Ninety-five-year-old American comedienne Phyllis Diller (Phyllis Ada Driver), known for her outrageous appearance and distinctive laugh, died on August 20. Often credited as the first stand-up female comedian, she appeared in Doctor Hackenstein, The Boneyard and episodes of TV’s Get Smart, Night Gallery (“Pamela’s Voice”) and Tales from the Darkside, as well as making a cameo appearance in the 1960s Batman series. Diller also contributed voice work to Mad Monster Party? (starring Boris Karloff), Alice Through the Looking Glass (1987), The Nutcracker Prince, A Bug’s Life, The Nuttiest Nutcracker and Casper’s Scare School.
American actor Jeffrey Stone (John Forrest Fontaine) died in Malaysia on August 22, aged 85. After being the model for Prince Charming in Walt Disney’s Cinderella (1950), his credits include The Thing That Couldn’t Die and an episode of TV’s The Outer Limits. He is also credited with coming up with the original idea for the 1964 movie Unearthly Stranger, and in 1966 he wrote and directed Strange Portrait starring Jeffrey Hunter. His second wife was actress Corinne Calvert.
Dependable American character actor Steve Franken (Stephen Robert Franken) died of cancer on August 23, aged 80. His numerous screen credits include The Time Travelers (1964), Westworld, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, It Happened at Lakewood Manor (aka Ants), Terror Out of the Sky, The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, The Ghosts of Buxley Hall, Transylvania Twist, Breakfast of Aliens, Munchie Strikes Back and The Omega Code, along with episodes of One Step Beyond, My Favorite Martian, Bewitched, The Wild Wild West, Batman, Night Gallery, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Man from Atlantis, Supertrain, Fantasy Island, Freddy’s Nightmares, Harry and the Hendersons and Threshold.
His number was finally up: American puppeteer, actor and voice artist Jerry Nelson, who played the instructional Count von Count in TV’s Sesame Street, died the same day. He was 78. Nelson also portrayed such characters as Floyd Pepper, Robin the Frog, Crazy Harry, Dr Julius Strangepork and Marjorie the Trash Heap in such other Jim Henson shows as The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock, and his movie credits include The Dark Crystal, RoboCop 2 and Muppets from Space.
The first man to set foot on the Moon (July 20, 1969), Neil [Alden] Armstrong, who uttered the immortal phrase “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”, died on August 25, aged 82. The former US astronaut underwent heart-bypass surgery earlier in the month to relieve blocked coronary arteries.
Busy American actor Michael Clarke Duncan died on September 3 of complications from a heart attack he suffered in July. He was 54. Best known for his roles in such movies as Armageddon, The Green Mile, Cats & Dogs, Planet of the Apes (2001), The Scorpion King, Daredevil, George and the Dragon, Sin City, The Island, The Last Mimzy, Slipstream (2007), Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, The Sibling and Green Lantern, he also appeared in episodes of TV’s Weird Science and Chuck, and voiced numerous animated cartoons and games.
Dependable American actor and nightclub singer Lance LeGault (William Lance Legault), who portrayed Alamo Joe Rogan on the 1987–88 series Werewolf, died of heart failure on September 10, aged 77. He began his acting career as a stunt double for Elvis Presley in four films in the early 1960s, and his other credits include Coma (1978), Captain America (1979), Nightmare Beach, The Silencers (1996), Dark Breed, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and Scorpio One, along with episodes of such TV shows as Land of the Giants, Logan’s Run, Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, Battlestar Galactica (1978–79), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Voyagers!, Knight Rider, Automan, Quantum Leap and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Although best known for playing Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot on BBC radio, 89-year-old British actor [Albert] John Moffatt, who died the same day, appeared in episodes of TV’s The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling and Mystery and Imagination, along with the 1982 film Britannia Hospital.
American actor and stuntman Stephen Dunham [Bowers] died on September 14, his 48th birthday, after suffering a heart attack several days earlier. He appeared in The Mummy (1999), Get Smart (2008) and Paranormal Activity 4 (with his wife Alexondra Lee), along with two episodes of the TV series The Chronicle.
American character actor John Ingle, best known for his recurring role as Edward Quartermaine in the soap opera General Hospital for almost two decades, died on September 16, aged 84. He also appeared in Amazon Women on the Moon, Heathers, RoboCop 2, Repossessed, Stepfather III, Death Becomes Her and Skeeter, along with episodes of TV’s Highway to Heaven and ALF. Ingle also narrated and voiced “Cera’s Father” in The Land Before Time animated movies.
Twenty-eight-year-old American actor Johnny [Kendrick] Lewis died on September 26 after falling from the roof of a Los Feliz building where he had been renting a room. He was suspected of killing his 81-year-old landlady and her cat before accidentally plunging to his death as he attempted to flee the scene. The troubled actor, who used to date singer Katy Perry, was later cremated and buried at sea. Best known for a recurring role in TV’s Sons of Anarchy, he also appeared in AVPR: Aliens vs Predator: Requiem and a 2005 episode of Smallville.
Austrian-Hungarian born character actor Herbert Lom (Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru) died in his sleep in London on September 27, aged 95. Usually cast as a villain, but best remembered for his role as the increasingly insane Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the series of Pink Panther comedy films, he also appeared in The Ladykillers (1955), Mysterious Island (1961, as Captain Nemo), Hammer’s The Phantom of the Opera (in the title role), Doppelgänger (aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun), Mark of the Devil, Count Dracula (1970, as Prof. Van Helsing opposite Christopher Lee’s vampire), Dorian Gray (1970), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971), Amicus’ Asylum and —And Now the Screaming Starts!, Dark Places, And Then There Were None (1974), The Dead Zone, King Solomon’s Mines (1985), Whoops Apocalypse, Ten Little Indians (1989), Masque of the Red Death (1989) and The Devil’s Daughter. On TV, Lom appeared in a two-part episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. that was re-edited into the 1967 feature film The Karate Killers.
American actor [Robert] Michael O’Hare, best known for playing Cmdr Jeffrey Sinclair in TV’s Babylon 5 (1994–96) and the spin-off movie Babylon 5: The Gathering, died on September 28, aged 60. He had suffered a heart attack three days earlier that had put him into a coma. O’Hare also appeared in C.H.U.D., The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, The Ambulance and an episode of Tales from the Darkside.
Busy British-born Canadian character actor Bernard “Bunny” Behrens died the same day, aged 85. His film credits include The Changeling, Resurrection, Galaxy of Terror, Firefox, What’s Up Hideous Sun Demon, The Man with Two Brains, Haunted by Her Past, Ghost Mum and The Possession of Michael D. (aka Legacy of Evil). On TV Behrens played regular Gustav Helsing in the 1990–91 show Dracula: The Series, and he also appeared in episodes of The Bionic Woman, The Greatest American Hero, Highway to Heaven, The Twilight Zone (1985), Friday the 13th: The Series (aka Friday’s Curse), the 1980s revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, War of the Worlds, Forever Knight and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. He was also the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the National Public Radio dramatisations of Star Wars (1981), The Empire Strikes Back (1983) and Return of the Jedi (1996).
Austrian-born Hollywood actor and fashion photographer Turhan Bey (Turhan Gilbert Selahattin Sahultavy) died of Parkinson’s disease in Vienna on September 30, aged 90. During the 1940s – with many of the studios’ American stars off fighting in World War II – he became an exotic leading man for Universal in such serials and films as Junior G-Men of the Air, Drums of the Congo, The Mummy’s Tomb, Arabian Nights, Crazy House, The Mad Ghoul, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, The Climax and Night in Paradise. Bey’s other films include Shadows on the Stairs, Footsteps in the Dark, The Gay Falcon, The Falcon Takes Over and The Amazing Mr. X (aka The Spiritualist). After retiring from the screen in 1953, he returned 40 years later to appear in Possessed by the Night, The Skateboard Kid II and Virtual Combat (aka Grid Runners), along with episodes of TV’s SeaQuest DSV, VR.5, The Visito
r and Babylon 5 (for which he received an Emmy nomination).
Classical British actress Daphne [Helen] Slater died in Switzerland on October 4, aged 84. On TV she appeared in a now apparently lost 1959 BBC adaptation of John L. Balderston’s time-travel play Berkley Square, along with episodes of Out of the Unknown and Shadows. Slater also starred opposite Peter Cushing in the first BBC version of Pride and Prejudice in 1952, and with Stanley Baker in a 1956 version of Jane Eyre.
Former NFL football player and pro wrestler turned actor Alex [George] Karras died of kidney failure and complications from dementia caused by repeated head injuries on October 10. He was 77. Karras played “The Hooded Fang” in the 1978 children’s film Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, and he was also in Blazing Saddles (as Mongo), When Time Ran Out and an episode of Faerie Tale Theatre (“Goldilocks and the Three Bears”). He was married to Canadian actress Susan Clark.
Dependable American leading man Gary [Ennis] Collins died on October 13, aged 74. Following a small, uncredited role in King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), he appeared in the movies Killer Fish, Hangar 18 and Watchers Reborn. On TV he starred as Dr Michael Rhodes on the short-lived series The Sixth Sense (1972), and guest-starred in episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, the 1970s Thriller, The Fantastic Journey, A Twist in the Tale, The Love Boat (“Ship of Ghouls” with Vincent Price) and Fantasy Island. Collins was separated from his second wife, former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley.
British comedy actor and author John Clive (Clive John Frederick Hambley), who was the voice of John in Yellow Submarine, died on October 14, aged 79. His credits include A Clockwork Orange, Straight on Till Morning, Go For a Take, Queen Kong, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, A Dream of Alice and a number of Carry On and softcore sex films. He appeared in episodes of The Gnomes of Dulwich, Roberts Robots and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and in 1989 he directed a TV version of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper.
Dutch actress Sylvia [Maria] Kristel, who starred in the original Emmanuelle (1974) and a number of softcore sex sequels and spin-offs, died of cancer of the liver on October 18, aged 60. Her other movie credits include The Nude Bomb and Dracula’s Widow, but drugs and alcoholism eventually blighted her career. Kristel reportedly had affairs with, amongst others, Ian McShane, Warren Beatty, Gérard Depardieu and Roger Vadim.
British character actor Joe Melia (Giovanni Philip William Melia) died on October 20, aged 77. He appeared in supporting roles in the films Modesty Blaise (1966), Peter Pan (1976) and The Sign of Four (1983), while his TV credits include episodes of Sherlock Holmes (“A Study in Scarlet” with Peter Cushing as Holmes), The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Ghostbusters of East Finchley.
Swedish actress Anita [Barbro Kristina] Björk, once described as the “new Garbo”, died on October 24, aged 89. She appeared in Die Hexe, Hamlet (as “Ofelia”, 1955), Phantom Carriage (1958) and Lady in White (1962). Following the suicide of her first husband in 1954, Björk had a lengthy affair with Graham Greene after the writer became infatuated with her.
Perennial grandad Clive [Robert Benjamin] Dunn OBE died on November 6 in Portugal from complications following an operation earlier in the week. He was 92. Best known for his role as Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad’s Army (1968–77), Dunn also appeared in small roles in the films What a Whopper, The Mouse on the Moon, The Magic Christian and The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, along with episodes of TV’s Five Children and It (1951), The Avengers (“Something Nasty in the Nursery”) and Metal Mickey. In the early 1970s he had an annoying #1 hit with the song “Grandad”, which remained in the British charts for 28 weeks.
American voice actress Lucille Bliss, best known for playing Smurfette in the Hanna-Barbera Smurfs cartoons, died on November 8, aged 96. She began her career as an uncredited voice in Disney’s Cinderella (1950) and went on to contribute work to such movies and TV series as 101 Dalmatians (1961), The Secret of NIMH, Robots, The Flintstones, Duck Dodgers, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Invader ZIM.
British character actor [John] Roger Hammond died of cancer the same day, aged 76. His many credits include The Pied Piper (1972), Queen Kong, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1976), Morons from Outer Space, A Christmas Carol (1999), Arabian Nights (2000), Bedazzled (2000), Around the World in 80 Days (2004) and episodes of TV’s Doctor Who, The Avengers (“Return of the Cybernauts”), Catweazle, The Tripods, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Ghost Busters of East Finchley.
American actress Deborah [Iona] Raffin, who starred in The Sentinel (1977), died of leukaemia on November 21, aged 59. Her other movies include Gold Told Me To (aka Demon), Grizzly II: The Concert and Scanners II: The New Order, along with episodes of Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (“Last Video and Testament”) and the 1980s Twilight Zone TV series. With her music producer husband Michael Viner, she founded the successful audio book business Dove Books-on-Tape in 1985. They sold the company in 1997.
American leading man Larry [Martin] Hagman, who starred as astronaut Major Anthony Nelson in the 1965–70 NBC-TV sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, died from complications of throat cancer on November 23, aged 81. The son of legendary Broadway actress/singer Mary Martin, he also appeared in the movies Fail-Safe, A Howling in the Woods, Son of Blob (which he also directed), The Return of the World’s Greatest Detective (as “Sherman Holmes”) and Superman (1978), along with an episode of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery and pretty much every other US TV series of the 1970s and 1980s. From 1978 onwards he portrayed J. R. Ewing in Dallas and its various spin-offs and continuations.
Quintessential British leading lady Dinah Sheridan (Dinah Nadyejda Mec) died on November 25, aged 92. Her first role, at the age of 12, was in a stage tour of Peter Pan starring Charles Laughton as Captain Hook and his wife Elsa Lanchester as the titular character. A film star during the 1940s and 1950s, later in her career Sheridan appeared in episodes of TV’s Zodiac, Hammer House of Horror (“The Thirteenth Reunion”) and Doctor Who. Her first husband was actor Jimmy Hanley, and one of their three children is Hammer heroine Jenny Hanley.
British actress Dolores Mantez died on November 30, aged 73. She played series regular Lt Nina Barry on Gerry Anderson’s U.F.O. (1970–73), and her other credits include episodes of The Avengers and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).
Veteran American character actor Harry Carey, Jr (Henry G. Carey), the son of character actor Harry Carey and a member of the “John Ford stock company”, died on December 9, aged 91. He appeared in numerous Westerns (often alongside John Wayne), plus Monkey Business (uncredited), Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (with John Carradine), Cyborg 2087, Gremlins, UFOria, Cherry 2000, The Exorcist III and Back to the Future III. On TV his credits include episodes of Men Into Space and Knight Rider.
Eccentric British astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore (Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore) died the same day, aged 89. Besides inspiring generations of children to keep watching the skies through his BBC-TV series The Sky at Night, which he presented for more than 700 record-breaking episodes, he also wrote more than 20 SF novels for younger readers. His non-fiction books include Science and Fiction (1957), and he also turned up playing himself in the 1966 short film The Master, Red Dawrf A-Z, Doctor Who (“The Eleventh Hour”) and various episodes of The Goodies.
India-born Kenneth Kendall, who became the first person on British television to read the news in 1955, died on December 14 following a stroke. He was 88. Kendall appeared (invariably as a newsreader/interviewer) in The Brain (aka Vengeance), They Came from Beyond Space, 2001: A Space Odyssey and episodes of A for Andromeda, Suspense (“Virus X”), Doctor Who, Adam Adamant Lives!, Dead of Night and The Dark Side of the Sun.
British character actress Daphne [Margaret du Grivel] Oxenford, the voice of the BBC children’s radio programme Listen with Mother (1950–71), died on December 21, aged 93. She appeared in Hammer’s Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (uncredited) and episodes of Shadows of Fear, Doctor Who (1987) and Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of
Sherlock Holmes (Stephen Gallagher’s “The Kingdom of Bones”). Her scenes as an elderly Dame Agatha Christie were deleted from the 2008 Doctor Who episode “The Unicorn and the Wasp”, but were restored in the DVD version.
Emmy-winning American actor Jack Klugman (Jacob Joachim Klugman), who starred in such TV series as The Odd Couple and Quincy M.E., died of prostate cancer on Christmas Eve, aged 90. His other credits include Poor Devil (with Christopher Lee), Camera Obscura (2010), and episodes of TV’s Inner Sanctum, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Around the World in 80 Days (1989) and The Outer Limits (2000).
American character actor Charles Durning died the same day, aged 89. A former professional boxer, he appeared in the movies Sisters (aka Blood Sisters), Twilight’s Last Gleaming, The Fury, The Muppet Movie, When a Stranger Calls (1979), The Final Countdown, Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Solarbabies, Project: Alien (aka Fatal Sky), Dick Tracy (1990) and When a Stranger Calls Back, along with episodes of Tall Tales (“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, 1985), Amazing Stories, Early Edition and Touched by an Angel. Durning played Santa Claus in It Nearly Wasn’t Christmas, Elmo Saves Christmas, Mrs Santa Claus, Mr St. Nick, A Boyfriend for Christmas and Captured Hearts.
British leading man Jon Finch was found dead in his flat on December 28. He was 70 and had suffered from diabetes for many years. Although he began his career on TV in the 1960s (including the short-lived BBC SF series Counterstrike), it was his appearances in Hammer’s The Vampire Lovers and The Horror of Frankenstein that led to him starring in Roman Polanski’s Macbeth, Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy and The Final Programme (aka The Last Days of Man on Earth, based on the novel by Michael Moorcock). However, after reportedly turning down a number of key roles, including that of James Bond in Live and Let Die, and being forced by illness to pull out of Alien after just one day’s filming, his career floundered somewhat. Later credits include Doktor Faustus (1982), Merlin of the Crystal Cave, H. P. Lovecraft’s Lurking Fear, Darklands, and episodes of TV’s The New Avengers, The Martian Chronicles miniseries, Hammer House of Horror (“Witching Time”) and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. In the 1980s he was married to actress Catriona MacColl.
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 24 Page 48