The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 17

by Stephen Jones

  Canadian-born character actor James [Montgomery] Doohan, better known as chief engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott from the original NBC-TV Star Trek series (1966–69) and the series of seven spin-off films, died of pneumonia and Alzheimer’s disease on July 20th, aged 85. His ashes were fired into space in December aboard a commercial rocket. Doohan was also a regular on the 1978–80 series Jason of Star Command (as “Commander Canarvin”) and his other credits include The Satan Bug, Pretty Maids All in a Row, Knig ht Rider 2000, Bug Buster, Through Dead Eyes, Skinwalker and Curse of the Shaman, along with episodes of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Bewitched, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Fantasy Island and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He collaborated with S. M. Stirling on a series of military SF novels, including The Rising, The Privateer and The Independent Command, and his autobiography, Beam Me Up, Scotty (a phrase that was never actually used in the TV show) was published in 1996. He received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 2004. Doohan’s ninth child was born in 1980, when the actor was 80 years old.

  64-year-old British-born Blues singer-songwriter [John William] “Long John” Baldry died in Canada on July 21st, after suffering from a severe chest infection for four months. The six-foot, seven-inch tall singer, whose hits include “Let the Heartaches Begin” and who is credited with discovering Rod Stewart, reportedly died penniless. As a voice actor, he was Sonic the Hedgehog’s evil nemesis Dr Robotnik. Elton John (aka Reginald Dwight) derived half his name from Baldry’s.

  88-year-old American stage and screen actor George D. Wallace died on July 22nd in Los Angeles of complications from injuries sustained during a fall while on vacation in Pisa, Italy. He had been hospitalized for five weeks in the city before he was sufficiently stabilized to return to the US Wallace appeared in more than twenty-five Westerns, including several Hopalong Cassidy films, but is best-remembered as “Commando Cody, Sky Marshall of the Universe” in the 1951 Republic serial Radar Men from the Moon. He also appeared in Ghost Buster, Forbidden Planet, Retik the Moon Menace, Night of the Hunter, The Six Million Dollar Man pilot, Prison, The Haunted, Defending Your Life, Multiplicity, Bicentennial Man and Minority Report. On TV he was in episodes of Planet of the Apes, Fantasy Island, Monsters, Star Trek The Next Generation, Early Edition, The X Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

  Eugene Record, lead singer of soul group the Chi-Lites (best remembered for their hit “Oh, Girl”), died of cancer the same day, age 64.

  Prolific American film and TV actor Ford Rainey died of a series of strokes on July 25th, aged 96. He made his (uncredited) debut in White Heat (1949), and went on to appear in such films as The Andromeda Strain, Halloween II and The Cellar, along with the made-for-TV movies The Man from the 28th Century, A Howling in the Woods, Strange New World and Manhunter. He also appeared in episodes of Remar of the Jungle, The Outer Limits (“I, Robot”), Lost in Space, Get Smart (“Weekend Vampire”), The Time Tunnel, The Invaders, The Wild Wild West, The Immortal, Night Gallery (“The Phantom Farmhouse”), Search and The Six Million Dollar Man. He played the US President on several episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and was “Jim Elgin” in The Bionic Woman.

  British actor David Jackson, best known for his roll as “Olag Gan” in BBC-TV’s Blakes 7 (1978–79), died of a heart attack the same day, aged 75. He was also in Hammer’s Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, Killer’s Moon and an episode of Space: 1999.

  78-year-old British stuntman Alf Joint also died on July 25th. His credits include the Bond films On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Goldfinger, The Projected Man, Hammer’s The Lost Continent, Witchfinder General, The Keep, An American Werewolf in London, Return of the Jedi, Lifeforce and Superman II. On TV he plunged over the waterfall in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

  Transsexual Brazilian porn star Camilla de Castro died on July 26th after jumping off a balcony while on a drug binge.

  Singer Loulie Jean Norman, who performed with everyone from Spike Jones to Frank Sinatra, died on August 1st, aged 92. She sang the original Star Trek TV theme and was the high-pitched soprano on “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”.

  American stage and screen actress Ileen Getz died of cancer on August 4th, aged 44. She portrayed the humourless “Judith Draper” on the TV series Third Rock from the Sun.

  Mary Amadeo Ingersoll, who portrayed a reporter in the 1990s TV movies Alien Nation: The Enemy Within and Alien Nation: The Udara Legacy, died of breast cancer on August 8th, aged 52.

  American film and TV actress Barbara Bel Geddes (Barbara Geddes Lewis), best known for her Emmy-winning role as matriarch “Miss Ellie” in CBS-TV’s Dallas (1978–90) died of lung cancer on August 8th, aged 82. Blacklisted following her testimony before the Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy era, her credits include The Long Night (with Vincent Price), Hitchcock’s Vertigo, The Todd Killings plus episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (“Lamb to the Slaughter”), Dow Hour of Great Mysteries (“The Burning Court”) and Hammer’s Journey to the Unknown.

  Seven-foot, six-inch actor Matthew McGrory, who played the gentle giant “Karl” in Tim Burton’s Big Fish, died of natural causes on August 9th, aged 32. At the time of his death he was working on a biopic of wrestler-turned-actor André the Giant (who died in 1993). McGrory, the tallest actor in the world, also appeared in Bubble Boy, Men in Black II, The Dead Hate the Living, Shadow-Box, Constantine, Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses and its sequel The Devil’s Rejects, along with episodes of TV’s Charmed and Carnivàle.

  Actor and puppeteer Carl Harms died after a short illness on August 11th, aged 94. He began his career as a walk-on in Fritz Lieber, Sr’s repertory Shakespearean Theater in 1930. He appeared on an early TV adaptation of The Tempest with Roddy McDowell, worked on the popular children’s show Howdy Doody and had a supporting role in the live-action series Johnny Jupiter. Harms also helped create replica models for NBC’s coverage of several Gemini and Apollo space missions.

  British leading man James Booth (David Geeves-Booth) died the same day, aged 78. His film credits include The Secret of My Success, Revenge, Airport 77, Avenging Force, Programmed to Kill, Moon in Scorpio, Deep Space, Inner Sanctum II, The Breed and American Ninja 4: The Annihilation. Booth also appeared in an episode of the 1950s TV series The Invisible Man and he played former convict “Ernie Niles” in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks (1990–91).

  British actor Peter Porteous, who played “Petrov” in the TV series Space: 1999, died on August 12th. He also appeared in The Shuttered Room, Venom, Lifeforce and the Bond films Octopussy and The Living Daylights.

  Actor and stuntman James Gavin died on August 13th, aged 70. His credits include The Werewolf (1956), The Nude Bomb and Blue Thunder.

  American stage and screen actress, singer and political activist Herta Ware, who was married to blacklisted actor Will Geer (who died in 1978), died on August 15th, aged 88. She appeared in Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype, Critters 2: The Main Course, 2010, Cocoon: The Return, Species and episodes of TV’s Amazing Stories, The Munsters Today, Eerie Indiana and Star Trek: The Next Generation (as “Maman Picard”).

  Actress Eva Renzi, who portrayed the killer in Dario Argento’s Bird with the Crystal Plumage, died of cancer on August 16th, aged 60. She also appeared in Funeral in Berlin and Bite Me Darling.

  Veteran American character actor and director Mel Welles (Ernst von Theumer) died of heart failure on August 19th, aged 83. Best remembered for creating the role of “Gravis Mushnik” in Roger Corman’s original The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), his numerous other credits include Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, The Undead, Hold That Hypnotist, The 27th Day, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Revenge of the Blood Beast, Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype, Chopping Mall, Wolfen, Invasion Earth: The Aliens Are Here and Wizards of the Lost Kingdom. He also directed Blood Suckers (aka Man-Eater of Hydra) and Lady Frankenstein.

  American character actor Brock Peters (George Fisher, aka “Broc Peters”) died of complications from pancreatic cancer on Aug
ust 23rd, aged 78. His films include Soylent Green, The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake, Alligator II: Mutation, Cosmic Slop, Ghosts of Mississippi, and he played “Admiral Cartwright” in both Star Trek IV The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country. Peters also appeared in episodes of TV’s Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Night Gallery (“Logoda’s Head”), The Bionic Woman, Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (in the recurring role of “Joseph Sisko”). He portrayed Darth Vader in the National Public Radio adaptations of the Star Wars trilogy, and voiced “General Mi’Qogh” in the Star Trek: Starfleet Command III video game. Peters also performed background vocals on the Harry Belafonte hit “Banana Boat Song (Day-O)”.

  British leading man Terence Morgan died of heart failure on August 25th, aged 83. A discovery of Laurence Olivier, his film credits include Hamlet (1948), Svengali (1954) and Hammer’s The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb.

  French character actor Jacques Dufilho, who portrayed the ship’s captain in Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu (1978), died on August 28th, aged 91. His other credits include the 1956 Hunchback of Notre Dame.

  British character actor Michael Sheard (Michael Perkins) died of cancer on August 31st, aged 67. He played “Admiral Ozzel” in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and was also in Raiders of the Lost Ark (most of his scenes as a U-boat Captain were cut) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (as Adolf Hitler). His other appearances include episodes of Adam Adamant Lives!, Space: 1999, The New Avengers, The Tomorrow People (as Hitler again), Blakes 7, Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected and The Invisible Man (1984), and he appeared with more Doctors in Doctor Who than any other actor.

  American TV comedian Bob (Robert) Denver, who played shipwrecked first mate “Gilligan” in the CBS series Gilligan’s Island (1964–67) and spin-off movies, died of complications from cancer on September 2nd, aged 70. He had undergone quadruple heart transplant surgery earlier in the year. Denver also appeared in several films, including The Invisible Woman (1983), and such TV series as Far Out Space Nuts (1975–76), Back to the Beach (1987) and episodes of I Dream of Jeannie, Fantasy Island and ALF. The iconic Gilligan’s Island included a number of genre episodes featuring spoofs of vampires, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, while the 1980s cartoon spin-off Gilligan’s Planet gave the show a SF theme.

  Actress and stuntwoman Tomi Barrett, who worked on the choreography for Brian DePalma’s The Phantom of the Paradise, died of lung cancer on September 8th, aged 54.

  Former stripper and night-club entertainer Honey Bruce (Harriett Jolliff) the former wife of comedian Lenny Bruce (who died in 1966) from 1951–57, died of complications from colitis in Honolulu the same day, aged 78.

  British character actor Ronald Leigh-Hunt died on September 12th, aged 88. He appeared in Colonel March Investigates (and the TV series Colonel March of Scotland Yard, with Boris Karloff), Curse of Simba (aka Curse of the Voodoo), Where the Bullets Fly, The Omen and the 1992 TV movie of Frankenstein.

  40-year-old British actor and stuntman Malcolm Xerxes died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Toronto, Canada, on September 13th. He was being pursued by police as a suspect in the non-fatal shooting of his girlfriend. Xerxes appeared in several low budget movies and episodes of TV’s Relic Hunter, Witchblade and Veritas: The Quest.

  American leading lady and singer [Mary] Constance Moore, who portrayed heroine “Lieutenant Wilma Deering” in the 1939 serial Buck Rogers, died of heart failure after a long illness on September 16th, aged 85. She also appeared in The Missing Guest.

  American leading man John Bromfield (Farron Bromfield) died of kidney failure on September 18th, aged 83. Best remembered for playing lawman “Frank Morgan” in the TV series The Sheriff of Cochise (1956–58) and U.S. Marshal (1958–60), he also appeared in Curucu Beast of the Amazon, Manfish and Universal’s Gill Man sequel Revenge of the Creature. He was married to French actress Corinne Calvet for five years.

  Adult film star and fetish model Eva Lux died of a heroin overdose on September 20th, aged 32.

  Character actor Gregg Martell, who portrayed the friendly caveman in Dinosaurus!, died of Parkinson’s disease on September 22nd, aged 87. His other credits include Space Master X-7, Return of the Fly, Valley of the Dragons and The Three Stooges Meet Hercules.

  26-year-old adult film star Julie Robbins was killed in a single car accident the same day.

  Lanky British character actor [David] Roger Brierley died of a heart attack on September 23rd, aged 70. His many credits include playing the head Cyberman in Doctor Who opposite Colin Baker, Superman II, Young Sherlock Holmes and the 1985 TV movie A Very British Coup.

  Tommy Bond (Thomas Ross Bond), who played “Butch” the bully in dozens of “Our Gang” and “The Little Rascals” films during the 1930s, died of complications from heart disease on September 24th, aged 79. He later appeared as boy reporter Jimmy Olsen in the 1948 serial Superman and the feature Atom Man vs. Superman. He retired from acting in 1951.

  American comic actor Joseph “Jojo” D’Amore died of emphysema and cancer the same day, aged 74. A friend of fellow stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce, he appeared in Mansion of the Doomed, Dracula’s Dog, Alligator and The Sword and the Sorcerer.

  TV comedian Don Adams (Donald James Yarmy), who won three Emmy Awards for his performance as the bumbling CONTROL Agent 86, “Maxwell Smart”, in the NBC sci-spy series Get Smart (1965–70), died of bone lymphoma complicated by a lung infection on September 25th, aged 82. Typecast in the role, Adams recreated the character in the 1980 spin-off film The Nude Bomb, the TV movie Get Smart Again, a brief 1994 revival of the show and a 1999 series of Canadian TV commercials for the Buck-a-Call long-distance phone service. In 1983 he became the voice of cartoon character Inspector Gadget, a role he continued until the late 1990s.

  Adult gay film actor Troy Steele (Scott Saunders) died of complications from AIDS on September 26th, aged 43.

  Ukrainian-born bit-part player and regular Mickey Rooney stand-in Sig (Siegfried) Frohlich, who played the Wicked Witch of the West’s blue monkey that flew off with Dorothy’s dog Toto in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, died of pneumonia on September 30th, aged 97. He was believed to be the last survivor of the film’s thirteen winged monkeys. Frohlich also appeared as a soldier in Ming the Merciless’ army in the original Flash Gordon serial, and his other credits include The Atomic Kid, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini and Clue.

  British-born character actor and folk singer Hamilton Camp (aka “Robin Camp”) died of a heart attack after suffering a fall near his home in California on October 2nd, aged 70. Best remembered for his recurring role as a time-travelling H. G. Wells in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, his credits also include such films as Bedlam (with Boris Karloff), The Son of Dr. Jekyll, Heaven Can Wait (1978), Starcrash, Evilspeak, Eating Raoul, Twice Upon a Time, Arena, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Dick Tracy (1990), Doctor Dolittle (1998), Wishcraft, the TV movies It Came Upon a Midnight Clear and Attack of the 50ft Woman, plus episodes of Bewitched, Mork and Mindy, the revived Twilight Zone, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. Camp was also a prolific voice actor on numerous Scooby-Doo cartoons and other series.

  Comedian and actor Nipsey Russell, who played the “Tin Man” in The Wiz (1978), died of stomach cancer the same day, aged 81. He also appeared in the children’s fantasy Dream One (aka Nemo).

  22-year-old actor Jacob Reynolds also died on October 2nd after being involved the day before in an automobile accident in Houston, Texas. His film credits include Voodoo Doll (2005).

  Popular British TV comedian, scriptwriter (as “Gerald Wiley”) and character actor Ronnie Barker died on October 3rd, aged 76. He had suffered from heart problems for some years. After beginning his career in radio, Barker teamed up with fellow comedian Ronnie Corbett for the long-running BBC series The Two Ronnies, which ended with Barker’s premature retirement in 1987. “The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town” was a classic Jack the Ripper-inspired sketch performed by the duo on
the show. Barker also appeared in the films A Ghost of a Chance, The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins and Robin and Marian, while his TV credits include episodes of The Avengers and The Saint, and he played “Bottom” in a 1971 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

  Mike Gibbins (Michael Gibbins), drummer and singer with the late 1960s band Badfinger, died in Florida on October 4th, aged 56. As protégés of the Beatles (they were the first act signed to Apple Records), the group’s hits included “Come and Get it” (used in the film The Magic Christian), “No Matter What” and “Day After Day” before the band broke up and two of its members committed suicide.

  56-year-old American actor and comedian Charles Rocket (Charles Claverie) was found dead in his backyard of his Connecticut home on October 7th after apparently committing suicide by cutting his throat. A regular on Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s (before he was fired for saying “fuck” on air), his credits include Earth Girls Are Easy, Delirious, TV’s Wild Palms, Hocus Pocus, Charlie’s Ghost Story, Titan A. E. and episodes of Max Headroom (as regular “Ned Grossberg”), Touched by an Angel (in the recurring role of “Adam”), Quantum Leap, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Star Trek: Voyager, The X Files and 3rd Rock from the Sun. As a voice actor, Rocket contributed to Batman: Gotham Knights, Men in Black, Superman and Batman Beyond.

  30-year-old Bollywood sex symbol Anju Gill Raj committed suicide by self-immolation on October 8th.

  American comedian and character actor Louis Nye died of lung cancer on October 9th, aged 92. After a career in theatre, night-clubs and radio, he joined Steve Allen’s TV show in 1956. Nye’s credits include Sex Kittens Go to College (aka Beauty and the Robot), Zotz!, Full Moon High, the 1985 TV movie of Alice in Wonderland (as the Carpenter), and as horror host “Zombo” in the eponymously titled episode of The Munsters. During the 1980s and ’90s he also contributed various voices to the Inspector Gadget cartoon show.