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Steven Hilliard Stern, a writer, director and producer whose work included the Elliott Gould-Bill Cosby comedy The Devil and Max Devlin, died Wednesday in Encino, his daughter Melanie Stern announced. He was 80.

Stern helmed episodes of shows like Serpico, McCloud, Quincy M.E. and Hawaii Five-o and directed more than three dozen telefilms, including Miracle on Ice, about the 1980 gold-winning U.S. hockey team, and 1983's Still the Beaver, which reunited the cast of the sitcom Leave It to Beaver.

Stern also wrote and directed Running (1979), a drama starring Michael Douglas and Susan Anspach (she co-starred in The Devil and Max Devlin, which he produced, as ...

Steven Hilliard Stern, a writer, director and producer whose work included the Elliott Gould-Bill Cosby comedy The Devil and Max Devlin, died Wednesday in Encino, his daughter Melanie Stern announced. He was 80.

Stern helmed episodes of shows like Serpico, McCloud, Quincy M.E. and Hawaii Five-O and directed more than three dozen telefilms, including Miracle on Ice, about the 1980 gold-winning U.S. hockey team, and 1983's Still the Beaver, which reunited the cast of the sitcom Leave It to Beaver.

Stern also wrote and directed Running (1979), a drama starring Michael Douglas and Susan Anspach (she co-starred in The Devil and Max Devlin, which he produced, as ...

Christopher Reeve: 'Superman' and his movies (photo: Christopher Reeve in 'Superman' 1978) Christopher Reeve, Superman in four movies from 1978 to 1987, died ten years ago today. In 1995, while taking part in a cross-country horse race in Culpeper, Virginia, Reeve was thrown off his horse, hitting his head on the top rail of a jump; the near-fatal accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. He ultimately succumbed to heart failure at age 52 on October 10, 2004. Long before he was cast as Superman aka Clark Kent, the Manhattan-born (as Christopher D'Olier Reeve on September 25, 1952), Cornell University and Juillard School for Drama alumnus was an ambitious young actor whose theatrical apprenticeship included, while still a teenager, some time as an observer at London's Old Vic and Paris' Comédie Française. At age 23, he landed his first Broadway role in a production of Enid Bagnold's A Matter of Gravity, starring Katharine Hepburn.

Lesleh Donaldson with Cinema Retro columnist Todd Garbarini.

By Todd Garbarini

Richard Ciupka’s unfairly maligned 1983 horror film Curtains was screened recently as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Scary Movies 7 exhibition that also included screenings of Lucky McKee’s new film All Cheerleaders Die, Michele Soavi’s highly regarded Cemetery Man (1994), Eli Roth’s new film The Green Inferno, John D. Hancock’s ultra creepy Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971), the New York premiere of Clive Barker’s 1990 film Nightbreed - the Cabal Cut, and Peter Carter’s brilliant Rituals (1977), better known as The Creeper, which stars Hal Holbrook and Lawrence Dane in a film that is clearly influenced by John Boorman’s Deliverance (1971) but easily stands on its own as a strong piece of independent filmmaking.

Appearing in person at the Curtains screening was actress Lesleh Donaldson who played Christie Burns, the ice skater in the film.

J. Lee Thompson is an auteur – he’s an amazing director with a personal sense of style, usually low-key and humorous, and actors love working with him. With films like The Guns of Navarone (1961), Cape Fear (1962), Conquest of the Planet Of the Apes (1972) and Battle For the Planet Of The Apes (1973), J. Lee Thompson is a favorite amongst genre fans. My personal favorite is The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud (1975), starring Michael Sarrazin, Jennifer O’Neill and Margot Kidder. If you haven’t seen this film, you need to run to your nearest video/dvd rental store – David Fincher currently holds the remake rights, so it’s only a matter of time before we see a redux! In the early 80s, Thompson directed the popular horror cult classic Happy Birthday To Me (1981), starring Melissa Sue Anderson (of Little House On The Prairie fame) Glenn Ford (who needs no introduction), and Lesleh Donaldson...