HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOANNA LUMLEY TODAY!

TODAY MARKS THE BIRTHDAY of a very special B'day girl, #JoannaLumley! She appeared as Peter Cushing's grand-daughter, in quick bit of recasting for #Hammerfilms in 'The Satanic Rites of #Dracula' (1973) and also appeared with Cushing in 'The Eagle's Nest' the first of the new series 'The New Avengers in 1976. The first episode established the new team, Gareth Hunt as Mike Gambit, Joanna Lumley as #Purdey and Patrick Macnee as John Steed. These two projects are just the very tip of a HUGE career . . glamorous, intelligent, entertaining . . . where would you like to start?? #HappyBirthday Joanna! Have a wonderful day! 😃 #HammerHorror" #JoannaLumleyBirthday! #Dracula #PeterCushing

ABOVE: An interesting and rare peep at both Peter Cushing and Joanna Lumley on set, during the making of 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' !

 

OVER AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE today, I have also posted and shared this rare photograph of  Joanna Lumley together with, not one BUT two very tall men... Christopher Lee who she starred with in Hammer films, 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' ... but who is the other guy??? He was once a very well known face on UK television. Think you know? Why not zip over to the page and make your suggestion now, it's got some young heads scratching 😉 #JoannaLumley #Birthday #ChristopherLee #HammerHorrors!

ABOVE AND BELOW: OH JOANNA ....! #PeterCushing appeared in the first of 'The New Avengers' series, 'The Eagle's Nest'  (1976)

  

FLASHBAK SADDEST FEATURE : STUNTMAN SUPREME EDDIE POWELL AND OSCAR QUITAK BIRTHDAYS!

A HEADS UP! Thank you to the several friends out there who sent me a link to a feature that has turned up on the nostalgia site FlashBak . . on Peter Cushing 😉 Here is a link to the feature HERE!

IT'S LOVELY HERE to see all the past clubs mentioned and a hand written letter from our founder and friend, the amazing Gladys Fletcher 😊 Also I've had a quite a few messages asking how to become a 'member' of PCASUK? Gosh, 'members' . . those were the days🌝 Sadly those days have also long gone, we do though have a this fab Facebook Fan Page fan page and super website 😉 ... and very lucky to have the support and interest of over 30K very friendly followers 😃😉Here below in the comments thread, for those of you who asked for info is the PCASUK promo trailer  HERE!... four years old now! Time for a new one? - Marcus

REMEMBERING EDDIE POWELL TODAY 😃 Here is a guy who who appeared in many many Hammer films...was Christopher Lee's favorite stuntman and stand in for the majority of his horror films. Dracula Prince of Darkness, The Mummy's Shroud, he appeared in several BOND films, Cushing's Dr Who, Daleks Invasion Earth. Later, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman in 1989... and not many of the fans of Ridley Scott's ALIEN, realise it was Eddie in the costume during many of the scenes and stunts!  

BLESS YOU EDDIE, you were a master and genius! PLEASE help us celebrate his birthday today, he sadly left us in August 11th in 2000. He has left behind a real archive of work and many friends and people who still miss him 😊 HAPPY BIRTHDAY EDDIE!

PLEASE JOIN US in wishing actor, 94 years young Oscar Quitak today! Quitak has a huge CV of performances and work which started in 1946, in As You Like It, to 1993 in the BBC TV series 'Every Silver Lining'! His Cushing connection was playing Karl in Hammer's sequel to 'The Curse of Frankenstein', The REVENGE of Frankenstein in 1958. In quite limited screen time, he successfully squeezed every last drop of pathos for a man who wanted to be cured. Thereafter follows a carrer that saw him appear in some classic television dramas and british movies. From the BBC Colditz serial, ITC's Man In Suitcase, Doomwatch, Ace of Wands in the 1970's, BBC's Z Cars series, and in 1976, 'The Last of The Cybernauts' New Avengers episode, picking up where Peter Cushing's Paul Beresford left off in 1967 with 'Return of the Cybernauts'.   

QUITAK also appeared in Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil', the Hammer return TV series, Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense episode, 'Black Carion' in 1984. The same year, he appeared as 'a doctor' in Kenny Everett's 'Bloodbath In The House of Death' black comedy, which also starred Vincent Price! Over four years, he turned up in various roles in Everett's BBC TV series and a total of eight shows!

OSCAR was married to actress Andree Melly (who is probably most famous for her role as Gina in Cushing's 'The Brides of Dracula' (1960) she sadly passed away on 31st January 2020.

FROM US ALL, a VERY Happy Birthday Oscar Quitak . . and many more to come😊

 

MANY HAPPY RETURNS TO 'THE LOVELY AIMI MACDONALD' BUBBLY CYBERNAUT GIRL!

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to actress AIMI MACDONALD TODAY! Aimi maybe isn't so well known in other countries, but is face most people over 50 will recognise in the UK , from her acting on tv including The Avengers, The Saint, Man at the Top, Sez Les, Shirley's World, Dixon of Dock Green and Rentaghost. Her appearance in 'The Avengers' (Peter Cushing's "Return of the Cybernauts" in 1967) was as a mini-skirted secretary, Rosie who gets stunned by the Cybernaut!

AIMI'S BLONDE BOBBED hair style and bubbly zany attitude, high squeaky voice, soon made her the go to in several shows in the 60's and 70's. MacDonald came to national attention in 'At Last the 1948' Show, for which she had been spotted by David Frost. At the opening and closing of the show and between longer sketches, she would present short pieces on the theme of her loveliness 😊 

Her excitable, squeaky voice was likened to "a choir of frantic mice" Aimi is still working and still loved and remembered for those shows, 'Rent-a-Ghost' in particular! Do YOU remember Aimi?? Happy Birthday and hope you are having a great day Aimi! 😉😃

 

 

 

 

 

ACTRESS VALERIE VAN OST DIES AGED 75

IT HAS JUST BEEN ANNOUNCED that, sadly actress, Valerie Van Ost, has died at the age of 75. Van Ost appeared in Corruption, Incense for the Damned and The Satanic rites of Dracula with Peter Cushing. Valerie was also very popular in the Carry On series of film in the 1960's, in “Carry On Cabby,” “Carry On Don’t Lose Your Head,” “Carry On Doctor” and “Carry On Again Doctor,”. Van Ost’s sad passing was announced by agent Barry Langford who said in a tweet, “A sad goodbye to beautiful Valerie Van Ost, who passed away this week. Valerie gave up her successful acting career to become a respected casting director and was beloved in both professions. She will be much missed

VALERIE VAN OST, a native of Herkamsted, Hertfordshire, turned to acting after she had been a dancer in her teenager at London’s famed Palladium theatre. It's believed that at one time she was once considered to be a possible replacement for Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in “The Avengers,” having once appeared in an episode of the show. In 1973, Van Ost took on her other most famous role, in the Hammer horror movie, “The Satanic Rites of Dracula'.” Van Ost played the role of a Secret Service secretary who is kidnapped by a satanic cult. Van Ost was married to movie producer Greg Smith. Smith had been the producer of Britain’s other great bawdy comedy series, the “Confessions” series of movies in the 1970s.

VAN OST RECENTELY POSTED a photograph of her and BARRY LANGFORD on her twitter account . .

LATER IN 1985, Van Ost married Andrew Millington, with whom she set up a casting agency. This coincided with Van Ost’s retirement from acting. The pair cast five movies and a television series during the 1980s. Two of those films, “The Boys in Blue” and “Funny Money” were produced by her first husband. I am sure many of you would like to share your memories of your favourite role too.. please feel free to post your comments on the thread below. Valerie Van Ost, 25 July 1944 - 14 September 2019

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAME DIANA RIGG TODAY!

''WOMAN OF MY AGE ARE STILL ATTRACTIVE. Men of my age are not' ... so said, this amazing icon of entertainment last year. And you know, Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE...does have point! Many actors from her era have either left us, or look like an unmade bed! We all know the Cushing Connection here, Mrs Peel in the Brit 1960's TV series, The Avengers, where PC played the very dashing Paul Beresford, a smooth operator, pushing all the buttons as romantic interest for Rigg's all action Mrs Peel and a finger on the button of death that commanded his deadly Cybernaut!

DIANA RIGG'S CAREER also features the splendid 'Theatre of Blood' with Vincent Price. She also worked with Christopher Lee in the Avengers tv series.in 'Never, Never Say Die' in 1967. Currently starring in the international hit tv series, Game of Thrones, Rigg is in no hurry to retire, and I think like Mrs Peel, she'll be 'socking it to us' for a while yet Happy Birthday Diana Rigg, born today in 1938.

ABOVE AN INTERESTING look on the chemistry of Cushing's BEREFORD and Rigg's MRS PEEL, in the 'Return of the Cybernauts' episode, HERE with GALLERY: RIGHT HERE!

ABOVE OUR FULL PCASUK REVIEW with GALLERY on the 'RETURN OF THE CYBERNAUTS' episode starring Peter Cushing when it FIRST appeared on DVD! CLICK HERE!

HEADS UP UP ON PRIZES THAT DRIPPED BLOOD AND REMEMBERING SANDOR ELES

REMEMBERED: TODAY WE REMEMBER Hungarian born actor SANDOR ELES…. Known for a lot of work on TV he guest starred in shows such as The Saint, One Step Beyond, The Avengers, Danger Man and a regular role in the UK Soap 'Crossroads'. Eles did a lot of good and interesting work, given the chance. He made appearances in The Avengers, The Professionals Strange Report and Upstairs, Downstairs. One of his most memorable film roles was as the mysterious Paul in the Brian Clemens thriller 'And Soon the Darkness' in 1970. The screenplay was written by Brian Clemens and Terry Nation, both of whom had contributed to The Avengers, as well as to several ITC crime series made in Britain. The film was directed by Robert Fuest.

ABOVE: You can read more about SANDOR ELES and his work in #Hammerfilms 'The Evil of Frankenstein' in a feature written for PCAS by Troy Howath, at the time of it's first time release on blu ray from Final Cut. It's complete with a gallery of great publicity stills rarely seen form the PCAS archive RIGHT HERE!

ELES CO STARRED with #PeterCushing in #Hammerfilms third Frankenstein film,  'The Evil Of Frankenstein' and presented a quite different style of Baron's assistant. Sympathetic and sensitive to the Baron's plight and dedication to his work, it was an angle that didn't arrive again until Shane Briant's excellent portrayal of Simon in 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' from Hammer films in 1974. 

ABOVE IS A PHOTOGRAPH is a still I thought Frankenstein and Hammer fans would appreciate! It's a never before shared or published studio photographer still during the making of the Peter Cushing and Sandor Eles Hammer films 'The Evil of Frankenstein' in 1963 at Bray studios. Cushing and Eles can be seen at the back of the marquee tent, with their mask disguises, but note the top of the still. It just shows how LOW in height the back lot buildings were at Bray studios. The lighting, the rigging and boom microphone is just a few feet from the actors heads!!! 

ELES WAS IN MANY WAYS a jobbing actor, but capable of so much more, just watching his work as Paul Ross in the UK low budget, but extremely popular almost daily soap opera, 'Crossroads' from 1982 until 1985, he gave more than any of the scripts required. A guest role as himself in the film 'Surviving Picasso' 1996, is a raw and sad exit, for an highly skilled actor, who when given the chance on screen or stage, was anyone but himself....

SANDOR ELES, sadly died on September 4th 2002, in Kilburn, London. He was just 66 years old . .   

A HEADS UP and what many of you have been waiting for! The PCASUK and SECOND SIGHT FILMS COMPETITION kicks off TOMORROW -Sunday 16th June 2019 HERE and at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE. There are FOUR COPIES of the SECOND SIGHT FILMS REMASTERED BLU RAY of Amicus films, 'THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Jon Pertwee and Ingrid Pitt up for grabs and MUST be won! Look out for our PCASUK COMPETITION post tomorrow, and make sure to send us YOUR ENTRY! NEXT WEEK we'll be launching ANOTHER PCASUK Competition where FOUR COPIES of Amicus films, ASYLUM BLU RAY will be up for grabs too! Here's your chance to bag some great prizes TOMORROW! Are YOU up for it??