Stephen C. Apostolof was a Bulgarian-American filmmaker born on February 25, 1928, in Burgas, Bulgaria. He later claimed asylum in the United States in the 1940s. Apostolof is often credited under pseudonyms such as A.C. Stephen(s) or Robert Lee.
As a filmmaker, Apostolof specialized in the erotic film genre and produced a large body of work primarily between the late 1960s and the late 1970s. One of his earliest films, Journey to Freedom (1957),was an anti-Communist picture inspired by his own life. The film was produced with director of photography William C. Thompson and Swedish-born actor Tor Johnson, who would later work with infamous director Edward D. Wood Jr.
Apostolof made his directorial debut with Orgy of the Dead (1965),which was written by Ed Wood and starred Criswell. Outtakes from this film and interview segments with Apostolof were included in the 1994 documentary Ed Wood: Look Back in Angora, released by Rhino Home Video. During the 1960s and 1970s, Apostolof directed nine screenplays written by Wood.
Apostolof was interviewed for an article on the making of Orgy of the Dead in the horror/science fiction magazine Femme Fatales (7:1, June 1998) and for an eight-page interview with Psychotronic Video in 1990.
Stephen Apostolof passed away on August 14, 2005, at the age of 77. He is survived by his second wife and five children.
