Italian author and film-maker Stanis(lao) Nievo, credited as one of the creators of the “mondo” genre of outrageous film documentaries with Mondo Cane (1962), died on July 12th, aged 78.
Former vaudeville comedian and country music producer June Carr Ormond died in Nashville of complications from a stroke on July 14th, aged 94. With her husband Ron (who died in 1981), she produced a number of poverty-row Western serials starring Lash LaRue and Fuzzy St. John as well as the 1952 cult classic Mesa of Lost Women, Teenage Bride, White Lightnin’ Road and Girl from Tobacco Row. Following a plane crash in 1967, the couple turned to making religious exploitation movies, including The Monster and the Stripper, The Burning Hell and Grim Reaper (in which she played the witch, “Endor”).
Film producer, screenwriter and publicist Sam X. Abarbanel died on August 9th, aged 92. A former publicist for Republic Pictures, he wrote and produced the 1950 cult favourite Prehistoric Women and scripted the Spanish horror film Sound of Horror, featuring Ingrid Pitt and an invisible dinosaur.
Emmy Award-nominated TV documentary writer, producer and director Nicholas Webster died after a long illness on August 12th, aged 94. A bit player in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), he directed the feature films Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Mission Mars and the documentary Manbeast! Myth or Monster?, plus episodes of TV’s Get Smart, The New People, The Immortal and the Leonard Nimoy hosted In Search of . . . (including In Search of Bigfoot).
75-year-old British TV producer and director Kim Mills died after a long illness on August 28th. After working as an assistant director on such films as Behemoth the Sea Monster (aka The Giant Behemoth), he moved into television in 1960, working on such series as Plateau of Fear, City Beneath the Sea and Secret Beneath the Sea. Two years later he joined the drama team at ABC-TV, where he directed several episodes of The Avengers. His other credits include three episodes of Mystery and Imagination, Zodiac and The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes.
Hollywood producer William M. Aldrich, the son of director Robert Aldrich, died of cancer on August 31st, aged 62. He began his career as an actor in his father’s films What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and he has associate producer credits on What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice and the 1991 TV version of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Belgian director Remy Belvaux died in northern France on September 4th, aged 38. He co-directed and acted in the 1992 cult film Man Bites Dog, about a camera crew making a documentary about a serial killer. In 1998 he threw a custard pie at Microsoft founder Bill Gates and was found guilty of “mild violence” and fined.
Italian production manager Armando Govoni died on September 17th, aged 79. After working in the wardrobe department for Mario Bava’s Giant of Marathon, he was the production assistant on the director’s Black Sunday (aka Revenge of the Vampire) and The Evil Eye.
83-year-old Swedish-born cinematographer Sven Nykvist died of complications from the rare brain disease primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer’s disease on September 20th. In a career in which he worked with such directors as Ingmar Bergman, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Bob Fosse and Andrei Tarkovsky, the two-time Oscar winner’s more than 120 film credits include Hour of the Wolf, The Magic Flute (1975), Black Moon, The Tenant, Dream Lover and Curtain Call.
American director, writer and producer Stanley Z. Cherry died of cancer on September 27th, aged 74. His various credits include The Addams Family, The Monkees and The Kids from C.A.P.E.R.
Italian director Renato Polselli (aka “Ralph Brown”) died on October 1st, aged 84. His many credits include The Vampire and the Ballerina (which was reportedly the first Italian horror film to show a profit), II Monstro dell’opera, La Verita secondo Satana, Delirium, The Reincarnation of Isabel and Mania.
Veteran film and TV producer Herbert B. [Breiter] Leonard died of cancer on October 14th, aged 84. He worked in various production capacities on numerous serials and low budget movies, including Batman and Robin, Atom Man vs. Superman, Mysterious Island (1951), The Magic Carpet, Captain Video, King of the Congo, Blackhawk and Adventures of Captain Africa, along with such “Jungle Jim” adventures as Mark of the Gorilla, Captive Girl, Jungle Jim in Pygmy Island, Fury of the Congo, Killer Ape and Jungle Man-Eaters. His TV credits include the series The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, Circus Boy and Route 66.
Indian entrepreneur Spoony Singh [Sundher], who founded the world-famous Hollywood Wax Museum in 1965, died of congestive heart failure on October 18th, aged 83.
64-year-old Emmy Award-winning cinematographer James M. Glennon died from a blood clot following surgery for prostate cancer on October 19th. As well as working as a camera operator on such films as Altered States and Star Wars Episode IV: Return ofthejedi, and contributing additional photography to Weird Science, he shot Jaws of Death, Flight of the Navigator, In the Deep Woods, the 1995 TV drama/documentary Edgar Allan Foe: Terror of the Soul, Invader, Carnivale and Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt.
Canadian film and TV director Daryl Duke died of pulmonary fribosis on October 21st, aged 77. His credits include The Return of Charlie Chan (aka Happiness is a Warm Clue) and episodes of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery and Ghost Story.
American set designer and art director Roy Barnes died of lung and bone cancer on October 29th, aged 70. His many credits include Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Red Dawn, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Deadly Friend, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Jurassic Park III, The Scorpion King, Hulk, Big Fish, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, War of the Worlds (2005) and Serenity.
Film producer and composer Edward L. Alperson, Jr died on Halloween, aged 81. He received an associate producer credit on the 1986 remake of his father’s classic Invaders from Mars.
Exploitation cinematographer, director, producer, film editor and actor Gary Graver died of cancer on November 16th, aged 68. He collaborated with Orson Welles on such unfinished projects as The Other Side of the Wind, The Dreamers, King Lear, The Magic Show and Moby Dick, plus the documentaries F for Fake, Filming Othello and It’s All True. However, among Graver’s more than 300 credits, he is better known for photographing such low-budget titles as The Mighty Gorga, Satan’s Sadists, Horror of the Blood Monsters (with John Carradine), Dracula vs. Frankenstein (with Lon Chaney, Jr), Invasion of the Bee Girls, The Clones, I Spit on Your Corpse!, Naughty Stewardesses, The Toolbox Murders, Doctor Dracula (again with Carradine), Deathsport, Death Dimension, The Glove, the US footage for Screamers, The Attic, Mortuary, The Phantom Empire, Ancient Evil, Deep Space, B.O.R.N., Alienator, Wizards of the Demon Sword, Bad Girls from Mars, Haunting Fear, Merlin (1992), Evil Toons, Witch Academy, Time Wars, Dinosaur Island, Possessed by the Night, Star Hunter, Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfolds, Sorceress and Sorceress II The Temptress, Invisible Dad, Alien Escape, Femalien II, Timegate: Tales of the Saddle Tramps, Shandra: The Jungle Girl, Curtis Harrington’s Usher, 13 Erotic Ghosts, Leeches!, Haunting Desires, Tomb of the Werewolf (with Paul Naschy), Countess Dracula’s Orgy of Blood and The Mummy’s Kiss: 2nd Dynasty. He also shot (uncredited) the Edward D. Wood, Jr-scripted One Million AC/DC. As a director/cinematographer, Graver’s credits include Trick or Treats, Moon in Scorpio, Evil Spirits and Veronica 2030, while as “Robert McCallum” he directed numerous adult films to support his other projects.