The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 16

by Stephen Jones

  Patrick “Pat” [William] Moore (a.k.a. “Terrence Moore”), a child star of silent films, died on April 25th, aged 91. A discovery of Cecil B. DeMille, he was the last surviving cast member of the 1923 version of The Ten Commandments. After retiring from acting, Moore became an assistant editor on such films as War of the Worlds and When Worlds Collide.

  Ecuador-born character actor Albert Paulsen died of Alzheimer’s complications in Los Angeles the same day, aged 78. His many film and TV roles, usually as suave villains, include The Manchurian Candidate (1962), How to Steal the World, Search for the Gods, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Kolchak The Night Stalker, Wonder Woman, Galactica 1980 and Knight Rider.

  British actor Anthony Ainley who, from 1981–89, took over the role of Doctor Who’s arch-nemesis “The Master” following the death of Roger Delgado, died on May 3rd, aged 71. He also appeared in Naked Evil, You Only Live Twice, Blood on Satan’s Claw and The Land That Time Forgot.

  TV and film character actor Johnny Mann died of cancer the same day, aged 73. He had a recurring role in Highway to Heaven.

  Former disc jockey Zulu (Gilbert Francis Lani Damian Kauhi), who played Detective Kono Kalakaua for four seasons (1968–72) on TV’s Hawaii Five-O, died of complications from diabetes also on May 3rd, aged 66. He was the only actual Hawaiian actor who was a cop regular on the show.

  Acerbic American comedian and character actor Alan King (Irwin Alan Kniberg), a protégé of Milton Berle, died of lung cancer on May 9th, aged 76. The MC at president John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, his occasional film appearances include I the Jury (1982), The Bonfire of the Vanities and Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye (ironically, given his cause of death, in the “Quitters, Inc.” episode), and he was a producer on Wolfen.

  Fifty-five-year-old R&B singer and songwriter John Whitehead, who had a disco hit in 1979 with “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” with Gene McFadden, was shot dead while working on a vehicle in a Philadelphia street on May 11th. Police had no suspects or motive.

  Billed as “The British Bombshell”, actress Anna Lee MBE (Joan Boniface Winnifrith) died of pneumonia in Los Angeles on May 14th, aged 91. Reputedly a goddaughter of both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dame Sybil Thorndike, in 1933 she married director Robert Stevenson who, three years later, gave her her first leading role opposite Boris Karloff in The Man Who Changed His Mind (US: The Man Who Lived Again). After she appeared in The Passing of the Third Floor Back and King Solomon’s Mines (1937), the couple moved to Hollywood in 1939, where Lee appeared in such films as Flesh and Fantasy, Bedlam (again with Karloff), The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Jack the Giant Killer, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Picture Mommy Dead and In Like Flint. Paralysed from the waist down following a car accident, for twenty-five years she played matriarch Lila Quartermaine from a wheelchair on the daytime soap opera General Hospital, until she was unceremoniously fired by ABC-TV in 2003 in an effort to cut costs. Her third and final marriage was to novelist Robert Nathan (from 1970 until his death in 1985).

  Spanish character actor Narcisco Ibáñez Menta died on May 15th, aged 91. His many credits include Witchcraft (1954), Master of Terror, El Fantasma de la Opera (which he also directed), The Dracula Saga (as the Count) and Return of the Wolfman. He was the father of director and producer Chicho Ibáñez-Serrador (Island of Death).

  Egyptian-born German film star Marika Rokk (Marie Karoline Rokk), who appeared in the 1933 British production of The Ghost Train, died of heart failure in Austria on May 16th, aged 90.

  Singer, actress and songwriter June Carroll died of Parkinson’s disease the same day, aged 86. She appeared in An Angel Comes to Brooklyn and was the mother of genre author Jonathan Carroll.

  Urbane stage and screen actor Tony Randall (Arthur Leonard Rosenberg) died in his sleep on May 17th due to complications from pneumonia following heart surgery. He was 84. Best remembered for his Emmy Award-winning role as the obsessive Felix Unger opposite Jack Klugman’s slovenly Oscar Madison on ABC-TV’s The Odd Couple (1970–75), his film credits include The Brass Bottle, 7 Faces of Dr Lao, The Alphabet Murders (as Hercule Poirot), Hello Down There, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* *But Were Afraid to Ask, King of Comedy and Gremlins 2 The New Batch (as the voice of “Brain Gremlin”). On TV, Randall co-starred opposite Boris Karloff in NBC’s “Hallmark Hall of Fame” production of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1962. Broadway dimmed its lights in memory of the actor.

  American character actor Lincoln Kilpatrick died of lung cancer on May 18th, aged 73. He appeared in Brother John, The Omega Man, Soylent Green, Chosen Survivors, Fortress and the TV movies Dr Scorpion and the remake of Piranha (1995).

  Forty-four-year-old TV actor Richard Biggs, best known for his portrayal of Dr Stephen Franklin on the SF series Babylon 5 for five years, died of an apparent stroke shortly after waking up at his home on May 22nd. He also appeared in episodes of Twilight Zone, Touched by an Angel and Tremors.

  Canadian-born character actor Austin Willis also died in May, aged 86. His credits include The Mouse That Roared, Goldfinger, Dr Frankenstein on Campus, The Boston Strangler, Firefox and the TV movie Death Takes a Holiday. His first wife was actress Kate Reid.

  Aloha Porter, who portrayed the Devil in the 1935 film Dante’s Inferno, died on June 1st, aged 93. He also appeared in The Campus Vamp and Thirteen Women.

  Sixty-nine-year-old Mexican comic actor and director Sergio Ramos “El Comanche” died June 2nd of kidney failure related to diabetes. Since 1965 he appeared in more than 125 films and TV productions, including Santo contra la invasion de los Marci, Mi fantasma y yo and the 1985 movie Chiqui Dracula (Little Dracula).

  British character actor Harold Goodwin, who played the burglar surprised by a masked Peter Cushing in the opening scenes of Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, died on June 3rd, aged 86. His other credits for Hammer include The Mummy (1959), The Ugly Duckling, The Phantom of the Opera (1961), The Terror of the Tongs and The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, along with The Man in the White Suit, Die Monster Die!, Jabberwocky and TV’s Quater-mass and the Pit.

  Ronald [Wilson] Reagan, the Hollywood actor who was the former Republican Governor of California and became the 40th President of the United States (1981–89), died of Alzheimer’s disease and complications from pneumonia on June 5th, aged 93. He had suffered from the illness for nearly a decade. His credits include Secret Service of the Air, Code of the Secret Service, Bedtime for Bonzo and The Killers, He also appeared in news footage in The Atomic Café, Head, Brimstone, American Psycho, Alien Nation, Witch Hunt and Faces of Death 2. His first wife was actress Jane Wyman in 1940, and in 1952 he married Nancy Davis, who became First Lady. He survived an allegedly Taxi Driver-inspired assassination attempt when he was wounded in a 1981 shooting incident by drifter John Hinckley.

  Italian actor Anthony Steffen (Antonio de Teffe) died of cancer in Rio de Janeiro the same day, aged 73. He began his film career in the 1950s as a studio messenger for Vittorio de Sica, before making his name as the phantom gunslinger in the spaghetti Western Django the Bastard (which he also co-wrote). His other credits include The Invincible Maciste Brothers, An Angel for Satan (with Barbara Steele), The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, The Crimes of the Black Cat and Killer Fish.

  American character actor Jimmie F. Skaggs died on June 6th of lung cancer, aged 59. Part Choctaw Indian, his credits include Ghost Dad, Ghost Town, Puppet Master, Solar Crisis, Oblivion, Oblivion 2, Hollow Man, Dead End and episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight Zone, The Flash and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

  R&B and gospel singer Ray Charles [Robinson] died of complications from acute liver disease on June 10th, aged 73. He released more than 600 songs on sixty-five albums, and his hits include “Georgia on My Mind”, “Hit the Road Jack”, “What’d I Say” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You”. Diagnosed with congenital juvenile glaucoma when he was seven years old growing up in poverty in west Florida, the blind musician battled marijuana and heroin addiction in the 1960s. He was married twice and fathered eleven chil
dren. He sang the theme song of ABC-TV’s Three’s Company, appeared in The Blues Brothers, Spy Hard and Limit Up (as God), and he was portrayed by Jamie Foxx in the 2004 biopic Ray. Charles’ 1978 autobiography was titled Brother Ray.

  Graeme Kelling, guitarist with the Scottish group Deacon Blue, died of a tumour of the pancreas the same day, aged 47. During the late 1980s and early ’90s, he played on such hits as “Real Gone Kid” and “Fergus Sings the Blues”.

  Radio announcer Danny Dark (Daniel Croskery) died on June 13th, aged 65. The voice-over announcer on such shows as Bonanza and Bewitched, he was also the voice of Clark Kent/Superman on the Super-Friends animated TV series.

  Prolific American character actor George “Buck” Flower (aka “C.D. Lafleur”) died on June 18th, aged 66. Usually featured in cameo roles (often playing a drunk), he appeared in more than 100 films, including Ripper Man, Circuitry Man II, Tammy and the T-Rex, Skeeter, Warlock: Armageddon, Munchie, Waxwork II Lost in Time, Sundown The Vampire in Retreat, The Dead Don’t Die, Escape from New York, They Live, Starman, Village of the Damned, The Fog, Escape from New York, Ilsa She Wolf of the SS, Ilsa Harem-Keeper of the Oil Sheiks, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball-Bowl-o-Rama, Back to the Future, Back to the Future Fart II, Pumpkinhead, Spontaneous Combustion, Maniac Cop, Puppet Master II, 976-EVIL, Wishmaster, The Nightstalker (1987), The Capture of Bigfoot, The Time Machine (1978), The Alpha Incident, The Witch Who Came from the Sea and Bates Motel. He also worked behind the camera in various capacities on such productions as Teenage Seductress, Takin’ it All Off and Hell’s Belles.

  Hollywood supporting actress Doris Dowling, the sister of actress Constance Dowling, died of a series of strokes the same day, aged 81. Best known for her role as Ray Milland’s bar-room pick-up in The Lost Weekend and Alan Ladd’s murdered wife in The Blue Dahlia, she also appeared as Bianca in Orson Welles’ Othello. On TV she starred in the 1964 series My Living Doll and guest-starred in episodes of Wonder Woman and Incredible Hulk. Married three times, from 1952–56 she was the seventh of bandleader Artie Shaw’s eight wives.

  Actor Peter Blythe died after a short illness on June 27th, aged 69. He appeared in Hammer’s Frankenstein Created Woman, jane Eyre (1970) and Merlin and the Sword. His TV credits include The Avengers, UFO and the “No Such Thing as a Vampire” episode of Late Night Horror.

  Considered by some to be America’s finest screen actor, two-time Academy Award winner Marlon Brando (Marlon Brandeau, Jr.) died of lung failure on July 1st, aged 80. He was diagnosed with pneumonia in 2002 and could only breathe with the aid of an oxygen cylinder. Best known as a proponent of the “Method” school of acting since making his film debut in 1950, his best films include A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, The Godfather and as a rebellious motorcycle gang leader in The Wild One (banned in the UK for twelve years). In later years the often eccentric performer openly derided his public and professional image, allowed his weight to balloon to more than 3501b, and encouraged a reputation for being difficult to work with. Although his crazed Colonel Kurtz in Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse Now was a rare latter triumph, more typical projects included The Nightcomers, an odd prequel to Henry James’ ghost story Turn of the Screw; The Formula, and the underrated 1996 version of H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr Moreau. He reportedly received $3.7 million for a few days work as Jor-El on Superman (1978), and a month before his death he recorded vocal tracks for the animated film Big Bug Man. His 1972 Oscar for Best Actor was collected on his behalf by actress Sasheen Littlefeather as a protest against Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans. Brando fathered at least eleven children with four women, and his son Christian was sentenced to ten years in jail for the 1990 shooting of Dag Drollet, the Tahitian fiancé of his pregnant half-sister Cheyenne. She in turn committed suicide in April 1995, after three previous attempts. Although one of the highest-paid actors of his generation, Brando spent his fortune on his son’s legal bills and a bitter palimony dispute. He was widely reported to be broke and living on social security and a pension from the Screen Actors Guild at the time of his death, and his ashes were scattered on the island of Tahiti and in California’s Death Valley. The actor’s autobiography, Songs My Mother Taught Me, was published in 1994.

  American character actor and TV writer Frank Chase, best known for his Western roles, died on July 2nd, aged 80. He also appeared in The Creature Walks Among Us, Beginning of the End and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958).

  British character actor John Barron died on July 3rd, aged 83. Best known for his later comedy roles, he also guest-starred in such TV shows as Plateau of Fear, Out of the Unknown, The Avengers, Timeslip and Ace of Wands. He was a regular on Doomwatch (1970–72) as The Minister, and his film appearances include The Day the Earth Caught Fire (uncredited), Incense for the Damned (US: Bloodsuckers) and Whoops Apocalypse.

  Forty-six-year-old stand-up comedian and bit-part actor Eric [Anthony] Douglas, the youngest son of Kirk and half-brother to Michael, was found dead of acute intoxication in his Manhattan apartment on July 6th. He had spent years battling drug and alcohol addictions. He was sentenced to a month in jail after an air-rage incident on a 1996 cross-country flight and pleaded guilty in 1997 to cocaine possession. The younger Douglas appeared opposite his father in the 1991 HBO pilot Two-Fisted Tales, based on the EC comic book. After small roles in such films as The Golden Child and Delta Force 3: The Killing Game, he gave up acting to try his hand at comedy and song-writing.

  Hollywood actress and former model Dorothy Hart died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease on July 11th, aged 82. Her credits include Down to Earth, I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. and Tarzan’s Savage Fury (as Jane).

  Fifty-five-year-old punk rock star Arthur “Killer” Kane, bassist with the 1970s band New York Dolls, died in a Los Angeles hospital of complications from pneumonia and leukaemia on July 13th. The alcoholic Kane was named after a character in Buck Rogers and had been working for the Mormon Church. He was predeceased by three other band members.

  Former British and European heavyweight wrestling champion turned stuntman-actor Pat (Patrick) Roach, died of throat cancer on July 17th, aged 67. After making his film debut as a Cuban bouncer in A Clockwork Orange, he appeared in Disney’s The Spaceman and King Arthur, Clash of the Titans, Never Say Never Again, Conan, Conan the Destroyer (playing Thoth-Amon and two other roles), Red Sonja, Willow, Kull the Conqueror and the Indiana Jones trilogy (as four different characters). In 1976, Roach was auditioned for the role of Darth Vader in Star Wars.

  Former ballerina and model Georgine Darcy, who played “Miss Torso”, one of the objects of James Stewart’s voyeuristic obsession in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), died on July 18th aged somewhere between 68 and 71. Her other film credits include Don’t Knock the Rock, Women and Bloody Terror and The Delta Factor.

  Dependable German-born British character actor [Manfred] Frederick Jaeger died after a long illness in Spain the same day, aged 76. His film credits include The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and he appeared in three episodes of TV’s The Avengers during the 1960s, The New Avengers, Doomwatch, Jason King, Out of the Unknown, One Step Beyond and three episodes of Doctor Who (including playing the creator of robot dog “K-9”). He retired in 1996.

  Suave French singer Sacha Distel died after a long illness on July 22nd, aged 71. A former jazz guitarist who had a brief but high-profile relationship with Brigitte Bardot in the late 1950s, his biggest hit was the 1970 cover of “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”.

  The last British silent movie star, Joan Morgan, died the same day, aged 99 or 105 (accounts vary). At the age of 16 she was offered a five-year contract starting at $100-a-week by Hollywood’s Famous Players-Lasky, but her director father Sidney turned the offer down. After appearing in such films as The Cup Final Mystery and The Crimson Circle, in later years Morgan reinvented herself as a playwright, screenwriter, novelist (under the pseudonym “Joan Wentworth Wood” in the 1930s) and property developer. Ivor Novello wrote the song “
I Wonder Will My Dolly Miss Me?” for her.

  Quorthon (Thomas Fosberg), co-founder of the “Black Metal” music group Bathory, died in Stockholm of heart failure in July. Fosberg and video director Jonas Akerlund created the band in the mid-1980s, and they are acknowledged as a major influence on artists such as Metallica, Marilyn Manson and Billy Corgan.

  Meanwhile, four members of the Italian “Black Metal” group Beasts of Satan, led by a plumber named Nicolas, were charged in July with the murder of band-mates Chiara Marino and Fabio Torris in a drug-fuelled Satanic ritual.

  Bass viola player Abraham Luboff, who played the memorable shark theme in Jaws, died on July 26th, aged 87.

  Best known for the classic “It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” radio introduction, 92-year-old voice-over artist Jackson Beck died on July 28th from complications following a series of strokes suffered five years earlier. The son of silent film actor Max Beck, he not only narrated more than 1,600 episodes of the Superman radio show from 1943, but also played various characters including Beany, the Daily Planet copyboy. Beck also voiced such characters as the Cisco Kid and Philo Vance, he was the announcer for TV’s Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and voiced the bully “Bluto” in over 300 Popeye cartoons from 1944–57.

  American film and TV character actor Eugene H. Roche died of a heart attack the same day, aged 75. His credits include Slaughter-house-Five, They Might Be Giants, Oh God You Devil!, Crawlspace, The Last Halloween and the TV movies The Possessed, The Ghost of Flight 401, Airwolf and Roswell. He also appeared as the “Ajax man” in TV commercials.

  American character actor and voice artist Sam Edwards also died of a heart attack on July 28th, aged 89. A radio star during the 1930s, he voiced Thumper the rabbit in Disney’s Bambi and sang “The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers” on the studio’s record. He also voiced minor characters in The Flintstones and appeared in Captain Midnight and Disney’s Escape to Witch Mountain (1975).