Film sound editor Richard Sperber, who worked at Twentieth Century Fox for many years, died on June 21st, aged 88. His credits include Fantastic Voyage, The Omen, Damnation Alley, High Anxiety, Damien: Omen II, The Boys from Brazil and the TV movie Good Against Evil.
Special effects model-maker Michael Cuneo died of a brain tumour on June 24th, aged 41. He worked on the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
62-year-old Chet Helms, “Father of the Summer of Love”; died of complications from a stroke in San Francisco on June 25th. He famously discovered singer Janis Joplin.
Film and TV director Bruce Malmuth died of oesophageal cancer on June 28th, aged 71. His credits include episodes of the revived Twilight Zone series and Beauty and the Beast.
Norman Prescott, chairman and co-founder of Filmation Studios, died on July 2nd, aged 78. In 1959 he supervised the music and post-production for the Embassy Pictures’ release of Hercules, and he later independently produced the animated features Pinocchio in Outer Space and Journey Back to Oz. Prescott started Filmation with Lou Scheimer in 1965 after acquiring the rights from DC Comics to produce the The New Adventures of Superman TV series. The animation studio went on to produce the 1973 Emmy-winning Star Trek cartoon series, along with such shows as Fantastic Voyage, The Batman/Superman Hour, Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies, The New Animated Adventures of Flash Gordon and the live-action Shazam!, The Ghost Busters, Isis, Ark II and Space Academy.
Film producer Charles Okun, whose credits include The Legend of the Lone Ranger, The Sentinel and Dreamcatcher, died of cancer on July 3rd, aged 80.
Australian-born British costume designer Jocelyn Rickards died on July 7th, aged 80. As well as designing costumes for such classic 1960s films as The Knack, Morgan A Suitable Case for Treatment (aka Morgan!) and Antonioni’s Blow-Up, she also worked on the second James Bond film, From Russia with Love. She was married to film director Clive Donner.
Russian-born Hollywood art director and production designer Alexander Golitzen, who shared an Academy Award for his work on Universal’s 1943 Phantom of the Opera, died on congestive heart failure on July 26th, aged 97. He worked on more than 300 movies, including Arabian Nights, Cobra Woman, The Climax (with Boris Karloff), Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, Revenge of the Creature, This Island Earth, Cult of the Cobra, Tarantula, The Creature Walks Among Us, Francis in the Haunted House, The Mole People, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Deadly Mantis, Man of a Thousand Faces, The Land Unknown, The Monolith Monsters, Touch of Evil, Monster on the Campus, Curse of the Undead, The Leech Woman, Midnight Lace (1960), The Brass Bottle, The Night Walker, The Sword of Ali Baba, The War Lord, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, Munster Go Home!, Let’s Kill Uncle, The Reluctant Astronaut, Games, Eye of the Cat, Colossus: The Forbin Project, The Beguiled, Slaughterhouse-Five, Play Misty for Me and Earthquake. Golitzen won two more Oscars for his work.
Gerry Thomas, the man who invented the frozen TV dinner in 1954 while working as a salesman for a food firm in Nebraska, also died in July, aged 83. Although more than ten million frozen meals were sold in the first year, Thomas received a small pay rise and a $1,000 bonus for his idea.
62-year-old film producer Terry Carr, whose credits include Predator 2, was found dead in his car along with his daughter on August 1st.
Oscar-nominated American costume designer Donald Brooks (Donald Marc Blumberg) died of a heart attack the same day, aged 77. His stage and screen credits include the Barbra Streisand fantasy On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and The Terminal Man.
British film and TV director David Tomblin, who co-created and produced the cult 1967 series The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan, died on August 4th, aged 74. Starting out as an assistant producer on such shows as The New Adventures of Charlie Chan, The Invisible Man and One Step Beyond, he filled the same role on such movies as Hammer’s Taste of Fear, The Haunting (1963), Night Must Fall (1964), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother, The Omen, Superman, Star Wars, Superman II, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi, Never Say Never Again, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. After writing and directing several episodes of The Prisoner, Tomblin went on to work on U.F.O. and Space: 1999.
Japanese writer and director Teruo Ishii died of cancer on August 12th, aged 81. His credits include Atomic Rulers of the World and the Super Giant series.
Italian cinematographer Tonino (Antonio) Delli Colli, who worked with Sergio Leone, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Federico Fellini and Roman Polanski, amongst other directors, died of a heart attack in Rome on August 16th, aged 82. His many credits include Black Magic, The Thief of Bagdad (1961), Ghosts – Italian Style, Spirits of the Dead, F/X 2 and The Name of the Rose.
American cinematographer Meredith Nicholson, whose credits include the low budget movies She Demons, The Amazing Transparent Man, Frankenstein’s Daughter, The Devil’s Hand and Missile to the Moon, died on August 18th, aged 92.
American music pioneer Dr Robert A. Moog, who developed the electronic synthesiser that carried his name, died of an inoperable brain tumour on August 21st, aged 71. In the mid-1960s, his invention revolutionized the music industry and was used by the Beatles, the Doors, Yes, Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer and numerous other bands. A Moog was also used on the soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and many other SF films.
TV writer and producer Herbert J. Wright, best known for creating the villainous Ferengi in Star Trek The Next Generation, died on August 24th, aged 58. After being mentored by Japanese film-maker Akira Kurosawa, Wright started out in the mailroom of Universal Studios and worked his way up to writing, producing or directing for such shows as Night Gallery, The Six Million Dollar Man, Space Rangers, War of the Worlds and the Emmy-nominated children’s programme Through the Magic Pyramid.
American TV executive and director Perry Lafferty died of complications from prostate cancer on August 25th, aged 87. He directed three episodes of the original Twilight Zone series.
Fred Joerger, who helped create the models for Disneyland attractions such as The Haunted Mansion and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, died on August 26th, aged 91.
Actor turned writer and director Wyott Ordung died on August 28th, aged 83. After appearing in films and on TV in the early 1950s, he scripted the cult classic Robot Monster (1953), Target Earth and Roger Corman’s Monster from the Ocean Floor (in which he also appeared as superstitious fisherman “Pablo”). The 1959 SF film First Man into Space was based on his original story, and Ordung was assistant director on The Navy vs. the Night Monsters and The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals.
Movie art director and character actor Roger Pancake died of oesophageal cancer on September 10th, aged 71. He was art director on Creature from Black Lake (in which he also played the monster) and Mansion of the Doomed, and had small roles in The Cat from Outer Space and Dracula’s Dog.
Film editor-turned-Oscar-winning director Robert Wise died of heart failure on September 14th, four days after celebrating his 91st birthday. Best known as the director of such musicals as West Side Story and The Sound of Music, Wise began his career as an editor at RKO Radio Pictures, cutting such films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), The Devil and Daniel Webster and Citizen Kane. He made his uncredited debut as a director re-shooting scenes for Orson Welles’ troubled The Magnificent Ambersons before taking over Curse of the Cat People for producer Val Lewton in 1944. His other films include The Body Snatcher (with Karloff and Lugosi), A Game of Death, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Haunting (1963), The Andromeda Strain, Audrey Rose and the first of the successful Star Trek movie franchise. In 1996 he made his only cameo appearance as an actor in John Landis’ The Stupids. Martin Scorsese described Wise as “the Steven Spielberg of his time”.
British cinematographer-turned-writer/producer/director Guy Green O.B.E. died of heart and kidney failure in Los Angeles on September 13th, aged 91. In 1947 he became the first British di
rector of photography to win an Academy Award, for Great Expectations, and his directing credits include Hammer’s The Snorkel and the John Fowles adaptation The Magus. Green reportedly turned down the offer to direct Dr. No.
TV director Henry Kaplan, whose credits include the 1960s Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, died on September 14th, aged 79.
Film producer Sid Luft, the former manager/husband (1952–65) of Judy Garland and stepfather to Liza Minnelli, died of a heart attack on September 15th, aged 89.
Director and cinematographer Richard E. Cunha died of heart failure on September 18th, aged 84. Born in Honolulu, he is best known for his horror and SF films of the 1950s, such as Giant from the Unknown, She Demons, Missile to the Moon and the delirious Frankenstein’s Daughter, which were made on shoestring budgets. In the early 1960s Cunha also photographed Bloodlust.
American film producer Gordon Carroll died of pneumonia on September 20th, aged 77. Among his credits are Alien, Blue Thunder, Aliens, Aliens3, Alien Resurrection and Alien vs. Predator.
Japanese special effects director and cinematographer Teisho Arikawa (aka “Sadamasa Arikawa”) died of lung cancer on September 22nd, aged 80. His credits include the original Godzilla (Gojira), Gigantis the Fire Monster, Rodan, The Mysterians, The H-Man, Battle in Outer Space, Mothra, Gorath, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Varan the Unbelievable, Attack of the Mushroom People, The Lost World of Sinbad, Atragon, Dagora the Space Monster, Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla vs. the Thing, Frankenstein Conquers the World, Monster Zero, War of the Gargantuas, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, King Kong Escapes, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Latitude Zero, Yog Monster from Space and The Mighty Peking Man. Arikawa also directed the special photographic effects on the 1960s Ultraman TV series and he directed the 1983 film The Phoenix (aka War of the Wizards).
78-year-old American film producer Joseph Wolf who, with Irwin Yablans, helped launch the successful Halloween franchise through their Compass International Pictures, died on September 22nd from complications from a fall. Made for just $325,000, Halloween grossed more than $100 million. After launching Media Home Entertainment, he was a partner with New Line Films on the first Nightmare on Elm Street. Wolf also served in various producer categories on Fade to Black, Hell Night, Blood Beach, Children of the Living Dead and HellBent, as well as Halloween II and Halloween III Season of the Witch.
TV producer Bruce Johnson, whose credits include Mork and Mindy, died of heart failure on September 27th, aged 66.
Kenyan-born film producer and director Raju Patel died of cancer in Los Angeles on October 9th, aged 45. In the mid-1990s he teamed up with Disney to produce a live-action version of The Jungle Book and went on to produce a sequel, The Second Jungle Book, for Columbia-TriStar. Patel’s other credits include Cyborg 2, The Adventures of Pinocchio and The New Adventures of Pinocchio.
Actor-turned-director Bernard Carr died on October 18th, aged 94. He was assistant director on One Million B.C., Turnabout and Topper Returns and directed the 1948 old dark house comedy Who Killed Doc Robbing?.
German-born film director and screenwriter Wolf [Peter] Rilla died in England on October 19th, aged 85. The son of character actor Walter Rilla, he is best remembered for the 1960 film Village of the Damned, based on John Wyndham’s book The Midwich Cuckoos.
Irish-born film producer Tony Adams died of an aneurysm on October 22nd, aged 52. He had suffered a stroke two days earlier during a meeting about the Spider-Man Broadway musical. After starting as John Boorman’s assistant on Deliverance, Adams later became president of Blake Edwards Entertainment, producing a number of the Pink Panther movies.
British scriptwriter, playwright, producer and novelist Alfred [James] Shaughnessy died of complications from a stroke on November 2nd, aged 89. A veteran of Ealing Studios in the early 1950s, he directed the 1957 film Cat Girl starring Barbara Shelley and scripted Hammer’s Crescendo, The Flesh and Blood Show and the TV movie The Haunting of Cassie Palmer. Shaughnessy also worked on such TV series as The Saint, Journey to the Unknown and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
75-year-old American cinematographer Steven Lamer died after an accident at his Californian vineyard on November 6th. His numerous credits include The Student Nurses, The Night God Screamed, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Curse of the Black Widow, World War III, V: The Final Battle and the TV series Beauty and the Beast.
Canadian-born visual effects producer C. Marie Davis died of breast cancer on November 9th, aged 47. She began her career working as an assistant to cartoon voice actor Mel Blanc. Moving to CIS Hollywood, she worked on The Blob, Scrooged, The Abyss, Total Recall, Ernest Scared Stupid, Batman Forever, Star Trek: Generations, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Contact, Deep Impact, Practical Magic, Mission to Mars, Cats & Dogs, Scary Movie 2, the remake of Planet of the Apes, Kate & Leopold, Spider-Man, S1m0ne, The Tuxedo and Star Trek: Nemesis. As vice-president of production services at Sony Pictures Imageworks, she was responsible for such films as The Matrix Reloaded, The Polar Express, Spider-Man 2, Zathura and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
75-year-old film director Moustapha Akkad, the executive producer of all eight Halloween films, died in hospital on November 11th from injuries sustained in the Amman, Jordan, hotel bomb blasts three days earlier. His 34-year-old daughter Rima Akkad Monla was killed immediately in the terrorist suicide blast that claimed the lives of fifty-seven people attending a wedding reception. A US national, the Syrian-born Akkad also produced the 1985 horror film Appointment with Fear.
British sound recordist John W. Mitchell died on December 17th, aged 88. He worked on The Thief of Bagdad (1940), Hamlet (1948), The Rocking Horse Winner, Moby Dick, Billion Dollar Brain, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Murder by Decree and the Bond films From Russia with Love, Casino Royale, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, You Only Live Twice and Live and Let Die.
Walt Disney film executive Irving Ludwig, who was instrumental in the creation of Buena Vista Distributors, died in Santa Monica on November 26th, aged 95. The Russian-born Ludwig was a movie theatre manager before joining Disney in 1940 where he oversaw the releases of such films as Fantasia, The Shaggy Dog, The Absent Minded Professor, Mary Poppins and The Love Bug.
E. Cardon “Card” Walker, who rose through the ranks from the mailroom to eventually becoming CEO and chairman of the Walt Disney Co. following the death of co-founder Roy O. Disney, died of heart failure on November 29th, aged 89. He helped create such attractions as It’s a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion, and launched EPCOT at Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and the Disney Channel.
87-year-old veteran American film director Herbert L. Strock died of heart failure on November 30th, following a car accident. Best known for his three teenage horror films for AIP in the 1950s, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, Blood of Dracula and How to Make a Monster, the former publicist, writer and editor also directed The Magnetic Monster, Donovan’s Brain and Riders to the Stars (all uncredited), the 3-D Gog, The Devil’s Messenger (with Lon Chaney, Jr) and The Crawling Hand, along with numerous episodes of Science Fiction Theatre and the 1950s Boris Karloff TV series The Veil. Strock was also assistant editor on MGM’s Gaslight (1944), edited Psycho Sisters, Witches’ Brew and Night Screams, and wrote the screenplay for Monster starring John Carradine. His autobiography, Picture Perfect, appeared in 2000.
Hollywood set designer John S. Detlie died of lung cancer the same day, aged 96. His credits include I Married an Angel, A Christmas Carol (1938) and On Borrowed Time.
British TV producer Leonard Lewis died on December 2nd, aged 78. His credits include Adam Adamant Lives!, Tales of the Unexpected and the BBC miniseries Jack the Ripper.
42-year-old American film producer Gregg Hoffman, founder and partner in Twisted Pictures with Oren Koules and Mark Burg, died on December 4th, after being admitted to hospital complaining of neck pain. A former vice president of production at the Walt Disney Co., in 2003, he brought the script and an eight-minute demo of Saw
to Twisted, who financed the picture for $1.2 million. It subsequently grossed $102 million worldwide. The sequel, Saw 2, took $108 million, and a third film in the series was in development at the time of Hoffman’s death, as were such other low budget horror productions from Twisted Pictures as Catacombs, Silence and Crawlspace.
Influential British cinematographer Adrian Biddle died of a heart attack on December 7th, aged 53. He began his career in 1969, at the age of sixteen, working uncredited with the underwater camera crews on the James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Captain Nemo and the Underwater City. After rising to focus-puller on Ridley Scott’s Alien, he was promoted to director of photography for James Cameron’s sequel, Aliens, and worked again with Scott on the Apple Computers launch commercial “1984”. Biddle shot twenty-six films in nineteen years, and his other credits include The Princess Bride, Willow, Judge Dredd, 101 Dalmations (1996), The Butcher Boy, Event Horizon, The Mummy (1999), The World is Not Enough, 102 Dalmations, The Mummy Returns, Reign of Fire, An American Haunting and V for Vendetta, which reportedly included the biggest urban night shoot ever attempted.
49-year-old independent film producer Robert F. Newmyer, whose credits include The Santa Clause (1994) and its two sequels, died of heart failure triggered by an asthma attack on December 12th, while working out in a Toronto gym.
Editor turned director Ed Hansen died of bladder cancer on December 16th, aged 68. Hansen edited Nightforce, Skeeter, The Elf Who Saved Christmas and other films, and directed Cyber-CHIC, Takin it Off and Takin it All Off.
Jack Wiener, who produced F/X, F/X2 and Vampira, died of a heart attack on December 26th, aged 79.
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 17 Page 71
