Seventy-three-year-old British playwright and screenwriter Peter Barnes died on July 1st after suffering a stroke. His films include The Ruling Class, based on his own satirical 1968 stage play, which featured Peter O’Toole as a crazed Jack the Ripper figure. He also scripted a number of Hallmark TV projects, including Merlin, Alice in Wonderland, Noah’s Ark, Arabian Nights, A Christmas Carol and The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns.
Illustrator John Cullen Murphy, best known for his work on the King Features Syndicate Prince Valiant comic strip for more than three decades, died on July 2nd, aged 85. He took the strip over from its creator, Hal Foster. Murphy retired in March 2004 and handed Prince Valiant, which appears in more than 300 newspapers throughout America, to Gary Gianni. Murphy’s own comic strip, Big Ben Bolt, about a boxer, started in 1949 and ran for nearly a quarter of a century. Murphy was inspired to become an illustrator when, as a child, he was asked by his neighbour, artist Norman Rockwell, to model for a Saturday Evening Post cover.
Stevie Wonder’s former wife and collaborator Syreeta Wright died of complications from breast cancer on July 6th, aged 58. Together they wrote “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)” and other hits.
Prolific American children’s novelist Paula Danziger, whose books include the SF romance This Place Has No Atmosphere (1986) and the “Amber Brown” series, died on July 8th after suffering a heart attack in June. She was 59.
Canadian-born child actor and illustrator Sam McKim died of heart failure on July 9th, aged 79. Best remembered for his roles in Hollywood Westerns and serials of the 1930s and ’40s, including The Lone Ranger and Dick Tracy’s G-Men, in 1954 he joined Walt E. Disney Enterprises (later Walt Disney Imagineering), where he became Master Map Maker, drawing the first souvenir maps of Disneyland. His sketches helped design such locations as Main Street and Frontierland, and his paintings introduced the public to the Haunted Mansion. McKim later worked on such Disney films as Zorro, The Shaggy Dog and The Gnome-Mobile, and he came out of retirement to draw maps for Disneyland Paris.
Seventy-five-year-old Emmy and Oscar-winning American composer Jerry (Jerrald) [King] Goldsmith died in his sleep at his home in Beverly Hills on July 21st after a long battle with cancer. Goldsmith, who was nominated for seventeen Academy Awards and won only one for The Omen, is still probably best known for composing the themes for The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. He also worked on episodes of The Twilight Zone and Thriller. Goldsmith’s numerous other film scores include Seven Days in May, Satan Bug, Seconds, Our Man Flint, In Like Flint, Planet of the Apes (1968), The Illustrated Man, The Mephisto Waltz, The Other, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, Logan’s Run, Damnation Alley, The Swarm, Capricorn One, The Boys from Brazil, Coma, Magic, Afew, Star Trek The Motion Picture and four sequels, The Final Conflict, Outland, Psycho II, Supergirl, Explorers, King Solomon’s Mines (1985), Poltergeist, Innerspace, Twilight Zone The Movie, Gremlins, The ’burbs, Legend, Leviathan, Warlock, Gremlins 2 The New Batch (he also has a cameo), Total Recall, Matinee, The Shadow, Congo, Mulan, The Mummy (1999), The Haunting (1999), Hollow Man, The Sum of All Fears and most of Looney Tunes Back in Action. Goldsmith also wrote the cantata “Christus Apollo” with words by Ray Bradbury, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Fireworks: A Celebration of Los Angeles (1999), and the duo were collaborating on the opera Leviathan ’99 at the time of the composer’s death.
Italian film composer Piero Piccioni (a.k.a. “Piero Morgan”) died in Rome on July 23rd, aged 82. A former radio jazz pianist, he composed more than 170 scores for such films as The 10th Victim, Matchless, The Witches (1967), The Light at the Edge of the World, Agent 077 Fury in the Orient, Paul Naschy’s Jack the Ripper, The Monk (1973), Sisters of Satan, Camille 2000, The Nuns of St Arcangel and numerous Euro-Westerns. In the 1950s he was connected with the sensational murder of a young girl at a Roman beach community. Although he was completely exonerated, the scandal forced Piccioni’s father to resign his position as Italy’s foreign minister.
Scottish actor and SF novelist Michael [Aiken] Elder died on July 28th, aged 73. Best known for his role in the long-running soap opera Take the High Road (which he also novelized), during the 1970s he wrote fourteen novels in the “Barclay” space opera series that were primarily published for the library market by Robert Hale.
American TV writer Arthur Alsberg died on August 7th, aged 87. His credits include episodes of I Dream of Jeannie, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones. With long-time collaborator Don Nelson he wrote the Disney film Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, and in 1981 the duo also scripted and produced the TV movie The Munsters’ Revenge.
Blacklisted Hollywood film composer David Raksin died of heart failure on August 9th, aged 92. Best known for his haunting theme for the classic film noir Laura (1944), which with lyrics by Johnny Mercer remained on radio hit parades for fourteen weeks, his more than 400 other credits include Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939), Mr Moto’s Last Warning, The Missing Guest, Sh! The Octopus, The Gorilla, The Undying Monster, Dr Renault’s Secret, Whispering Ghosts, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Whirlpool, The Next Voice You Hear, Night Tide, The Ghost of Flight 401, What’s the Matter With Helen?, The Day After and the 1953 animated film The Unicorn in the Garden, written by James Thurber. Raksin’s autobiography, If I Say So Myself was awaiting publication at the time of his death.
Oscar-winning film composer Elmer Bernstein, best known for such scores as The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape, died in his sleep after a long illness on August 18th, aged 82. His more than 200 film credits also include the 3-D Robot Monster, Cat-Women of the Moon, The Ten Commandments (1956), Blind Terror (US: See No Evil), The Amazing Mr Blunden, Saturn 3, An American Werewolf in London, Heavy Metal, Spacehunter, Ghostbusters, Slipstream, The Black Cauldron, Wild Wild West and the 1991 remake of Cape Fear (when he adapted the original 1962 score by his friend Bernard Herrmann). Bernstein also started the Varese Sarabande recording label.
Editor, folklorist, film collector and founder of the Bram Stoker Society in 1980, Leslie Shepard died in Ireland on August 20th, aged 87. As well as editing the anthologies The Dracula Book of Great Vampire Stories and The Dracula Book of Great Horror Stories (later reissued as the omnibus The Book of Dracula), he also edited (with Albert Power) Dracula: Celebrating 100 Years and the two-volume Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology.
Film and TV writer George Kirgo died of kidney failure after a long illness on August 21st, aged 78. He scripted the TV movies Brenda Starr, The Man in the Santa Claus Suit, Angel on My Shoulder (1980) and Massarati and the Brain, as well as episodes of Kraft Suspense Theatre and My Mother the Car.
Oscar-nominated film and TV scriptwriter Robert Lewin, whose credits include episodes of The Man from Atlantis and Star Trek The Next Generation (which he also produced from 1987–88), died of lung cancer on August 28th, aged 84.
Fred [Lawrence] Whipple, American astronomer and co-author of Conquest of the Moon with Wernher von Braun and Willy Ley, died on August 30th, aged 97. The 1953 volume was awarded a Retro Hugo for Best Related Book just four days after Whipple’s death.
Songwriter Russell Faith, whose film credits include Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Beach Party, died of a stroke on September 1st, aged 75.
American political scientist Harvey Wheeler, who co-wrote the nuclear war thriller Fail-Safe with Eugene Burdick, died of cancer on September 6th, aged 85. Their 1962 novel was filmed two years later with an all-star cast and again in 2000.
Frank (Franklin) [Rosborough] Thomas, one of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men” of animation, died of a cerebral haemorrhage on September 8th, aged 92. In his forty-three year history at Disney he worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Bambi, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad, Lady and the Tramp, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1958), Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, The Sword i
n the Stone, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, The Aristocats, Robin Hood, The Rescuers and The Fox and the Hound, amongst other titles. Thomas retired in 1978 and co-authored several books about animation with Ollie Johnston, including Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life and Disney Villains.
Tony Award-winning musical lyricist Fred Ebb, who wrote the words for Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” in 1977, died of a heart attack on September 11th, aged 76. With long-time collaborator John Kander, his other credits include the hit Broadway musicals Cabaret, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Chicago.
L. Ron Hubbard scholar William J. (Jerome) Widder died on September 16th, aged 78. He wrote The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard: A Comprehensive Bibliography & Reference Guide to Published and Selected Unpublished Works (1994) and the Hugo-nominated Master Storyteller: An Illustrated Tour of the Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard (2003). He also helped launch the Writers of the Future contest.
Seventy-four-year-old Harvard professor and UFOlogist John E. Mack died in a car accident in London on September 27th. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s books include Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens (1994) and Passport to the Cosmos (1999).
TV scriptwriter and playwright Shimon Wincelberg died after a long illness on September 29th, aged 80. His credits include episodes of Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, Logan’s Run and the original Star Trek series.
American songwriter and theatre director Jacques Levy died of cancer on September 30th, aged 69. He collaborated with Bob Dylan on such songs as “Hurricane” and “Joey”, and also worked with Roger McGuinn of the Byrds (“Chestnut Mare”). He directed the 1969 New York production of Kenneth Tynan’s Oh! Calcutta! and the 1983–84 stage musical of the comic strip Doonesbury, created Dylan’s 1975 tour the Rolling Thunder Review, and as Professor of English and director of theatre at Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, mounted productions of Marat/Sade (1994) and Frankenstein (2000).
Eighty-one-year-old Japanese translator, writer and fan Tetsu Yano died on October 13th after a long battle with cancer. Invited by Forrest J Ackerman to attend the 1953 World SF convention in Philadelphia, he went on to translate more than 350 books, including work by Robert A. Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Frederik Pohl and Edgar Rice Burroughs. He co-founded the Science Fiction Writers of Japan in 1963.
Comics artist Irv Novick, whose career began in 1940 and who illustrated Batman from the 1960s until the 1980s, died after a long illness on October 15th, aged 88.
British writer and broadcaster Vincent Brome died on October 16th, aged 84. His many biographies include H.G. Wells (1951).
Bill Liebowitz, the founder of Los Angeles’ influential comics store Golden Apple, died of complications from the flu on October 27th, aged 63.
Pioneering electronic music composer Gil Mellé, whose credits include The Andromeda Strain and TV’s Night Gallery, died of a heart attack on October 28th, aged 72. Also a jazz saxophonist and respected digital artist, Mellé scored The Andromeda Strain, You’ll Like My Mother, The Ultimate Warrior, The Sentinel, Embryo, Starship Invasions, Blood Beach, Starcrossed, the first four episodes of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, the pilot of The Six Million Dollar Man and such films and TV movies as The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb, The Questor Tapes, Killdozer, Frankenstein: The True Story, A Cold Night’s Death, The Intruder Within, The Last Chase, World War III, Night Owl and From Dead of Night.
Walt Disney animator John Parr Miller, who worked on Pinocchio, Fantasia and Dumbo, died on October 29th, aged 91.
Eighty-four-year-old American fan and pulp collector/dealer Richard H. Minter died of complications following gall bladder surgery on November 6th. He received the Lamont Award at the 1993 Pulpcon.
Canadian-born romance author Elizabeth [Eileen Moore] Chater died on November 10th, aged 94. Under the name “Lee Chaytor” she had a number of stories published during the 1950s in Fantastic Universe and elsewhere.
Prolific Italian film-music composer Carlo Rustichelli died on November 13th, aged 87. His more than 300 soundtracks include numerous costume dramas such as Giants of Thessaly and Siren of Atlantis, plus The Day the Sky Exploded, the 1960 The Thief of Baghdad, Hercules Against Moloch, The Long Hair of Death, Operazione Paura, Fellini’s Satyricon, And Then There Were None (1973) and Ator 2, along with three seminal Mario Bava titles: The Whip and the Body (aka What?), Blood and Black Lace and Kill, Baby . . . Kill!
American comics artist Harry Lampert, who co-created The Flash, died of prostate cancer the same day, aged 88. He also worked on Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons.
American writer-producer Richard Alan Simmons also died on November 13th, aged 80. His credits include the 1969 TV movie Fear No Evil and he reportedly worked uncredited on The Incredible Shrinking Man.
Another writer-producer, Seeleg Lester, died on November 14th, aged 91. He worked on Change of Mind and the TV series The Outer Limits and The Invisible Man.
French-born composer Michel Colombier died of cancer in Santa Monica the same day, aged 65. His more than 100 film and TV scores include Colossus: The Forbin Project, Impulse, Buried Alive, Strays, Foxfire, Purple Rain, The Golden Child, Barb Wire and HBO’s Tales from the Crypt series.
American academic and H.G. Wells expert W. Warren Wagar (a.k.a. “Ira Walker”) died on November 16th, aged 72. His publications include H.G. Wells and the World State, H.G. Wells: Traversing Time and Terminal Visions: The Literature of Last Things. He also published fiction in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Asimov’s Science Fiction.
Sixty-two-year-old American music producer Terry Melcher, the son of actress-singer Doris Day, died after a long battle against melanoma on November 19th. He wrote the hit “Move Over Darling” for his mother, produced “Mr Tambourine Man” and “Turn, Turn, Turn” for The Byrds and co-wrote “Kokomo” with the Beach Boys. Melcher always suspected that he was the actual target of Charles Manson’s drug-crazed followers, who murdered pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in his former Hollywood Hills home on August 8th, 1969.
Broadway composer and songwriter Cy Coleman (Seymour Kaufman), whose credits include the musical City of Angels, died of heart failure the same day, aged 75. He had been taken ill earlier in the evening at a post-premiere party at New York’s Tavern on the Green. With lyricist Carolyn Leigh he wrote such classic songs as “Witchcraft” and “The Best is Yet to Come”. He also wrote the musical Sweet Charity.
Caldecott Medal-winning American artist and writer Trina Schart Hyman, who illustrated more than 150 books, many for children, also died on November 19th, from cancer, aged 65.
So, too, did young adult author Willo [Louise] Davis Roberts, from congestive heart failure, aged 79. Her more than 100 books include the fantasies The Girl With the Silver Eyes and The Magic Book.
British actor and playwright Stephen Mallatratt died of leukaemia on November 22nd, aged 57. In 1987 he adapted Susan Hill’s ghost story The Woman in Black for the stage, and it is now the second longest-running play in London’s West End (after The Mousetrap).
Comics writer Bob Haney, who scripted many DC “Silver Age” titles from the mid-1950s onwards, died on November 27th, aged 78.
Irwin Donenfeld, who became editorial director and publisher of DC Comics following the death of his father Harry in 1965, died on November 29th, aged 78.
Canadian journalist, broadcaster and novelist Pierre Berton died of heart failure on November 30th, aged 84. He wrote the 1961 children’s fantasy The Secret World of Og, which sold more than 200,000 copies and was made into a cartoon TV special.
Bestselling British author Arthur Hailey died in November at his home in the Bahamas, aged 84. He had suffered a stroke two months earlier. Hailey’s eleven books, which include Hotel and Airport, sold more than 170 million copies, and the film of the latter is regarded by many as ushering in the modern disaster movie trend of the 1970s.
Locus magazine editorial assistant and reviewer [Thomas] Scott Winnett died of AIDS-related pneumonia on December 12
th, aged 42. He worked at the magazine from 1989–94.
Film and TV composer Arlon Ober died on December 20th, aged 61. His credits include Eating Raoul, Bloody Birthday, Hospital Massacre and The Incredible Melting Man.
Cultural commentator and human rights activist Susan Sontag (Susan Rosenblatt) died of leukaemia on December 28th, aged 71. She wrote influential essays on science fiction films (“The Imagination of Disaster”) and Nazi chic (“Fascinating Fascism”) and appeared as herself in Woody Allen’s film Zelig.
PERFORMERS
African-American singer and actress Etta Moten Barnett died of pancreatic cancer on January 2nd, aged 102. She toured in the 1932 Broadway show Zombie and dubbed Ginger Rogers’ singing voice in Professional Sweetheart (1933). However, she will be best remembered for singing a segment of “My Forgotten Man” in Busby Berkeley’s musical Gold Diggers of 1933. When she sung the song the following year at President Franklin Roosevelt’s birthday, she became the first black woman to sing in the White House.
Canadian-born actor Philip Gilbert, the voice of the computer TIM in TV’s The Tomorrow People (1973–79), died on January 6th, aged 72. He also appeared in The Frozen Dead, Superman III and an early episode of The Avengers.
Swedish film actress Ingrid Thulin died of cancer on January 7th, aged 77. She made eight films with Ingmar Bergman, including The Face (aka The Magician) and The Hour of the Wolf. She was dubbed by Angela Lansbury in the 1962 Hollywood production The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
American-born British stage and screen actor Lyndon Brook, the son of actor Clive Brook, died on January 9th, aged 77. His film credits include The Clue of the Silver Key, Invasion, Who? and Defence of the Realm.
Al Jolson’s widow Erle Jolson Krasna (Erle Chennault Galbraith) died of cancer on January 11th, aged 81. She was Jolson’s fourth wife and thirty-six years the junior of the legendary entertainer (who died in 1950). During the 1940s she was a contract player at Columbia Pictures.
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 16 Page 73
