British character actor Edward “Teddy” (Charles) Burnham died on June 30, aged 98. His acting career began in 1938, and he appeared in the films 10 Rillington Place and The Abominable Dr. Phibes (with Vincent Price), along with episodes of TV’s Quatermass and the Pit (1959), The Avengers, Doctor Who, Thriller (1975) and Tales of the Unexpected. While a drama teacher at RADA, his students included Peter O’Toole, Siân Phillips, Albert Finney and Alan Bates.
Bermuda-born American actress and former model Diana Douglas (Diana Love Dill), the first wife (1943-51) of actor Kirk Douglas and mother of Michael and Joel Douglas, died of cancer on July 3, aged 92. She appeared in Night Cries, A Fire in the Sky and Jaws of Satan, along with episodes of TV’s Science Fiction Theatre and Beauty and the Beast.
American child actress (Phyllis) Amanda Peterson, who starred in Joe Dante’s Explorers (1985), died of an accidental morphine overdose the same day, aged 43. She retired from the entertainment industry in 1994.
Lithuanian-born actor Jacques Sernas (Jurgis Sernas, aka “Jack Sernas”) died in Rome, Italy, on July 3, aged 89. His many credits include Goliath and the Vampires, amongst a number of peplums.
British character actor Anthony Milner, who danced to the ‘Time Warp’ in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1971), died on July 6, aged 68. He also appeared in Hawk the Slayer and Superman II.
Big American character actor Irwin Keyes died of acromegaly on July 8, aged 63. He appeared in Nocturna (with John Carradine), Friday the 13th, Bloodrage, Zapped!, Nice Girls Don’t Explode, Frankenstein’s General Hospital (as “The Monster”), Disturbed, Adventures in Dinosaur City (co-scripted by Lisa Morton), The Silence of the Hams, Oblivion, The Flintstones, Timemaster, The Power Within, Here Come the Munsters, Oblivion 2: Backlash, Asylum, Timegate: Tales of the Saddle Tramps, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, The Vampire Hunters Club, Dead Last, Legend of the Phantom Rider, House of 1000 Corpses, The Fallen Ones, Neighborhood Watch, ShadowBox, Horror High (2005), Wristcutters: A Love Story, Wrestlemaniac (aka El Mascarado Massacre), DarkPlace, Dream Slashers (which he also co-produced), Mansfield Path, Dahmer vs Gacy, Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of the Bong, Dead Kansas, Professor Creepy’s Scream Party and Portend, along with episodes of TV’s Outlaws, Tales from the Crypt, Get Smart and Black Scorpion.
Egyptian movie star Omar Sharif (Michael Demetri Shalhoub), who was nominated for a Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), died of a heart attack in Cairo on July 10, aged 83. He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Sharif’s films include The Night of the Generals, The Mysterious Island (1973, as “Captain Nemo”), Oh! Heavenly Dog, The Rainbow Thief, Gulliver’s Travels (1996) and The 13th Warrior, and he narrated the 2008 prehistoric adventure, 10,000 BC. The actor was also a world-class Bridge player, and co-wrote several books about the game.
Tony Award-winning Welsh actor Roger Rees, who portrayed recurring villain “James MacPherson” in the Syfy TV series Warehouse 13 (2009-13), died of cancer the same day in New York City. He was 71. Rees also appeared in A Christmas Carol (1984), The Possession of Michael D. (aka Legacy of Evil), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999), The Scorpion King, Garfield 2, The Prestige and The Invasion (2007). He was a regular on the 1994-97 series M.A.N.T.I.S. and his other TV credits include episodes of Tales of the Unexpected, The Legend of Prince Valiant, Elementary and Forever. Rees became an American citizen in 1989.
British-born actor and painter Olaf Pooley (Ole Krohn Pooley) died of congestive heart failure in California on July 14, aged 101. In a career dating back to the late 1940s, he appeared in The Gamma People, Naked Evil (aka Exorcism at Midnight), Crucible of Horror (aka The Corpse, with Michael Gough) and Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus. He also wrote, directed and acted in the 1971 children’s film The Johnstown Monster. On TV, Pooley starred in the children’s series The Master (1966), along with episodes of Colonel March of Scotland Yard (‘The Abominable Snowman’), Invisible Man (1959), Sherlock Holmes (1965), Doctor Who (‘Inferno’), Doomwatch, Shadows, Nightmare Classics (‘The Turn of the Screw’) and Star Trek: Voyager, making him one of only twenty-five actors who had speaking roles in both the Doctor Who and Star Trek franchises. His second wife was film and TV director Gabrielle Beaumont.
Wonderful British-born creepy character actor Aubrey Morris (Aubrey Steinberg) died in Los Angeles on July 15, aged 89. His film credits include The Night Caller (aka Blood Beast from Outer Space), Hammer’s Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, A Clockwork Orange, The Wicker Man, Lisztomania, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother, Lifeforce, Project Shadowchaser III, Bordello of Blood, Legend of the Mummy, She Creature (2001), Visioneers and Necessary Evil. On TV, Morris was in episodes of The Moonstone (1959), Out of This World (hosted by Boris Karloff), City Beneath the Sea (1962), The Avengers, Mystery and Imagination (‘Carmilla’ and ‘The Flying Dragon’), The Prisoner, The Champions, Journey to the Unknown, Catweazle, Jamie, Space: 1999, Ripping Yarns (‘The Curse of the Claw’), The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Metal Mickey, Outlaws, Beauty and the Beast (1987), Alien Nation, Tales from the Crypt, Tarzán (1992), Babylon 5 and The Others. His older brother, character actor Wolfe Morris, died in 1996.
American character actor Alex Rocco (Alessandro Federico Petricone, Jr.) died of cancer on July 18, aged 79. Often cast as gangsters or cops, he made his screen debut in Russ Meyer’s Motorpsycho! (1965) and went on to appear in The Boston Strangler, Blood Mania, Stanley, Disney’s Herbie Goes Bananas, The Entity, Return to Horror High, Lady in White, Dream a Little Dream (directed by his son Marc, who died in 2009), Dead of Night (1996), The House Across the Street and The Other (2016). Rocco’s TV credits include episodes of Batman (1967), Get Smart, Circle of Fear, Early Edition, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Touched by an Angel. Caesars Palace in Las Vegas payed tribute to the actor by turning off the fountains in front of the hotel for one minute.
86-year-old American actor George Coe (George Julian Cohen), who co-starred with Alex Rocco in The Entity (1982), died the same day after a long illness. He was in The Stepford Wives (1975), The First Deadly Sin, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (aka Remo: Unarmed and Dangerous), Why on Earth? and The Omega Code, along with episodes of TV’s Max Headroom, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Pretender, The Lone Gunman, Smallville and Supernatural (2008). As a voice actor, Coe contributed to Transformers: Dark of the Moon, 13 Sins, episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and the Star Wars: The Old Republic video games.
Austrian-born actor and folk musician Theodore Bikel (Theodor Meir Bikel) died in Los Angeles on July 21, aged 91. His film credits include I Bury the Living, Dark Tower and Babylon 5: In the Beginning, while on TV he appeared in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Play of the Week (‘The Dybbuk’), The Twilight Zone, The Amazing Spider-Man, Fantasy Island, Knight Rider, Beauty and the Beast (1988), Star Trek: The Next Generation, Babylon 5, The Burning Zone and The Pretender.
British actress Natasha Parry (Natalie Wills) died in France following a stroke on July 22, aged 84. She was in Crow Hollow, Midnight Lace (1960), Haunted: The Ferryman and an episodes of TV’s Shadows of Fear and Sexton Blake and the Demon God. Parry was married to writer/director Peter Brook.
73-year-old British actor and stage director Robin Phillips died in Ontario, Canada, on July 25. He had earlier undergone quadruple bypass heart surgery and was suffering from diabetes. Best remembered for starring alongside Peter Cushing in the ‘Poetic Justice’ episode from Tales from the Crypt (1972), which was his last screen credit, Phillips also appeared in episodes of TV’s Doctor Who, The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling (‘The Tomb of His Ancestors’), The Avengers and Out of the Unknown. He moved to Canada in 1974, where he became the Artistic Director of the acclaimed Stratford Festival (1975-80) and Director General of Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre (1990-95). For four years from 1997 his musical production of Jekyll and Hyde by Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse ran on Broadway.
61-year-old World Wrestling Federation legend “Rowdy” Roddy Piper
(Roderick George Toombs) died of a heart attack in his sleep at his Hollywood home on July 30. Best remembered as the star of John Carpenter’s 1988 satirical SF thriller They Live (“I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass…and I’m all out of bubblegum.”), the Canadian-born professional wrestler-turned-actor’s other (often direct-to-video) screen credits include The Highwayman, Hell Comes to Frogtown, Immortal Combat, Sci-fighters, Shepherd, Ghosts of Goldfield, Street Team Massacre, The Mystical Adventures of Billy Owens, A Gothic Tale, The Portal, Billy Owens and the Secret of the Runes, Lights Out (2010), Alien Opponent, Pro Wrestlers vs Zombies and Don’t Look Back, along with episodes of TV’s Superboy, Highlander, RoboCop and The Outer Limits (1999).
British character actor Clifford Earl died the same day, aged 81. He appeared (often as a policeman) in Hammer’s The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The Body Stealers (aka Thin Air), The Haunted House of Horror (aka Horror House), Scream and Scream Again, Diamonds Are Forever and Tales from the Crypt. On TV, Earl was in episodes of The Monsters (1962), The Avengers, Doctor Who and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).
American character actor Gerald S. O’Loughlin (Gerald Stuart O’Loughlin, Jr.), who co-starred as “Captain E.G. Boyd” in the short-lived ABC-TV series Automan, died on July 31, aged 93. He was also in Twilight’s Last Gleaming and The Secret Kingdom, along with episodes of The Green Hornet, The Powers of Matthew Star and Highway to Heaven.
British singer and entertainer Cilla Black (Priscilla Maria Veronica White) died in Spain of a stroke following a fall on August 1. She was 72. In 1972 Black co-starred with David Warner in Peter Hall’s surreal fantasy Work is a 4-Letter Word, for which she also sang the title song.
American leading lady Coleen Gray (Doris Bernice Jensen) died on August 3, aged 92. Although best known for such classic 1940s film noirs as Kiss of Death and Nightmare Alley, her other credits include The Vampire (1957), The Leech Woman and The Phantom Planet. On TV she appeared in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mister Ed, The Sixth Sense, Whiz Kids and Tales from the Darkside (Pamela Sargent’s ‘The Shrine’).
Beloved British character actor George (Edward) Cole OBE died after a short illness on August 5, aged 90. Best remembered for his role as “‘Flash’ Harry” in the St. Trinian’s films and as “Arthur Daley” in the popular TV series Minder (1979-94), his other credits include A Christmas Carol (1951) and The Anatomist, both opposite his close friend and mentor Alastair Sim, Walt Disney’s Dr. Syn Alias the Scarecrow, Hammer’s The Vampire Lovers (with Ingrid Pitt and Peter Cushing), Fright, The Blue Bird (1976), Mary Reilly and The Ghost of Greville Lodge, along with episodes of TV’s Out of the Unknown, UFO and Shadows of Fear.
American actor Mark Sheeler died on August 6, of complications following a stroke. He was 92, and he appeared in the movies From Hell It Came and (uncredited) The Raven (1963), along with episodes of TV’s Captain Z-Ro, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Adventures of Superman. Sheeler retired from the screen for almost thirty-five years to become a professional wedding photographer and a supervisor for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
American character actor Terrence (Horace) Evans, who played “Monty” in the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and its prequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), died on August 7, aged 81. He was also in Pale Rider, Curse II: The Bite, Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge, Terminator II: Judgment Day, Alien Nation: Dark Horizon, Tobe Hooper’s Crocodile, Last Rites, The Pumpkin Karver, Chain Letter and Bigfoot the Movie, along with episodes of TV’s The Incredible Hulk, The Greatest American Hero, Voyagers!, Monsters (Manly Wade Wellman’s ‘Rouse Him Not’), Hard Times on Planet Earth, Quantum Leap, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Dark Skies and Star Trek: Voyager.
British voice actor Susan (Haydn) Sheridan, who was the voice of “Ellonwy” in the 1985 Disney version of Lloyd Alexander’s The Black Cauldron, died on August 8, aged 68. She also played “Trillian” in the original Radio 4 series of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and returned for adaptions of the sequel volumes.
Trinidad-born musician Russ Henderson MBE (Russell Audley Ferdinand Henderson), who appeared as the steel band leader in the ‘Voodoo’ episode of Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965), died the same day, aged 91. He also wrote two songs heard in that film and appeared as another band leader in an episode of TV’s The Avengers.
American dancer and actress Tyra Vaughn, who was in the “Charlie Chan” movie Shadows Over Chinatown (1946), died on August 9, aged 92. She also appeared (uncredited) in Down to Earth before leaving acting in the late 1950s.
American actress Yvonne (Joyce) Craig, best known for her iconic portrayal of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl on the cult 1960s Batman TV series, died of breast cancer that metastasised to her liver on August 17, aged 78. A former ballet dancer, she began acting in the late 1950s and appeared in her then-boyfriend Elvis Presley’s movies It Happened at the World’s Fair and Kissin’ Cousins. Her other credits include Ski Party, One Spy Too Many (in especially-shot footage as “Maude Waverly”), One of Our Spies is Missing, In Like Flint and Mars Needs Women, along with episodes of TV’s Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., My Favorite Martian, The Wild Wild West, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, Star Trek (‘Who the Gods Destroy’), Land of the Giants, Holmes and Yo-Yo, The Six Million Dollar Man and Fantasy Island. More recently, she voiced “Batgirl” for the 2015 video game Batman: Arkham Knight. Craig’s 2000 autobiography was entitled From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond.
American actress Melody Patterson, who co-starred in the ABC-TV sitcom F Troop (including the 1967 episode ‘V is for Vampire’ featuring Vincent Price), died of multiple organ failure on August 20, aged 66. She was also in Blood and Lace, The Immortalizer and an episode of The Monkees. Her second husband (1970-77) was actor James MacArthur.
British “spiritualist medium” Reverand Colin Fry died of lung cancer on August 25, aged 53. He received his first psychic message in 1972 and seven years later became a professional medium, touring the world. Fry appeared on such TV shows as 6ixth Sense with Colin Fry, Most Haunted and Psychic Private Eyes. His manager said: “Because of what he does, he had no fear of death.”
American light comedy actor Dean (Carroll) Jones died of Parkinson’s disease on September 1, aged 84. Best known for his work on such Disney films as Blackbeard’s Ghost, The Love Bug (1968 and 1997 versions), Mr. Superinvisible, The Million Dollar Duck, The Shaggy D.A., Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1995) and the 1982 TV series Herbie the Love Bug, he was also in the Elvis Presley musical Jailhouse Rock, Two on a Guillotine, Once Upon a Brothers Grimm, Special Report: Journey to Mars, A spasso nel tempo, Scrooge and Marley and an episode of TV’s Nowhere Man.
Another 1960s icon, British actress Judy Carne (Joyce Audrey Botterill), died of pneumonia on September 3, aged 76. Although best known for her regular appearances on the 1968-70 seasons of TV’s Rowan & Martin’s LaughIn (“Sock it to me!”), she was also in episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I Dream of Jeannie and Thriller (1973). Married to actor Burt Reynolds from 1963-67, Carne’s 1985 autobiography Laughing on the Outside, Crying on the Inside, destailed her tragic descent into heroin addiction and degredation during the 1970s.
Former American child actress Jean Darling (Dorothy Jean LeVake) died on September 4 in Rödermark, Germany, aged 93. A regular performer in numerous “Hal Roach’s Rascals” (later “Our Gang” or “Little Rascals”) silent shorts, she also appeared (uncredited) in Laurel and Hardy’s Babes in Toyland (aka March of the Wooden Soldiers, as “Curly Locks”) and Jane Eyre (1934). In the mid-1940s she originated the role of mill-worker “Carrie Pipperidge”, singing ‘(When I Marry) Mister Snow’ in more than 850 consecutive performances of the original Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. Darling later toured the world with her husband (1954-73), Kajar the Magician (Reuben Bowen), in his show “Magicadabr”. After the couple’s separation, she settled in Dublin, Ireland, to become a
short story writer, selling work to such magazines as Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock and Mike Shayne Mystery Magazines, Fantasy Book, Night Cry, and Stuart David Schiff’s Whispers and the anthology Whispers III.
Italian muscle-man actor Alan Steel (Sergio Ciani) died on September 5, two days after his 79th birthday. His film credits include Hercules Unchained, The Giant of Marathon, Samson, The Fury of Hercules, Samson and the Slave Queen, Hercules and the Masked Rider, Hercules and the Black Pirates, Hercules Against Rome, Hercules Against the Moon Men, Hercules and the Treasure of the Incas, Samson and the Mighty Challenge and 3 Avengers, amongst other peplums.
Clean-cut American actor Martin (Sam) Milner, who starred as “Todd Stiles” opposite George Maharis (and later Glenn Corbett) in the CBS-TV series Route 66 (1960-64), died after a long illness on September 6, aged 83. The show’s 1962 Halloween episode, ‘Lizard’s Leg and Owlet’s Wing’, guest-starred Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney, Jr., Martita Hunt and Boris Karloff. Milner’s other credits include Francis in the Navy, On the Threshold of Space, William Castle’s 13 Ghosts, SST: Death Flight and episodes of TV’s Science Fiction Theatre, The Twilight Zone, Fantasy Island and RoboCop. The actor also appeared in, and associate produced, Sex Kittens Go to College (aka The Beauty and the Robot, 1960), which also featured Mamie Van Doren, John Carradine and Vampira.
Former American child actor Dickie Moore (John Richard Moore, Jr.) died on September 7, five days before his 90th birthday. He began his screen career at the age of eighteen months in 1927, and he appeared in Peter Ibbetson (1935), The Blue Bird (1940), Heaven Can Wait (1943) and the TV series Captain Video and His Video Rangers before going into public relations in the late 1950s. Moore was the first person to give Shirley Temple a widly publicised on-screen kiss (in Miss Annie Rooney, 1942), and his third wife was actress and singer Jane Powell. He wrote the 1984 book Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (But Don’t Have Sex or Take the Car), which looked at the life of child actors in Hollywood.
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