Ottomar Rudolphe Vlad Dracula, Prince Kretzulesco of Transylvania and Wallachia died of a brain tumour on 19 November, aged 67. A former German baker and antiques dealer named Otto Berbig, he was adopted in the 1970s by Ekaterina Olympia Kretzulesco, who believed herself to be descended from Romanian ruler Vlad III of Wallachia (1431-76), who Bram Stoker based his character of Dracula on. Three months earlier, an attempt by the prince to turn his German castle into a vampire-themed attraction ended in bankruptcy, and his property was seized by the bank because of unpaid debts.
Seventy-nine-year-old Reg Park (Roy Park), the British-born world championship bodybuilder turned muscleman actor, died after a long battle with cancer in Johannesburg, on 22 November. A former Mr Britain and three-time winner of the Mr Universe title, in the early 1960s he followed Steve Reeves and Mark Forest (Lou Degni) into the role of Hercules in the Italian peplums Hercules Conquers Atlantis (aka Hercules and the Captive Women), Mario Bava’s Hercules in the Haunted World (aka Hercules in the Center of the Earth, with Christopher Lee), Hercules Prisoner of Evil, and the cobbled-together Hercules the Avenger. His only other film was Maciste in King Solomon’s Mines (aka Samson in King Solomon’s Mines). Park ran a chain of successful personal fitness clubs in South Africa and, during the late 1960s, he worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger, becoming the latter’s mentor and inspiration.
Flamboyant motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel (Robert Craig Knievel) died of complications from diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis on 30 November, aged 69. He had been in poor health for some years following a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying from hepatitis C. George Hamilton portrayed him in the biopic Evel Knievel (1971), while Knievel appeared as himself in a 1977 episode of TV’s The Bionic Woman and the movie Viva Knievel!, made the same year.
Character actor Anton Rodgers (Anthony Rodgers) died on 1 December, aged 74. A regular face on British TVin the 1960s and 1970s, he appeared in episodes of One Step Beyond, Danger Man, Sherlock Holmes (1965), Out of the Unknown, The Saint, The Prisoner (as a “Number Two”), The Champions, Department S, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Jason King, The Protectors, Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries, Return of the Saint and Zodiac (as regular “David Gradley”). His other credits include the 1979 TV movie The Shining Pyramid and the movies The Man Who Haunted Himself and Scrooge (1970).
Italian actress Eleonora Rossi Drago (Palma Omiccioli) died of a cerebral haemorrhage on 2 December, aged 82. Her many films include David and Goliath, The Red Hand, Sword of the Conqueror, The Carpet of Horror, Hypnosis (aka Dummy of Death), The Flying Saucer (1964), The Bible In the Beginning . . ., Camille 2000 and Dorian Gray (1970).
American Southern Rapper Pimp C (Chad Butler), one half of the hip hop group UGK, was found dead in bed at a West Hollywood hotel on 4 December, aged 33.
Singer Ike Turner (Izear Luster Turner, Jr), who discovered and later married Tina Turner before their well-publicized split in the mid-1970s, died of a cocaine overdose on 12 December, aged 76. Best known for such hits as “Proud Mary” and “Nutbush City Limits”, he became a cocaine addict and served time in prison before making a successful comeback album, Here and Now, in 2001. Ike Turner was portrayed by Laurence Fishburne in the 1993 Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It?
Native American actor, folk singer and environmental activist Floyd “Red Crow” Westerman died from complications of leukaemia on 13 December, aged 71. His credits include The Doors (in which he played Jim Morrison’s spirit guide), Atlantis: Milo’s Return and episodes of McGyver, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Murder She Wrote, Baywatch Nights, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Millennium and The X Files (in the recurring role of “Albert Hosteen”).
Singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg died of prostate cancer on 16 December, aged 56. His acclaimed soft-rock/country albums included his 1972 debut Home Free, the hugely successful Souvenirs, Captured Angel and The Innocent Age (which featured the hits “Leader of the Band” and “Same Old Lang Syne”), the environmental-aware River of Souls, and Full Circle (2003), which was his first album of original material in nearly a decade.
Busty “B” movie actress Jeanne [Laverne] Carmen died of lymphoma on 20 December, aged 77. A former chorus girl, model and trick golfer, she was a close friend of Las Vegas mobster Johnny Roselli, Clark Gable, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe, among others. Carmen’s film appearances include The Monster of Piedras Blancas, The Devil’s Hand and The Naked Monster.
Canadian jazz pianist Oscar [Emmanuel] Peterson died on 24 December, aged 82. He won seven Grammies, including one in 1997 for Lifetime Achievement.
FILM/TV TECHNICIANS
Steve Krantz (Stephen Falk Krantz), who produced the X-rated cartoon movie Fritz the Cat (1972), died of complications from pneumonia on 4 January, aged 83. A former TV writer, he worked with Milton Berle and helped create Dennis the Menace and Bewitched while head of development at Columbia Pictures Television. His other credits include the 1960s Spider-Man TV series, Heavy Traffic, The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, Cooley High and a number of miniseries based on books by his wife, bestselling romance author Judith Krantz. As a writer he came up with the stories for Curtis Harrington’s Ruby and the Carrie-like Jennifer, both of which he also produced.
Seventy-two-year-old “Sneaky” Pete (Peter) Kleinow, pedal guitarist with country rock band The Flying Burrito Bros, died on 6 January of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. In 1974 he became a stop-motion animator on Sid & Marty Krofft’s TV series Land of the Lost, and he later worked on the visual effects for such movies as Caveman, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, The Right Stuff, The Terminator, Gremlins, The Return of the Living Dead, RoboCop 2, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Army of Darkness, Nemesis and Holes.
American animation designer, producer and director Iwao Takamoto, who helped create such characters as The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Scooby-Doo while working for Hanna-Barbera, died of heart failure on 8 January, aged 81. In a career spanning six decades, he worked on the designs for such Disney classics as Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians and Cinderella and co-scripted and directed the 1973 cartoon version of Charlotte’s Web. Other credits include The Addams Family (1973), Super Friends, Goober and the Ghost Chasers and The Robotic Stooges. At the time of his death, Takamoto (who learned to draw in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II) was a vice-president at Warner Bros. Animation.
Italian-born producer Carlo [Fortunaro Pietro] Ponti, the husband of actress Sophia Loren, died in Switzerland of pulmonary complications on 10 January, aged 94. The producer of more than 150 films, his credits include Ulysses (1955), The Ape Woman, The Tenth Victim, Blow-Up, Cinderella – Italian Style, Ghosts – Italian Style, Roman Polanski’s What?, Gawain and the Green Knight, Flesh for Frankenstein and Whisky and Ghosts.
British-born film production designer Brian Eatwell died in Los Angeles on 20 January following a short illness. He was 67. Best remembered for his innovative 1930s Art Deco set designs for The Abominable Dr Phibes and Dr Phibes Rises Again (both with Vincent Price), his other credits include The Shuttered Room, If . . ., Madame Sin, Godspell, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, Morons from Outer Space, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1989) and The Watcher.
Mexican film producer Alfredo Ripstein, Jr died of respiratory arrest the same day, aged 90. His many film credits include Swamp of the Lost Monsters, The Black Pit of Dr M, The Living Coffin and Pepito y Chabelo contra los monstruos.
Set dresser David Ritchie was fatally injured on the set of the SF movie Jumper in Toronto on 25 January. He was 56. Ritchie’s other credits include X-Men, Zoom and the 1994 TV series of RoboCop.
Oscar-nominated costume designer Donfeld (Donald Lee Feld, aka Don Feld), who created costumes for the 1970s TV series The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, died on 3 February, aged 72. His other credits include Dead Ringer, The New Original Wonder Woman, Brainstorm and Spaceballs.
Producer and screenwriter
Charles S. (Samuel) Swartz, who was head of production at Roger Corman’s New World Pictures and later co-founder and executive vice-president of acquisition and production at Dimension Pictures, died of pneumonia on 10 February, aged 67. He had been battling brain cancer for several months. Swartz’s credits include It’s a Bikini World, The Student Nurses, The Velvet Vampire, Terminal Island and Beyond Atlantis.
British-born special effects supervisor and matte artist Peter Ellenshaw (William Ellenshaw), who for more than thirty years worked on numerous classic live-action films for Walt Disney, died in Santa Barbara, California, on 12 February, aged 93. He also contributed to The Ghost Goes West, Things to Come, The Man Who Could Work Miracles, The Thief of Bagdad (1940), A Matter of Life and Death and The Red Shoes (all uncredited), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Darby O’Gill and the Little People, The Absent-Minded Professor, In Search of the Castaways, Son of Flubber, Mary Poppins (for which he won an Oscar), The Gnome-Mobile, Blackbeard’s Ghost, The Love Bug, The Island at the Top of the World, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Black Hole, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Dick Tracy (1990). Ellenshaw painted the first map of Disneyland, which was used on early postcards and souvenir booklets, and he was designated a “Disney Legend” in 1993.
Casting director and Oscar-winning short film producer Randy Stone died of heart failure on the same day, aged 48. As head of casting at Twentieth Century Fox Television he was responsible for such shows as Space: Above and Beyond, The X Files and Millennium. His other credits include casting Jaws 3-D and he appeared as a flight attendant in Final Destination.
Robert Adler, who won an Emmy Award for co-inventing the television remote control with Eugene Polley for Zenith in 1956, died of heart failure on 15 February, aged 93.
Casting executive Meryl O’Loughlin (Meryl Abeles) died of complications from ovarian cancer on 27 February, aged 72. She was first credited as a casting director on TV’s The Outer Limits in 1964 (including the unsold pilot, The Unknown), and she also worked on such series as Fantasy Island, Shazam!, The Ghost Busters (1975), Isis and A.L.F., along with Deadly Messages, Alice in Wonderland (1985) and Tremors II: Aftershocks.
Sixty-nine-year-old Jon Lackey, who created the infamous “carpet monster” for The Creeping Terror (1964), died of cancer on the same day. Reputedly, a much better-looking monster was built for the movie, but was stolen a few days before shooting began.
Oscar-nominated production designer, art director, visual consultant and storyboard artist Harold Michelson died on 2 March after a long illness, aged 87. His many films (often uncredited) include Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Birds, Catch-22, Johnny Got His Gun, Star Trek the Motion Picture, Firestarter (1984), The Fly (1986), Spaceballs, Dick Tracy and Matilda, and he made a brief cameo appearance in Stephen King’s Graveyard Shift.
Prolific American TV director Sutton [Wilson] Roley died on 3 March, aged 84. He directed episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Invaders, Lost in Space, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (including the composite film How to Steal the World, created from the series finale), The Sixth Sense, Mission: Impossible, Switch, Cliff-hangers: The Curse of Dracula and Shades of LA, plus the movies Sweet Sweet Rachel, Chosen Survivors and Satan’s Triangle.
“B” movie producer and director Andy (Andrew) Sidaris died of throat cancer on 7 March, aged 76. Although he began his career in TV sports for ABC, he ended up directing Playboy Playmates in such direct-to-video action films as Malibu Express, Do or Die, Hard Hunted, Fit to Kill and the two L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies movies. Sidaris also directed episodes of TV’s Gemini Man and The Hardy Boys/ Nancy Drew Mysteries, and he turned up as an actor in The Bare Wench Project and its two sequels.
American director Stuart Rosenberg died of a heart attack on 15 March, aged 79. His varied credits include the original The Amityville Horror (1979) and episodes of TV’s Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone.
Two-time Oscar-winning British cinematographer and director Freddie Francis died of complications from a stroke on 17 March, aged 89. As a camera operator and later acclaimed director of photography, he shot The Tales of Hoffman (uncredited), Beat the Devil, Moby Dick (second unit), Never Take Sweets from a Stranger, The Innocents, Night Must Fall (1964), The Elephant Man, Dune, Return to Oz (uncredited) and the remake of Cape Fear (1991). During the 1960s and ’70s he directed a number of lowbudget genre films for such companies as Hammer, Amicus and Tyburn (run by his son Kevin). These included Paranoiac, Nightmare, The Evil of Frankenstein, Dr Terror’s House of Horrors, Hysteria, The Skull, The Psychopath, Torture Garden, The Deadly Bees, They Came from Beyond Space, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Tales from the Crypt, Legend of the Werewolf and The Ghoul (1975). Among Francis’ other credits as a director are The Day of the Triffids (uncredited), The Brain, Mumsy Nanny Sonny and Girly, Trog (with Joan Crawford), The Vampire Happening, The Creeping Flesh, Tales That Witness Madness, Son of Dracula (1974), Craze, The Doctor and the Devils, Dark Tower, several episodes of Star Maidens (1976) and Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson (1980), and an episode of the HBO TV series Tales from the Crypt (“Last Respects”).
Sixty-two-year-old American scriptwriter and producer Bill (William N.) Panzer died on the same day of a brain haemorrhage after an accident while ice-skating. He produced all five “Highlander” films, Highlander, Highlander II: The Quickening, Highlander: Endgame, the anime Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, and Highlander: The Source, plus the TV series Highlander, Highlander: The Animated Series and Highlander: The Raven. Panzer also executive produced the 1989 horror film Cutting Class.
American writer, producer and director Burt Topper (Burton Topper) died of pulmonary failure on 3 April, aged 78. He directed the 1964 film The Strangler starring Victor Buono and was a producer on Space Monster, Wild in the Streets and C.H.O.M.P.S.
Sixty-seven-year-old Canadian film director Bob (Benjamin) Clark was killed in a car crash with his 22-year-old son, Ariel, on California’s Pacific Coast Highway on 4 April. According to police reports, they were killed at 2:30 a.m. when an SUV swerved into the southbound lane. The driver, who didn’t have a licence, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and gross vehicular manslaughter. Clark’s varied credits include Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things, Dead of Night (1974), Black Christmas (1974, and the 2006 remake), Murder by Decree, Porky’s and Porky’s II: The Next Day, Popcorn and an episode of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories. At the time of his death, Clark was working on remakes of Porky’s and Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things.
Oscar-winning Hollywood art director and production designer George Jenkins died of heart failure on 6 April, aged 98. His credits include The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (with Boris Karloff), The Bishop’s Wife (1947), Mickey One, Wait Until Dark, The Angel Levine, Rollover and Dream Lover.
The controversial Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, Jack [Joseph] Valenti died on 26 April of complications from a stroke he suffered in March. He was 85. In 1968 Valenti helped develop the MPAA’s film rating system, which is still in place today, and in 1982 he famously compared the advent of home video recording to the Boston Strangler. He voiced himself in a two-part 1995 episode of the TV cartoon Freakazoid!. Valenti was in charge of John F. Kennedy’s press detail on 22 November, 1963, when the President was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. He was six cars behind Kennedy’s vehicle in the motorcade.
American film and TV director Curtis Harrington died of complications from a stroke on 6 May, aged 80. A former film critic (Films & Filming, Films Illustrated etc.) well-known for his Hollywood parties, he was a close friend and associate of such movie legends as James Whale, Josef von Sternberg and Kenneth Anger. After appearing in Anger’s underground film Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome and working as associate producer on Return to Peyton Place, Harrington carved himself an idiosyncratic career as a talented genre film-maker with such titles as Night Tide, Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (credited as
“John Sebastian”), Queen of Blood, Games, Who Slew Auntie Roof (aka Whoever Slew Auntie Roof), What’s the Matter With Helen?, The Killing Kind, Ruby, Usher (a 2002 short film based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe), and the TV movies How Awful About Allan, The Cat Creature, Killer Bees, The Dead Don’t Die (based on the story by Robert Bloch) and Devil Dog Hound of Hell. He also directed episodes of Wonder Woman, Tales of the Unexpected, Logan’s Run, Darkroom and The Twilight Zone (1987), and made an uncredited appearance in Gods and Monsters as a party guest.
Italian exploitation director, writer and editor Bruno Mattei (aka “Vincent Dawn”) died of a brain tumour in Rome on 21 May, aged 75. After working with Spanish director Jesus Franco, Mattel’s film credits (under numerous pseudonyms) include The Other Hell, Zombie Creeping Flesh (aka Night of the Zombies), The Seven Magnificent Gladiators, Rats, Robowar, Zombi 3, Alienators, Madness, Cruel Jaws, Cannibal Ferox 3: Land of Death, Cannibal World, The Tomb, Island of the Living Dead and Zombies: The Beginning, along with numerous soft-core porn titles.
Fifty-seven-year-old Patrick Stocksill, the official historian of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, died of complications after a heart-liver-kidney transplant on 24 May. Obsessed with movies, by 1982 Stocksill had more than 10,000 index cards cataloguing Oscar data when he applied for a job at the MPAS. His database was subsequently digitized on to computer. As a perk of the job, he guarded the Oscars at the annual award show, handing out the statuettes to the presenters.
American film-maker and occasional actor R. Lee Frost (David Kayne) died on 25 May, aged 71. Under various pseudonyms he directed such titles as House on Bare Mountain, Love Camp 7 and The Thing With Two Heads, and he shot additional footage for the Italian documentary Witchcraft ’70 (aka The Satanists). Frost also co-scripted Race With the Devil.
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 19 Page 79