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In a long-expected shake-up in the marketing divisions of struggling Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists studios, Michael Vollman is leaving his job at Paramount Pictures to head marketing at the sister movie companies. As the new executive vice president of worldwide marketing at MGM, he replaces Perry Stahman. At UA, Vollman succeeds Dennis Rice as president of worldwide marketing. He will consult with UA Chief Executive Paula Wagner but will report directly to Mary Parent, the recently installed chairwoman of MGM's Worldwide Motion Picture Group.

Robert E. Relyea, who began producing films with actor Steve McQueen in the 1960s and rose to president of production for MGM/UA in the late 1990s, has died. He was 82. The Hollywood veteran, who also worked with such actors as Elvis Presley and John Wayne and directors John Sturges, Robert Wise, Peter Yates, Stanley Donen and William Wyler, died March 12 at a Thousand Oaks hospital of natural causes, his family said. Born May 3, 1930, in Santa Monica, the UCLA graduate was the third generation of his family to work in the film industry.

Australia-owned Qintex Entertainment Inc. announced today that its board of directors unanimously approved the $1-billion acquisition of MGM-UA Communications Co. The deal, in essence, will split the present MGM-UA company, and leave majority shareholder Kirk Kerkorian in control of the MGM portion of the business. The renamed United Artists Corp. would be the first big American motion picture studio to pass into foreign hands. Australian-turned-U.S. citizen Rupert Murdoch owns 20th Century Fox Film Corp.

Karen Sortito, a movie-marketing executive best known for groundbreaking product tie-ins to James Bond films in the 1990s, has died. She was 49. Sortito died Monday of cancer at her New York City home, said her friend Terry Curtin, co-president of Cimarron Entertainment. "She was a true pioneer in the world of branding," Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said in a statement. Sortito had worked for him at 20th Century Fox and Revolution Studios.

On behalf of parents, I would like to thank MGA/UA and UA movie president Richard Berger for taking such a responsible stance in regard to the type of films that the studio will produce. ILA HIRSCH, Los Angeles

Andrew B. Benson was appointed vice president-finance and administration at Landmark Entertainment Group in Los Angeles. He has held various financial posts at MGM, MGM/UA Entertainment Co. and Turner Entertainment Co.

A look at the fast-moving compact discs. CD DISC MUSIC, 10069 Valley View St., Cypress. (714) 761-7960. Sonic Temple, The Cult (Sire) The Raw & the Cooked, Fine Young Cannibals (MCA) Vol. 1, Traveling Wilburys (Wilbury) Mystery Girl, Roy Orbison (Virgin) My Brave Face (Extended Play), Paul McCartney (Parlophone) RAZZ RECORDS, 18310 Imperial Highway, Yorba Linda. (714) 579-7734. "Beaches" Soundtrack, Various Artists (Atlantic) Sonic Temple, The Cult (Sire)

I am the unidentified MGM stockholder referred to in the " 'Pirates' Ho" article who was outraged that MGM/UA would have anything to do with Roman Polanski. This man fled the United States to avoid criminal prosecution on statutory charges concerning unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl. Chairman Frank Rothman's answer that Polanski was hired by Dino De Laurentiis and not MGM/UA was a cop-out. I don't believe Polanski should profit from any of his work in this country until he comes back to this country and faces the statutory rape charges against him. The sentiment of the stockholders at the meeting was overwhelmingly against the company having anything to do with Polanski.

Many thanks to Michael Wilmington for his positive review of Robert Altman's "O.C. and Stiggs," one of the year's best movies (" 'O.C. and Stiggs' an Altman to Enjoy," Oct. 10). Once again, a major company (this time, MGM/UA) has been baffled and frightened by Altman's originality, unable to concoct even the simplest "Porky's"-esque marketing strategy for this anarchic, genre-exploding teen comedy. Par for Altman's course, "O.C. and Stiggs" was taken off the shelf after two years, only to be left to die a quiet death in a 100-seat auditorium somewhere in Century City.

Andy Albeck, a former longtime United Artists executive whose tenure as president and chief executive in the late 1970s and early '80s was clouded by the high-profile failure of the epic western "Heaven's Gate," has died. He was 89. Albeck died of heart failure Sept. 29 at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, said his son, Johannes. In a 30-year career at United Artists that included serving as president of UA's broadcasting division and senior vice president of operations, Albeck was appointed the company's president and chief executive in 1978.

Andy Albeck, a former longtime United Artists executive whose tenure as president and chief executive in the late 1970s and early '80s was clouded by the high-profile failure of the epic western "Heaven's Gate," has died. He was 89. Albeck died of heart failure Sept. 29 at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, said his son, Johannes. In a 30-year career at United Artists that included serving as president of UA's broadcasting division and senior vice president of operations, Albeck was appointed the company's president and chief executive in 1978.

As if Mary Parent didn't have enough to do trying to transform MGM from an also-ran into a studio that Hollywood can take seriously. Now, the former Universal Pictures executive who was hired in March to turn things around also has to help get movies made at MGM's troubled smaller sister United Artists -- something recently departed Chief Executive Paula Wagner apparently had trouble doing during her truncated tenure.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.'s much-ballyhooed plan to revive the moribund United Artists studio was derailed Wednesday when the movie label's chief executive, Paula Wagner, stepped down after less than two years on the job.

In a long-expected shake-up in the marketing divisions of struggling Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists studios, Michael Vollman is leaving his job at Paramount Pictures to head marketing at the sister movie companies. As the new executive vice president of worldwide marketing at MGM, he replaces Perry Stahman. At UA, Vollman succeeds Dennis Rice as president of worldwide marketing. He will consult with UA Chief Executive Paula Wagner but will report directly to Mary Parent, the recently installed chairwoman of MGM's Worldwide Motion Picture Group.

United Artists, the independent production unit of MGM controlled by actor Tom Cruise and his producer partner, Paula Wagner, is expected to become the first movie company to reach an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America, enabling the recent start-up to hire union writers despite the continuing strike. The guild, which is close to finalizing a deal with UA that is expected to be signed possibly as early as today, is also in discussions with several other independent companies, including Lionsgate and the Weinstein Co., about similar interim agreements.

For actor Tom Cruise and his partners, getting half a billion dollars to finance films amid the ongoing credit crunch might seem like "Mission: Impossible." But that didn't happen. United Artists, the storied film label that Cruise, producing partner Paula Wagner and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. are reviving, said Thursday that it had secured the $500 million it had been seeking through Merrill Lynch to finance 15 to 18 films over the next five years.

Veteran movie marketer and publicist Dennis Rice is leaving Walt Disney Co. to join United Artists, the historic film label being revived by actor Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner, his longtime producing partner. As president of worldwide marketing and publicity, Rice will oversee UA's theatrical, home video and other promotional campaigns and will report to Wagner, who is chief executive of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. unit. Rice said Wednesday that working for Disney was "a Hollywood dream job."

Two months after he was kicked out of Paramount Pictures, actor Tom Cruise and his producing partner are returning as part owners of one of Hollywood's most storied movie names. The deal for Cruise and longtime associate Paula Wagner to own at least 30% of a resurrected United Artists reflects a changing economic climate in the movie industry in which outside money from sophisticated investors is increasingly bankrolling stars and filmmakers as an alternative to studio checkbooks.