byron's baby, is estranged from him and barred from seeing her daughter. Byron and Percy continue their friendship, the one hedonistic, the other idealistic. The Shelleys move near Pisa.
