NEWS: STUDIOCANAL AND PARK CIRCUS TO RELEASE EIGHT NEW HAMMER FILM BLU RAYS!

#NEWS: #STUDIOCANAL AND #PARKCIRCUS to release EIGHT NEW #HAMMERFILM titles to #BLURAY! #Studiocanal and #ParkCircus are to present brand New Restorations of 8 classic Hammer Horror titles. This year, 2017 is the 60th Anniversary of the birth of Hammer Horror and Studiocanal have chosen 19th September as Hammer Day given that it would have been the birthday of producer/screenwriter Anthony Hinds who was very instrumental in all their horror films…The Titles : Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Scars of Dracula, Horror of Frankenstein, To The Devil A Daughter, Fear In The Night, Straight On Till Morning.  DETAILS UPDATING . . . .MORE NEWS TO COME

**** #BLOODFROMTHEMUMMYSTOMB and #DEMONSOFTHEMIND are the other TWO titles making the eight. Not included in montage, as artwork for the blu rays isn't available yet . .

RALPH BATES REMEMBERED : BORN TODAY 1940

REMEMBERING: Born today in 1940, RALPH BATES. Sadly, no longer with us. A talented actor and a truly gentle and kind man.

The great, great nephew of the renowned French scientist Louis Pasteur developed into a strangely handsome dark haired, pale complexioned English actor. Ralph Bates was born in 1940 in Bristol, England and attended the University of Dublin and studied at the Yale Drama School. His dramatic talents first came to audiences attention playing the evil Emperor Caligula in the well received BBC TV series The Caesars (1968). However, the Hammer studios resurrection of the horror genre was then in full stride, and Bates was soon engulfed in the swirling cloak of Hammer's success as he appeared in several horror films in quick succession.

Firstly in a support role as demonic Lord Courtley in Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), followed as the lead character Baron Frankenstein in The Horror of Frankenstein (1970), then as Giles Barton in the sexy Lust for a Vampire (1971) and as the well meaning Dr. Jekyll in an unusual spin on the Robert Louis Stevenson story in Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971) and 'Fear in the Night' with Peter Cushing in 1972. Bates brought a new zest to Hammer and with his stylish dialogue delivery and film acting methods, he quickly won himself quite a few fans in both critics and regular film goers!

Unfortunately, by the early 1970s there had been a downturn in Hammer studios fortunes, and Bates then found himself turning to more traditional character work in other production houses and he appeared in several films before snaring other superb villainous role as George Warleggan in the 18th century period piece Poldark (1975).

After Poldark, Bates himself kept busy in a few forgettable UK made TV shows and television film roles which did not really do justice to his remarkable talents. In the late 1980s his health rapidly deteriorated, and he sadly passed away from cancer aged only 51 on 27th March 1991.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0061012/bio 

BRIAN CLEMENS DIES 1913 - 2015

We are very sad indeed to hear that Brian Clemens passed away this weekend. Clemens was a very prolific and talented film and television producer and screenwriter. Responsible for the tv cult series 'The Avengers' and 'The New Avengers'. Both Hammer films, 'Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde' and 'Captain Kronos'. He also wrote one of the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense' episodes in 1984, 'Mark of the Devil'.

Our Peter Cushing connection is of course the two 'Avengers' episodes that PC appeared in, only one of them did Clemens write, 'The Eagle's Nest' in 1978. This was the first episode of the Avengers revival series, 'The New Avengers'. Clemens had a style that was very much his own, mysterious, quirky and most of all quite original and fun! Brian Clemens OBE 1931 - 2015.

 

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