Malibu Bay Films, which earlier Monday reported the death of actress Julie Strain, is now saying that the B-movie queen is still alive.
“The information we received from a trusted source of the community on the status of [Malibu Bay Films] icon #julie strain was found to be FALSE!” the film company posted on Instagram. “We deeply apologize for needlessly upsetting anyone as well as ourselves! We have asked THR for a retraction as well. Thank you and God Bless Julie & family.”
Malibu Bay Films, for whom Strain, 57, appeared in several B-movies, earlier wrote on Facebook and Instagram that the actress had died Sunday. “She will forever remain in our hearts and on our screens as the mesmerizingly talented, contagiously kind and incredibly powerful actress and heroine,” a company statement said. Those posts have been deleted.
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Arlene Sidaris, who owns Malibu Bay Films (her late husband, Andy Sidaris, founded the company), said she had “just spoken with Julie’s partner Dave who has confirmed that she is NOT dead,” an assistant to Sidaris wrote in an email to THR.
Strain’s condition is not known.
A familiar face on the comic-convention circuit, the statuesque Strain has been suffering from early-onset dementia caused by a traumatic head injury she incurred in her early 20s when she was thrown from a horse in an equestrian accident. The fall wiped out all of her teenage memories.
Strain took a trip to Las Vegas to help recover from the trauma. It was there, while sitting ringside at the December 1989 Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran title fight, that she was discovered by a talent scout. That led her to Hollywood.
