Russian actor Georgy Zhzhyonov died of complications from a broken hip on December 8th, aged 90. He appeared in Planet of Storms, which was re-edited in the US as Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women.
Stand-up comedian and character actor Richard Pryor (Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III) died of a heart attack on December 10th, just days after his 65th birthday. In 1980 he received third-degree burns over half of his body when he set himself alight while either freebasing cocaine or trying to commit suicide (reports vary). Six years later he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and in the early 1990s he underwent quadruple bypass surgery. Married seven times, Pryor was paid $4 million to appear in Superman III. His other credits include William Castle’s The Busy Body, Wild in the Streets, The Phynx, Some Call it Loving, The Wiz (as the title character), Wholly Moses!, The Muppet Movie, Lost Highway and “The Night of the Eccentrics” episode of TV’s The Wild Wild West. Pryor was married six times to five women and had seven children. His autobiography, Pryor Convictions, appeared in 1994.
Character actress Mary Jackson died the same day, aged 95. A former school teacher, she was a regular on TV’s The Waltons (1972–81, as “Miss Emily Baldwin”) and also appeared in Targets (with Boris Karloff), Terror House (aka The Folks at Redwood Inn), Audrey Rose, Big Top Pee-Wee and The Exorcist III.
Veteran character actor Norman Leavitt died on December 11th, aged 92. His numerous credits include The Spider Woman Strikes Back, Harvey (1950), M (1951), The Ten Commandments, Teenage Monster, Cinderfella, The Three Stooges in Orbit and Day of the Locust. He retired from the screen in the mid-1970s.
Danish-born actress Annette Vadim (Annette Stroyberg) died of cancer in Copenhagen on December 12th, aged 71. A former fashion model, she married director Roger Vadim in 1958 and he cast her as the vampire “Carmilla” in Blood and Roses. The couple separated soon after, but she went on to appear in a handful of films, including The Testament of Orpheus and Agent of Doom, before retiring from the screen in the mid-1960s.
American actor John Spencer (John Speshock) best known for his Emmy Award-winning role as vice president candidate “Leo McGarry” on TV’s The West Wing, died of a heart attack on December 16th, aged 58. His other credits include WarGames, Sea of Love, Ravenous and TV’s Touched by an Angel, F/X: The Series, Early Edition, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and the new Outer Limits.
Japanese actor Fujiki Yuu died of a pulmonary embolism on December 19th, aged 74. His credits include Throne of Blood, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Atragon, Godzilla vs. Mothra, Yog: Monster from Space and Ghost Man.
Texas attorney William Bryan Jennings, who played a police officer in the 1966 cult movie Manos: The Hands of Fate, died the same day, aged 86.
Argentinean-born actress and radio interviewer Argentina Brunetti died in Rome on December 20th, aged 98. She was brought to Hollywood in the late 1930s to dub the voices of Jeanette MacDonald and Norma Shearer into Italian, and appeared in numerous films and TV shows, including It’s a Wonderful Life, Ghost Chasers, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, The Venetian Affair, Blue Sunshine and episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Veil, One Step Beyond, Thriller, The Invaders, Wonder Woman, Fantasy Island and The Quest.
Veteran American leading man Myron Healey died of respiratory failure on December 21st, aged 82. He was featured in the US footage in Varan the Unbelievable, and his other film credits include Crime Doctor’s Manhunt, Down to Earth, Batman and Robin, Panther Girl of the Congo, Jungle Moon Men, The Unearthly (with John Carradine), Disney’s The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Claws, The Incredible Melting Man, Ghost Fever and Pulse. On TV he appeared in episodes of Ramar of the Jungle, The Veil (with Boris Karloff), Men Into Space, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Land of the Giants, Ghost Story, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Spider-Man, V and Knight Rider.
Brazilian actress Aurora Miranda, the sister of Carmen Miranda, died of a heart attack on December 22nd, aged 90. A popular singing star in her native Brazil, she also appeared in Robert Siodmak’s Phantom Lady (1944) singing the song “Chica-Chica-Boom-Boom” and danced with Donald Duck in Disney’s The Three Caballeros the same year.
Character actor Michael Vale, best known for his portrayal of Dunkin’ Donuts’ “Fred the Baker” in a fifteen-year advertising campaign, died of complications from diabetes on December 24th, aged 83. He was also in Marathon Man and The Psychic Parrott.
Droopy-eyed American character actor Vincent Schiavelli died of lung cancer at his home on Sicily on December 26th, aged 57. He lent his distinctive features – often in comedic roles – to such films as The Return, Schizo, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Ghost, Batman Returns, Lurking Fear, Clive Barker’s Lord of Illusions, the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, Escape to Witch Mountain (1995), Casper Meets Wendy and the Hallmark TV movie Snow White. He also turned up in episodes of Shadow Chasers, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Shades of L.A., Tales from the Crypt (“Mournin’ Mess”), Eerie Indiana, Highlander, The X Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and the 1981 pilot Comedy of Horrors, and was the voice of the magician “Zatara” in the animated Batman. An accomplished chef, Schiavelli also wrote three cookbooks and award-winning food articles.
Veteran character actor [Joseph] Patrick Cranshaw died on December 28th, aged 86. He began his film career in 1955, and appeared in The Amazing Transparent Man, Curse of the Swamp Creature, Mars Needs Women, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Quantum Leap, Alien Avengers II, Ed Wood and Disney’s Herbie: Fully Loaded.
Teresa E. Victor, who was Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy’s assistant for almost twenty years, died after a long illness on December 29th, aged 62. She was the computer voice in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and also had a small role in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
American stripper Candy Barr (Juanita Phillips), an associate of Jack Ruby, died of pneumonia on December 30th, aged 70.
FILM/TV TECHNICIANS
British cinematographer turned director C. M. Pennington-Richards died on January 2nd, aged 93. He shot such films as Scrooge (1951), 1984 (1956) and Tarzan and the Lost Safari before going on to direct Hammer’s A Challenge for Robin Hood, The Oracle, Sky Pirates, Danny and the Dragon and episodes of TV’s The Invisible Man.
68-year-old Japanese director Koji Haasjimoto (aka “Koji Hashimoto”), whose credits include Godzilla 1985 and Sayonara Jupiter, died on January 9th from injuries sustained in a mountain climbing accident. He was an assistant director on Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Frankenstein Conquers the World, Monster Zero, Godzilla’s Revenge, Tidal Wave and Latitude Zero.
Jack Kine, who co-founded the BBC Visual Effects Department in 1954, died on January 14th, aged 83. With Bernard Wilkie he worked on the TV productions of 1984, Quatermass II, Quatermass and the Pit, Doctor Who and Caves of Steel, plus the 1966 movie Invasion.
American writer-producer Philip DeGuere, Jr died of cancer on January 24th, aged 60. He scripted, executive produced and directed the 1978 pilot movie Dr. Strange, created the CBS-TV series Simon and Simon (1981–88), and also produced The New Twilight Zone and Max Headroom.
British film editor Alfred Cox also died in January. He worked on many classic Hammer horror films, including Brides of Dracula.
80-year-old Italian film composer Franco Mannino died on February 1st of complications following surgery. His many credits include Beat the Devil, I Vampiri, Lo Spettro, Hercules Prisoner of Evil and Murder Obsession.
Cinematographer Joan Weidman died of cancer on February 6th. Her credits include the documentary SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back (1980). She was a producer on several films, including The Giant of Thunder Mountain, before overseeing Wishmaster and other movies as president of a major completion bond company.
American TV director John Patterson, whose credits include episodes of Project U.F.O., MacGyver, Early Edition, The Invisible Man, Carnivàle and eve
ry season finale of The Sopranos, died of prostate cancer on February 7th, aged 64. He also directed the TV movies The Spring, Grave Secrets: The Legend of Hilltop Drive and Robin Cook’s Harmful Intent.
50-year-old French film producer Humbert Balsan committed suicide on February 10th. He started his career as an actor, playing Sir Gawain in Robert Bresson’s Lancelot of the Lake, and went on to produce more than sixty films, many by Arab film-makers.
Stills photographer Robert Marshak, who worked with Steven Soderbergh on the remake of Solaris and John Sayles on The Brother from Another Planet, died of pancreatic cancer on February 13th, aged 53.
Austrian-born film producer Otto Plashkes died of heart failure in London on February 14th, aged 75. He worked on Tarzan’s Three Challenges as a production manager, and during the early 1980s he produced the Sherlock Holmes films The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Sign of Four starring Ian Richardson for British TV.
Japanese film director Kihachi Okamoto died of cancer of the oesophagus on February 17th, aged 82. He was best known for his jidai-geki films, such as The Sword of Doom and Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo.
British-born Peter Foy, who refined the flying harness for the 1954 Broadway stage musical of Peter Pan, died in Las Vegas the same day, aged 79. His creation of the Multi-Point Balance Harness for the film Fantastic Voyage is still used today.
Jef Raskin, who headed the team that developed the Apple Macintosh computer and gave it its name, died of pancreatic cancer on February 26th, aged 61.
Japanese director Hiroyuki Nasu, best-known for the Bee Bop High School series of films, died of liver cancer on February 27th, aged 53. He also directed the 2004 horror movie Devilman.
Television producer Shelley Hull, the son of actor Henry Hull (WereWolf of London) died of pneumonia the same day, aged 85. His many TV films include Death at Love House, Return to Fantasy Island and Return of the Mod Squad.
Director and actress Pam Carter died of a heart aneurysm on February 28th, aged 50. She directed episodes of the cartoon series Archie’s Weird Mysteries and Nickelodeon’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea along with the 2003 TV film Time Kid.
Former Universal marketing executive John Hornick died on March 4th, aged 50. He joined MCA/Universal Studios in 1983, where he became VP of marketing and merchandising, designing toys and product tie-ins for such movies as E.T. The Extra-terrestrial, Jurassic Park, The Flintstones, Casper and the classic Universal Monsters. He was also involved in the design and planning of the Universal Studios theme parks and the Universal City Walk.
Hollywood producer Debra Hill, who co-wrote the 1979 film Halloween with John Carpenter, died of cancer on March 7th, aged 54. Hill and Carpenter returned for Halloween II, and were also credited of several of the later sequels. Halloween 9 was reportedly in production at the time of her death. Her other credits include The Fog (and the 2005 remake), Escape from New York, The Dead Zone, Clue, Big Top Pee-Wee, The Fisher King, The Lottery and a series of B-movie remakes for HBO (including Attack of the 50ft. Woman). Hill was born in Haddonfield, New Jersey, the name of the fictional Illinois town in the Halloween films.
Four time Oscar-winning British film production designer and art director John [Allan Hyatt] Box died the same day, aged 85. Best known for his work on big budget epics, his credits also include The Gamma People, Rollerball, The Keep and First Knight.
Film editor Sydney Gottlieb, whose credits include The Creature from the Black Lagoon, died after a minor fall on March 10th, aged 100.
Veteran animator Hal Seeger died on March 13th, aged 87. He began his career at the Fleischer Studios in the 1930s, working on Popeye cartoons and Hoppity Goes to Town. After forming Hal Seeger Productions in New York City in the late 1950s, he produced such TV series as Out of the Inkwell (1962), The Milton the Monster Show (1965) and Batfink (1966).
American entrepreneur John [Zachary] DeLorean, whose firm designed the eponymous gull-winged DMC–12 car used in the Back to the Future trilogy, died of complications from a stroke on March 19th, aged 80. Only around 8,000 vehicles were built before the company collapsed in 1982. DeLorean was arrested later the same year by the FBI in a drug sting, and he declared bankruptcy in 1999. Married four times, his wives included actresses Kelly Harmon and Cristina Ferrare.
Film editor Warner Leighton, who began his career as a sound editor on the first Cinerama production South Seas Adventure before cutting such TV cartoons as The Flintstones, Space Ghost, Secret Squirrel, Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor, The Fantastic Four and Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, died on March 20th, aged 74. He also edited the animated features Hey There It’s Yogi Bear and A Man Called Flintstone.
Film producer Julian “Bud” Lesser, the son of producer Sol Lesser, died of cancer on March 22nd, aged 90. An assistant producer on his father’s Tarzan and the Mermaids, he produced a number of films during the 1940s and 1950s including Whispering Smith vs. Scotland Yard, Jungle Headhunters and The Saint’s Girl Friday.
Producer and director Eddie Saeta, whose credits include Dr. Death, Seeker of Souls and episodes of TV’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E., died on March 26th, aged 90. He also worked as a 2nd unit director on The Invisible Ghost (with Bela Lugosi), One Dark Night, Jungle Moon Men, 20 Million Miles to Earth and The Three Stooges in Orbit.
Special effects designer Anton Rupprecht committed suicide on March 27th, aged 42. He worked with The Character Shop and his credits include Friday the 13 th A New Beginning, Night of the Creeps, House, The Puppet Masters and Bride of Chucky.
65-year-old Canadian director and producer Robin Spry, whose Telescene Film Group made such series as Big Wolf on Campus, The Hunger and The Lost World until it filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2000, died in a car accident in Montreal on March 28th. His other credits include Witchboard III The Possession, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1999), Nightmare Man, Student Bodies and Matthew Blackheart: Monster Smasher.
Film and TV casting director Judith Weiner died of ovarian cancer on April 5th, aged 58. Her many credits include The Howling and Jekyll and Hyde. . . Together Again.
American film editor Robert Golden died on April 6th, aged 93. His many credits include The Whip Hand, The Corpse Vanishes, Spooks Run Wild and Invisible Ghost (all three with Bela Lugosi), Doomed to Die (with Boris Karloff) and Night of the Hunter.
Canadian-born Broadway and Honorary Oscar-winning film choreographer Onna White died on April 8th, aged 83. A featured dancer in the original stage cast of Finian’s Rainbow, she choreographed a revival of the show as well as the Disney film Pete’s Dragon.
Italian-born film writer-director and rare book collector George P. (Pan) Cosmatos, best known for Rambo: First Blood Part II and Tombstone, died of lung cancer in Canada on April 19th, aged 64. A writer for Sight and Sound magazine, his other directing credits include Of Unknown Origin and the underwater SF adventure Leviathan.
Claymator Bob Gardiner, who worked on the Oscar-winning short Closed Mondays, committed suicide on April 21st, aged 54.
Veteran make-up artist Bob Schiffer died of a stroke on April 26th, aged 88. He worked on numerous films, including She (1935), The Devil Doll (1936), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), The Wizard of Oz, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Kiss Me Deadly, Around the World in 80 Days, The Amazing Colossal Man, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Castle Keep. In later years he moved to Disney, where his credits include Now You See Him Now You Don’t, Mystery of Dracula’s Castle, Charley and the Angel, The Island at the Top of the World, Escape to Witch Mountain, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Pete’s Dragon, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Return to Witch Mountain, Tron, The Shaggy DA, The Cat from Outer Space, The Black Hole, Herbie Goes Bananas, Splash, Baby Secret of the Lost Legend, Frankenweenie and Something Wicked This Way Comes.
American producer Charles A. Pratt, whose credits include Willard, You’ll Like My Mother, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, Ben, Arnold and Terror in the Wax Museum, died of lung cancer on April 27th, aged 81.
Art director Sherman Loudermilk died of Alzhei
mer’s disease on April 30th, aged 92. His credits include The Devil’s Hand and TV’s Galactica 1980.
Visual effects designer and stop-motion animator Phil Kellison, who worked on The Giant Behemoth (with Willis H. O’Brien), Jack the Giant Killer and Dinosaurus!, died on May 13th.
Emmy Award-winning TV producer and Broadway composer Richard Lewine died on May 19th, aged 94. In 1957 he produced Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella starring Julie Andrews for CBS-TV, and his other credits include Cole Porter’s Aladdin (1958) and a CBS special of Blithe Spirit featuring Noel Coward.
British art director Lucy Richardson died of breast cancer on June 1st, aged 47. Her credits include The Princess Bride, The Secret of Roan Inish, Spider, Ella Enchanted, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and George Lucas’ TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. A production manager on the 1997 Canadian anthology series The Hunger, Richardson was reportedly the inspiration for John Lennon’s 1967 song, “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”)
Independent record producer Simon Waronker died on June 7th, aged 90. In 1955 he founded Liberty Records and signed such talent as Johnny Burnette (“You’re Sixteen”), Eddie Cochran (“Summertime Blues”), Jan and Dean (“Surf City”) and Julie London (“Cry Me a River”). However, his biggest act was probably Ross Bagdasarian, better known as “Dave Seville” of Alvin and the Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon and Theodore), whose first single sold four million copies in the first month.
Hungarian-born film producer William G. Reich, who produced the 1975 Italian horror film The Night Child (aka The Cursed Medallion), died of heart disease in Florida on June 12th, aged 91.
Film and TV editor Joseph T. Dervin, who received an Emmy Award in 1966 for his work on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., died on June 20th, aged 90. He also edited such shows as The Ghost and Mrs Muir and Kung Fu, and was responsible for creating the feature film versions of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., including The Spy With My Face, The Spy in the Green Hat and The Helicopter Spies.
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 17 Page 70
