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Greg Hildebrandt, the admired artist and illustrator who created movie posters for the original Star Wars and Clash of the Titans, drew Marvel characters and designed iconic 1970s calendars that celebrated the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has died. He was 85.

Hildebrandt died in Denville, New Jersey, his son, Greg Jr., told The Hollywood Reporter. For the past five months, he had been dealing with a serious side effect from a heart medication.

The artist, who frequently partnered with his late twin brother, Tim Hildebrandt, also illustrated covers for DC Comics and trading cards for an epic 1994 Marvel Masterpieces set; painted artwork for Dungeons & Dragons calendars; and designed covers for the 1981 Black Sabbath album Mob Rules and many LPs from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Without having access to film stills and publicity photos and given a very tight deadline by 20th Century Fox, the brothers painted the “Style B” poster for the U.

Count Dracula (1977) on BBC was the most faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, focusing on realism and accuracy over sensationalism. Director Philip Saville crafted a nuanced, gritty TV movie of Dracula, with standout performances, like Louis Jourdan as Count Dracula. Despite some minor changes in character relationships, Count Dracula stayed closest to the original gothic masterpiece by Bram Stoker.

Bram Stoker's 1897 Dracula has become a staple of the screen since its first adaptation by director Tod Browning in 1931, which placed Bela Lugosi in a career-defining role. Since then, there have been multiple screen adaptations of the work and over 80 movies featuring the 'Prince of Darkness' in some role. Some of these adaptations became great commercial and critical successes, such as Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 movie Bram Stokers Dracula.

Many movie adaptations have taken liberties with the source material, crafting a sensational and engaging rendition to draw audiences into the theater.

Desmond Davis' 1981 fantasy film "Clash of the Titans" is a special effect extravaganza for the ages. Many of the film's creatures — Medusa, a Kraken, an evil satyr, and a mechanical owl named Bubo — were realized via some amazing stop-motion animation provided by SFX legend Ray Harryhausen. The bold, fantastical imagery matches the broad, archetypal story about the brave human hero Perseus (Harry Hamlin), and his role in a godly conflict involving Zeus (Laurence Olivier), the bitter Calibos (Neil McCarthy), and his bride-to-be Andromeda (Judi Bowker). The film at large is a little corny, but, like 1977's "Star Wars" or "Raiders of the Lost Ark" from the same year, "Clash of the Titans" takes something mythic and turns it into a slick, enjoyable Saturday matinee entertainment.

Prior to "Clash of the Titans," Hamlin had appeared in only one feature film, a diptych comedy called "Movie Movie," directed by Stanley Donen. The following year,...

Director best known for the 1981 film classic Clash of the Titans

Desmond Davis, who has died aged 95, was a British director widely known for his 1981 Hollywood film fantasy Clash of the Titans, a saga of Greek myths and legends, thrilling duels to the death, and fearsome creatures and visual effects that were brought to the screen by the great animator Ray Harryhausen.

Harryhausen’s creativity was matched by a stellar cast, with two film newcomers, Harry Hamlin as Perseus and Judi Bowker as Andromeda, joined by Laurence Olivier as Zeus, Claire Bloom as Hera and Maggie Smith as Thetis.

The highly anticipated thriller Feast Of Varanasi premiered to a packed audience on Saturday 5th March as part of the London Asian Film Festival in central London.

Attended by the main cast and crew including director Rajan Kumar Patel, Ashwath Bhatt, Holly Gilbert and award winning producer Caroline O Reilly, the dark thriller has received huge praise from critics and the audience alike. Guests included: The Mayor and Mayoress of Kingston Upon Thames, EastEnder’s star Nitin Ganatra, comedian and playwright Nigel Planer and actress Seeta Indrani.

Director Rajan Patel commented: “It was great to see so many people support Independent cinema. It’s so important for independent filmmakers to be given a platform to showcase their talent. The whole project from start to finish has been a real labour of love for everyone involved. I have had the good fortune to work with such a wonderful production team and...

Raquel Welch wigs vs. Ray Harryhausen monsters: One Million Years B.C. [See previous post: "Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan Dies."] Without Charles H. Schneer as producer, Ray Harryhausen created the visual effects for the 1966 camp classic One Million Years B.C. — though, admittedly, his work in that movie played second fiddle to Raquel Welch’s physical effects as a blonde-bewigged (?) cavewoman parading around Earth’s pre-history in a cleavage-enhancing fur bikini. Whereas in producer Hal Roach’s 1940 effort One Million B.C., lizards made up as dinosaurs made life difficult for Victor Mature and Carole Landis, in the creationist-style pre-history of the 1966 (sort-of) remake, Raquel Welch and fellow caveman John Richardson had to square off against Harryhausen’s stop-motion models of giant reptiles. (Photo: Raquel Welch One Million Years B.C.) [Please scroll down to check out TCM's beautiful Ray Harryhausen tribute.] Starring James Franciscus and featuring Earth vs. the Flying Saucers‘ Richard Carlson, The Valley of Gwangi (1969) was Harryhausen’s next-to-last mid-level effort. Both The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), with John Phillip Law,...

Pope Movies (photo: Anthony Quinn in ‘The Shoes of the Fisherman’) [See previous post: "Pope Francis Movie in the Works?"] Now, do we need another Pope Movie? Well, actually there haven’t been that many. Most notable among the Pope Movies of decades past are Michael Anderson’s widely lambasted The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), with Anthony Quinn as what one pundit called "Zorba the Pope," and Nanni Moretti’s widely acclaimed comedy-drama We Have a Pope, with Michel Piccoli as a cardinal who reluctantly is elected chief of the Catholic Church. Here are a few more: Rex Harrison hammed it up as Pope Julius II to Charlton Heston’s equally risible Michelangelo in Carol Reed’s The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965); Liv Ullmann played the title role in Michael Anderson’s critically massacred Pope Joan (1972), about the alleged medieval female pope; and Finlay Currie reverentially incarnated the official first pope, St. Peter, in Mervyn LeRoy’s dreary (and...

Feature Aliya Whiteley 13 Mar 2013 - 06:59

Aliya salutes one of Hollywood's most suave and talented actors - the great Louis Jourdan...

Traditionally Hollywood works in boxes. It finds a box, and then it places an actor in it. The box of the French lover has been filled by quite a few stars over the years: Charles Boyer, Maurice Chevalier, Yves Montand, Pepe Le Pew, Alain Delon, and even Gerard Depardieu for one moment in the madly entertaining Green Card.

Louis Jourdan was the most classically handsome of these actors (yes, even more debonair than the skunk). He had a smile that the camera loved and a way of cocking his head and crossing his legs that exuded style. Most well known for Vincent Minnelli’s chocolate-box love affair with France, Gigi, he brought a sense of humour to the film that kept it fresh, but it was a retread of his standard role.

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Clash of the Titans (Original Release Date: 12 June 1981)

The original Clash of the Titans has gotten some attention thanks to last year's remake. I guess that's cool, but I don't know how capable it is of making new fans. I can see people new to it liking it for what they feel to be kitsch. Looking at it as an adult, I can also imagine its original audience seeing it as kitsch. Harryhausen's old-school approach to stop-motion looks creaky in comparison to the "go motion" developed by Phil Tippett for Empire Strikes Back, so it might have been a tough sell even then.

It looks a little creaky in comparison to the best of earlier Harryhausen, too, so that doesn't help matters. The Rotoscoping is more apparent than it is in The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts. Shading mismatches,...

Rosamund Pike ("Die Another Day," "An Education") has begun negotiations to take over the role of Princess Andromeda in "Wrath of the Titans" for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures says Heat Vision.

Judi Bowker played the role in the original 1981 "Clash of the Titans" and served as the love interest for Perseus (Harry Hamlin"). In last year's remake, Alexa Davalos took on the role which was considerably changed and cut down with Gemma Arterton's Io assuming much of the romantic interest of Perseus.

Arterton, Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes are all attached to reprise their roles in this follow-up to the remake. Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: Los Angeles) helms the project and shooting kicks off next month for release in March 2012.

Rosamund Pike, most recently rumored to be considering a part in the new Superman movie, may now be appearing in Wrath of the Titans. Deadline reports that Warner Brothers is near closing a deal with Ms. Pike to play Andromeda in the sequel to Clash of the Titans.

She first gained widespread public attention as a Bond Girl in Die Another Day. Since then she's mostly been in indie movies, with the occasional foray into big-budget features, including Pride and Prejudice (hooray!) and Surrogates (slightly less hooray! But she was still quite good.) If she accepts the role in Wrath of the Titans she will join another Bond Girl, as Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace) will reprise her role as Io.

The movie, set to be directed by Johnathan Liebesman (Battle: Los Angeles), picks up where Clash left off; but hopefully since it's not a remake of a classic of early eighties cheese,...

By the year 1981 the film world had already been rocked by the arrival of a tiny film called Star Wars. Special effects were never going to be the same again and yet stop-motion pioneer Ray Harryhausen wasn’t going to let a little thing like George Lucas change the way he went about his work.

Clash of the Titans was going to be his swansong and he knew full well that the industry was changing, but rather than adapt, he thought it best to stay true to his roots and call it a night.

It may not be the best film he had worked on but it remains one of the most memorable cinematic experiences in my life. I didn’t see the film on release, in fact I wasn’t born until 1983 but I will never forget the first time I was introduced to Perseus.

I was in primary...

One of the most amazing things about 1981’s Clash of the Titans is how out of time it feels. It’s a film that was definitely sold to children partly because of the great success of Star Wars, but other than the mechanical owl Bubo, it doesn’t feel very Star Wars-y, and it definitely doesn’t feel like a film of the 1980’s. And for an 80’s film, it’s loaded with a cast of British stars like Laurence Olivier as Zeus, Claire Bloom as Hera, and Maggie Smith as Thetis, alongside Americans like Harry Hamlin as Perseus, and Burgess Meredith as Ammon, so it doesn’t feel entirely British or American. Director Desmond Davis directs with all the precision of an Amicus film from the early 70’s, so it has a slightly stagey, kinda television feel. But the stop motion animation of Ray Harryhausen is timeless. And...

Chicago – The Winter Olympics coverage on NBC made it impossible for viewers to ignore the fact that there is indeed a “Clash of the Titans” remake coming out in April. This may seem redundant, since the vast majority of modern fantasy has in some way ripped off Greek mythology. Both “Harry Potter” and “Percy Jackson” include a variation on Medusa, the reptilian villain with snake hair and a stoney stare.

Medusa has been giving young moviegoers nightmares for decades, thanks to Ray Harryhausen, whose distinctive stop-motion effects have enhanced cinema since the early 40s. Their herky-jerky movement has a life and immediacy that simply can’t be mimicked by today’s all-too-fluid CGI. 1981’s “Titans” marked the last time Harryhausen served as “special visual effects creator.” It’s a tribute to his mastery that the film still has a timeless grandeur, despite the fact that its effects now seem to...

Liam Neeson, 56, whose wife Natasha Richardson died last March 18, is set to begin work on a remake of Clash of the Titans. Neeson will play Zeus, the ancient Greeks’ top god (Zeus is akin to the Latin Deus, God), a role played by Laurence Olivier in the 1981 film. Louis Leterrier, of The Incredible Hulk, is set to direct the new version, which is scheduled to begin production in the United Kingdom later this month. Also in the new Clash of the Titans are Ralph Fiennes playing Hades, ruler of the underworld, Luke Treadaway (of Brothers of the Head), Mads Mikkelsen, Sam Worthington, Gemma Arterton, and Alexa Davalos. This will mark Neeson’s and Fiennes’ first film reunion since Schindler’s List back in 1993. Directed by Desmond Davis, the original Clash of the Titans featured stop-motion visual effects by Ray Harryhausen (who also co-produced the film), and starred Harry Hamlin and Judi Bowker.