American movie director Michael Campus, who directed the 1972 SF move Z.P.G. starring Oliver Reed, died of melanoma the same day, also aged 80.
American social and entertainment photographer Mary Ellen Mark died of myelodysplastic syndrome on May 25, aged 75. Amongst the films she worked on as a unit photographer are The Believers and Tim Burton’s Big Fish and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Her pictures appeared in such magazines as Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly.
Spanish writer and director Vicente Aranda died on May 26, aged 88. His films include Left-Handed Fate, The Exquisite Cadaver and The Blood Spattered Bride.
Oscar-winning British costume designer (Diana) Julie Harris died of a chest infection on May 30, aged 94. The films she worked on include Mister Drake’s Duck, Help!, Eye of the Devil (aka 13), Casino Royale (1967), The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy, Live and Let Die, Rollerball (1975), The Land That Time Forgot (1975), The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella, Dracula (1979), The Great Muppet Caper, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) and The Sign of Four (1983). After retiring in 1991 she became a successful oil painter.
29-year-old American special effects technician and editor Kate (Katherine) Chappell died on June 1 after being mauled by a lion through the open window of her vehicle in a Johannesburg, South Africa, safari park. She worked in various capacities on Gravity, Hellbenders, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), Gods Behaving Badly, Noah, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Divergent, Godzilla (2014), Pan (2015) and TV’s Game of Thrones.
Spanish cinematographer Manel Esteban (Manuel Esteban Marquilles) died on June 3, aged 74. His credits include the experimental 1971 film Cuadecuc Vampir and the 2012 documentary short Dracula vs. Vampir (both featuring Christopher Lee and Herbert Lom).
Oscar-winning American movie producer Robert (Irwin) Chartoff died of pancreatic cancer on June 10, aged 81. Best known for co-producing the Rocky films with Irwin Winkler, his other credits include The Tempest (2010), Ender’s Game (based on the novel by Orson Scott Card) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2014). His second wife (1970-83), British actress Vanessa Howard, died in 2010.
American producer-manager Jack Rollins (Jacob Rabinowitz) died on June 18 aged 100. He co-produced (often with the late Charles H. Joffe) many of Woody Allen’s films, including Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex* *But Were Afraid to Ask, Sleeper, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, Zelig, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Alice, Shadows and Fog, Manhattan Murder Mystery, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Scoop, Midnight in Paris and Magic in the Moonlight.
American TV comedy scriptwriter and producer Chris (Christopher) Thompson died after a long illness on June 26, aged 63. He directed the 1998 SF movie Meteorites! starring Tom Wopat and scripted the 1987 beach party sequel Back to the Beach.
British film producer John Dark died in Spain on June 29, aged 88. He began his career as a production manager on The Strange World of Planet X (aka Cosmic Monsters), and was an associate producer on the James Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967) before joining Amicus Productions in the 1970s as a managing partner on such movies as From Beyond the Grave, The Beast Must Die, Madhouse, The Land That Time Forgot (1974), At the Earth’s Core and The People That Time Forgot. He also produced Warlords of the Deep and Arabian Adventure.
American producer Jerry Weintraub (Jerome Charles Weintraub), best known for The Karate Kid series and the new Ocean’s…films, died of cardiac arrest on July 6, aged 77. His other movies include Oh God!, My Stepmother is an Alien, The Avengers (1998), Soldier and Tarzan (2016), along with the new Westworld TV series (2016-). As a music manager, his clients included Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Karen Carpenter, John Denver and The Moody Blues.
Japanese CEO Satoru Iwata, who became the fourth president of games giant Nintendo in 2002, died of complications from a bile duct tumor on July 11. He was 55. Having studied computer science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Iwata oversaw the development of such successful video game franchises as Pokémon, Super Mario, Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong and many others.
British production designer Clifford (Ronald) Hatts OBE died on July 27, aged 93. Best known for his set designs for BBC television, including the original 1958-59 serial of Quatermass and the Pit (which he also appeared in), his other credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1958), Wuthering Heights (1962), Gaslight Theatre (‘Maria Marten or, the Murder in the Old Red Barn’) and Late Night Horror (John Burke’s ‘The Corpse Can’t Play’).
Austrian-born director Herbert Wise (Herbert Weisz), who directed the 1989 ITV version of The Woman in Black scripted by Nigel Kneale, died in London on August 5, aged 90. His other credits include episodes of TV’s of Mystery Hour (‘The Woman in White’), The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling (‘The Tomb of His Ancestors’), Out of the Unknown, Tales of the Unexpected (‘Royal Jelly’ etc.) and The 10th Kingdom. He was married to actresses Moira Redmond from 1963-72 and Fiona Walker from 1988 until his death.
British film and TV producer and director Jack Gold, best known for his acclaimed TV film The Naked Civil Servant, died on August 9, aged 85. His genre credits include Who? (aka Robo Man, based on the novel by Algis Budrys) and The Medusa Touch (based on the novel by Peter Van Greenaway). A charming man and entertaining raconteur, we had the pleasure of interviewing him for the 2006 DVD of The Medusa Touch.
Philippines-born animation layout and character designer Richard Manginsay died on August 13, aged 43. He worked on the movies Anatasia and Bartok the Magnificent, and such TV series as Futurama and The Simpsons.
Japanese puppeteer, scriptwriter, producer and director Kihachiro Kawamoto died on August 23, aged 85. His films include the stop-motion shorts The Demon (1973), Dôjôji Temple (1976) and House of Flame (1979).
Respected American horror screenwriter, producer and director Wes Craven (Wesley Earl Craven) died of brain cancer on August 30, aged 75. Best known for creating iconic dream-killer “Freddy Krueger” (memorably portrayed by Robert Englund) in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and the “Ghostface Killer” for Scream (1996) and its three sequels, his other movies include The Last House on the Left (1972), The Hills Have Eyes (1977), Stranger in Our House (aka Summer of Fear), Deadly Blessing, Swamp Thing, Invitation to Hell, The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984), Chiller, Deadly Friend, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Shocker, Night Visions, The People Under the Stairs, New Nightmare, Vampire in Brooklyn, Cursed and My Soul to Take. He also directed episodes of TV’s The Twilight Zone (1985-86) and Nightmare Café. Craven co-scripted A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and The Hills Have Eyes II (2007), and he has producing credits on Mind Ripper, Wishmaster, Carnival of Souls (1998), Don’t Look Down, Dracula 2000, Feast, The Hills Have Eyes (2006), The Breed, The Last House on the Left (2009), The Girl in the Photographs and Scream: The TV Series. As an actor, he turned up in Shocker, Body Bags, New Nightmare, The Fear, Shadow Zone: The Undead Express, the first three Scream movies (his scenes were deleted from the fourth), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Paris je t’aime and episodes of The Twilight Zone and Castle (‘Scared to Death’), while his voice can be heard in George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead. Craven was married to actress Mimi Craven from 1982-87, and he published his first novel, The Fountain Society, in 1999.
American film editor Millie Moore, who began her career working on Dalton Trumbo’s 1971 movie Johnny Got His Gun, died of lung cancer and complications from dementia on September 10. She was 86. Moore’s other credits include Starship Invasions (starring Christopher Lee) and the underrated Halloween III: Season of the Witch.
Former American theatre critic and financier William Becker (Arthur William John Becker, III), who acquired art-house movie distributor Janus Films with Saul J. Turell in 1965 and went on to become president of affiliated company the Criterion Collection in 1985, died of kidney failure on September 12, aged 88. Janus (with its distinctive two-faced logo) later secured the rights to such Hollywood clas
sics as Citizen Kane and the original King Kong.
42-year-old Polish filmmaker Marcin Wrona committed suicide by hanging in a hotel room in Poland on September 18. His retelling of the Jewish legend of the dybbuk, Demon (2015), which he wrote, produced and directed, had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival the week before his death.
Italian screenwriter/director Mario Caiano, best known (as “Allen Grünewald”) for the Barbara Steele movie Amanti d’oltretomba (aka Nightmare Castle/Faceless Monster) died on September 20, aged 82. His other credits include Ulysses Against Hercules, Goliath the Rebel Slave, The Terror of Rome Against the Son of Hercules and Eye in the Labyrinth. Caiano was forced to leave the set of Vampire in Venice (1988) when star Klaus Kinski refused to work with him, and various other people completed the film (including Kinski himself).
British-born movie writer, producer and director John Guillerman, best known for The Towering Inferno and the 1976 remake of King Kong, died of a heart attack in Topanga Canyon, California, on September 27, aged 89. His other credits include Strange Stories, Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure, Tarzan Goes to India, Sheena and the belated 1986 sequel King Kong Lives.
Veteran American special visual effects technician Howard A. (Andrew) Anderson, Jr. died the same day, aged 95. He created the effects for Prehistoric Women (1950), Phantom from Space, Curucu Beast of the Amazon, Invasion of the Saucer Men, The Time Machine (1960), Jack the Giant Killer, Earth II and the original Star Trek TV series (1966-69).
American cinematographer Charles (Delacey) Rosher, Jr. died on October 14, aged 80. Amongst the movies he worked on were Roger Corman’s Attack of the Giant Leeches, Incubus (1966), Hex, The Cat Creature (scripted by Robert Bloch), Nightwing and Heartbeeps.
Former B-47 bomber pilot John D. Backe, who became chief executive of CBS, returning the television network to its #1 status amongst prime-time viewers before he was ousted in a power struggle, died on October 22. He was 83. Backe also engineered CBS’ acquisition of Fawcett Publications in the mid-1970s and went on to become president of Tomorrow Entertainment, a succesful TV production company. He is credited as an executive producer on the 1989 movie Brenda Starr.
Veteran Polish-born casting director Rose Tobias Shaw died on October 27, aged 96. She cast such films as Ten Little Indians (1959), Mumsy Nanny Sonny & Girly (aka Girly), Tower of Evil (aka Horror on Snape Island), Lost Horizon (1973), Madhouse (starring Vincent Price), The Spiral Staircase (1975), The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, The Cat and the Canary (1978), Oh Heavenly Dog, Inseminoid (aka Horror Planet), Merlin and the Sword (aka Arthur the King), Disney’s Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend and Around the World in 80 Days (1989), along with the TV series The Prisoner, Strange Report and UFO.
American “kustom” car designer George Barris (George Salaptas) died of cancer on November 5, aged 89. He famously created the iconic Batmobile for the 1960s Batman TV series, The Munster Koach and Grandpa’s Drag-u-la for The Munsters, the Black Beauty for The Green Hornet and the talking car KITT for Knight Rider. Barris also worked on the movies The Silencers, Batman (1966), The Car, Jurassic Park and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie. The original Batmobile sold at auction in 2013 for $4.2 million, and King of the Kustomizers: The Art of George Barris was a recent book about his work.
Paul Aratow, best known for writing and directing the unreleased 1975 movie Lucifer’s Women, which Al Adamson turned into Doctor Dracula (1978) starring John Carradine, died on November 15, aged 78. Aratow also produced the comic strip-inspired films Sheena (1984) and The Spirit (1987).
Oscar-winning American film editor Elmo Williams died of heart problems on November 25, aged 102. His credits include Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (featuring Boris Karloff) and Walt Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. From 1970-73, Williams was Vice President in Charge of Worldwide Productions for 20th Century-Fox.
Canadian film producer and director Denis Héroux, who directed the 1977 anthology movie The Uncanny, scripted by Michel Parry and starring Peter Cushing and Ray Milland, died after a long illness on December 10. He was 75. Héroux also produced The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane and Quest for Fire.
British TV director and producer Don Leaver (Donald Alfred Leaver) died on December 13, aged 86. His many credits include episodes of Out of This World (hosted by Boris Karloff), the four-part Dimensions of Fear, Armchair Mystery Theatre (‘The Lodger’, 1965), Haunted, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, Zodiac, Thriller (1975), Nigel Kneale’s Beasts (‘The Dummy’), Hammer House of Horror (‘Witching Time’ and ‘The Mark of Satan’) and twenty episodes of The Avengers (‘The House That Jack Built’ etc.).
Richard Perrin, who directed and produced the 2007 horror film The Dead Don’t Scream, died on December 19, aged 57.
Academy Award-winning American cinematographer and documentary filmmaker Haskell Wexler died on December 27, aged 93. His credits include The Secret of Roan Inish and he also contributed additional photography to Blade Runner. Wexler is credited with creating the handheld camera shot.
USEFUL ADDRESSES
THE FOLLOWING LISTING of organisations, publications, dealers and individuals is designed to present readers and authors with further avenues to explore. Although I can personally recommend many of those listed on the following pages, neither the publisher nor myself can take any responsibility for the services they offer. Please also note that the information below is only a guide and is subject to change without notice.
—The Editor
ORGANISATIONS
The Australian Horror Writers Association (www.australianhorror.com) is a non-profit organisation that was formed in 2005 as a way of providing a unified voice and a sense of community for Australian writers of dark fiction, while helping the development and evolution of this genre within Australia. They also publish an excellent magazine, Midnight Echo, and offer a mentor programme, critique group and short story competitions. Email: [email protected]
The British Fantasy Society (www.britishfantasysociety.org/www.fantasycon.co.uk) was founded in 1971 and publishes the BFS Journal, featuring articles and reviews, and BFS Horizons, which is devoted to fiction and poetry, along with occasional special books only available to members of the Society. Run by volunteers, the BFS also enjoys a lively online community—there is an email newsfeed, a Facebook community, a forum with numerous links, and a CyberStore selling various publications. FantasyCon is one of the UK’s friendliest conventions and there are social gatherings and meet-the-author events organised around Britain. For yearly membership details, Email: [email protected]
The Friends of Arthur Machen (www.arthurmachen.org.uk) is a literary society whose objectives include encouraging a wider recognition of Machen’s work and providing a focus for critical debate. Members get a hardcover journal, Faunus, twice a year, and also the informative newsletter Machenalia. For membership details, contact Jon Preece, 9 Ridgeway Drive, Newport, South Wales NP20 5AR, UK ([email protected]).
The Friends of the Merril Collection (www.friendsofmerril.org/) is a volunteer organisation that provides support and assistance to the largest public collection of science fiction, fantasy and horror books in North America. Details about annual membership and donations are available from the website or by contacting The Friends of the Merril Collection, c/o Lillian H. Smith Branch, Toronto Public Library, 239 College Street, 3rd Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R5, Canada. Email: [email protected]
The Horror Writers Association (www.horror.org) is a worldwide organisation of writers and publishing professionals dedicated to promoting the interests of writers of horror and dark fantasy. It was formed in the early 1980s. Interested individuals may apply for Active, Affiliate or Associate membership. Active membership is limited to professional writers, although a recent change in the bylaws allows self-published work to qualify authors for membership under certain conditions. HWA publishes a monthly online Newsletter, and sponsors the annual Bram Stoker Awards and StokerCon.
World Fantasy Conventio
n (www.worldfantasy.org) is an annual convention held in a different (usually American) city each year, oriented particularly towards serious readers and genre professionals.
World Horror Convention (www.worldhorrorsociety.org) is a smaller, more relaxed, event. It is aimed specifically at horror fans and professionals, and held in a different city (usually American) each year.
SELECTED SMALL PRESS PUBLISHERS
The Alchemy Press (www.alchemypress.co.uk)
American Fantasy Press (www.americanfantasypress.com), 919 Tappan Street, Woodstock, Illinois 60098, USA.
Bad Moon Books/Eclipse (www.badmoonbooks.com), 1854 W. Chateau Avenue, Anaheim, CA 92804-4527, USA.
BearManor Media (www.bearmanormedia.com), PO Box 1129, Duncan, OK 73534-1129, USA.
Black Dog Books (www.blackdogbooks.net), 1115 Pine Meadows Ct., Normal, IL 61761-5432, USA. Email: [email protected]
Bloodshot Books (bloodshotbooks.wordpress.com/), 14 Chase Drive, Sharon, MA 02067, USA.
Borderlands Press (www,borderlandspress.com), POB 61, Benson, MD 21018, USA.
Brimstone Press (www.brimstonepress.com.au).
Celaeno Press (www.calaenopress.com), #403 Tenjin 3-9-10, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka 810-0001, Japan.
Cemetery Dance Publications (www.cemeterydance.com), 132-B Industry Lane, Unit #7, Forest Hill, MD 21050, USA. Email: [email protected]
Chaosium, Inc (www.chaosium.com).
ChiZine Publications (www.chizinepub.com). Email: [email protected]
Chthonic Matter (www.chthonicmatter.wordpress.com).
Comet Press (www.cometpress.us).
Dark Minds Press (www. darkmindspress.com), 31 Gristmill Close, Cheltenham, Glos. GL51 0PZ, UK. Email: [email protected]
Dark Regions Press LCC (www.darkregions.com), 6635 N. Baltimore Ave. Ste. 241, Portland, OR 97203, USA.
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