HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARROLL BAKER

    

    Happy Birthday Giallo Goddess Carroll Baker !! Sure she made bunches of stuff in Hollywood, but Carroll went over to Italy in the late 60's to make a series of Giallo films (in which she proudly shed her clothes) with the best of them being directed by Umberto Lenzi. She was one of the first American stars to make that journey. I got to meet her at a Chiller Con back in the 90's and she was beyond sweet as she patiently answered all my Giallo-geek questions. She starred in THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH 1968, ORGASMO 1969, SO SWEET...SO PREVERSE 1969, PARANOIA 1970, KNIFE OF ICE 1972 & BABY YAGA 1973 among others.

Happy (Belated !!) Birthday Russ Meyer

    

    With much apologies a belated Birthday & Remembrance goes out for the big-bust king Russ Meyer. Born on March 21 1922 he served in the U.S. Army during WWII as a combat cameraman. Working as a still photographer in Hollywood and as a photographer for the early years of Playboy he made his first "nudie-cutie" in 1959 THE IMMORAL TEAS in 1959.
    During the coming decades he wrote/produced and directed such classics as FASTER, PUSSYCAT KILL! KILL! (1965), MUDHONEY (1965), SUPERVIXENS (1975) and BENEATH THE VALLEY OF ULTRA-VIXENS (1979) among others most featuring dominant big breasted woman and weak ineffectual men. Always fiercely independent in the early 70's he hooked up with 20th Century Fox which spawned the gloriously over-the top BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS ("This is my happening and it freaks me out !!") in 1970 followed up by SEVEN MINUTES in 1971.
    He sadly passed in 2004, but left behind a magnificent (in more ways then one) body of work. He is sorely missed.

  

    

Happy Birthday Remembrance For Hazel Court

  

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      A very special birthday remembrance needs to go out today for actress Hazel Court. Most famous for her roles in 1950's and 60's British horror films, she seemed particularly well suited to Gothic period pieces such as Hammer's CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) and THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH (1959) where she would always bring a touch of class (along with a heaving bosom) to her roles.

     My personal favorite Hazel role is Juliana in Roger Corman's MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964). Playing the wife to to Vincent Price's Prince Prospero), she wonderfully projects an air of sexual evilness that comes to the fore in a satanic ritual that one of the highlights of the A.I.P. "Poe" series.  

     After meeting actor Don Taylor (BATTLEGROUND) on an episode of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS in 1961 they were married and she retired from acting in 1964. Moving to California she later appeared in a couple of TV shows in the 70's and had a small role in OMEN III in 1981. Hazel passed away in 2008 and will always be a vital (and very lovely) icon from the golden age of British horror.  

Roger, Hazel and Jane Asher on the set of MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH

Remembering John Agar On His Birthday

    

     One of my favorite "big bug" 1950's movies is 1955's TARANTULA. It's got a cool giant bug in the form of the title beast stomping around plus there Jack Arnold's usual tight and taught direction with his small town desert setting, the gorgeous Mara Corday and best of all John Agar who was born of this day in 1921.
    After starting out in major Hollywood productions such as John Ford's FT. APACHE and SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON along with SANDS OF TWO JIMA he moved on to what werre considered "B" pictures in the 1950's and found a niche for himself in the horror/sci-fi boom which that decade produced.
    John made bunches of these and he always be counted on for bringing a calming sense of professionalism to the plot no matter how ludicrous or poverty driven there were and I've spent countless hours watching him save the day throughout my life.
   In the early 90's at one of the great old Fanex shows in Baltimore I got the chance to meet him and it could not have more gracious or kind to all the fans there. I think this was one of the first convention he'd ever done and he seemed immensely touched by the outpouring of attention shown to him.

Happy Birthday Jim Kelly

 "The Cool Master of King-Fu and Karate !"

Tagline from BLACK SAMURAI 1977

     A very special birthday wish and remembrance needs to go out today for Jim Kelly who was born on this day in 1946. In a decade that spawned more then it's share of cinema bad-asses, Jim Kelly was one of the 70's baddest.

    Winner of many karate championships, he became the first African American martial arts movie star and initially rose to prominence as Williams in the Bruce Lee classic ENTER THE DRAGON from 1973. In 1974 he starred as the title character in BLACK BELT JONES, kicked ass alongside Fred Williamson and Jim Brown in Gordon Park's THREE THE HARD WAY and appeared  with Joe Don Baker in GOLDEN NEEDLES. In 1977 there was Al Adamson's BLACK SAMURAI and the blacksploitation western TAKE A HARD RIDE FROM 1975.
    At 6' 2" with his trademark afro and sideburns he made a striking presence in his films and was able to convey an aura "don't mess with me" attitude without saying a word.
    He would later become a professional tennis player and passed away in 2013 much too young  from cancer at the age of 67.

Happy (Belated) Birthday Caroline Munro !!

     

     A bit late with this, but a very Happy Birthday to the very sexy and talented Caroline Monro. She was born on Jan. 16 1949 in Windsor, England and in the late 60's she moved to London and became a top fashion magazine cover girl and appeared in numerous print ads as well.
    Movies soon beckoned and she appeared in in a couple of the better later period Hammer's including the very good swashbuckler/vampire hunter hybrid CAPTAIN KRONOS - VAMPIRE HUNTER and the unfairly maligned DRACULA A.D. 1972. She turned down several other Hammer roles including DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE and the unmade VAMPIRELLA because she refused to do the required nudity.
    She was also a "Bond Girl" in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, my favorite Sinbad film with THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD (as a young teenage male who saw this at the theatre in 1973, I can attest that she almost made me forgot about Harryhausen's fantastic creatures), the mind bogglingly entertaining STARCRASH and the grim & downbeat grindhouse classic MANIAC where somewhat unbelievably she was a romantic interest for a crazed homicidal Joe Spinell !
    Caroline shows up frequently at fan conventions and is truly one of the nicest people you can ever hope to meet (and still looks very beautiful).

Happy Birthday Barbara Bouchet

    

     Born 71 years ago on this day in Germany, her family emigrated to the United States after WWII and settled in San Francisco where she become a regular on the KPIX Dance Party as teenager and later become actress.She started out in television with small roles and moved into movies such as IN HARMS WAY (1965) and CASINO ROYALE (1967) where she played Miss Moneypenny.
    In 1970 she moved to Italy and made a name for herself appearing in the exploding Italian exploitation market including BLACK BETTY OF THE TARANTULA (1971), the sleazy & delirious AMUCK (1972) with Rosalba Neri and THE LADY IN RED KILLS SEVEN TIMES (1972). In 2002 she had a small role in Martin Scorsese's GANGS OF NEW YORK. Here she is in Fernando Di Leo's excellent 1972 crime drama CALIBER 9 where she's plays the belly dancing girlfriend of a recently paroled convict who's at the center of a cache of missing mob money. Its one of the best examples of the Italian poliziotteschi genre (in addition Barbara looks stunning in it) and was just released in a spiffy new region B blu-ray from Arrow.

  

Happy (Belated) Birthday Nancy Sinatra ! - THE WILD ANGELS 1966

   

   A belated Happy 75th Birthday to Nancy Sinatra who was born on June 8. Here she is in Roger Corman's THE WILD ANGELS from 1966 co-starring with Peter Fonda, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern. This is probably my favorite A.I.P. movie and Nancy looks great riding on the back of Peter's hog.