Goregirl's Favourite Horror Film Actors
My 20 favourite horror film actors and a selection of their horror film credits.
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Along with fellow actors Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price, Boris Karloff is recognized as one of the true icons of horror cinema, and the actor most closely identified with the general public's perception of the "Monster" from the classic Mary Shelley novel "Frankenstein". William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England, UK, the son of Edward John Pratt Jr., the Deputy Commissioner of Customs Salt and Opium, Northern Division, Indian Salt Revenue Service, and his third wife, Eliza Sarah Millard.
He was educated at London University in anticipation that he would pursue a diplomatic career; however, he emigrated to Canada in 1909, joined a touring company based out of Ontario and adopted the stage name of "Boris Karloff." He toured back and forth across the U.S. for over 10 years in a variety of low budget theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood, reportedly with very little money to his name. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff secured occasional acting work in the fledgling silent film industry in such pictures as The Deadlier Sex (1920), Omar the Tentmaker (1922), Dynamite Dan (1924) and Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927), in addition to a handful of serials (the majority of which, sadly, have not survived). Karloff supplemented his meager film income by working as a truck driver in Los Angeles, which allowed him enough time off to continue to pursue acting roles.
His big break came in 1931 when he was cast as "the Monster" in the Universal production of Frankenstein (1931), directed by James Whale, one of the studio's few remaining auteur directors. The aura of mystery surrounding Karloff was highlighted in the opening credits, as he was listed as simply "?". The film was a commercial and critical success for Universal, and Karloff was instantly established as a hot property in Hollywood. He quickly appeared in several other sinister roles, including Scarface (1932) (filmed before Frankenstein (1931)), the black-humored The Old Dark House (1932), as the namesake Chinese villain of Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu novels in The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), as the undead Im-ho-tep in The Mummy (1932) and as the misguided Prof. Morlant in The Ghoul (1933). He thoroughly enjoyed his role as a religious fanatic in John Ford's The Lost Patrol (1934), although contemporary critics described it as a textbook example of overacting.
He donned the signature make-up, neck bolts and asphalt spreader's boots again to play the Frankenstein Monster twice, in the sensational Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and the less thrilling Son of Frankenstein (1939). Karloff, on loan to Fox, appeared in one of the best of the Warner Oland Charlie Chan films, Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936), before beginning his own short-lived Mr. Wong detective series. He was a wrongly condemned doctor in Devil's Island (1938), shaven-headed executioner "Mord the Merciless" in Tower of London (1939), another misguided scientist in The Ape (1940), a crazed scientist surrounded by monsters, vampires and werewolves in House of Frankenstein (1944), a murderous cabman in The Body Snatcher (1945) and a Greek general fighting vampirism in the Val Lewton thriller Isle of the Dead (1945).
While Karloff continued appearing in a plethora of films, many of them were not up to the standards of his previous efforts, including appearances in two of the hokey Bud Abbott and Lou Costello monster films (he had appeared with them in an earlier, superior film, Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet the Killer Boris Karloff (1949), of which theater owners often added his name to the marquee), the low point of the Universal-International horror film cycle. During the 1950s he was a regular guest on many high-profile TV shows, including The Milton Berle Show (1948), Tales of Tomorrow (1951), The Veil (1958), The Donald O'Connor Show (1954), The Red Skelton Hour (1951) and The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956), to name a few, and he appeared in a mixed bag of films, including Sabaka (1954) and Voodoo Island (1957). On Broadway, he appeared as the murderous Brewster brother in the hit "Arsenic and Old Lace" (his role, or rather the absence of him in it, was amusingly parodied in the 1944 film version) and 10 years later he enjoyed a long run in "Peter Pan," perfectly cast as "Captain Hook."
His career experienced something of a revival in the 1960s thanks to hosting the TV anthology series Thriller (1960) and indie director Roger Corman, with Karloff contributing wonderful performances in The Raven (1963), The Terror (1963), the ultra-eerie Black Sabbath (1963) and the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired Die, Monster, Die! (1965). Karloff's last great film role was as Byron Orlok, an aging horror film star on the brink of retirement confronting a modern-day sniper in the Peter Bogdanovich film Targets (1968). In 1970, he played the blind sculptor Franz Badulescu in Cauldron of Blood (1968) which was produced, directed and written by Edward Mann, who had also come to the art of film from the stage and the theater. His TV career was capped off by achieving Christmas immortality as both the voices of the titular character and the narrator of Chuck Jones's perennial animated favorite, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966). Four low-budget Mexican-produced horror films starring an ailing Karloff were released in the two years after his death; however, they do no justice to this actor. In retrospect, he never took himself too seriously as an actor and had a tendency to downplay his acting accomplishments. Renowned as a refined, kind and warm-hearted gentleman with a sincere affection for children and their welfare, Karloff passed away on February 2, 1969 from emphysema. Respectful of his Indian roots and in true Hindu fashion, he was cremated at Guildford Crematorium, Godalming, Surrey, England, UK, where he is commemorated by a plaque in Plot 2 of the Garden of Remembrance.Frankenstein, Behind the Mask, The Mummy, The Mask of Fu Manchu, The Mummy, The Ghoul, The Black Cat, Bride of Frankenstein, The Raven (1935), The Walking Dead, Black Friday, The Body Snatcher, Bedlam, Corridors of Blood, The Raven (1963), The Comedy of Terrors, Targets- Actor
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Actor, raconteur, art collector and connoisseur of haute cuisine are just some of the attributes associated with Vincent Price. He was born Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. in St. Louis, Missouri, to Marguerite Cobb "Daisy" (Wilcox) and Vincent Leonard Price, who was President of the National Candy Company. His grandfather, also named Vincent, invented Dr. Price's Baking Powder, which was tartar-based. His family was prosperous, as he said, "not rich enough to evoke envy but successful enough to demand respect." His uniquely cultivated voice and persona were the result of a well-rounded education which began when his family dispatched him on a tour of Europe's cultural centres. His secondary education eventually culminated in a B.A. in English from Yale University and a degree in art history from London's Courtauld Institute.
Famously, his name has long been a byword for Gothic horror on screen. However, Vincent Price was, first and foremost, a man of the stage. It is where he began his career and where it ended. He faced the footlights for the first time at the Gate Theatre in London. At the age of 23, he played Prince Albert in the premiere of Arthur Schnitzler 's 'Victoria Regina' and made such an impression on producer Gilbert Miller that he launched the play on Broadway that same year (legendary actress Helen Hayes played the title role). In early 1938, he was invited to join Orson Welles 's Mercury Theatre on a five-play contract, beginning with 'The Shoemaker's Holiday'. He gave what was described as "a polished performance". Thus established, Vincent continued to make sporadic forays to the Great White Way, including as the Duke of Buckingham in Shakespeare's 'Richard III' (in which a reviewer for the New Yorker found him to be "satisfactorily detestable") and as Oscar Wilde in his award-winning one man show 'Diversions and Delights', which he took on a hugely successful world-wide tour in 1978. While based in California, Vincent was instrumental in the success of the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, starring in several of their bigger productions, including 'Billy Budd' and 'The Winslow Boy'. In 1952, Vincent joined the national touring company of 'Don Juan in Hell' in which he was cast as the devil. Acting under the direction of Charles Laughton and accompanied by noted thespians Charles Boyer, Cedric Hardwicke and Agnes Moorehead, he later recalled this as one of his "greatest theatrical excitements".
As well as acting on stage, Vincent regularly performed on radio network programs, including Lux Radio Theatre, CBS Playhouse and shows for the BBC. He narrated or hosted assorted programs ranging from history (If these Walls Could Speak) to cuisine (Cooking Price-Wise). He wrote several best-selling books on his favourite subjects: art collecting and cookery. In 1962, he was approached by Sears Roebuck to act as a buying consultant "selling quality pictures to department store customers". As if that were not enough, he lectured for 15 years on art, poetry and even the history of villainy. He recorded numerous readings of poems by Edgar Allan Poe (nobody ever gave a better recital of "The Raven"!), Shelley and Whitman. He also served on the Arts Council of UCLA, was a member of the Fine Arts Committee for the White House, a former chairman of the Indian Arts & Crafts Board and on the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
And besides all of that, Vincent Price remained a much sought-after motion picture actor. He made his first appearance on screen as a romantic lead in Service de Luxe (1938), a frothy Universal comedy which came and went without much fanfare. After that, he reprized his stage role as Master Hammon in an early television production of 'The Shoemaker's Holiday'. For one reason or another, Vincent was henceforth typecast as either historical figures (Sir Walter Raleigh, Duke of Clarence, Mormon leader Joseph Smith, King Charles II, Cardinal Richelieu, Omar Khayyam) or ineffectual charmers and gigolos. Under contract to 20th Century Fox (1940-46), Laura (1944) provided one of his better vehicles in the latter department, as did the lush Technicolor melodrama Leave Her to Heaven (1945) which had Vincent showcased in a notably powerful scene as a prosecuting attorney. His performance was singled out by the L.A. Times as meriting "attention as contending for Academy supporting honors".
His first fling with the horror genre was Dragonwyck (1946), a Gothic melodrama set in the Hudson Valley in the early 1800's. For the first time, Vincent played a part he actually coveted and fought hard to win. His character was in effect a precursor of those he would later make his own while working for Roger Corman and American-International. As demented, drug-addicted landowner Nicholas Van Ryn, he so effectively terrorized Gene Tierney's Miranda Wells that the influential columnist Louella Parsons wrote with rare praise: "The role of Van Ryn calls for a lot of acting and Vincent admits he's a ham and loves to act all over the place, but the fact that he has restrained himself and doesn't over-emote is a tribute to his ability". If Vincent was an occasional ham, he proved it with his Harry Lime pastiche Carwood in The Bribe (1949). Much better was his starring role in a minor western, The Baron of Arizona (1950), in which he was convincingly cast as a larcenous land office clerk attempting to create his own desert baronetcy.
With House of Wax (1953) , Vincent fine-tuned the character type he had established in Dragonwyck, adding both pathos and comic elements to the role of the maniacal sculptor Henry Jarrod. It was arduous work under heavy make-up which simulated hideous facial scarring and required three hours to apply and three hours to remove. He later commented that it "took his face months to heal because it was raw from peeling off wax each night". However, the picture proved a sound money maker for Warner Brothers and firmly established Vincent Price in a cult genre from which he was henceforth unable to escape. The majority of his subsequent films were decidedly low-budget affairs in which the star tended to be the sole mitigating factor: The Mad Magician (1954), The Fly (1958) (and its sequel), House on Haunted Hill (1959), the absurd The Tingler (1959) (easily the worst of the bunch) and The Bat (1959). With few exceptions, Vincent's acting range would rarely be stretched in the years to come.
Vincent's association with the genial Roger Corman began when he received a script for The Fall of the House of Usher, beginning a projected cycle of cost-effective films based on short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. As Roderick Usher, Vincent was Corman's "first and only choice". Though he was to receive a salary of $50,000 for the picture, it was his chance "to express the psychology of Poe's characters" and to "imbue the movie versions with the spirit of Poe" that clinched the deal for Vincent. He made another six films in this vein, all of them box office winners. Not Academy Award stuff, but nonetheless hugely enjoyable camp entertainment and popular with all but highbrow audiences. Who could forget Vincent at his scenery chewing best as the resurgent inquisitor, luring Barbara Steele into the crypt in The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)? Or as pompous wine aficionado Fortunato Luchresi in that deliriously funny wine tasting competition with Montresor Herringbone (Peter Lorre) in Tales of Terror (1962)? Best still, the climactic battle of the magicians pitting Vincent's Erasmus Craven against Boris Karloff's malevolent Dr. Scarabus in The Raven (1963) (arguably, the best offering in the Poe cycle). The Comedy of Terrors (1963) was played strictly for laughs, with the inimitable combo of Price and Lorre this time appearing as homicidal undertakers.
For the rest of the 60s, Vincent was content to remain in his niche, playing variations on the same theme in City in the Sea (1965) and Witchfinder General (1968) (as Matthew Hopkins). He also spoofed his screen personae as Dr. Goldfoot and as perennial villain Egghead in the Batman (1966) series. He rose once more to the occasion in the cult black comedy The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) (and its sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)) commenting that he had to play Anton Phibes "very seriously so that it would come out funny". The tagline, a parody of the ad for Love Story (1970), announced "love means never having to say you're ugly".
During the 70s and 80s, Vincent restricted himself mainly to voice-overs and TV guest appearances. His final role of note was as the inventor in Edward Scissorhands (1990), a role written specifically for him. The embodiment of gleeful, suave screen villainy, Vincent Price died in Los Angeles in October 1993 at the age of 82. People magazine eulogized him as "the Gable of Gothic." Much earlier, an English critic named Gilbert Adair spoke for many fans when he said "Every man his Price - and mine is Vincent."House of Wax, The Mad Magician, The Fly, House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler, Return of the Fly, The Bat, House of Usher, Pit and the Pendulum, Tower of London, The Raven, Diary of a Madman, The Haunted Palace, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Masque of the Red Death, The Last Man on Earth, Witchfinder General, The Oblong Box, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Theatre of Blood, Madhouse, The Monster Club- Actor
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Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was perhaps the only actor of his generation to have starred in so many films and cult saga. Although most notable for personifying bloodsucking vampire, Dracula, on screen, he portrayed other varied characters on screen, most of which were villains, whether it be Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), or Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), or as the title monster in the Hammer Horror film, The Mummy (1959).
Lee was born in 1922 in London, England, where he and his older sister Xandra were raised by their parents, Contessa Estelle Marie (Carandini di Sarzano) and Geoffrey Trollope Lee, a professional soldier, until their divorce in 1926. Later, while Lee was still a child, his mother married (and later divorced) Harcourt George St.-Croix (nicknamed Ingle), who was a banker. Lee's maternal great-grandfather was an Italian political refugee, while Lee's great-grandmother was English opera singer Marie (Burgess) Carandini.
After attending Wellington College from age 14 to 17, Lee worked as an office clerk in a couple of London shipping companies until 1941 when he enlisted in the Royal Air Force during World War II. Following his release from military service, Lee joined the Rank Organisation in 1947, training as an actor in their "Charm School" and playing a number of bit parts in such films as Corridor of Mirrors (1948). He made a brief appearance in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), in which his future partner-in-horror Peter Cushing also appeared. Both actors also appeared later in Moulin Rouge (1952) but did not meet until their horror films together.
Lee had numerous parts in film and television throughout the 1950s. He struggled initially in his new career because he was discriminated as being taller than the leading male actors of his time and being too foreign-looking. However, playing the monster in the Hammer film The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) proved to be a blessing in disguise, since the was successful, leading to him being signed on for future roles in Hammer Film Productions.
Lee's association with Hammer Film Productions brought him into contact with Peter Cushing, and they became good friends. Lee and Cushing often than not played contrasting roles in Hammer films, where Cushing was the protagonist and Lee the villain, whether it be Van Helsing and Dracula respectively in Horror of Dracula (1958), or John Banning and Kharis the Mummy respectively in The Mummy (1959).
Lee continued his role as "Dracula" in a number of Hammer sequels throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s. During this time, he co-starred in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), and made numerous appearances as Fu Manchu, most notably in the first of the series The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), and also appeared in a number of films in Europe. With his own production company, Charlemagne Productions, Ltd., Lee made Nothing But the Night (1973) and To the Devil a Daughter (1976).
By the mid-1970s, Lee was tiring of his horror image and tried to widen his appeal by participating in several mainstream films, such as The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974), and the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
The success of these films prompted him in the late 1970s to move to Hollywood, where he remained a busy actor but made mostly unremarkable film and television appearances, and eventually moved back to England. The beginning of the new millennium relaunched his career to some degree, during which he has played Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and as Saruman the White in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lee played Count Dooku again in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), and portrayed the father of Willy Wonka, played by Johnny Depp, in the Tim Burton film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).
On 16 June 2001, he was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his services to drama. He was created a Knight Bachelor on 13 June 2009 in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama and charity. In addition he was made a Commander of the Order of St John on 16 January 1997.
Lee died at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on 7 June 2015 at 8:30 am after being admitted for respiratory problems and heart failure, shortly after celebrating his 93rd birthday there. His wife delayed the public announcement until 11 June, in order to break the news to their family.Dracula, Corridors of Blood, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Mummy, The City of the Dead, Taste of Fear, The Whip and the Flesh, The Gorgon, The Skull, The Face of Fu Manchu, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Rasputin: The Mad Monk, The Devil Rides Out, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, The Oblong Box, Scream and Scream Again, Horror Express, The Creeping Flesh, The Wicker Man, The Keeper, To the Devil a Daughter- Actor
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Peter Wilton Cushing was born on May 26, 1913 in Kenley, Surrey, England, to Nellie Maria (King) and George Edward Cushing, a quantity surveyor. He and his older brother David were raised first in Dulwich Village, a south London suburb, and then later back in Surrey. At an early age, Cushing was attracted to acting, inspired by his favorite aunt, who was a stage actress. While at school, Cushing pursued his acting interest in acting and also drawing, a talent he put to good use later in his first job as a government surveyor's assistant in Surrey. At this time, he also dabbled in local amateur theater until moving to London to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama on scholarship. He then performed in repertory theater in Worthing, deciding in 1939 to head for Hollywood, where he made his film debut in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939). Other Hollywood films included A Chump at Oxford (1940) with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Vigil in the Night (1940) and They Dare Not Love (1941). However, after a short stay, he returned to England by way of New York (making brief appearances on Broadway) and Canada. Back in his homeland, he contributed to the war effort during World War II by joining the Entertainment National Services Association.
After the war, he performed in the West End and had his big break appearing with Laurence Olivier in Hamlet (1948), in which Cushing's future partner-in-horror Christopher Lee had a bit part. Both actors also appeared in Moulin Rouge (1952) but did not meet until their later horror films. During the 1950s, Cushing became a familiar face on British television, appearing in numerous teleplays, such as 1984 (1954) and Beau Brummell (1954), until the end of the decade when he began his legendary association with Hammer Film Productions in its remakes of the 1930s Universal horror classics. His first Hammer roles included Dr. Frankenstein in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dr. Van Helsing in Horror of Dracula (1958), and Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959).
Cushing continued playing the roles of Drs. Frankenstein and Van Helsing, as well as taking on other horror characters, in Hammer films over the next 20 years. He also appeared in films for the other major horror producer of the time, Amicus Productions, including Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) and its later horror anthologies, a couple of Dr. Who films (1965, 1966), I, Monster (1971), and others. By the mid-1970s, these companies had stopped production, but Cushing, firmly established as a horror star, continued in the genre for some time thereafter.
Perhaps his best-known appearance outside of horror films was as Grand Moff Tarkin in George Lucas' phenomenally successful science fiction film Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986) was Cushing's last film before his retirement, during which he made a few television appearances, wrote two autobiographies and pursued his hobbies of bird watching and painting. In 1989, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his contributions to the acting profession in Britain and worldwide. Peter Cushing died at age 81 of prostate cancer on August 11, 1994.The Curse of Frankenstein, The Abominable Snowman, Dracula, The Revenge of Frankenstein, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Mummy, The Flesh and the Fiends, The Brides of Dracula, Frankenstein Created Woman, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, Scream and Scream Again, The Vampire Lovers, Twins of Evil, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Horror Express, The Creeping Flesh, The Beast Must Die, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, Shock Waves- Actor
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Paul Naschy reigns supreme as the true king of Spanish horror cinema. He was born Jacinto Molina Alvarez on September 6, 1934, in Madrid, Spain. His father ran a successful fur business. Naschy grew up during the Spanish Civil War, and sought escape from the real-life horrors around him in adventure comics and movie serials; he often cited seeing Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) in a theater at age 11 as a seminal inspirational experience (his later movies would be filled with references to it). A talented athlete, Naschy played soccer for the school team and was a weightlifter who became the lightweight champion of Spain in 1958. Moreover, Paul penned Western pulp novels under the pseudonym Jack Mills and worked as an illustrator who did album cover art for a Spanish record label. Thanks to his muscular build, Naschy was able to break into the motion picture business in the early 1960s as an uncredited extra in such films as "King of the Vikings"--El príncipe encadenado (1960)--and the biblical epic King of Kings (1961).
In 1967 he wrote the script for Frankenstein's Bloody Terror (1968). He was forced, out of necessity, to play the lead role of tormented werewolf Waldermar Daninsky after Lon Chaney Jr. turned it down. He reprised this character in over a dozen subsequent sequels. Naschy's portrayals of the anguished and sympathetic werewolf Daninsky became his signature part and consolidated his enduring cult status as a bona-fide horror icon. Other significant horror figures Paul played were the Mummy, Jack the Ripper, Dracula (his performance as the Prince of Darkness in Count Dracula's Great Love (1973) was one of his personal favorites), the Hunchback, the Frankenstein Monster, the Phantom of the Opera, and even the Devil. Naschy made his directorial debut with Inquisition (1977). The film "Howl of the Devil"--Howl of the Devil (1988)--was one of Paul's most personal projects and finest artistic achievements.
Naschy had a major heart attack in 1991, but fully recovered and kept soldiering on. He wrote his autobiography, "Memoirs of a Wolfman," in 1997. His career gained new momentum in the early 21st century. Paul was especially memorable as the vicious title character in School Killer (2001) and had an excellent autobiographical leading role as bitter, washed-up veteran horror actor Pablo Thevenet in Rojo sangre (2004). Naschy was inducted into the Fangoria Hall of Fame in 2000 and was the recipient of the Gold Medal Award in Fine Arts in Spain in 2001. Moreover, he also did interviews and commentaries for DVD releases of his movies. Paul was still acting when he died of pancreatic cancer at age 75 on November 30, 2009, in Madrid, Spain.
Although he's sadly no longer with us, Naschy's extremely rich, varied and impressive horror cinema legacy will continue to scare, shock, and delight audiences throughout the world for all eternity.Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror, Nights of the Werewolf, 7 Murders for Scotland Yard, The Werewolf Vs. the Vampire Woman, Doctor Jekyll and the Werewolf, Vengeance of the Zombies, The Mummy’s Revenge, Hunchback of the Morgue, The hanging Woman, Dracula’s Virgin Lovers, Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll, Inquisición, The Night of the Werewolf, Panic Beats- Actor
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Klaus Kinski was born as Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski in Zoppot, Free City of Danzig (now Sopot, Poland), to Susanne (Lutze), a nurse, and Bruno Nakszynski, a pharmacist. He grew up in Berlin, was drafted into the German army in 1944 and captured by British forces in Holland. After the war he began acting on the stage, quickly gaining a reputation for a ferocious talent and an equally ferocious temper. He started acting in films shortly afterward, showing an utter disregard for the quality of the productions he appeared in and churning out so many that a complete filmography is almost impossible to assemble.
However, he did turn out memorable work for director Werner Herzog, a similarly driven and obsessive character. Herzog and Kinski pushed each other to extremes over a 15-year working relationship, which finally ended after filming Cobra Verde (1987), a production plagued by volcanic clashes between the star and director, involving--among other things--violent physical altercations and mutual death threats. He subsequently directed and starred in the notorious Paganini (1989), his only film as director and which was marked by (again) clashes between Kinski and his producers, who accused him of turning their movie into a pornographic film and sued him in court. His autobiography, "All I Need is Love", a vicious attack on the film industry, was withdrawn for legal reasons and subsequently re-released as "Kinski Uncut" in the US & UK, "Ich brauche Liebe" in Germany, and in various other languages.The Avenger, The Dead Eyes of London, The Door with Seven Locks, Circus of Fear, Creature with the Blue Hand, Jack the Ripper, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Crawlspace- Actor
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Jeffrey Combs was born on September 9th, 1954 in Oxnard, California. He grew up in Lompoc, California with a plethora of siblings both older and younger. He attended the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, and the Professional Actor's Training Program at the University of Washington in Seattle. He spent about four years in regional theater performing at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, the Arizona Theatre Company in Tucson, the California Shakespearean Festival, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa among others. In 1980 he moved to Los Angeles, where he lives with his family. As a horror film leading actor, Combs is probably best known for portraying Herbert West in the cult horror film Re-Animator (1985). Re-Animator was based on H.P. Lovecraft's famous novel brought together by Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna, the producer and financier of the film. Combs stayed in the realm of cult films with both Gordon and Yuzna to return when making From Beyond (1986), and Bride of Re-Animator (1990) also from Lovecraft novels. He has also been in some supporting roles in _Pit and the Pendulum, The (1990) (V)_, the strange FBI Agent with Michael J. Fox in The Frighteners (1996), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) and the remake of the William Castle thriller, House on Haunted Hill (1999).Re-Animator, From Beyond, Bride of Re-Animator, The Frighteners, The Pit and the Pendulum, Necronomicon, Castle Freak, Beyond Re-Animator, Parasomnia- Actor
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An intense, versatile actor as adept at playing clean-cut FBI agents as he is psychotic motorcycle-gang leaders, who can go from portraying soulless, murderous vampires to burned-out, world-weary homicide detectives, Lance Henriksen has starred in a variety of films that have allowed him to stretch his talents just about as far as an actor could possibly hope. He played "Awful Knoffel" in the TNT original movie Evel Knievel (2004), directed by John Badham and executive produced by Mel Gibson. Henriksen portrayed "Awful Knoffel" in this project based on the life of the famed daredevil, played by George Eads. Henriksen starred for three seasons (1996-1999) on Millennium (1996), Fox-TV's critically acclaimed series created by Chris Carter (The X-Files (1993)). His performance as Frank Black, a retired FBI agent who has the ability to get inside the minds of killers, landed him three consecutive Golden Globe nominations for "Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Drama Series" and a People's Choice Award nomination for "Favorite New TV Male Star".
Henriksen was born in New York City. His mother, Margueritte, was a waitress, dance instructor, and model. His father, James Marin Henriksen, who was from Tønsberg, Norway, was a boxer and merchant sailor. Henriksen studied at the Actors Studio and began his career off-Broadway in Eugene O'Neill's "Three Plays of the Sea." One of his first film appearances was as an FBI agent in Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon (1975), followed by parts in Lumet's Network (1976) and Prince of the City (1981). He then appeared in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) with Richard Dreyfuss and François Truffaut, Damien: Omen II (1978) and in Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff (1983), in which he played Mercury astronaut Capt. Wally Schirra.
James Cameron cast Henriksen in his first directorial effort, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), then used him again in The Terminator (1984) and as the android Bishop in the sci-fi classic Aliens (1986). Sam Raimi cast Henriksen as an outrageously garbed gunfighter in his quirky western The Quick and the Dead (1995). Henriksen has also appeared in what has developed into a cult classic: Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark (1987), in which he plays the head of a clan of murderous redneck vampires. He was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in the TNT original film The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1998).
In addition to his abilities as an actor, Henriksen is an accomplished painter and potter. His talent as a ceramist has enabled him to create some of the most unusual ceramic artworks available on the art market today. He resides in Southern California with his wife Jane and their five-year-old daughter Sage.Piranha Part Two: The Spawning, Aliens, Near Dark, Pumpkinhead, The Pit and the Pendulum, Alien 3, AVP: Alien vs. Predator- Actor
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Bela Lugosi was born Béla Ferenc Dezsö Blaskó on October 20, 1882, Lugos, Hungary, Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and István Blaskó, a banker. He was the youngest of four children. During WWI, he volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, and was wounded three times.
A distinguished stage actor in his native Hungary, Austria-Hungary, he began his stage career in 1901 and started appearing in films during World War I, fleeing to Germany in 1919 as a result of his left-wing political activity (he organized an actors' union). In 1920 he emigrated to the US and made a living as a character actor, shooting to fame when he played Count Dracula in the legendary 1927 Broadway stage adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. It ran for three years, and was subsequently, and memorably, filmed by Tod Browning in 1931, establishing Lugosi as one of the screen's greatest personifications of pure evil. Also in 1931, he became a U.S. citizen. Sadly, his reputation rapidly declined, mainly because he had been blacklisted by the main studios and had no choice but to accept any part (and script) handed to him, and ended up playing parodies of his greatest role, in low-grade poverty row films. Due to shady blacklisting among the top Hollywood studio executives, he refused to sell out or to compromise his integrity, and therefore ended his career working for the legendary Worst Director of All Time, Edward D. Wood Jr..
Lugosi was married to Ilona Szmik (1917 - 1920), Ilona von Montagh (? - ?), and Lillian Arch (1933 - 1951). He is the father of Bela Lugosi Jr. (1938). Lugosi helped organize the Screen Actors Guild in the mid-'30s, joining as member number 28.
Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. He was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film, contrary to popular--but unfounded--rumors.Dracula, Murders in the Rue Morgue, White Zombie, Island of Lost Souls, Night of Terror, The Black Cat, Mark of the Vampire, The Raven, Son of Frankenstein, Dead Eyes of London, Black Friday, The Devil Bat, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, Plan 9 from Outer Space- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Director
Veteran character actor Robert Englund was born in Glendale, California, to Janis (MacDonald) and John Kent Englund, an aeronautics engineer. Since 1973, Robert has appeared in over 75 feature films and starred in four TV series. He has starred alongside Oscar-winners Henry Fonda, Susan Sarandon and Jeff Bridges. Since 1984 he's achieved international fame as the iconic boogeyman Freddy Krueger in the hit franchise A Nightmare on Elm Street and its seven sequels. Englund has guest starred in hundreds of hours of TV most recently Bones, Criminal Minds and Hawaii 5-0. He will soon be seen starring in the horror film Fear Clinic, and the English thriller The Last Showing, he can be heard as the voice of the Evil Beaver in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon show.Eaten Alive, Dead & Buried, A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Wishmaster, Strangeland, Freddy vs. Jason, 2001 Maniacs, Hatchet, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, Zombie Strippers- Actor
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Although his parents were deaf, Leonidas Chaney became an actor and also owner of a theatre company (together with his brother John). He made his debut at the movies in 1912, and his filmography is vast. Lon Chaney was especially famous for his horror parts in movies like e.g. Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). Due to his special make-up effects he carried the characterization to be "the man with the thousand faces." He only filmed one movie with sound: The remake of one of his earlier films The Unholy Three (1930). His son, Lon Chaney Jr., became a famous actor of the horror genre.The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Monster, The Phantom of the Opera, The Unknown, London After Midnight- Actor
- Director
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Anthony Perkins was born April 4, 1932 in New York City, to Janet Esselstyn (Rane) and Osgood Perkins, an actor of both stage and film. His father died when he was five. Anthony's paternal great-grandfather was engraver Andrew Varick Stout Anthony. Perkins attended the Brooks School, the Browne & Nichols School, Columbia University and Rollins College. He made his screen debut in The Actress (1953), and was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar Friendly Persuasion (1956). Four years later, he appeared in what would be his most noted role, Norman Bates in Psycho (1960), memorializing him into film history forever.Psycho, Psycho II, Psycho III, Edge of Sanity- Actor
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José Mojica Marins was born on March 13, 1936 in San Paulo, Brazil, to a family of simple means. José's love of movies began at an early age. He spent a great deal of his time with his family at the local movie house, which his father helped manage. By the time he was eighteen, he had completed over eighty films. From his earliest years, his interest has been in horror movies or ones that offer shocking social commentary.
When José was offered the lead role of "Coffin Joe" in Brazil's first full-length horror movie "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul", the character quickly became his trademark. His look included a black top hat, suit and cape. Initially, he wore long artificial nails, but for over thirty years, grew his own nails to grotesque lengths. He finally cut his famous nails in 1998.
Interestingly, the first two "Coffin Joe" movies from the 1960s, "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" and "This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse", are now officially part of a trilogy. José completed filming of the third "Coffin Joe" film in December, 2006, more than forty years after the release of the first film in the series. Fans will be pleased to know that this new movie, "The Embodiment of Evil" is expected to be released in the summer of 2008.
Those who would like some interesting insights into José Mojica Marins' unique world may wish to view the documentary of his life. The movie is called "Coffin Joe: The Strange World of José Mojica Marins" and was produced in 2001.At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul, This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse, Strange World of Coffin Joe, When the Gods Fall Asleep, Black Exorcism of Coffin Joe, Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures, Hellish Flesh, Perversion, Embodiment of Evil, FilmeFobia- Ivan Rassimov and his younger sister, Rada, decided to pursue a career in acting. Ivan studied acting at the University at Trieste. After attending military service in Italy, he then settled in Rome to pursue his acting career. A series of small roles began his career, one of them being from the legendary director Mario Bava with Planet of Vampires.
With his strong, piercing eyes and striking look, Rassimov was often cast as villains, from Nazi soldiers, to tough guys, to murder suspects. Rassimov also occasionally played good guys and saw it as a novelty item from his bad guy roles. From playing a police detective, an archaeologist, and even a psychiatrist in Mario Bava's last theatrical movie, Shock (1977). He was most often seen as a male stalwart of the Italian cannibal films in acting alongside Me Me Lai in three of them, most notably being _Jungle Holocaust (1977)_.
By 1987, Rassimov more or less retired from acting and lived in a villa north of Rome with his wife and teenage daughter. He worked as the director of a publishing house for comic books and novels until his death in 2003.Planet of the Vampires, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the key, All the Colors of the Dark, Man from Deep River, Spasmo, L’ossessa, Last Cannibal World, Shock, Eaten Alive! - Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
David Alexander Hess was born in New York City in 1936. He began his professional career as a songwriter for Shalimar Music, in 1957, under the pseudonym of David Hill. His first recording was a quick hit, which was later performed by and credited to Elvis Presley, "All Shook Up."
David went on to compose "Start Movin'" for Sal Mineo and "Rockin' Shoes" for the The Ames Brothers. He continued to write songs for Elvis throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including "I Got Stung," "Come Along" (from the film "Frankie And Johnny"), and "Sand Castles" (from the film "Paradise, Hawaiian Style"). He also wrote "Make Me Know You're Mine" (first performed by Conway Twitty, and "Blue Lagoon." "Your Hand, Your Heart, Your Love" became a 1960s hit when it was performed by Andy Williams. In 1963 David wrote and recorded "Speedy Gonzalez," which became a #1 single for Pat Boone, selling more than eight million copies worldwide. David then recorded two solo albums for Kapp Records, again topping the charts, this time with a Top Ten folk hit called "Two Brothers."
In 1969 he became head of A&R at Mercury Records in New York. There he linked up with Western classical composer John Corigliano, and together they wrote the Grammy award-winning rock opera "The Naked Carmen", which became a big hit of the Berlin Ballet Week in 1970. David's work with Mercury also included "And the Children Toll the Passing of the Day," a 1969 album he wrote for Irish actor Malachy McCourt.
In 1972 his career split off into several new directions with his starring role in the Wes Craven horror classic The Last House on the Left (1972), for which he also composed the soundtrack. He went on to score Buck ai confini del cielo (1991), a children's film based on a collection of Jack London stories. It won the top prize for film and direction at the Giffone Film Festival. A subsequent job offer from PolyGram Records' German affiliate gave David the opportunity to move to Munich, Germany, and a multilingual career in film dubbing from 1972 to 1976, which in turn led him to write the English-language shooting scripts for such German greats as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Reinhard Hauff and his present collaborator, Peter Schamoni.
His ability to switch seamlessly from in front of the camera to the production team earned him the opportunity to direct his first American feature film, To All a Goodnight (1980), for Media Home Entertainment in 1980. He also appeared in two low-budget horror films directed by Ruggero Deodato, House on the Edge of the Park (1980) and Body Count (1986).
In 1991 he played the part of the American in Peter Schamoni's Max Ernst: Mein Vagabundieren - Meine Unruhe (1991). From 1993 to 1995 he produced Niki de Saint Phalle (1996).
David's final musical accomplishments included the release of two albums, "Caught Up In The Moment" and "Live & Unplugged in Hollywood, 2002." He lived in Southern California, just outside of Los Angeles, with his wife, with whom he had three children.
David Hess died on 7 October, 2011.The Last House on the Left, Autostop rosso sangue (Hitch Hike), The House on the Edge of the Park, Swamp Thing, Bodycount, Smash Cut- Cult figure who will forever be remembered as Ben, the resourceful, yet ill-fated hero of George A. Romero's low-budget zombie film Night of the Living Dead (1968). Jones was a former English professor who directed at the Maguire Theater at the Old Westbury campus of New York State University, and he additionally served as artistic director at the Richard Allen Center in New York City. His casting as the hero of the Romero film was unique, as it was the first occasion that an African-American actor had portrayed the hero in a horror film. The tall, talented Jones appeared in a handful of other B-grade horror movies such as Ganja & Hess (1973) and Vampires (1986), but none are remembered as well as his first on-screen role.
He passed away at only 51 years of age from heart failure.Night of the Living Dead, Ganja & Hess, Vampires, Negatives, To Die For, Fright House - Actor
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Beginning his life with the same flair for the dramatic that would come to define his career, Udo Kier was born in Köln, Germany near the end of the 2nd world war. The hospital was bombed and buried Kier and his mother in the rubble. Both survived, and Kier would later move to London as a young adult to study English. Kier was discovered in London by Michael Sarne, who cast him in his first role as a gigolo in "Road To Saint Tropez". Kier then starred in Michael Armstrong's extremely controversial "Mark Of The Devil". He would go on to work with Paul Morrissey in Andy Warhol's "Flesh For Frankenstein" and "Blood For Dracula", Dario Argento in "Suspiria", and Rainer Werner Fassbinder in "The Third Generation", "Lili Marllen", and "Lola".
Kier entered the American independent cinema scene many years later after meeting Gus Van Sant at the Berlin Film Festival. Van Sant offered Kier the role of Hans, the lamp-singing john in "My Own Private Idaho" with Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix. He would later have roles in Gus Van Sant's "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" and "Don't Worry He Won't Get Far On Foot" as well as such 90s Hollywood hits as "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective", "Johnny Mnemonic", "Barb Wire", "End Of Violence", "For Love Or Money", "Armagedden", "Blade", and "End Of Days". Kier is probably best known for his collaboration with Lars von Trier, appearing in most of his films including "Medea", "Europa", "Breaking The Waves", "Dancer In TheE Dark", "Dogville", "Manderlay", "Melancholia", "Nymphomaniac (Vol. II)" and "The Kingdom" (Danish TV). Kier's recent renaissance has seen him play memorable roles in the Activision game "Call Of Duty", numerous television roles in North America and Europe, and in the films "Iron Sky", "Brawl In Cell Block 99", "Downsizing", "American Animals", "Bacurau", "The Painted Bird", "The Blazing World" and "Swan Song", among many others.Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula, Suspiria, Dr. Jekyll and His Wives, Blade, Shadow of the Vampire, Mother of Tears- Actor
- Soundtrack
American character actor whose career was influenced (and often overshadowed) by that of his father, silent film star Lon Chaney. The younger Chaney was born while his parents were on a theatrical tour, and he joined them onstage for the first time at the age of six months. However, as a young man, even during the time of his father's growing fame, Creighton Chaney worked menial jobs to support himself without calling upon his father. He was at various times a plumber, a meatcutter's apprentice, a metal worker, and a farm worker. Always, however, there was the desire to follow in his father's footsteps. He studied makeup at his father's side, learning many of the techniques that had made his father famous. And he took stage roles in stock companies. It was not until after his father's death in 1930 that Chaney went to work in films. His first appearances were under his real name (he had been named for his mother, singer Frances Chaney). He played number of supporting parts before a producer in 1935 insisted on changing his name to Lon Chaney Jr. as a marketing ploy. Chaney was uncomfortable with the ploy and always hated the "Jr". addendum. But he was also aware that the famous name could help his career, and so he kept it. Most of the parts he played were unmemorable, often bits, until 1939 when he was given the role of the simple-minded Lennie in the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men (1939). Chaney's performance was spectacularly touching; indeed, it became one of the two roles for which he would always be best remembered. The other came within the next year, when Universal, in hopes of reviving their horror film franchise as well as memories of their great silent star, Chaney Sr., cast Chaney as the tortured Lawrence Talbot in The Wolf Man (1941). With this film and the slew of horror films that followed it, Chaney achieved a kind of stardom, though he was never able to achieve his goal of surpassing his father. By the 1950s, he was established as a star in low-budget horror films and as a reliable character actor in more prestigious, big-budget films such as High Noon (1952). Never as versatile as his father, he fell more and more into cheap and mundane productions which traded primarily on his name and those of other fading horror stars. His later years were bedeviled by illness and problems with alcohol. When he died from a variety of causes in 1973, it was as an actor who had spent his life chasing the fame of his father, but who was much beloved by a generation of filmgoers who had never seen his father.The Wolf Man, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, Son of Dracula, Calling Dr. Death, Dead Man’s Eyes, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, The Haunted Palace, Witchcraft, Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told- Actor
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Balding, quietly spoken, of slight build and possessed of piercing blue eyes -- often peering out from behind round, steel-rimmed glasses -- Donald Pleasence had the essential physical attributes which make a great screen villain. In the course of his lengthy career, he relished playing the obsessed, the paranoid and the purely evil. Even the Van Helsing-like psychiatrist Sam Loomis in the Halloween (1978) franchise seems only marginally more balanced than his prey. An actor of great intensity, Pleasence excelled on stage as Shakespearean villains. He was an unrelenting prosecutor in Jean Anouilh's "Poor Bitos" and made his theatrical reputation in the title role of the seedy, scheming tramp in Harold Pinter's "The Caretaker" (1960). On screen, he gave a perfectly plausible interpretation of the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, in The Eagle Has Landed (1976). He was a convincingly devious Thomas Cromwell in Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), disturbing in his portrayal of the crazed, bloodthirsty preacher Quint in Will Penny (1967); and as sexually depraved, alcohol-sodden 'Doc' Tydon in the brilliant Aussie outback drama Wake in Fright (1971). And, of course, he was Ernst Stavro Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967). These are some of the films, for which we may remember Pleasence, but there was a great deal more to this fabulous, multi-faceted actor.
Donald Henry Pleasence was born on October 5, 1919 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, to Alice (Armitage) and Thomas Stanley Pleasence. His family worked on the railway. His grandfather had been a signal man and both his brother and father were station masters. When Donald failed to get a scholarship at RADA, he joined the family occupation working as a clerk at his father's station before becoming station master at Swinton, Yorkshire. While there, he wrote letters to theatre companies, eventually being accepted by one on the island of Jersey in Spring 1939 as an assistant stage manager. On the eve of World War II, he made his theatrical debut in "Wuthering Heights". In 1942, he played Curio in "Twelfth Night", but his career was then interrupted by military service in the RAF. He was shot down over France, incarcerated and tortured in a German POW camp. Once repatriated, Donald returned to the stage in Peter Brook's 1946 London production of "The Brothers Karamazov" with Alec Guinness although he missed the opening due to measles, followed by a stint on Broadway with Laurence Olivier's touring company in "Caesar and Cleopatra" and "Anthony and Cleopatra". Upon his return to England, he won critical plaudits for his performance in "Hobson's Choice". In 1952, Donald began his screen career, rather unobtrusively, in small parts. He was only really noticed once having found his métier as dastardly, sneaky Prince John in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955). It took several more years, until international recognition came his way: first, through the filmed adaptation of The Guest (1963), and, secondly, with his blind forger in The Great Escape (1963), a role he imbued with added conviction due to his own wartime experience.
Some of his best acting Donald reserved for the small screen. In 1962, the producer of The Twilight Zone (1959), Buck Houghton, brought Donald to the United States ("damn the expense"!) to guest star in the third-season episode "The Changing of the Guard". He was given a mere five days to immerse himself in the part of a gentle school teacher, Professor Ellis Fowler, who, on the eve of Christmas is forcibly retired after fifty-one years of teaching. Devastated, and believing himself a failure who has made no mark on the world, he is about to commit suicide when the school's bell summons him to his classroom. There, he is confronted by the spirits of deceased students who beg him to consider that his lessons have indeed had fundamental effects on their lives, even leading to acts of great heroism. Upon hearing this, Fowler is now content to graciously accept his retirement. Managing to avoid maudlin sentimentality, Donald's performance was intuitive and, arguably, one of the most poignant ever accomplished in a thirty-minute television episode. Once again, against type, he was equally delightful as the mild-mannered Reverend Septimus Harding in Anthony Trollope's The Barchester Chronicles (1982).
Whether eccentric, sinister or given to pathos, Donald Pleasence was always great value for money and his performances have rarely failed to engage.Circus of Horrors, The Flesh and the Fiends, The Hands of Orlac, Eye of the Devil, Death Line, The Mutations, Halloween, Dracula, The Monster Club, Alone in the Dark, Phenomena, Prince of Darkness- Actor
- Director
John Saxon appeared in nearly 200 roles in the movies and on television in a more-than half-century-long career that has stretched over seven decades since he made his big screen debut in 1954 in uncredited small roles in It Should Happen to You (1954) and George Cukor's A Star Is Born (1954). Born Carmine Orrico on August 5, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Italian-American parents, Antonio Orrico and Anna (née Protettore), he studied acting with Stella Adler after graduating from New Utrecht High School.
He was discovered by talent agent Henry Willson, the man most famous for creating and representing Rock Hudson (as well as a stable of "beefcake" male stars and starlets), who signed him up after he saw Saxon's picture on the cover of a magazine. Willson brought the 16-year-old to Southern California, changed his name to John Saxon, and launched his career. Saxon made his television debut on Richard Boone's series Medic (1954) in 1955 and got his first substantial (and credited) role in Running Wild (1955), playing a juvenile delinquent. In the Esther Williams vehicle The Unguarded Moment (1956) (one of her rare dramatic roles), the film's marketing campaign spotlighted him, trumpeting the movie as "Co-starring the exciting new personality John Saxon.".
By 1958, he seemed to have established himself as a supporting player in A-List pictures, being featured in Blake Edwards's comedy This Happy Feeling (1958) headlined by Debbie Reynolds and Vincente Minnelli's The Reluctant Debutante (1958) with Rex Harrison and Sandra Dee. In the next five years, he worked steadily, including supporting roles in John Huston's The Unforgiven (1960), the James Stewart comedy Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962) and Otto Preminger's The Cardinal (1963) while having first billing in the B-movies Cry Tough (1959) and War Hunt (1962). Fluent in Italian, he made his first pictures in Italy in the period, Agostino (1962) and Mario Bava's The Evil Eye (1963). Despite his good work with major directors, he failed to succeed as a star.
By 1965, he was appearing in the likes of Blood Beast from Outer Space (1965), albeit, top-billed. A more emblematic picture was Sidney J. Furie's The Appaloosa (1966), in which he appeared in Mexican bandito drag as the man who steals the horse of Marlon Brando, another Stella Adler student. Saxon would reprise the role, of sorts, in John Sturges Joe Kidd (1972) in support of superstar Clint Eastwood. In those less politically correct times, many an Italian-American with a dark complexion would be relied on to play Mexicans, Native Americans and other "exotic" types like Mongols. Saxon played everything from an Indian chief on Bonanza (1959) to Marco Polo on The Time Tunnel (1966).
From 1969 to 1972 season, he was a star of the television series The Bold Ones: The New Doctors (1969), playing the brilliant surgeon Theodore Stuart. When the series ended, he took one of his most famous roles when Bruce Lee demurred over casting Rod Taylor as he was too tall. A black belt in karate, Saxon appeared as Roper in Enter the Dragon (1973). He continued to play a wide variety of roles on television and in motion pictures, with key roles in 1974's classic slasher Black Christmas (1974), 1984's groundbreaking A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and the 1990s self-referential horror films New Nightmare (1994) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).
John Saxon died of pneumonia on July 25, 2020, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He was 83.The Girl Who Knew Too Much, The Night Caller, Queen of Blood, Black Christmas, Shadows in an Empty Room, The Bees, Cannibal Apocalypse, Scorpion with Two Tails, Tenebre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Death House, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Nightmare Beach, Hellmaster, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, From Dusk till Dawn- Actor
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Frank Wolff started his career by acting in several Roger Corman films. However, Wolff had to travel to Europe to be successful. He was finally able to become a well known actor in Italy and Europe with his performance in Salvatore Giuliano (1962) and had roles in many European film productions. Moreover, Wolff became a major star in Spaghetti Westerns. His most famous, but briefest, performances was as Brett McBain, the friendly farmer in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). He also brought much needed light relief as the sheriff in Sergio Corbucci's The Great Silence (1968). When the time of "Spaghetti-Westerns" was ending, Wolff had several roles in Italian crime movies. Other memorable performances were in Duccio Tessari's Giallo Death Occurred Last Night (1970) or in one of Wolffs last performances as a police commissioner in Fernando Di Leo's Caliber 9 (1972). Sadly, the great actor suffered from depression and killed himself in the Hilton Hotel in Rome in December 1971.- Actor
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Marc Porel was born on 3 January 1949 in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was an actor and writer, known for The Psychic (1977), Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976) and Don't Torture a Duckling (1972). He was married to Barbara Magnolfi and Bénédicte Lacoste. He died on 15 August 1983 in Casablanca, Morocco.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Luisi Pistilli's most notable stage successes were roles in "The Threepenny Opera", "St. Joan of the Stockyards" and a 1972 production, "Lulu". In 1991 he reprised his role in "Lulu" in the first professional collaboration with actress-singer Milva, his partner in previous plays as well as in a four-year offstage relationship. Pistilli's most memorable roles were in Francesco Rosi's Illustrious Corpses (1976), Lino Del Fra's Antonio Gramsci: i giorni del carcere (1977), Carlo Lizzani's Italo-Bulgarian co-production The Bandit (1969) and Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), in which he played priest Pablo Ramirez, the brother of Eli Wallach's character Tuco. He also worked frequently in TV, including the Mafia series La piovra (1984), directed by Luigi Perelli.- Writer
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Born Luigi Montefiori in 1942 near Genoa, Italy, the future actor provided artwork for various advertising agencies in Genoa before moving to Rome in 1966. Though he intended to further his art career, he became involved with a crowd of film people who urged him to put his good looks to advantage in the movies. Parts in Italian westerns soon followed, usually under the pseudonym "George Eastman". (He once reportedly missed out on a role in a Franco Nero western because his height made Franco Nero look too short.) Never quite "typed", the actor soon moved into other film genres playing good guys, bad guys, and good-bad guys. These parts often exploited his athletic physique by having him remove his shirt, perhaps most memorably in Lina Wertmüller's _Belle Starr (1968) where he suffered through a memorable torture scene involving a boot-spur. However, a few parts in English-language films, such as Charlton Heston's _Call of the Wild, The (1972)_ failed to significantly broaden his appeal. He also began to write or collaborate on scripts and in 1989 he directed his first movie: _DNA Formula Letale (1989)_. Details on his private life are sketchy but some sources indicate that he's the father of a daughter.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Robert Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. His notable films include The Trap (1966), playing Bill Sikes in the Best Picture Oscar winner Oliver! (1968), Women in Love (1969), Hannibal Brooks (1969), The Devils (1971), Revolver (1973), portraying Athos in The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974); the lover/stepfather in Tommy (1975), The Brood (1979), Lion of the Desert (1981), Castaway (1986), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Funny Bones (1995) and Gladiator (2000).- The evil screen villain Angus Scrimm, most famous as "The Tall Man" in Don Coscarelli's Phantasm (1979) and its sequels, grew up in Kansas City, but in his teens moved to California and studied drama at USC under William C. de Mille (brother of Cecil B. DeMille). His film debut came as another "Tall Man" he played Abraham Lincoln in an educational film made by Encyclopaedia Brittanica, which led him to a steady career in theater, television and film. His big-screen debut was in Jim, the World's Greatest (1975), directed by then 18-year-old Coscarelli. During this time he was using his birth name, Lawrence Rory Guy. He adopted the stage name Angus Scrimm three years later for his performance in Coscarelli's horror/sci-fi opus "Phantasm", which would mark Scrimm's permanent impression upon modern cinema. His role as the infamous Tall Man has earned him the praise of critics worldwide, as well as a large following of fans. His success in the "Phantasm" films has been parlayed into numerous other malevolent roles including the evil Dr. Sin Do in The Lost Empire (1984), Vlad the Vampire King in Subspecies (1991) and the nefarious Dr. Lyme opposite Nicolas Cage and Charlie Sheen in Deadfall (1993). Scrimm did intriguing double duty as the diabolical Seer and the angelic Systems Operator in Mindwarp (1991), co-starring Bruce Campbell. He did a shock cameo in the Italian film Fatal Frames (1996), opposite Stefania Stella and Donald Pleasence, and managed a gleeful parody of himself as the hulking henchman in Transylvania Twist (1989). Scrimm has not limited his career efforts to simply acting, however. As a journalist he has written and edited for "TV Guide", "Cinema Magazine", the now-defunct "Los Angeles Herald-Examiner" and other publications. He has also written liner notes for thousands of LPs and CDs, for just about every genre from classical music to jazz, from Frank Sinatra and The Beatles to Artur Rubinstein and Itzhak Perlman. He won a Grammy award for best album liner notes.
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Jack Taylor was born as George Brown Randall on October 21, 1936. Tall, slim, and handsome, with a lean face, a pencil thin mustache, and a distinguished air about him, Taylor began his acting career in the early 1950's on "The Jack Benny Show," in which he co-starred with Marilyn Monroe. Jack also had roles on the TV shows "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle" and "Adventures of Captain Grief." He then went to Mexico and acted in a few stage plays. Taylor subsequently appeared in such Mexican horror pictures as "The Curse of Nostradamus" and "The Monsters Demolisher." In addition, he worked for reigning master Mexican horror directors Frederico Curiel and Alphonso Corona Blake. Jack next moved to Spain in the early 60s. He has an uncredited bit part in the big budget historical epic "Cleopatra." Taylor achieved his greatest enduring cult popularity with his memorably sleazy portrayals of elegant, but decadent aristocratic types in a handful of entertainingly trashy Jess Franco exploitation features that include the trippy "Succubus," "Eugenie ... the Story of Her Journey Into Perversion," "Female Vampire," "Sex Charade," and "Voodoo Passion." Besides Franco, Jack has acted in movies for directors Leon Klimovsky, Armando de Ossorio, Jose Larraz, and Juan Piquer Simon. Among Taylor's most notable parts are morally dubious voyeur "hero" Luis in the terrifically twisted "The Vampires' Night Orgy," archaeologist Professor Jonathan Grant in "Night of the Sorcerors," a priest who Arnold Schwarzenegger beats up for his robes in the exciting rough'n'tumble fantasy action treat "Conan the Barbarian," sniveling gay college professor Arthur Brown in the outrageously gory slasher schlocker "Pieces," a stern whaling ship captain in Monte Hellman's fine "Iguana," and suave rare book collector Victor Fargas in Roman Polanski's excellent "The Ninth Gate." Jack Taylor continued to act in films with pleasing regularity well into his 70's.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Camera and Electrical Department
Swiss-born actor Howard Vernon (né Mario Lippert) would make his infamous claim to fame as a stock lead player for the lowgrade, campy horror features of notorious director Jesús Franco, starring as Dr. Orloff, Dracula, and other terrorizers, most of them produced in Spain or France. Born in 1914 the son of a Swiss father and American mother, Howard received his dramatic training in both Berlin and Paris and was originally a stage and radio player (from 1945) before arriving in post-war French films. He articulated and personified a number of nefarious Nazis and sinister criminals in his five-decade career, although he could grab a sympathetic role from time such as in the French film The Silence of the Sea (1949), which remains one of his best. Occasionally a still photographer, he forged a long, non-creative association beginning in the early 1960s with cult director Jess Franco following his good showing for Fritz Lang in _Tausend Augen des Dr. Mabuse, Die (1960)_ [The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse]. With his piercing gaze and gravely-voiced he entered into an enduring alliance with Franco, albeit in dreadful schlock. It began promisingly enough with the horror classic The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962) [The Awful Dr. Orloff] in which he portrayed the creepy title role with a slightly sympathetic countenance, but his appearances quickly degenerated into cheap exploitation, void of deserving artistic merit. He died in Paris shortly after his 82nd birthday.