Best New Horror 27

by Stephen Jones

  French-born Hollywood leading man Louis Jourdan (Louis Robert Gendre) died in Beverly Hills on February 14. He was 93. Jourdan portrayed the suave titular bloodsucker in the BBC’s 1977 Count Dracula, and his other credits include Julie (as Doris Day’s psychopathic husband), Fear No Evil and Ritual of Evil (as psychic investigator “Dr. David Sorell”), Swamp Thing and The Return of Swamp Thing (as mad scientist “Arcane”), and Octopussy (as Bond villain “Kamal”), along with an episode of ITV Play of the Week (‘Gaslight’). Having once described himself as Hollywood’s “French cliché”, in 2010 he was given that country’s top award, the Légion d’honneur.

  British character actress Pamela (Isabel) Cundell died the same day, aged 95. She had small roles in Memoirs of a Survivor, A Fantastic Fear of Everything, and episodes of TV’s Pardon My Genie, The Borrowers (1992), The Return of the Borrowers and Goodnight Sweetheart. Said to have been a descendant of one of the original playing company of William Shakespeare, her third husband (1981-87) was comedy actor Bill Fraser.

  British actor Alan (Mackenzie) Howard CBE, who was the “Voice of the Ring” in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, died of pneumonia on February 14, aged 77. The cousin of actor Ronald Howard, he also appeared in episodes of TV’s Tales of Mystery, The Return of Sherlock Holmes and the BBC’s two-part Witchcraft.

  British character actress Eileen Essell, who played “Grandma Josephine” in Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), died on February 15, aged 92. Her other credits include Finding Neverland and episodes of TV’s Strange, Torchwood, Clone and Demons.

  34-year-old American character actor Ben Woolf (Benjamin Eric Woolf) died of a head injury on February 23, after being struck by the wing-mirror of a passing car while jaywalking in Los Angeles the previous week. Best known for his roles in the FX Network’s American Horror Story and American Horror Story: Freak Show, the four-foot, three-and-a-half inch actor was also in Insidious, Unlucky Charms, Dead Kansas, Haunting Charles Manson and Tales of Halloween.

  American actor, poet and photographer Leonard (Simon) Nimoy, best known for his iconic portrayal of half-human Vulcan science officer “Mr. Spock” in NBC-TV’s original Star Trek series (1966-69) and various spin-offs, died of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on February 27. He was 83 and had been suffering from the disease for some time. Nimoy went on to play the conflicted Spock in the spin-off movies Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and J.J. Abrams’ 2009 re-boot Star Trek and its sequel, Star Trek: Into Darkness, along with Star Trek: The Animated Series and a two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. He voiced “Galvatron” in the 1986 animated feature The Transformers: The Movie, and “Sentinel Prime” in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The actor was also the voice of “Mr. Moundshroud” in the 1993 adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree, and he voiced Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in The Pagemaster. Nimoy’s other voice work includes Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists, Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Land of the Lost (2009) and the TV series Invasion America, Futurama and The Big Bang Theory (as “Spock” again). His other movie appearances include Francis Goes to West Point, the serial Zombies of the Stratosphere, Them!, The Brain Eaters (credited as “Leonard Nemoy”), Baffled! and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). On TV he was a semi-regular in Mission: Impossible (1969-1971) and Fringe (2009-12), guest-starred on such shows as The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits (appearing as different characters in both the 1964 and 1995 versions of Eando Binder’s ‘I, Robot’), The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart, Night Gallery and Faerie Tale Theatre, and hosted the paranormal documentary series In Search of…(1977-82). Nimoy also came up with the original stories for Star Trek IV and VI, and he directed III and IV. He also directed episodes of TV’s Night Gallery (Everil Worrell’s ‘Death on a Barge’), The Powers of Matthew Star and the short-lived series Deadly Games (1995-96), on which he was also an executive producer. His 1977 autobiography was entitled I Am Not Spock, which he followed in 1995 with I Am Spock, while his first record album was titled Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer Space. “Given the choice,” he once wrote, “if I had to be someone else, I would be Spock.”

  American character actor Daniel von Bargen, who portrayed the resurrected magician “Nix” in Clive Barker’s Lord of Illusions (1995), died of complications from diabetes on March 1, aged 64. He was also in The Silence of the Lambs, Shadows and Fog, Basic Instinct, RoboCop 3, Broken Arrow, Thinner, The Postman, Inferno (1998), The Faculty, Universal Soldier: The Return and S1m0ne. On TV Bargen appeared in episodes of The Pretender, The X Files, Fantasy Island (1999) and The Fearing Mind.

  American actress Lynn Borden (Lynn Freyse) died after a long illness on March 3, aged 77. A former Miss Arizona, she appeared in The Wrecking Crew (uncredited), Frogs, Hellhole, and episodes of TV’s Get Smart, The Fantastic Journey and Fantasy Island.

  Hollywood leading lady Sally Forrest (Katherine Sally Feeney) died of cancer on March 15, aged 86. Plucked from obscurity by actress/director Ida Lupino, she starred alongside Charles Laughton, Boris Karloff and Michael Pate in The Strange Door (1951), and her other screen credits include Son of Sinbad (with Vincent Price). She retired from acting in 1967.

  Mexican character actor Rico Alaniz (Americo Zorilla Alaniz) died on March 9, aged 97. He appeared in Phantom of the Rue Morgue and War of the Colossal Beast, along with two episodes of TV’s The Wild Wild West.

  British TV presenter Shaw Taylor (Eric Stanley Taylor) MBE died on March 17, aged 90. Best known for presenting such programmes as ITV’s Police Five (1962-2014), he began his career with an uncredited bit part in Hammer’s X the Unknown (1956), and also appeared in The Medusa Touch before turning up as himself in a 2008 episode of Ashes to Ashes.

  Despite a solid career in numerous movies and TV shows (especially Westerns and crime dramas) throughout his forty-year career, American actor Gregory Walcott (Bernard Wasdon Mattox), who died on March 20, aged 87, is best remembered for his starring role as hero “Jeff Trent” in Edward D. Wood, Jr.’s infamous Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). “I didn’t want to be remembered for that,” the actor told The Los Angeles Times in 2000, “but it’s better to be remembered for something than for nothing, don’t you think?” He also turned up in episodes of The Invisible Man (1975), Gemini Man, Land of the Lost and The Six Million Dollar Man, the sequel House II: The Second Story, and as a potential backer in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood (1994).

  60-year-old Canadian actress (Faith Susan) Alberta Watson, who was a regular on the TV series La Femme Nikita (1997-2001) and Nikita (2011-12), died of cancer on March 21. Her other credits include Virus, The Keep (based on the novel by F. Paul Wilson), Murder in Space, White of the Eye and The Risen, along with episodes of The Hitchhiker and The Outer Limits (1995).

  Italian actor Ivo Garrani died in his sleep on March 25, aged 91. Best remembered for his role as the father of Barbara Steele’s character in Mario Bava’s Black Sunday (aka The Mask of Satan), his other film credits include Hercules (1958), The Day the Sky Exploded, The Giant of Marathon, The Night They Killed Rasputin, Atom Age Vampire, Hercules and the Captive Women, Holocaust 2000 and Zora the Vampire. Garrani was also the Italian dubbing voice for Cedric Hardwicke in The Ghost of Frankenstein, Brian Donlevy in Hammer’s The Quatermass Xperiment, and Edmond O’Brien in both The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) and 1984 (1956).

  American actor Robert Z’Dar (Robert James Zdarsky), best known for his role as the scarred, homicidal police officer “Matt Cordell” in Maniac Cop (1988) and its two sequels, Maniac Cop 2 and Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence, died of cardiac arrest on March 30 while attending a convention. He was 64. The distinctive-looking Z’Dar also appeared in Hellhole, The Night Stalker (1986), Cherry 2000, Grotesque, Fresh Kill, Evil Altar, A Gnome Name
d Gnorm (aka Upworld), Soultaker, The Final Sanction, Dragonfight, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal ofTime and Frogtown II. The hard-working actor eventually found himself (often alongside Joe Estevez, William Smith or Conrad Brooks) stuck in cheap, direct-to-video titles like Marching Out of Time, The Mosaic Project, Somtow Sucharitkul’s Ill Met by Moonlight, Run Like Hell, Future War, Guns of El Chupacabra and Guns of El Chupacabra II: The Unseen, Total Force, Trance, Body Shop (aka Deadly Memories), Scary Tales: The Return of Mr. Longfellow, Zombiegeddon, Vampire Blvd., The Rockville Slayer, Super Hell, Drawing Blood, Spaced Out, Voices from the Graves, Deeflowered, Untitled Horror Comedy, La Femme Vampir and La Femme Vampir Volume 2, Post-Mortem, The Voices from Beyond, Little Creeps, Monsters on Main Street, Super Hell 3: Dreams of Horror, Easter Sunday and A Blood Story. Z’Dar’s infrequent TV appearances include episodes of The Flash (1991) and Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction.

  American character actor Tom (Thomas) Towles, who appeared in every movie directed by Rob Zombie, died of complications following a stroke on April 2, aged 65. His credits include Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Night of the Living Dead (1990), The Pit and the Pendulum (1991), The Borrower, Fortress, Warriors of Virtue, The Prophecy II, William Shatner’s Groom Lake, House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects, Grindhouse (trailer for Werewolf Women of the SS), Halloween (2007) and Blood of the Highway. On TV Towles appeared in episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, VR.5, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Star Trek: Voyager, The Pretender and Firefly.

  British character actor Robert Rietty (Lucio Herbert Rietti), the son of veteran Italian actor Victor Rietti, died on April 3, aged 92. His film career began in the early 1930s and he had small roles (often uncredited) in A Matter of Life and Death (aka Stairway to Heaven), The Black Rider (1954), Hammer’s The Snorkel, Bluebeard’s Ten Honeymoons, The Omen (1976), Never Say Never Again, Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady and Hannibal, along with episodes of TV’s H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man, One Step Beyond, The Avengers, The New Avengers and Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense. Known as “The Man of a Thousand Voices”, Rietty was also a prolific voice and dubbing artist, contributing work to his friend Orson Welles’ Othello, Moby Dick (1956), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1957 and 1982 versions), Dr. No, Castle of the Living Dead, Thunderball, The Night Caller (aka Blood Beast from Outer Space), The Night of the Generals, Casino Royale (1967), You Only Live Twice, The Blood of Fu Manchu, Barbarella, The Valley of Gwangi, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Tales from the Crypt, The Ruling Class, Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy, Gawain and the Green Knight, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, From Beyond the Grave, Ten Little Indians (1974), The Devil’s Men (aka Land of the Minotaur), Gulliver’s Travels (1977), The Thief of Baghdad (1978), Hawk the Slayer and For Your Eyes Only, as well as episodes of The Prisoner, UFO, Space: 1999 and the animated webcast series Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time.

  Dependable American character actor Richard (Allen) Dysart, best known for his role in John Carpenter’s The Thing, died of cancer on April 5, aged 86. He was also in The Terminal Man, It Happened One Christmas, Prophecy, Meteor, Pale Rider, Warning Sign and Back to the Future Part III, along with the pilot for TV’s Gemini Man. Dysart was the voice of “Cogliostro” in the animated Spawn series.

  American character actor Rockne (Booth) Tarkington died the same day, aged 83. He appeared in Beware! The Blob, The Intruder Within and The Ice Pirates, along with episodes of TV’s The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bewitched, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Tarzan (1966-67).

  American character actor James Best (Jewel Franklin Guy), who played bumbling sheriff “Rosco P. Coltrane” in CBS’ The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-85) and various spin-offs, died of complications from pneumonia on April 6, aged 88. He starred in the 1959 movie The Killer Shrews, and his other films include Francis Goes to West Point, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Riders to the Stars, Forbidden Planet, Shock Corridor, The Savage Bees and The Brain Machine (1977). Best also scripted and starred in Death Mask and the belated 2012 sequel Return of Killer Shrews. On TV, the actor was in episodes of Men Into Space, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (Ray Bradbury’s ‘The Jar’), The Green Hornet and numerous Westerns.

  American humorist, voice actor, composer, advertising executive and author Stan Freberg (Stanley Victor Friberg) died of pneumonia on April 7, aged 88. A longtime friend of Ray Bradbury and an influence on Stephen King, he began his career voicing Warner Bros. cartoon characters in the 1940s and ‘50s (including Peter Lorre’s mad scientist in the 1947 “Daffy Duck” short Birth of a Notion and Chester the dog in the 1954 Dr. Jerkyl’s Hide). Freberg also contributed voice work to Walt Disney’s The Lady and the Tramp, George Pal’s tom thumb and Bob Clampett’s Time for Beany TV series (as “Cecil”, the 300-year-old sea serpent), before turning up in episodes of The Monkees (‘Monkees vs. Machine’) and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. He also lent his voice talents to Stuart Little, Loony Tunes: Back in Action and the ‘Family Dog’ episode of Amazing Stories, along with Freakazoid!, Duck Dodgers and many other animated shows. Freberg recorded a number of hit parody records, including ‘St. George and the Dragonet’ and ‘Green Christmas’. His advertising contracts included the clause: “The decision as to what’s funny and what is not funny shall rest solely with Mr. Freberg”.

  Memorable American character actor Geoffrey (Bond) Lewis, the father of actress Juliette Lewis, died of a heart attack the same day, aged 79. He appeared in The Todd Killings, Moon of the Wolf, High Plains Drifter, Human Experiments, Salem’s Lot, The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair, Night of the Comet, Annihilator, Out of the Dark, Disturbed, The Lawnmower Man, Wishman, Trilogy of Terror II, Vampire Resurrection (aka Song of the Vampire), The Fallen Ones, The Devil’s Rejects, Voodoo Moon, Fingerprints, Wicked Little Things and Mommy’s Little Monster, while his TV credits include episodes of The Name of the Game (‘LA 2017’), Ark II, The Six Million Dollar Man, Quark, Mork & Mindy, The Amazing Spider-Man, Blue Thunder, Highway to Heaven, Shadow Chasers, Amazing Stories, The X Files and Odyssey 5.

  British actor Dickie Owen, who played reanimated mummies “Ra-Antef” and “Prem” in Hammer’s The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964) and The Mummy’s Shroud (1967), respectively, also died on April 7. He was 88.

  German-born character actress Judith Makina, who portrayed “Granny” in The Addams Family (1991), died of lung disease in New Jersey on April 10, aged 88. She was the widow of avant-garde actor and director Julian Beck.

  Venezuelan-born American actress Diane (Shirley) Chambers died in California the same day, aged 64. She was in Sharknado, Zombie Night and The Coed and the Zombie Stoner.

  British actress Claire Gordon, who co-starred opposite Michael Gough in the 1961 giant ape film Konga, died of an aggressive brain tumour on April 13, aged 74. She was also in the Bond spoof Licensed to Kill (aka The 2nd Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World, 1965) and claimed to be the first British actress to appear fully naked on stage.

  British actor Joseph Bennett, who portrayed T.E. Lawrence/Lawrence of Arabia in an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and the TV movie The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: My First Adventure, committed suicide by hanging the same day. He was married to actress Julie Graham.

  British character actor Rex Robinson (Reginald Robinson) also died on April 13. He was 89. During the 1970s, Robinson appeared in three series of the BBC’s Doctor Who (‘The Three Doctors’, ‘The Monster of Peladon’ and ‘The Hand of Fear’), and he was also in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

  48-year-old Canadian actor Jonathan (David) Crombie, who co-starred in the 1985 TV series Anne of Green Gables, died of complications from a brain haemorrhage in New York City on April 15. Crombie also appeared in episodes of the revived Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Knightwatch, The Hitchhiker and Earth: Final Conflict.

  British actor Peter Howell (Peter Norman Bulmer Howell), who starred in TV’s hospital soap opera Emergency-Ward
10 (1957-67), died on April 20, aged 95. He also appeared, often playing authority figures, in Tarzan the Magnificent, The Hellfire Club (with Peter Cushing), Hammer’s The Devil-Ship Pirates (with Christopher Lee) and Shadowlands. On TV Howell was in episodes of The Avengers, The Prisoner, Journey to the Unknown, The Champions, The Guardians, Doctor Who, Thriller (1974), Tales of the Unexpected and the mini-series Witchcraft.

  Born in China to missionary parents, American actress and author Jayne Meadows (Jayne Cotter), the widow of comedian Steve Allen and elder sister of actress Audrey Meadows, died on April 26. She was 95. Meadows appeared in The Luck of the Irish and the TV movie Alice in Wonderland (1985, as “The Queen of Hearts”), along with episodes of Project U.F.O. and Fantasy Island.

  Former American child actress Suzanne Crough (Condray), who played “Tracy”, the youngest daughter on TV’s The Partridge Family (1970-74), died of arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia on April 27. She was 52. During her short acting career, Crough recreated the role in the animated series Goober and the Ghost Chasers and Partridge Family 2200 AD, and she also appeared in an episode of Wonder Woman.

  British variety star and ventriloquist Keith (Shenton) Harris, best known for his act with his annoying bird puppet “Orville”, died of liver cancer on April 28, aged 67. He appeared as himself in a 2009 episode of TV’s Ashes to Ashes. Harris’ grating Orville song, ‘I Wish I Could Fly’, sold more than 400,000 copies.

  Classical British stage and screen actor (Peter) Nigel Terry, who portrayed “King Arthur” in John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981), died of emphysema on April 30, aged 69. His other credits include Déjà Vu (1985), The Hunchback and Feardotcom, plus episodes of TV’s Sherlock Holmes (with Peter Cushing), Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Highlander, Sea of Souls and Doctor Who.