The Best New Horror 2 (75 page)

Jill Ireland,
British-born actress and wife of Charles Bronson, died of cancer on May 18th, aged 54. She began her career as a Rank starlet and married actor David McCallum in 1957. They divorced ten years later. Her films include
Someone Behind the Door, The Karate Killers
and TV’s
The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything
, along with episodes of
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Star Trek
and
Night Gallery
.

Comedian and actor
Max Wall
died on May 22nd after falling outside a restaurant in London’s Strand. He was aged 82. His movie credits include the Pythonesque fantasy
Jabberwocky
.

Debonair British actor
Sir Rex Harrison
died from pancreatic cancer on June 2nd, aged 82. Although his career alternated between stage and film productions on both sides of the Atlantic, he is best remembered for his Oscar-winning role as Professor Higgins in
My Fair Lady
(1964). His other movie credits include
Blithe Spirit, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Midnight Lace
and
Doctor Dolittle
.

Veteran character actor
Jack Gilford
died the same day from cancer. He was 81. His many credits include
They Might Be Giants, Catch 22, Caveman, Cocoon
and
Cocoon the Return
.

British character actor
Raymond Huntley
died in June, aged 86. He played Dracula on the stage between 1928–30, and he appeared in such movies as
The Ghost of St Michaels, The Ghost Train, Passport to Pimlico, I’ll Never Forget You, Meet Mr Lucifer, The Black Torment
and Hammer’s remake of
The Mummy
(1959).

Actor
Leonard Sachs
died from kidney failure on June 15th, aged 82. His occasional film appearances included
Taste of Fear
(aka
Scream of Fear
),
The Gamma People, The Giant Behemoth, Konga
and
Thunderball
, as well as TV’s
Dr Who
and
1984
.

British actress
Anna Palk
died on July 1st from cancer. She was 48. Her many credits include
The Earth Dies Screaming, The Skull, Fahrenheit 451, The Frozen Dead, Tower of Evil
(aka
Horror of Snape Island
) and
The Nightcomers
.

Actor
Howard Duff
died on July 8th of a heart attack, aged 76. He appeared in the 1953 film
Spaceways
, plus
Oh, God Book II, Monster in the Closet
and numerous TV series.

Irene Champlin,
who played Dale Arden in the 1950s
Flash Gordon
TV series, died on July 10th, aged 59.

Leading lady
Margaret Lockwood
died on July 15th. She was 73. Despite attracting the attention of Hollywood with her starring role in Hitchcock’s
The Lady Vanishes
, most of her films were made in Britain, including
Dr Syn
(1937),
A Place of One’s Own
and
The Slipper and the Rose
.

American comic actor
Eddie Quillan,
aged 83, died on July 19th of cancer. Besides appearing in
Mutiny on the Bounty
(1935) and
The Grapes of Wrath
, he also turned up in
Brigadoon, The Ghost and Mrs Chicken, Angel in My Pocket, Jungle Queen, Jungle Raiders
and TV’s
The Darker Side of Terror
.

Actress
Elizabeth Allan,
who co-starred with Bela Lugosi in
Mark of the Vampire
and also appeared in
The Phantom Fiend
(aka
The Lodger
, 1935), died on July 27th. She was 80.

Jill Esmond
died on July 28th. The 82-year-old actress was the first wife of Laurence Olivier, and her credits include
FP1 Does Not Reply
and
13 Women
.

Actor
Maurice Braddell
died the same day, aged 89. He played Dr Harding in the 1936 version of
Things to Come
.

Nina Bara,
who portrayed the regular villainess, Tonga, in the ’50s TV show
Space Patrol
, died on August 15th of cancer. She was 66. She also starred in
Missile to the Moon
.

Black actor
Raymond St Jacques,
aged 60, died on August 27th from cancer of the lymph glands. He portrayed Martin Luther King in
The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover
, and other credits include
Change of Mind, The Eyes of Laura Mars, They Live
and
Search for the Gods
, as well as numerous TV appearances.

Hollywood star of the 1930s and ’40s
Irene Dunne
died on September 4th from heart failure at the age of 88. She appeared in
13 Women, A Guy Named Joe, It Grows on Trees
and the James Whale version of
Showboat
.

British character actress
Athene Seyler
died on September 11th, aged 101. She appeared in the 1935 version of
Scrooge
and played Mrs Karswell in
Night of the Demon
(aka
Curse of the Demon
).

Former child actor
Jackie Moran
died on September 20th from cancer, aged 65. Best remembered as Buddy Wade in the original
Buck Rogers
serial (1939), he also featured in
Meet Mr Christian, Henry Aldrich Haunts a House
and
Hop Harrigan
.

British actress
Jill Bennett
committed suicide on October 4th, aged 59. She appeared in
The Skull, The Nanny, Britannia Hospital, For Your Eyes Only, The Anatomist
and
Full Circle
(aka
The Haunting of Julia
).

Radio entertainer and straight man
Richard Murdoch
died of a heart attack on October 9th. He was 83, and his film credits include
The Terror
(1938) and
The Ghost Train
(1941).

Tough-guy character actor
Robert Tessier
died on October 11th from cancer, aged 56. With his shaved head and muscular build, he often portrayed villains in such movies as
The Velvet Vampire, Doc Savage The Man of Bronze, Starcrash, Billion Dollar Threat, The Sword and the Sorcerer, The Lost Empire
and
Double Exposure
.

French leading actress
Delphine Seyrig
died from lung disease on October 15th, aged 58. She appeared in
Last Year in Marienbad, Mr Freedom, The Milky Way, Donkey Skin, Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Popular Press
(as Frau Dr Mabuse) and the haunting
Daughters of Darkness
(as the vampirish Countess Bathory).

Hollywood star
Joel McCrea
died on October 20th of pulmonary complications. He was 84. In a career that spanned four decades, he appeared in such classics as
Sullivan’s Travels
and
Ride the High Country
, as well as
The Most Dangerous Game, Bird of Paradise
(with Lon Chaney, Jr) and
The Unseen
.

Character actress
Freda Jackson
died the same day at the age of 82. During the 1960s she appeared in a number of horror and fantasy movies including
Shadow of the Cat
, Hammer’s
The Brides of Dracula, Die, Monster, Die!
(aka
Monster of Terror
, with Boris Karloff), plus two Ray Harryhausen extravaganzas:
Valley of Gwangi
and
Clash of the Titans
.

Italian leading actor
Ugo Tognazzi
died from a cerebral haemorrhage on October 27th, aged 68. He appeared in
Toto in the Moon, My Friend Dr Jekyll, The Ape Woman, Barbarella
(as Mark Hand),
The Master and Margarita
and
La Grande Bouffe
, amongst others.

Spanish-American bandleader
Xavier Cugat
died on the same day from heart failure, aged 90. He appeared in many of the MGM musicals of the ’40s, as well as
The Monitors
and
The Pyx
.

Veteran character actor
Harry Lauter
died on October 30th, aged 76, from heart failure. His numerous movie credits include
The Flying Disc Man from Mars, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, The Creature with the Atom Brain, The Werewolf, Escape from the Planet of the Apes
and
Superbeast
.

British actress
Valerie French
died on November 3rd from leukaemia. She was 59. Amongst her credits were
The 27th Day, The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake
and TV’s
The Prisoner
.

Musical comedy star
Mary Martin
died the same day of cancer, aged 76. The mother of actor Larry Hagman, she first starred on Broadway in
One Touch of Venus
and went on to be identified in the American public’s mind as the definitive Peter Pan.

Will Kuluva
died from an embolism on November 6th. He was 73. In 1964 he appeared in the Leo G. Carroll role in
The Man from UNCLE
TV pilot, which later became the feature
To Trap a Spy
. His many other small screen credits include
Twilight Zone, Wild, Wild West
and
Beauty and the Beast
.

American comedienne and original Ziegfeld girl
Eve Arden
(Eunice Quedens) died on November 12th from heart disease, aged somewhere between 78 and 88. She appeared in
Whistling in the Dark, One Touch of Venus, Sergeant Deadhead, The Strongest Man in the World
and
Pandemonium
as well as the boxoffice hit
Grease
and TV’s
Alice in Wonderland
.

Meghan Robinson,
actress and founding member of Charles Busch’s Theater-in-Limbo, died on November 18th of AIDS. She was 35 and co-starred with Busch in the off-Broadway comedies
Psycho Beach Party
and
Vampire Lesbians of Sodom
.

David White,
who portrayed Larry Tate in the long-running TV series
Bewitched
, died on November 26th of a heart attack. He was 74.

31-inch tall actress
Tamara de Treaux,
who played the title role in
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
, died from heart and respiratory problems on November 28th. She was 31. She also appeared in
Ghoulies
and
Rockula
.

Leading film and TV actor
Robert Cummings,
aged 80, died of kidney failure and pneumonia on December 2nd. He began his film
career in 1935 and starred in
Flesh and Fantasy, The Lost Moment, Heaven Only Knows, For Heaven’s Sake, Free for All, Dial M for Murder
and
Five Golden Dragons
(with Christopher Lee).

Veteran character actor
Edward Binns
died on December 4th from a heart attack. He was 74. Amongst his numerous credits are
Curse of the Undead, Fail Safe, Hunter, The Power Within
and
Diary of the Dead
.

Hollywood leading lady
Joan Bennett
died of a heart attack on December 7th, aged 80. She made her movie debut in 1915 and appeared in
Alice in Wonderland
(1927 short),
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head, The Secret Beyond the Door, For Heaven’s Sake, House of Dark Shadows
and
Suspiria
. Between 1966–71 she played Elizabeth Collins Stoddard in the TV series
Dark Shadows
, and also appeared in the TV movies
The Eyes of Charles Sand
and
This House Possessed
.

Tough-guy actor and pro-wrestler
Mike Mazurki
(Mikhail Mazurski) died on December 9th, aged 82, after a long illness. He made his screen debut in 1934 and went on to appear in
Dr Renault’s Secret, Henry Aldrich Haunts a House, The Canterville Ghost
(1943),
Murder, My Sweet
(as Moose Malloy),
Dick Tracy
(1945, as Splitface),
The Horn Blows At Midnight, Sinbad the Sailor, Around the World in 80 Days, Zotz!, Alligator, Amazon Women On the Moon
and Warren Beatty’s
Dick Tracy
(1990).

FILM/TV TECHNICIANS:

“The dean of Hollywood art directors”,
Lyle Wheeler,
died of pneumonia on January 10th, aged 84. During a career that spanned 25 years and more than 400 films, he received 24 Academy Award nominations and won 5 times. His numerous credits include
Gone With the Wind, Rebecca, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Cleopatra
and
Marooned
.

Low budget director
William J. Hole, Jr.
died from respiratory failure on February 11th. He was 71. Among his credits are
The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow, The Devil’s Hand, Face of Terror
and
Man in Outer Space
.

Acclaimed British screenwriter, director and producer
Michael Powell
died on February 19th of prostate cancer. He was 84. With the late Emeric Pressburger he made 14 movies, including the classic fantasies
A Matter of Life and Death
(aka
Stairway to Heaven
),
The Red Shoes, Tales of Hoffman
and
The Boy Who Turned Yellow
. His other credits included the Academy Award-winning 1940 fantasy
The Thief of Bagdad
and the 1960 chiller
Peeping Tom
.

Writer/producer
Aubrey Wisberg
died of cancer in New York on March 14th. He was 78. Besides being involved with such diverse projects as
The Horn Blows at Midnight
(1945) with Jack Benny and
Hercules in New York
(1969) with Arnold Schwarzenegger, he formed Mid-Century Productions with Jack Pollexfen in 1950. Over the next few years they turned out such “classics” as
The Man from Planet X, Captive Women, The Neanderthal Man
and
Port Sinister
.