French actress Claude Jade (Claude Marcelle Jorre) died of complications from eye cancer on December 1st, aged 58. A discovery of Francois Truffaut, who fell in love with her, she appeared in Hitchcock’s Topaz and such TV productions as A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1969), the mini-series Coffin Island and a 1990 episode of The Hitchhiker.
Actor and voice artist Sid Raymond (Raymond Silverstein) died of a stroke the same day, aged 97. Best remembered as the voice of such cartoon characters as Baby Huey and Katnip, he also appeared in Fright (aka Spell of the Hypnotist, 1957) and Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse.
84-year-old American supporting actor Adam Williams (Adam Berg) died of lymphoma on December 4th. His many credits include The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Space Children, and episodes of TV’s Science Fiction Theater, The Twilight Zone, Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
American stuntman turned actor Michael Gilden died on December 5th, aged 44. Best known for playing Finnegan and Liam on several episodes of TV’s Charmed, he also appeared in Star Wars IV: Return ofthejedi (as an Ewok), Freaked, Pulp Fiction, Snow White (2001) and Twice Upon Christmas.
Actor Russell Wade died on December 9th, aged 89. Best remembered for his roles in Val Lewton’s The Leopard Man, The Ghost Ship and The Body Snatcher, he also appeared in The Falcon in Danger and A Game of Death. He retired from the screen in the late 1940s for a career as a realtor.
American character actor Peter Boyle died of multiple myeloma and heart disease on December 12th, aged 71. A former member of the Christian Brothers religious order, he spent three years living in a monastery before he turned to acting. After working as a production manager on the offbeat science fiction comedy The Monitors (1968), Boyle’s acting credits include Young Frankenstein (as a singing and dancing Monster), Taxi Driver, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, Outland, Solar Crisis, The Shadow (1994), The Santa Clause, A Deadly Vision, Species II, Doctor Dolittle (1998), The Adventures of Pluto Nash, The Santa Claus 2 (uncredited), Scooby-Doo 2 Monsters Unleashed and The Santa Claus 3: The Escape Claus. He also appeared in two episodes of TV’s Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and he won an Emmy Award for his guest-starring role in The X Files episode “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” (1995). John Lennon was the Best Man at Boyle’s wedding to Rolling Stone journalist Loraine Alterman.
Mike Evans, who played Lionel Jefferson in the American TV sitcoms All in the Family and The Jeffersons, died of throat cancer on December 14th, aged 57. He also appeared in the films Now You See Him Now You Don’t and The House on Skull Mountain.
Former model Kimberly [Ann] Ross, who starred in the 1989 horror film Pumpkinhead, died on December 19th, aged 47. She also appeared in The Last Starfighter.
Republic Pictures leading lady Lois Hall died of a heart attack on December 21st. The 80-year-old actress had earlier been taken ill on the set of David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button filming in New Orleans. Although best known for appearing in Westerns, her many other credits include playing a low budget female Tarzan in Daughter of the Jungle, the 1949 serial The Adventures of Sir Galahad (as the Lady of the Lake) and Kenneth Branagh’s Dead Again. On TV she appeared in episodes of Dick Tracy (1950), Fireside Theatre (“The Canterville Ghost”), Adventures of Superman, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Miracles and Lost.
Peter G. Spelson, who produced, scripted and starred in the 1980 horror/SF film The Psychotronic Man, died the same day, aged 75.
“Hello, my darlings.” 81-year-old British TV and film comedian Charlie Drake (Charles Edward Springall) died in his sleep at a London nursing home on December 23rd following a long illness caused by two strokes in the late 1990s. In 1974 he starred in the Children’s Film Foundation movie Professor Popper’s Problem, in which he was shrunken down to miniature size. His novelty pop song “My Boomerang Won’t Come Back” stayed at the #1 slot for four weeks in the Australian music charts in December 1961.
“The Godfather of Soul”, influential American singer James Brown, died of pneumonia in Atlanta, Georgia, on Christmas Day, aged 73. Best known for such hits as “I Got You (I Feel Good)”, “It’s a Man’s World” and “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine)”, he appeared in Ski Party, The Phynx, The Tuxedo, The Blues Brothers and Blues Brothers 2000. Brown’s funky music can also be heard on the soundtracks for The Fan, Android, Jacob’s Ladder, Hudson Hawk, Ghost in the Machine, Demon Knight, The Nutty Professor (1996), Pace/Off Kiss the Girls, Doctor Dolittle (1996), My Favorite Martian, Muppets from Space, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Osmosis Jones, Black Knight, Garfield, Blade Trinity and Disney’s Robots.
Tough guy character actor Frank Campanella died on December 30th, aged 87. One of his first roles was as Mook the Moon Man in an episode of TV’s Captain Video and His Video Rangers, and Campanula’s other credits include Seconds, Matt Helm (1975), High Anxiety, Heaven Can Wait (1978), Angel on My Shoulder (1980), Dick Tracy (1990) and episodes of TV’s Wild Wild West, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Salvage 1.
FILM/TV TECHNICIANS
American cinematographer Leonard J. South died of pneumonia and complications from Alzheimer’s disease on January 6th, aged 92. Best known for his nearly a dozen collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, including Dial M for Murder, North by Northwest, Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, The Birds and Family Plot, his other films include Hang ’em High, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Home for the Holidays, A Cold Night’s Death, Scream Pretty Peggy, Satan’s Triangle, The Ghosts of Buxley Hall and the TV series Rod Serling’s Night Gallery and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
74-year-old Academy Award-winning film editor Stu Linder died of a heart attack while on location on January 12th. His credits include Seconds, Catch-22, The Day of the Dolphin, Young Sherlock Holmes and Sphere.
British production designer Norris Spencer, a frequent collaborator with Ridley and Tony Scott, died of pneumonia the same day, aged 62. He worked on Britannia Hospital, Hannibal and National Treasure.