Madeline Smith 75 -- August 2, 2024

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Madeline Smith was my favorite actress in Hammer horror films. She turns 75 today, having been born on 02-August-1949

Caroline Munro 75, Katy Jurado 100 -- January 16, 2023

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Caroline Munro was born 75 years ago today, on 16-January-1949. I remember her vividly.

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Katie Jurado was born 100 years ago today, on 16-January-1924. I have seen her only in English-language movies, but I'm sure she was great in all of her films. 

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Sir Christopher Lee 100 -- May 27, 2022

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Sir Christopher Lee was born 100 years ago today, on 27-May-1922.  He was a veteran of World War II.  He was the only person involved with Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies who had met JRR Tolkien.  He had a long career and worked nearly until his death in 2015.  He could act, sing and write.  He played all the great movie monsters in Hammer films with his good friend Peter Cushing.  He was a villain in a Bond movie. 

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Tanya Roberts and Barbara Shelley, RIP -- January 4, 2021 (Updated January 5, 2021)

 

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Reports said that actress Tanya Roberts died suddenly at the age of 65.  Later reports said she was still alive. Later reports said that she had been taken off life support before the first reports, but had died later.  Very confusing. 

Nowadays 65 seems too young. I remember when she joined the cast of Charlie's Angels during the last season, but I was not watching it by then. I didn't see Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, but I knew lots of people who enjoyed it.  I remember  people making fun of her when she played a geologist in a James Bond movie. I enjoyed her role on That '70s Show. 

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Barbara Shelley, who appeared in many Hammer horror films, also died. 

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Horror Shockers -- The "Original" Dracula -- December 17, 2020

 

Vampirella 51, 1976

When I was young, I read Warren Publishing magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland and Vampirella. The magazines always carried ads for back issues, posters and movies. I didn't have a film projector, so I read the ads with envy. Eventually, I got a Super-8 projector, but I didn't have enough money to buy any of these films. A friend had Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and I was fascinated by the way it had been cut down to less than 20 minutes. 

This section of an ad has Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee as Doctor Frankenstein and the Monster, and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart." 

The last movie has "Ultrasonic Sound." I have to find out if that is from a mag stripe or from a phonograph record. "The Tell Tale Heart" is a short animated cartoon made in 1953 and narrated by James Mason.  

Moving Picture News, 06-December-1930

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Love that Horror! -- October 31, 2015

Film Bulletin, 21-July-1958

Happy Halloween, everyone. Note that Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee's names are in very small print in this ad for Hammer's Horror of Dracula.  The ad says Dracula is "Topping 'Curse of Frankenstein' in first runs and subsequent runs EVERYWHERE!"  Curse of Frankenstein was Cushing and Lee's first horror collaboration for Hammer. 

Sir Christopher Lee, RIP -- June 14, 2015

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Sir Christopher Lee has died.  He was a veteran of World War II.  He was the only person involved with Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies who had met JRR Tolkien.  He had a long career and was still working.  He could act, sing and write.  He played all the great movie monsters in Hammer films with his good friend Peter Cushing.  He was a villain in a Bond movie. 

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