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Mark Shelmerdine, the veteran producer who revived London Films as an indie powerhouse and played a pivotal role in the development of the international TV distribution market, died October 26 in Santa Barbara surrounded by his family. He was 78.

Among his achievements, he was among the first UK indie TV producers to retain rights to a broadcast production and was a founder of the LA branch of BAFTA.

Shelmerdine’s death was confirmed to Deadline by his friend Brian Eastman. The producer had survived a rare and potentially deadly form of bile duct cancer by receiving a life-saving liver transplant in 2018 through a trial in Houston, and was one of the longest living survivors of the MD Anderson Cancer Center and Houston Methodist Hospital program.

Born on March 27, 1945, Shelmerdine spent part of his childhood in Singapore before moving to the UK. He was awarded a place to attend Sidney Sussex College...

Hello, dear readers! We’re back with more new home media releases this week, which includes one of this writer’s favorite films of 2021 - Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong, which is not only headed to various formats (Blu-ray/DVD/4K Utra HD and even 3D Blu-ray), but is also being included in a Kong and Godzilla triple feature as well.

Other releases headed to Blu-ray and DVD on June 15th include Anything for Jackson, Jackie Kong’s The Being, The Awakening featuring Charlton Heston, H.P. Lovecraft’s The Deep Ones, Last Action Hero 4K, and Gattaca 4K.

Anything for Jackson

After losing their only grandson in a car accident, grief stricken Audrey and Henry, a doctor, kidnap his pregnant patient with the intentions of performing a "Reverse Exorcism," by putting Jackson inside her unborn child.

The Awakening

Two-time Academy Award winner Charlton Heston stars as an archaeologist driven...

With another winter melting away, Scream Factory will have plenty of scares in store for home media collectors this summer with new June Blu-ray releases of Hunter Hunter, Battle Beyond the Stars (including a Sybil Danning action figure), Kindred, The Awakening, and Sphinx:

Kindred Blu-ray: "Kindred (Street date: June 15th) –After the death of her boyfriend, vulnerable mother-to-be Charlotte (Tamara Lawrance) is taken in by her deceased partner's mother, Margaret (Fiona Shaw), and stepbrother, Thomas (Jack Lawson). But Charlotte's source of comfort soon turns to terror as her benefactors begin to appear increasingly obsessed with her every move. Plagued by mysterious hallucinations, Charlotte finds her suspicions raging with questions about Margaret and Thomas's intentions for her unborn child.

Pre-order now @ https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/kindred?product_id=7592

Check out the trailer @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzsGT31egS4"

Hunter Hunter Blu-ray: "Hunter Hunter (Street date: June 22nd) – In the remote wilderness,...

(Author Gabriel Hershman has written "Black Sheep: the Authorized Biography of Nicol Williamson" (The History Press). Williamson, who passed away in 2011 at age 75, was an enormous talent. John Osborne called him "The greatest actor since Brando". However, he had many personal demons that sidetracked what should have been a far more successful career. Hershman explores the peaks and valleys of this temperamental man's dramatic life and career and in this article reminds us of why his talents and work should be rediscovered.)

By Gabriel Hershman

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Peter O’Toole, Richard Harris, Oliver Reed, Alan Bates, Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and … Nicol Williamson. Just a few of the most influential actors of their generation.

Were you surprised when I mentioned Nicol’s name? He was, at the time of his death, the least well known of that generation of actors. And yet, in my opinion,...

Well, the dog days of summer are fast approaching, and what better way to duck out of the heat than by spending a cool day inside, AC-blasting, with your Blu-ray player and an endless supply of chilled adult beverages. June sees the release of an Alfred Hitchcock classic (beautifully restored), a trio of Lina Wertmüller gems, a nearly lost Michael Curtiz effort, a movie about the sex lives of ghosts, and a plane crash survival tale sold on the, er, ample merits of its female lead.

“The 39 Steps” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935)

Why You Should Care: Because “The 39 Steps,” a crackling (86 minutes!) spy thriller from Alfred Hitchcock, is one of the most beloved British movies of all time, coming in at fourth place in the British Film Institute’s poll of top British films, and more recently, named the 21st greatest British film of all time by movie magazine Total Film. The film,...

Chuck Heston versus a mummy? He should certainly outgun any ancient Egyptian menace. Yet the movie is more of a possession one than the traditional mummy flick. That doesn.t mean that it doesn.t have something to offer. Archeologist Matthew Corbeck (Charlton Heston) is obsessed with finding the lost tomb of Queen Kara. So much so that he is neglecting his very pregnant wife Anne (Jill Townsend) and spending much time in the desert with his assistant Jane (Susannah York). When he does discover the tomb he hammers away on the entrance with a sledgehammer. Each blow causes Anne to have violent contractions. After getting the comatose Anne to the hospital, Matthew can.t help but go back to...

More long hidden horrors are now available as part of Warner's made-to-order Archive Collection. Oh, the classic terrors that await you, dearest reader! Dig it!

Head on over to the Warner Archives and order yours today!

The Awakening

Director: Mike Newell

Cast: Charlton Heston, Susannah York, Jill Townsend, Stephanie Zimbalist

Synopsis

Mention Bram Stoker’s name, and literature and movie buffs will conjure up Count Dracula. But there was more blood in Stoker’s pen. He also wrote The Jewel of the Seven Stars, later filmed with chilling effect as The Awakening, grippingly directed by Mike Newell (Dance with a Stranger, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and sensuously shot on Egyptian locations by veteran cinematographer Jack Cardiff. Charlton Heston stars as an Egyptologist with a passion that will trigger several mysterious deaths. He’s obsessed with a sorceress whose return has been prophesied – and whose tomb he opened...

Actor whose unpredictability never undermined his electrifying talent

Nicol Williamson, whose death of oesophageal cancer at the age of 73 has been announced, was arguably the most electrifying actor of his generation, but one whose career flickered and faded like a faulty light fitting. Tall and wiry, with a rasping scowl of a voice, a battered baby face and a mop of unruly curls, he was the best modern Hamlet since John Gielgud, and certainly the angriest, though he scuppered his own performance at the Round House, north London, in 1969, by apologising to the audience and walking off the stage. The experience was recycled in a 1991 Broadway comedy called I Hate Hamlet, in which he proved his point and fell out badly with his co-star.

Williamson's greatest performance was as the dissolute and disintegrating lawyer Bill Maitland in John Osborne's Inadmissible Evidence at the Royal Court theatre in 1964. It was...

We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but word has come that Scottish actor Nicol Williamson has died in Holland at the age of 73 from cancer. Apparently he passed just before Christmas, but the news is just now getting out.

The colorful Scot – who was described by playwright John Osborne as the greatest actor since Marlon Brando and by Samuel Beckett as “touched by genius” – had not made a film since 1997’s superhero picture Spawn. To modern filmgoers the Tony Award-winning actor is best known as Father Morning in The Exorcist III and Merlin in Excalibur.

Ultimately, acting didn’t seem to mean all that much to Williamson, who died in relative poverty. As he once observed: “Actors act too much.” He had in recent years been concentrating on music.

His son, Luke, by former wife Jill Townsend, says his father was eager that no fuss should be made about his passing.

The Telegraph is reporting that actor Nicol Williamson (Excalibur, Robin And Marian) has sadly passed away.

Barely three months after Inadmissible Evidence, the John Osborne play that made his name, was revived in London, Nicol Williamson has died, aged 73, in Holland.

The colourful Scot - who was described by Osborne as the greatest actor since Marlon Brando, and, by Samuel Beckett, as “touched by genius” had not made a film since 1997′s superhero picture Spawn. He had, in recent years, been concentrating on music.

His son, Luke, by his former wife Jill Townsend, tells Mandrake that he died just before Christmas after a two-year fight with oesophageal cancer and was eager that no fuss should be made about his passing. To modern filmgoers, he is probably best known for The Exorcist III and for playing Merlin in Excalibur.

I’ve always held a soft spot for this actor. Loved him...