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British character actress Barbara [Purser] Hicks died on September 6, aged eighty-nine. She was in Memoirs of a Survivor (based on the novel by Doris Lessing), Britannia Hospital, Morons from Outer Space, Brazil, The Witches (1990), Orlando, FairyTale: A True Story and episodes of TV’s The Return of the Borrowers and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
British actor Bill Wallis, who played “Mr Prosser” and “Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz” in the original radio production of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, died the same day, aged seventy-six. For the last fifteen years of his life he had suffered from multiple myeloma. Wallis also appeared in The Bed Sitting Room, Brazil and The Canterville Ghost (1986), along with episodes of TV’s The Avengers (“A Touch of Brimstone” etc.), The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, The Box of Delights, Robin of Sherwood, The Silver Chair and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.
Low-budget leading lady Louise Currie died on September 8, aged 100. She was the best thing in 1940s Monogram and PRC movies, playing a wisecracking heroine in The Ape Man and Voodoo Man (both starring Bela Lugosi), and the Charlie Chan mystery The Chinese Ring. She was also in You’ll Find Out, The Green Hornet Strikes Again!, Adventures of Captain Marvel, The Masked Marvel and Citizen Kane (she was reportedly the last surviving cast member), before retiring from the screen in the mid-1950s to become a decorator with her architect husband, former actor John Good. Currie was also briefly married to actor John Whitney in the 1940s. She later appeared in the 1997 documentary Lugosi: Hollywood’s Dracula.
Former teenage model turned actress Patricia Blair (Patsy Lou Blake), who starred opposite the cream of Hollywood horror stars in The Black Sleep (aka Dr. Cadman’s Secret, 1956), died of breast cancer on September 9, aged eighty. She was a regular on the TV series Daniel Boone from 1964–70.
Argentinian-born fashion model turned actress Lyn Peters (Evelyn Anne Peters), who starred in Grave of the Vampire (1972), died in Palm Springs on September 10, aged seventy-two. She also had small roles in In Like Flint and the TV movie Fear No Evil (based on a story by Guy Endore), along with episodes of The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Batman and Get Smart. Peters was married to actor Paul Burke until his death in 2009, and after retiring from the screen she became a successful “caterer to the stars”, with clients including Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra.
Jerry G. Bishop (Jairus Samuel Ghan), who from 1970–73 was better known as American TV horror host “Svengoolie” on Chicago’s WFLD-TV’s “Screaming Yellow Theater”, died of a heart attack on September 15, aged seventy-seven.
American actress Kim Hamilton (Dorothy Mae Aiken) died on September 16, aged eighty-one. She appeared in The Leech Woman and The Wizard of Baghdad, along with episodes of TV’s Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Future Cop, Project U.F.O., Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Hamilton was married to actor Werner Klemperer from 1997 until his death in 2000.
American character actor Jay Robinson, best known for his distinctive voice, died of congestive heart failure on September 27, aged eighty-three. After making his movie debut as a scene-chewing Caligula in The Robe (1953), his acting career was soon derailed when he was arrested for possession of narcotics (methadone) in 1958. Although a one-year sentence was later overturned, he was later jailed for fifteen months after an old warrant was served on him. Robinson resumed his acting career in the mid-1960s and went on to appear in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask, Train Ride to Hollywood (as “Dracula”), The Bay City Rollers Meet the Saturday Superstars (as Dracula again), The Sword and the Sorcerer, Big Top Pee-wee, Transylvania Twist, Dracula (1992), Ghost Ship (1992) and Skeeter. He was also in episodes of TV’s The Wild Wild West, Star Trek, Bewitched, Search Control, Planet of the Apes, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Dr. Shrinker, The Bay City Rollers Show, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Voyagers! In 1997 Robinson hosted the Discovery Channel series Beyond Bizarre.
Canadian-born dubbing artist, sound engineer and occasional actor Ted Rusoff died in a Rome hospital on September 28, after being hit by a car more than a month earlier. He was seventy-four. The son of film producer Lou Rusoff and the nephew of Samuel Z. Arkoff, his voice can be heard in the English versions of such (mostly Italian) films as Yongary, Monster from the Deep, Destroy All Monsters, Buried Alive (aka Beyond the Darkness), Nightmare City, Cannibal Ferox, The House by the Cemetery, Absurd, Piranah II: Flying Killers (aka Piranha Part Two: The Spawning), Women’s Prison Massacre, The Final Executioner, Rats: Night of Terror, Cut and Run, Hands of Steel and Cyborg – Il guerriero d’acciaio, along with the animated TV series Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot. Rusoff also had small (often uncredited) roles in Catacombs, Sinbad of the Seven Seas, The Eighteenth Angel, Nightworld: Lost Souls and Eternal. He was married to veteran voice dubber Carolyn De Fonseca until her death in 2009.
Seventy-five-year-old Italian leading man and sculptor Giuliano Gemma (aka “Montgomery Wood”) was killed in a car accident near Rome on October 1. A former stuntman in films such as Ben-Hur (1959), he appeared in Antonio Margheriti’s Battle of the Worlds (with Claude Rains), Goliath and the Sins of Babylon, Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun, When Women Had Tales, Dario Argento’s Tenebrae, and Tex and the Lord of the Deep.
American character actress Virginia Vincent [Grohosky] died on October 3, aged ninety-five. She appeared in The Return of Dracula (aka The Fantastic Disappearing Man), Night Slaves, The Baby and Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes (1977) and Invitation to Hell, along with episodes of TV’s Tales of Tomorrow, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Kolchak: The Night Stalker.
Tony Awardwinning British stage and screen actor Paul Rogers died on October 6, aged ninety-six. Best known for his Shakespearean roles, he appeared in the films Svengali (1954) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1968), along with a two-part production of Dr. Faustus on TV in 1960.
Seventy-nine-year-old British actor and musician Noel Harrison, the son of actor Rex Harrison, died of a heart attack after performing in Devon on October 13. He had been suffering from kidney disease. A former Olympic skier, for one season he co-starred as secret agent “Mark Slate” in NBC-TV’s The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., and he was also in the movie Where the Spies Are and episodes of The Evil Touch and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1989). In 1969 Harrison had a UK Top 10 hit with the song “The Windmills of Your Mind”, written by Michel Legrand.
Dependable American character actor Ed Lauter (Edward Matthew Lauter II) died of mesothelioma on October 16, age seventy-four. Often cast as authority figures, his movie credits include Satan’s Triangle, Alfred Hitchcock’s Family Plot, King Kong (1976), The White Buffalo, The Clone Master, Magic, Timerider: The Adventures of Lyle Swann, Cujo, Rocketeer, Digital Man, Rattled, Under Wraps, Python, Starship Troopers II: Hero of the Federation, The Lost (based on the novel by Jack Ketchum), The Frankenstein Syndrome (aka The Prometheus Project) and The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014). A regular on the Stephen King mini-series Golden Years, Lauter was also in episodes of Manimal, Automan, Monsters, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X Files, Highlander, Millennium and Charmed.
Western actor Jon Locke (Joseph Lockey Yon), who portrayed the Sleestack Leader in TV’s Land of the Lost (1976), died of complications from a stroke on October 19, aged eighty-six. He also portrayed the Abominable Snowman in the same show and appeared in an episode of The Bionic Woman and the movies Years of the Beast and Transylvanian Twist.
Australian-born actor Bruce Beeby, who portrayed “Mitch Mitchell” in the BBC radio series Journey Into Space and The Red Planet, died in England on October 20, aged ninety-one. On TV he appeared in Stranger from Space, Out of This World, The Champions, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Timeslip. Beeby was also in Hammer’s The Devil-Ship Pirates and the 1970 version of Wuthering Heights.
Actress and dancer Larri Thomas (Lida L. Thomas) died of complications from a fall at her home the same day, aged eighty-one. She made uncredited appearances (often as a dancer) in Road to Bali, House of Wax,
Here Come the Girls, Mary Poppins and The Silencers, and she was also in Curucu Beast of the Amazon and Earth Girls Are Easy. Thomas was married to actors John Bromfield from 1955–59 and Bruce Hoy from 1963.
Stylish British actor [Arthur] Nigel Davenport died on October 25, aged eighty-five. He appeared in the films Peeping Tom (uncredited), Where the Spies Are, The Mind of Mr. Soames, No Blade of Grass, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973), Richard Matheson’s version of Dracula (as “Van Helsing”), Phase IV, The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1981), Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan Lord of the Apes and A Christmas Carol (1984), along with episodes of TV’s The Avengers and Woof! His second wife was actress Maria Aitken from 1972 until their divorce in 1980.
Emmy Awardwinning comedy actress and voice artist Marcia [Karen] Wallace, who voiced “Edna Krabappel” on Fox TV’s The Simpsons, died the same day, aged seventy. She also appeared in episodes of Bewitched, Fantasy Island, ALF, What a Dummy, The Munsters Today, Teen Angel and Vampire Mob, and was in the movies Teen Witch, My Mum’s a Werewolf and Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College.
British character actor and photographer Graham [William] Stark, best remembered for his various roles alongside his friend Peter Sellers in several Pink Panther films, died of a stroke on October 29, aged ninety-one. He appeared with the Goons in Down Among the Z Men, and his other credits include The Mouse on the Moon, Casino Royale (1967), Jules Verne’s Rocket to the Moon (aka Those Fantastic Flying Fools), A Ghost of a Chance, The Magic Christian, The Picasso Summer (based on a story by Ray Bradbury), Cosmo and Thingy, Gulliver’s Travels (1977), Hawk the Slayer, Superman III, Bloodbath at the House of Death (with Vincent Price) and Jane and the Lost City. Stark was also in episodes of TV’s One Step Beyond, Out of the Unknown, Moonacre and The Incredible Adventures of Marco Polo and His Journeys to the Ends of the Earth. In 1963 he appeared on the London stage in Spike Milligan and John Antrobus’ absurdist SF play The Bed-Sitting Room, and in 2003 he published his autobiography, Stark Naked.
American character actor Paul Mantee (Paul Marianetti), who had a rare starring role in Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964) opposite Victor Lundin (who died earlier in the year), died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma on November 7, aged eighty-two. His other movie credits include Helter Skelter (1976), Day of the Animals, The Manitou (based on the novel by Graham Masterton), Death Ray 2000 and Lurking Fear (based on the story by H.P. Lovecraft). Mantee was also very busy on TV, appearing in episodes of Batman, The Time Tunnel, The Invaders, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Search Control, Gemini Man, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Fantastic Journey, Logan’s Run and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
Veteran American character actress Shirley Mitchell died of heart failure on November 11, aged ninety-four. She appeared in episodes of The Veil (hosted by Boris Karloff), Shirley Temple’s Storybook, Mister Ed and The Smothers Brothers Show (“The Girl from R.A.L.P.H.”), along with the movie’s My Blood Runs Cold (1965) and Summer Camp Nightmare. Mitchell was married to composer and lyricist Jay Livingston until his death in 2001.
Busy American TV character actor Al Ruscio died on November 12, aged eighty-nine. Often cast as “heavies”, he appeared in episodes of Thriller (1961), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invisible Man (1975), The Incredible Hulk, Salvage 1, Fantasy Island, Highway to Heaven, Amazing Stories, The Wizard, Outlaws, Starman and The X Files. Ruscio was also in the 1991 SF film Future Kick, The Silence of the Hams, Xtro 3: Watch the Skies and The Phantom (1996). His wife of fifty-nine years, actress Kate Williamson, died less than a month after him.
American actress Barbara Lawrence (Barbara Jo Lawrence), who starred opposite Jeff Morrow in the 1957 SF movie Kronos, died of kidney failure on November 13, aged eighty-three. She retired from acting in 1962 to sell real estate.
American actress Sheila Allen (Sheila Marie Mathews), who was married to producer/director Irwin Allen from 1975–91 and appeared in a number of his productions, died of pulmonary fibrosis on November 15, aged eighty-four. Allen appeared in the movies Five Weeks in a Balloon (uncredited), City Beneath the Sea (aka One Hour to Doomsday), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Towering Inferno, When Time Ran Out … and Alice in Wonderland (1985), as well as episodes of TV’s Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space and Land of the Giants. She is also credited as a producer on the documentaries The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen and Lost in Space Forever, the 2006 remake Poseidon, and an unaired 2006 TV pilot for a reboot of The Time Tunnel.
American character actor Mickey Knox (Abraham Knox), the former brother-in-law of Norman Mailer, died the same day, aged ninety-one. After being blacklisted for his left-wing politics, he moved to Italy in the 1950s. Knox appeared (sometimes uncredited) in The Tenth Victim, Stagefright, Vampire in Venice, Ghoulies II, Ghosts Can’t Do It, Frankenstein Unbound and Cemetery Man, along with episodes of Adventures of Superman and The X Files. He worked on the scripts of the English-language versions of Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West, and Woody Harrelson’s character in Natural Born Killers is named after him.
American actor Kirk Scott died of cancer on November 16, aged seventy-seven. He began his career with a small role in Targets (1968) starring Boris Karloff, and he went on to appear in Cinderella (aka The Other Cinderella), End of the World (with Christopher Lee), Starflight One and on episodes of TV’s V and Quantum Leap.
American jazz drummer Foreststorn “Chico” Hamilton died on November 25, aged ninety-two. He began touring with bands in the 1940s, and he not only composed and recorded the soundtrack music for the 1950s Gerald McBoing-Boing cartoons, but in 1965 he also composed and conducted the music for Roman Polanski’s Repulsion.
American actor Tony Musante (Anthony Peter Musante, Jr), who starred in Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, died of complications following surgery on November 26. He was seventy-seven. Musante was also in an episode of TV’s The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
British leading man Lewis Collins, best known for playing tough-guy “Bodie” in TV’s The Professionals (1977–83), died in Los Angeles after a five-year battle against cancer on November 27. He was sixty-seven. His other credits include episodes of The New Avengers, Robin of Sherwood, Jack the Ripper (1988), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1989) and the 1990s French/Canadian Tarzán.
British leading lady Jean Kent (Joan Mildred Summerfield) died on November 30, aged ninety-two. She began her film career in the mid-1930s, and her credits include The Haunter Strangler (aka Grip of the Strangler, with Boris Karloff), Bluebeard’s Ten Honeymoons and an episode of TV’s Thriller (1974).
American leading man Paul Walker (Paul William Walker IV), the star of the successful The Fast and the Furious franchise, was killed the same day when the speeding car he was a passenger in crashed into a light pole and burst into flames in Valencia, California. He was forty. Walker made his movie debut in 1986 in Monster in the Closet (with John Carradine), and he also appeared in Programmed to Kill, Tammy and the T-Rex, Pleasantville, The Skulls, Roadkill, Timeline and Brick Mansions, along with episodes of TV’s Highway to Heaven, What a Dummy and Touched by an Angel.
British character actor Barry Jackson (aka “Jack Berry”) who played “Dr Bullard” in TV’s Midsomer Murders, died on December 5, aged seventy-five. He was the fight arranger for Adam Adamant Lives! (1966), and his other credits include episodes of A for Andromeda, Doctor Who, Doomwatch, The Frightners, Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries, The New Avengers, Blake’s 7 and Into the Labyrinth.
Eighty-two-year-old American character actress Kate Williamson (Robina Jane Sparks) died just twenty-four days after her husband, actor Al Ruscio, on December 6. She appeared in episodes of TV’s Tabitha, Darkroom, Highway to Heaven, Something is Out There and Beauty and the Beast (1989).
Classy Hollywood leading lady Eleanor [Jean] Parker died of complications from pneumonia on December 9, aged ninety-one. She made her movie debut in the early 194
0s and her credits include The Mysterious Doctor, Between Two Worlds, The Woman in White (1948, based on the novel by Wilkie Collins), The Naked Jungle, Eye of the Cat, Home for the Holidays and Once Upon a Spy (with Christopher Lee), along with episodes of TV’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Circle of Fear and Fantasy Island.
Libyan-born Italian femme fatale Rossana Podestà (Carla Podestà) died on December 10, aged seventy-nine. Her film credits include Ulysses (1954), The Golden Arrow, Horror Castle (aka The Castle of Terror, with Christopher Lee), Seven Golden Men, Seven Golden Men Strike Again! and Hercules (1983).
Hollywood noir actress Audrey [Mary] Totter died of congestive heart failure on December 12, aged ninety-five. After supplying the voice of the evil “Karen” personality in Arch Oboler’s Bewitched (1945), she went on to appear in The Unsuspected (with Claude Rains) and episodes of TV’s Science Fiction Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Matt Helm.
Hellraising Irish-born actor Peter [Seamus] O’Toole died after a long illness in London on December 14. He was eighty-one. Best known for his starring role in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), he was also in The Night of the Generals, Casino Royale (1967), The Ruling Class, Svengali (1983), Supergirl, Creator, High Spirits, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Rainbow Thief (with Christopher Lee), Gulliver’s Travels (1996), FairyTale: A True Story (as “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle”), Phantoms (based on the novel by Dean R. Koontz), Stardust (based on the comic by Neil Gaiman), Eager to Die and Eldorado (aka Highway to Hell). In 1983 the actor also voiced Sherlock Holmes in four animated adventures for children: Sherlock Holmes and the Valley of Fear, Sherlock Holmes and the Sign of Four, Sherlock Holmes and the Baskerville Curse and Sherlock Holmes and a Study in Scarlet. On TV, O’Toole appeared in an episode of The Ray Bradbury Theatre (“Banshee”) and the 1989 mini-series The Dark Angel (based on J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Uncle Silas).
Japanese-born Hollywood star Joan Fontaine (Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland), the estranged younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland, died in her sleep in Carmel, California, on December 15, aged ninety-six. The Oscarwinning actress made her movie debut in the mid-1930s, and her credits include Hitchcock’s Rebecca (based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier), Jane Eyre (with Orson Welles), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Hammer’s The Witches (aka The Devil’s Own) and Dark Mansions. On TV, she appeared in episodes of TV’s One Step Beyond and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Fontaine’s four husbands included actor Brian Aherne, producer William Dozier, and writer-producer Collier Young.