Best New Horror 29

by Stephen Jones

  Prolific American voice actress June Foray (June Lucille Forer) died of cardiac arrest on July 26, aged 99. In a career that spanned more than seven decades she worked—often uncredited—on numerous cartoon shorts, movies and series. Amongst her many credits are Red Hot Riding Hood, Cinderella (1950), Trick or Treat and A-Haunting We Will Go (as “Witch Hazel”), Peter Pan, Visit to a Small Planet, The Man Called Flintstone, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966), Frosty the Snowman, Horton Hears a Who! (1970), The Phantom Tollbooth, Daffy Duck’s Movie: Fantastic Island, Scooby Doo Meets the Boo Brothers, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters, Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, Tiny Toons’ Night Ghoulery, Space Jam, Looney Tunes: Back in Action and The Legend of Sasquatch, along with such TV shows as Rocky and His Friends (as “Rocket J. Squirrel”), The Flintstones, The Twilight Zone, Bewitched, It’s About Time, Lost in Space, Off to See the Wizard, Scooby Doo Where Are You!, Get Smart, The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (as “Aunt May Parker”), Teen Wolf, The Real Ghostbusters, DuckTales, Tiny Toon Adventures, Weird Science and Duck Dodgers, amongst numerous other titles. In 1954, Foray appeared with Boris Karloff in the movie Sabaka.

  American child actor Leonard “Percy” Landy, who starred in a number of “Our Gang”/“Little Rascals” short films, such as Hide and Shriek and Aladdin’s Lantern (both 1938), died the same day, aged 84.

  American actress Patti Deutsch (Patricia Deutsch), who was a regular on TV’s Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (1972-73), died of cancer on July 26. Deutsch appeared in an episode of The Girl with Something Extra, and she later became a voice actor in Jetsons: The Movie, Tarzan (1999), The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire, Monsters Inc., and episodes of TV’s The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper and Time Squad.

  American actor, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwight, author and musician Sam Shepard (Samuel Shepard Rogers III) died of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (aka Lou Gehrig’s disease) on July 27, aged 73. His movie credits include Resurrection, Purgatory, Hamlet (2000), Stealth, The Return (2006) and Midnight Special, and he narrated the 2006 version of Charlotte’s Web. Shepard also wrote and directed the horror Western Silent Tongue. He lived with actress Jessica Lange from 1982-2009.

  American actor, documentary film-maker and certified sex coach Robert Dunlap died the same day, aged 74. He appeared in episodes of TV’s Far Out Space Nuts, Lucan, Wonder Woman, The Greatest American Hero, Voyagers! and Automan.

  American TV actor Peter Canon (Peter Cannon), who played a Gestapo Lieutenant in the 1968 Star Trek episode ‘Patterns of Force’, died on July 28, aged 84. He also appeared in episodes of Bewitched, The Monkees (‘The Devil and Peter Tork’), Get Smart, Land of the Giants and The Six Million Dollar Man.

  Canadian-born actress Treva Frazee died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease in Florida on July 30, aged 94. She had small roles in the 1973 horror movie The Severed Arm and episodes of TV’s The Ghost & Mrs. Muir and The Immortal.

  Acclaimed French actress and singer Jeanne Moreau died on July 31, aged 89. Her credits include Orson Welles’ The Trial (based on the novel by Franz Kafka) and The Deep, François Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black (based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich), Hu-Man, Until the End of the World and Ever After: A Cinderella Story. On TV, Moreau starred in an episode of Shades of Darkness (‘Agatha Christie’s The Last Séance’). The actress was married to director William Friedkin from 1977-79.

  American actress and former model Nancy Valentine (Annette Valentine) died the same day, aged 89. Discovered by Howard Hughes, she began her movie career in the late 1940s and her credits include The Black Castle (with Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney, Jr.), Night Slaves and an episode of TV’s Thriller (Robert Bloch’s ‘Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper’). From 1949-52, Valentine was married to Jagaddipendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, the Maharaja of Cooch-Behar in India, who was 22 years her senior. She retired from the screen in the early 1970s.

  British actor [Timothy Sydney] Robert Hardy CBE, who played Minister of Magic “Cornelius Fudge” in four “Harry Potter” movies, died on August 3, aged 91. He was also in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1959), Berserk (with Joan Crawford), the 1971 M.R. James adaptation The Stalls of Barchester, the psychic detective pilot The Incredible Robert Baldick: Never Come Night, Hammer’s Demons of the Mind, Dark Places (with Christopher Lee), Psychomania (aka The Death Wheelers), Gawain and the Green Knight (1973), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), The Lost World (2001), The Gathering, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. On TV, Hardy appeared in episodes of The Veil (with Boris Karloff), Mystery and Imagination (Vernon Lee’s ‘The Phantom Lover’), Strange Report, Supernatural (1977), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Shades of Darkness (Elizabeth Bowen’s ‘The Demon Lover’), Screen Two (‘Northanger Abbey’), The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, Gulliver’s Travels (1996) and The 10th Kingdom. While studying at university in Oxford, his tutors included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

  American leading man Ty Hardin (Orison Whipple Hungerford, Jr., aka “Ty Hungerford”), who starred in the Western TV series Bronco (1958-62), died the same day, aged 87. He was also in Berserk with Robert Hardy, along with The Space Children, I Married a Monster from Outer Space and Image of the Beast. Hardin was married eight times, and in the 1970s he founded a Christian right-wing anti-establishment militia that stockpiled illegal weapons until raided by FBI and ATF agents.

  British actress Maggie Rennie (Margaret McGrath), the second wife (1946-60) of actor Michael Rennie, died on August 5, aged 98. During World War II she was named the “Windmill Theatre’s Blonde Bombshell of the Blitz” by Life magazine. On TV Rennie appeared in episodes of The New Adventures of Charlie Chan, Thriller (1974) and Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (‘Mark of the Devil’).

  Japanese actor-stuntman Haruo Nakajima, who performed inside the “Godzilla” (“Gojira”) bodysuit in every movie from the original Godzilla (1954) to Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), died of complications from pneumonia on August 7, aged 88. His numerous other credits include Tômei ningen, Godzilla Raids Again, Half Human, Rodan, The Mysterians, The H-Man, Varan the Unbelievable, The Human Vapor, Mothra, The Last War, Gorath, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Matango, Atragon, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Dogora, Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster, Frankenstein Conquers the World, Invasion of Astro-Monster, The War of the Gargantuas, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, King Kong Escapes, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Latitude Zero, All Monsters Attack, Yog: Monster from Space, Godzilla vs. Hedorah and Tidal Wave. Nakajima also appeared in various Ultraman TV episodes.

  Tony Award-winning Broadway singer and actress Barbara [Nell] Cook died of respiratory failure on August 8, aged 89. During the 1950s she appeared on TV in productions of Babes in Toyland and Hansel and Gretel, along with an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

  American actor, scriptwriter, producer and director Joseph Bologna died of pancreatic cancer on August 13, aged 82. He appeared in Transylvania 6-5000 (1985), Not Quite Human and Alligator II: The Mutation. On TV Bologna was the voice of “Dan Turpin” on the animated Superman (1997-98) show.

  American stunt performer [Sequana] Joi “SJ” Harris was killed on August 14 when a second-unit low-speed motorcycle stunt went wrong on the Vancouver, Canada, set of Deadpool 2. The 32-year-old road racer had successfully completed her first movie stunt five times, but died on a sixth attempt when her motorcycle accidentally hit a kerb and Harris was thrown through a glass window.

  Welsh actress Jennifer Daniel (Jennifer Williams) died in London on August 16, aged 81. Best known for co-starring in the Hammer horrors The Kiss of the Vampire and The Reptile (both opposite Noel Wellman), her other film credits include a 1958 version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a 1992 adaptation of Wuthering Heights. On TV, Daniel appeared in the BBC’s two-part Beauty and the Beast (1961), an
d episodes of One Step Beyond, Hamlet (1961), Suspense (‘Virus X’), Adam Adamant Lives!, Doomwatch, Thriller (1973) and The Boy Merlin. She was married to the actor Dinsdale Landen from 1959 until his death in 2003.

  American character actor Jon Shepodd (Hugh Goodwin) died in England the same day, aged 91. In a screen career that only lasted a decade, his credits include What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and episodes of TV’s The Adventures of Fu Manchu, Men Into Space and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

  American actor-stuntman Sonny Landham (aka “Tex Miller”/“Bill Ashley”), who played Native American tracker “Billy Sole” in Predator (1987), died of congestive heart failure on August 17, aged 76. Landham, who had a reputation for heavy drinking and volatile behavious, appeared in a number of adult films in the 1970s, and he was also in Blood Bath (1976), Southern Comfort, Poltergeist, Northstar, 2090, Disintegration and Mental Scars. He also did stunt work in Love at First Bite.

  Veteran British entertainer Sir Bruce Forsyth (Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson) died of bronchial pneumonia after a long illness on August 18, aged 89. He began his career in music halls, but was best known as a presenter of various game and variety TV shows in a showbusiness career that spanned eight decades. Forsyth also appeared in Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks and played the title character in ‘The Canterville Ghost’, a 1966 episode of TV’s Mystery and Imagination.

  Legendary entertainer Jerry Lewis (Jerome Joseph Levitch) died of the heart condition ischemic cardiomyopathy on August 20, aged 91. The American actor, comedian, singer, producer and director co-starred with nightclub, radio and on-screen partner Dean Martin in the horror comedy Scared Stiff (1953), a remake of the Bob Hope movie The Ghost Breakers from the same director. Lewis’ other credits include a cameo in Road to Bali, Artists and Models, Li’l Abner, Visit to a Small Planet, Cinderfella, The Nutty Professor (which he also co-wrote and directed), Way…Way Out, Slapstick of Another Kind and Arizona Dream. He also turned up in an episode of TV’s Batman (1966), and voiced “Professor John Frink, Sr.” on an episode of The Simpsons (‘Treehouse of Horror XIV’). Lewis was also credited as executive producer on the 1996 remake of The Nutty Professor starring Eddie Murphy, which he later regretted, and the sequel The Nutty Professor II: The Clumps, and he voiced his original character(s) in a 2008 cartoon sequel, also titled The Nutty Professor. In 1995, the actor became the highest-paid performer in Broadway history for his role as the Devil in a revival of Damn Yankees, and he directed a 2012 stage adaptation of The Nutty Professor. DC Comics’ The Adventures of Jerry Lewis ran from 1957 until 1971.

  French actress Nicole [Suzanne Fernande] Besnard, who had a brief movie career in the 1950s, died the same day, aged 89. Her credits include Rene Clair’s 1950 film Beauty and the Devil, which was another version of the “Faust” story.

  German singer and actress Margot Hielscher, who appeared in the 1982 film Doktor Faustus starring Jon Finch, also died on August 20, aged 97.

  American actor and comedian Jay Thomas (Jon Thomas Terrell) died of cancer on August 24, aged 69. A regular on ABC’s Mork & Mindy as “Remo DaVinci” (1979-81), his other TV credits include episodes of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (Blake Edwards’ ‘Justin Case’), Freddy’s Nightmares, Fantasy Island and Joan of Arcadia, and he voiced “Ares” in the animated series Hercules (1998-99) and the spin-off Hercules: Zero to Hero. Thomas was also in the movies C.H.U.D., Encino Woman, Dragonfly, The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Claus 3: Escape Clause, Horrorween (featuring Donald Trump) and Life Tracker.

  Former child actor, journalist and publicist Boots LeBaron, who had an uncredited role as one of the shell people in One Million B.C. (1940), died of heart disease on August 25, aged 85. LeBaron was Manager of Entertainment for the first Universal Studios Tours, and he later worked as the Unit Publicist for the 1983 movie of Stephen King’s Cujo.

  Greek actor and novelist Takis Emmanuel died on August 26, aged 84. A star in his native country, he also appeared in a number of international movies, including The Magus, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (as “Achmed”). Emmanuel retired from acting in the mid-1980s to become an author.

  Suave American actor Richard [Norman] Anderson, who played “Oscar Goldman” in both The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-78) and The Bionic Woman (1976-78) TV series and spin-offs, died on August 31, aged 91. His other credits include the SF classic Forbidden Planet, Curse of the Faceless Man, Seven Days in May, Seconds, the second “Kolchak” movie The Night Strangler, The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine Women and War, The Six Million Dollar Man: The Solid Gold Kidnapping, The Stepford Children and The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man. Anderson also appeared in and co-produced two later reunion TV movies, Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman and Bionic Ever After?. On TV he was in episodes of Captain Midnight, Thriller (1960), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Green Hornet, The Invaders, The Wild Wild West, Land of the Giants, Darkroom, Knight Rider, Automan, Fantasy Island, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1988) and the 1967 pilot Ghostbreakers. His first wife was Carol Lee Ladd, the step-daughter of actor Alan Ladd, and his second wife, Katharine Thalberg, was the daughter of actress Norma Shearer and Hollywood producer Irving Thalberg. Both marriages ended in divorce.

  American actor, stand-up comedian and scriptwriter Shelley Berman (Sheldon Leonard Berman) died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease on September 1, aged 92. He appeared in the obscure 1955 horror movie Dementia, Every Home Should Have One (aka Think Dirty), Beware! The Blob and Teen Witch. On TV, Berman was in episodes of The Twilight Zone, Bewitched, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart, Knight Rider, The Munsters Today, What a Dummy, Monsters, Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies. His 1959 live record, Inside Shelley Berman, was the first comedy album to be certified gold (with more than 500,000 sales) and was the first non-musical recording to win a Grammy Award. He was also the first stand-up comedian to perform at Carnegie Hall.

  American actress and acting coach Elizabeth Kemp died of cancer the same day, aged 65. She was in He Knows You Are Alone (1980), The Clairvoyant (1982) and the TV movie Murderous Vision.

  Tough-looking Italian character actor Gastone Moschin, who portrayed comedy police sergeant “Aloisius Thorpe” in The Weekend Murders, died on September 4, aged 88. His other film credits include Operazione Vega, Spy in Your Eye and Mr. Superinvisible, and Moschin also appeared with Erika Blanc in an adaptation of ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ on the 1979 TV series I racconti fantastici di Edgar Allan Poe.

  Veteran Japanese character actor and UFO enthusiast Yoshio Tsuchiya died on September 5, aged 90. He appeared in Godzilla Raids Again, Throne of Blood, The Mysterians, The H-Man, Varan the Unbelievable, Battle in Outer Space, The Human Vapor, Matango, Frankenstein Conquers the World, Invasion of the Astro-Monster, The Killing Bottle, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Yog: Monster from Space, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah and Inferno (2005), along with episodes of TV’s Urutora Q and Ultraman.

  American actress and model Barbara Flicker (Barbara Joyce Perkins), a former personal assistant to Doris Day and the widow of TV writer and director Theodore J. Flicker, died on September 6, aged 85. She appeared in her husband’s brief Night Gallery segment ‘Junior’ in 1971.

  35-year-old American actor Blake Heron was found dead in his Los Angeles home on September 8. The cause of death was revealed five months later as an accidental drug overdose (including the opoid fentanyl). Former child actor Heron played a recurring character on the USA Network’s 1999-2000 series Good vs Evil (aka G vd E), and his other credits include an episode of Early Edition and the 1996 TV movie Trilogy of Terror II.

  American actor Harry Landers (Harry Sorokin), who played “Dr. Ted Hoffman” on TV’s Ben Casey (1961-66), died on September 9, aged 96. A discovery of Bette Davis and a self-confessed “rebel-rouser”, he was also in the movie Phantom from Space, along with episodes of Captain Video and His Video Rangers, Tales of Tomorrow, World of Gia
nts, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Star Trek. Landers worked for three months in small roles on Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956), earning more money than either John Carradine or Vincent Price.

  American character actor Harvey Levine, who appeared in Mannequin, King B: A Life in the Movies and an episode of TV’s The Wild Wild West, died of lung cancer the same day, aged 78.

  American actor Mike Hodge, who had a recurring role in the BBC/CTW children’s TV series Ghostwriter (1992-93), died on September 10, aged 70. Hodge was also in the movies The Shaman, Blue Steel, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde and Office Killer.

  American actor Damu King, who had a small role in the obscure horror-comedy Guess What Happened to Count Dracula? (1971), died of heart failure on September 13, aged 86. He also appeared in a number of blacksploitation movies in the 1970s.

  American tough-guy character actor and musician Frank Vincent [Gatuso, Jr.], who played mob boss “Phil Leotardo” on HBO’s The Sopranos (2004-07), died of complications during heart surgery the same day, aged 80. He also appeared in episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Stargate: Atlantis, along with the TV movie NetForce. Vincent was the basis for a character in Alan Roberts’ Killogy, a series of graphic novels set during the zombie apocalypse.

  American leading man Stuart Moss died of a heart attack on September 13, aged 79. He appeared in episodes of TV’s Star Trek, The Invaders, The Six Million Dollar Man and Beyond Westworld, along with the movies Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls, The Bat People and Conspiracy of Terror.

  Gaunt American character actor, singer and musician Harry Dean Stanton (aka “Dean Stanton”), best remembered for his role as the engineer “Brett” in Alien (1979), died on September 15, aged 91. He was also in Death Watch, John Carpenter’s Escape from New York, Christine (based on the novel by Stephen King), Repo Man, Red Dawn, UFOria, Disney’s One Magic Christmas, Dream a Little Dream, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, The Green Mile (another King adaptation), Alien Autopsy and The Avengers. Stanton’s TV credits include episodes of Inner Sanctum, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Wild Wild West, Faerie Tale Theatre, The Jim Henson Hour (‘Monster Maker’), Alice (2009) and the 2017 revival of Twin Peaks.