into film distribution. He owned the rights to all of his films and spent the '80s and '90s reselling them on the home video / DVD market. Unrealized projects Apostolof developed several film ideas that never saw completion (e.g., Wood-scripted The Teachers, The Basketballers). The most notable of these were a sequel to his most successful film Orgy of the Dead called The New Generation and a thriller entitled State of Fear. In the early '90s he was also planning on shooting a documentary on his own life and career. Personal life Apostolof was married three times. His first marriage was to a woman named Joan, and it produced four children: Maria, Susan, Polly and Steve. In 1964, after divorcing Joan, he married Patricia J. Rudl, but three years later they divorced. In 1973 he met and married Shelley Barbara Cooper and had a son Christopher. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Apostolof moved with Shelley to Las Vegas, Nevada, and then to Mesa, Arizona. Religion Although he was part of one of the most "liberated" industries and most of his films had a strong sexual content, Apostolof himself was a very religious man. On December 8, 1961, he and Dr. Matthew Jeikoff along with other Bulgarian emigres founded "St. George", the first Bulgarian Orthodox church in Los Angeles. The church had strong ties to Simeon II, the Bulgarian king in exile, and soon became a bulwark of Bulgarian anti-Communists and monarchists in Los Angeles. Death Near the end of his life, Apostolof had worked on the script for a projected post-apocalyptic thriller entitled State of Fear. Despite some preliminary work, the story was never filmed. Stephen Apostolof died on August 14, 2005, aged 77 in Mesa, Arizona. Legacy Apostolof made 17 feature films in a career that lasted only 20 years. Today Apostolof may not be a household—or even vaguely familiar—name to many, but he and his films have attracted a cult following over the years. His legacy lives on, ridiculed or revered by critics and fans alike. He has taken a permanent place in the B-movie culture and is widely recognized as one of the greatest American erotic filmmakers. In 1987 The Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival honored him with a special screening of Orgy of the Dead, and all his films were released on video in the 1980s and re-released on DVD in the 1990s and 2000s. In