Best known as a major western director and creator of TV’s Gunsmoke, writer/producer Charles Marquis Warren died on August 11th of heart aneurysm. He was 77, and his film credits include Back from the Dead and The Unknown Terror.
Manly P. Hall, who hypnotized Bela Lugosi on the set of Black Friday (1941) for his dramatic death scene, died August 29th, aged 89. He also performed the wedding ceremony for Lugosi’s fifth and final wedding.
Top 1930s dancer/choreographer Hermes Pan died from an apparent stroke on September 19th, aged 80. Amongst the films he worked on are Top Hat, Swing Time, Shall We Dance, Kiss Me Kate, Finian’s Rainbow and Lost Horizon (1973).
Special effects director Scott Bartlett died on September 29th from complications following a kidney-liver transplant. He was 47, and his credits include Starman, The Jupiter Menace, Altered States and Sheena.
Veteran animator Grim Natwick died on October 7th from pneumonia-heart disease. He was 100 years old. Besides creating cartoon character Betty Boop, he worked on such movies as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Gulliver’s Travels, Raggedy Ann and Andy, The Thief and the Cobbler, and with Popeye, Crusader Rabbit, Mr Magoo and Woody Woodpecker.
3-D expert and cinematographer Howard Schwartz died on October 25th from a heart attack, aged 71. His films include Bwana Devil and House of Wax.
French film-maker Jacques Demy died from leukaemia on October 27th. He was 59 and directed The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Donkey Skin and The Pied Piper, amongst others.
British director Don Chaffey died on November 13th from heart disease, aged 72. His movie credits include The 3 Lives of Thomasina, Jason and the Argonauts, One Million Years B.C., Creatures the World Forgot, Persecution (aka The Terror of Sheba) and Pete’s Dragon.
Italian screenwriter and director Sergio Corbucci died on December 2nd from a heart attack. He was 80. His many credits include Duel of the Titans, The Son of Spartacus, Goliath and the Vampires, Django and the 1965 remake of The Man Who Laughs.
Film and TV writer/director Richard Benner died the same day from AIDS, aged 47. He wrote and directed Outrageous and Outrageous Too, both of which starred female impersonator Craig Russell (who died of AIDS on October 30th) as well as several episodes of TV’s Tales From the Darkside.
TV director Richard Irving died following heart surgery on December 30th, aged 73. Amongst his many credits were the pilot film for The Six Million Dollar Man and Exoman.
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