Vintage 1981

Your source for sci-fi, horror, and fantasy news! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/vintage1981

[vintage1981]

[vintage1981]

Today we celebrate the life of Elisabeth Sladen!

Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen(1 February 1946 – 19 April 2011) was an English actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who. She was a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprised the role many times in subsequent decades, both on Doctor Who and its spin-offs, K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Sladen was interested in ballet and theatre from childhood, and began to appear on stage in the mid-1960s, although more often as a stage manager at this time. She moved to London in 1970 and an appearance in the police drama Z-Carsled to her being selected for a part in Doctor Who. She stayed as a regular cast member alongside Pertwee and Baker until 1976. She subsequently starred in other roles on both television and radio, before semi-retiring to bring up a family in the mid-1980s.

She returned to the public eye in the 2000s with more Doctor Who related appearances, which culminated in taking a regular lead role in The Sarah Jane Adventures. The show earned the Royal Television Society 2010 award for Best Children’s Drama. She also made regular guest appearances on the main television series, and provided voice-over commentaries for its releases to DVD.

Sladen died of cancer on 19 April 2011. Her death made national and international news headlines, and major television stations and newspapers paid her tribute.

[vintage1981]

Space: 1999 - The Fan Art of Patrick Fillion - the First Twenty Faux Covers | Now Available!

In 2019, artist/illustrator Patrick Fillion began expressing his love for Space: 1999 by creating fan art “faux covers” based on the characters and themes from the classic science-fiction television series.

Now the first 20 of those covers have been assembled in one sleek and glossy, limited edition fan-art book. This collection includes all 20 “Faux Cover” layouts, as well as stand-alone artwork and never before seen artwork.

“SPACE: 1999 - the Fan Art of Patrick Fillion” is a trade paperback, 64-page fan publication of the first 20 “faux” fanzine covers created by artist Patrick Fillion.

Professionally printed on high-gloss paper, with bright and dynamic colors, it perfectly captures the essence of each illustration. The book contains all the covers as they were originally designed and laid out by Patrick for the Space: 1999 Facebook group.

It also includes all the covers artwork minus the text treatments, so you can see each illustration on its own.

Also included is a sketches and works in progress section which contains unfinished pieces, as well as alternative versions of some of the covers.

This modest fan publication has truly been a labor of love. When you, my fellow Alphan, choose to procure this book for yourself, your contribution goes directly to help pay for its printing and shipping. This is a not-for-profit endeavor and Patrick Fillion only seeks to share his profound love of this incredible series with other fans.

This fan publication is limited to 100 COPIES, and they’ve been hand numbered and signed! There is a limit of two copies per person.

Get your copy today! https://space1999artbook.gumroad.com/

[vintage1981]

Happy Breakaway Day!

On this day, 21 years ago, a magnetic anomaly due to a nuclear waste buildup on the Moon hurtled our only natural satellite out of Earth orbit. All hands on Moonbase Alpha were presumed lost.

[vintage1981]

Happy Birthday Barbara Bain!

Barbara Bain, the sultry Cinnamon Carter on Mission: Impossible celebrates her birthday today.

Bain was born Millicent Fogel in Chicago, the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. Developing an interest in dance, she moved to New York City, where she studied alongside Martha Graham. Dissatisfied with her career as a dancer, she went into modeling. Jobs with Vogue, Harper’s and other publications followed.

Still uninspired, however, Bain entered the Theater Studio to study acting; first under Curt Conway and then Lonny Chapman. Progressing to the Actors Studio, she was instructed by Lee Strasberg. Bain’s first acting role was in Paddy Chayevsky’s play Middle of the Night, which embarked on a national tour in October, 1957. Accompanying Bain was fellow actor and newly-acquired husband Martin Landau. The final leg of the tour brought the couple to Los Angeles, where they settled permanently.

After relocating, Bain established herself at the Actors Studio West, where she continues to teach classes and perform scene work. Bain’s earliest television appearances included CBS’s Tightrope, with Mike Connors, and three ABC series: The Law and Mr. Jones with James Whitmore, Adventures in Paradise with Gardner McKay and Straightaway with Brian Kelly and John Ashley. She guest-starred as Madelyn Terry in a 1960 episode of Perry Mason, “The Case of the Wary Wildcatter,” and in 1964 played the role of Elayna Scott in “The Case of the Nautical Knot.”

Between 1966 and 1969, Bain appeared — alongside her then husband, Martin Landau — in the major role of Cinnamon Carter in Mission: Impossible. She also starred as the character in a 1997 episode of Diagnosis: Murder. She won three consecutive Emmy Awards for Best Dramatic Actress for her performance in 1967, 1968 and 1969, in addition to a Golden Globe Award nomination in 1968. She starred opposite Landau again in the science-fiction TV series Space: 1999 (1975–77), as Dr. Helena Russell, and the made-for-TV film The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island (1981). Bain also appeared in The Dick Van Dyke Show, in the episode “Will You Two Be My Wife?” and My So-Called Life, playing the main character Angela Chase’s grandmother in one episode. Other appearances include “Matroyoshka,” an episode of the 1990s science-fiction series, Millennium.

Bain married Landau in 1957. They divorced in 1993. The couple had two daughters, actress Juliet Landau and film producer Susan Bain Landau Finch (born Susan Meredith Landau). Bain is of the Jewish faith. She has worked on behalf of numerous charitable causes and is the founder of the Screen Actors Guild’s BookPALS Program.

[vintage1981]

[vintage1981]

Today we celebrate the life of Elisabeth Sladen!

Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen(1 February 1946 – 19 April 2011) was an English actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who. She was a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprised the role many times in subsequent decades, both on Doctor Who and its spin-offs, K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Sladen was interested in ballet and theatre from childhood, and began to appear on stage in the mid-1960s, although more often as a stage manager at this time. She moved to London in 1970 and an appearance in the police drama Z-Carsled to her being selected for a part in Doctor Who. She stayed as a regular cast member alongside Pertwee and Baker until 1976. She subsequently starred in other roles on both television and radio, before semi-retiring to bring up a family in the mid-1980s.

She returned to the public eye in the 2000s with more Doctor Who related appearances, which culminated in taking a regular lead role in The Sarah Jane Adventures. The show earned the Royal Television Society 2010 award for Best Children’s Drama. She also made regular guest appearances on the main television series, and provided voice-over commentaries for its releases to DVD.

Sladen died of cancer on 19 April 2011. Her death made national and international news headlines, and major television stations and newspapers paid her tribute.

[vintage1981]

Happy Birthday Keith Hamilton Cobb!

Keith Hamilton Cobb was born on January 28, 1962 in Tarrytown, New York. He has spent the majority of his working life on stage and is readily recognized on the streets of New York for several unique character portrayals in television.

He is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in acting, whose regional theatre credits include such prestigious venues as The Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Shakespeare Theatre of Washington DC, The Denver Theatre Center, The Huntington Theatre Company, The Orlando Shakespeare Festival, The Geva Theatre Center and many others. He has performed such classical roles as Laertes in Hamlet, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Tullus Aufidius in Coriolanus, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as more contemporary roles in David Mamet’s Race, August Wilson’s Jitney, and Lynn Nottage’s Ruined to name but a few.

He has been a teacher and a director at Westchester Community College and at Youth Theatre Interactions, Inc. in Yonkers, NY, and has worked with juvenile offenders incarcerated within the New Jersey Correctional System. He has also been a teaching artist in the New York City school system.

However, Mr. Cobb is most widely recognized for the landmark roles he created for television, among those the role of Noah Keefer for ABC’s All My Children, for which he garnered a Daytime Emmy Award nomination; the role of galactic mercenary Tyr Anasazi for Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda; the role of Damon Porter for CBS’s The Young and the Restless; and the role of Quincy Abrams for the series, Noah’s Arc on the Logo network.

The span of his career includes twelve years in Los Angeles where he has guest starred on multiple television half-hours and dramas including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Boston Common, Suddenly Susan, One on One, The Twilight Zone, and CSI Miami.

[vintage1981]

Happy Birthday to Actress, Author, and Horror Icon Kathryn Leigh Scott

On ABC’s “Dark Shadows” she was Josette - the bride of the vampire Barnabas - and an endless variety of women who resembled her throughout time. Scott recreated the character for the feature film House of Dark Shadows (1970) and has also appeared on genre favorites from Star Trek: The Next Generation to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. She’s also a prolific author and publisher.

[vintage1981]

Happy Birthday Barbara Steele

Barbara Steele (born 29 December 1937) is a British film actress and producer. Famous for her starring in Italian Gothic horror films of the 1960s, her breakthrough performance was in Black Sunday (1960), where she played the dual role of Asa and Princess Katia Vajda.

Additionally, Steele had supporting parts in Federico Fellini‘s 8½ (1963), and appeared on television in the 1991 miniseries Dark Shadows. Steele has appeared in several films in the 2010s, including a lead role in The Butterfly Room (2012) and supporting role in Ryan Gosling’s Lost River (2014).

Steele was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England. She studied art at the Chelsea Art School and in Paris at the Sorbonne.

Steele guest starred on various British television shows including the spy drama, Danger Man (aka Secret Agent) starring Patrick McGoohan. She made her American television debut in 1960 as Dolores in the “Daughter of Illusion” episode of the ABC series, Adventures in Paradise, starring Gardner McKay. In that same year she was replaced by Barbara Eden in the Elvis Presley film Flaming Star after a disagreement with director Don Siegel. In 1961, she appeared as Phyllis in the “Beta Delta Gamma” episode of CBS‘s Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She also had an important role in Federico Fellini’s celebrated 8½ in 1963, and in 1966 appeared in the second-season episode of NBC's I Spy, “Bridge of Spies”.

During the 1960s, Steele starred in a string of Italian horror films, including Black Sunday (1960), The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962), The Ghost (1963), The Long Hair of Death (1964), Castle of Blood (1964), Terror-Creatures from the Grave and Nightmare Castle (both 1965). She also starred in Roger Corman's 1961 adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Pit and the Pendulum and the British film Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968).

Steele returned to the horror genre in the later 1970s, appearing in three horror films: David Cronenberg's Shivers (a.k.a. They Came From Within) (1975), Piranha (1978), and Silent Scream (1979).

Steele served as associate producer of the 1983 TV miniseries, The Winds of War, and was a producer for its 1988 sequel, War and Remembrance, for which she shared the 1989 Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special with executive producer Dan Curtis.

Steele was cast as Julia Hoffman in the 1991 remake of the 1960s ABC television series Dark Shadows. In 2010, she was a guest star in the Dark Shadows audio drama, The Night Whispers.

In 2010, actor-writer Mark Gatiss interviewed Steele about her role in Black Sunday for his BBC documentary series A History of Horror. In 2012, Gatiss again interviewed Steele about her role in Shivers for his follow-up documentary, Horror Europa. In 2014, she appeared in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut, the drama-fantasy thriller film Lost River, in which she portrayed the character Belladonna in a supporting role.

[vintage1981]

Happy Birthday Wilson Cruz (@wcruz73)!

Wilson Cruz (born Wilson Echevarría; December 27, 1973) is an American actor known for playing Rickie Vasquez on My So-Called Life, Angel in the Broadway tour production of Rent and the recurring characters Junito on Noah’s Arc and Dr. Hugh Culber on Star Trek: Discovery. As an openly gay man of Afro-Puerto Rican ancestry, he has served as an advocate for gay youth, especially gay youth of color.

Cruz works with and advocates on behalf of LGBT youth, especially youth of color. He has volunteered his time as host for the Youth Zone, an online community at Gay.com for LGBT youth. He was the Grand Marshal of the 1998 West Hollywood Gay Pride parade, the 2005 Chicago Pride Parade and the 2019 Fierté Montréal Pride Parade in Québec. In 2008, he was the keynote speaker at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Lavender Graduation and Rainbow Banquet honoring graduating LGBT students.

Cruz joined the board of directors of GLAAD in 1997 in order to assist the organization through a leadership transition, and joined the staff of GLAAD in 2012 as a National Spokesperson and Strategic Giving Officer.

In 2020, Wilson was honored on one of the covers of Out magazine’s annual Out100 issue, saying Wilson “beautifully weaves his activism inside every aspect of his work”.

[vintage1981]

John Carpenter's APOCALYPSE TRILOGY: Choosing How The World Ends

An analysis of John Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy, a spiritual series of films made up of The Thing, Prince of Darkness, and In The Mouth of Madness, each of which explore ideas about the end of the world and the horror of the body, spirit, and mind. What do they have in common? How do they reveal Carpenter's outlook on filmmaking and the world? And what do they say about our own fears of the end of the world?

Official Matt Draper Channel Theme by Mono Memory

[vintage1981]

Review of Hammer Films’ “Doctor Jekyll”

As a long-time admirer and avid supporter of Hammer Films, I have always been deeply invested in the rich history and promising future of this legendary studio.

Since its initial revival in 2008 with Beyond the Rave, I eagerly anticipated and closely followed each new project, keen to promote and critique the studio's contemporary works.

Hammer’s legacy is unmatched, and one of the most effective ways to introduce it to new audiences is by continuing to produce innovative film and television ventures.

When John Gore revived Hammer Films once again, I approached the news with cautious optimism. The previous leadership, despite their best efforts, struggled to achieve significant success, with the exception of the celebrated 2012 version of The Woman in Black.

Therefore, when the first release under Gore’s leadership was announced—a low-budget interpretation of Doctor Jekyll starring Suzy Eddie Izzard—I had my reservations.

Many long-time Hammer fans expressed concerns, driven largely by personal biases against the casting of a trans individual in the lead role. My own apprehensions, however, were more focused on the quality of the production.

I feared that associating the Hammer name with a project that they did not originate, especially one that might appear hastily assembled, could tarnish the brand’s reputation.

Fortunately, my concerns were unfounded. Director Joe Stephenson makes exceptional use of the film’s modest budget, with 99% of the story unfolding within the confines of Nina Jekyll’s country estate.

The film’s limited setting is leveraged to great effect, creating an intimate and atmospheric backdrop for the unfolding drama.

While some of the plot elements are predictable, the outstanding performances from Izzard and Scott Chambers more than compensate, elevating the film beyond its expected limitations.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Doctor Jekyll. It serves as a fitting and subtle reintroduction of the Hammer brand under John Gore’s stewardship.

Hammer Films has never been known for producing lavish blockbusters. Instead, the studio has a storied tradition of creating visually striking and memorable films on a modest budget, and Doctor Jekyll continues this tradition.

Thanks to the skilled craftsmanship of those both behind and in front of the camera, the film is a success and is well worth a viewing.

P.S. I never would have expected a collaboration between Hammer Films and Anderson Entertainment to bring fresh Hammer Horror, but it’s a partnership that works remarkably well!

[vintage1981]

Kelvin Harrison Jr & Aaron Pierre Interview: BFFs Taking Hollywood By Storm

During their Collider Forces chat at the Collider interview studio at Sundance brought to you by Film.io, Harrison Jr. and Pierre revisited pivotal moments from their journeys in Hollywood thus far, highlighting some key crossover and shared experiences, but also emphasizing that every path in the industry is different.

[vintage1981]

Doctor Who: The Daleks In Colour Review

The very first time the Doctor ever faced the Daleks in the episode titled The Daleks! Originally in Black & White this episode has now been cutdown & presented in new glorious colour for the very first time. Here's what I thought of this new edition.

[vintage1981]

THE BEGINNING | VHS Cuts | Blake's 7

The very first home video release of the popular BBC sci-fi drama Blake's 7 originally hit UK shops in September 1985. "The Beginning" presented the first four episodes of the first series as a heavily edited two-hour compilation. The video above examines the 1990 VHS re-release, exhaustively detailing all 74 cuts which account for approximately 40% of the original material.

[vintage1981]

Buck Rogers Action Figures and Ships - by Mego (Commercial, 1979)

Just in time to cash in on the new Buck Rogers in the 25th Century TV series, here's a series of Buck Rogers-related toys from Mego: a Rogers "action figure" himself; plus the Starfighter, the Draconian Marauder, Twiki, Emperor Draco, Tigerman, and the Draconian Guard (what? no Wilma Deering figure?).

Planes need assembly, and each sold separately (as are the said action figures). Voiceover by Wendell Craig.

This aired on local Chicago TV on Monday, September 10th 1979 at a little before 4:00pm.

[vintage1981]

Never Forget. Breakaway Day

[vintage1981]

Nick Tate Q & A from Breakaway: 2019 | Space: 1999

Nick Tate (Captain Alan Carter) talks about life, his career and how he got landed the job as everyone’s favorite Eagle pilot.