SF Site News » Obituary

Obituary: Todd Frazier

Steven H Silver — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:47:30 +0000

Fan Todd Frazier was found dead in his apartment on the morning of February 9. From the 1990s, Frazier was an assistant editor for Ed Meskys’s fanzine Niekas and in 2007, Belknap Mill had an exhibit of Meskys and Frazier’s art collections. Frazier was a frequent attendee of Boskone and Readercon, as well as worldcons.

Obituary: Janice Voss

Steven H Silver — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:55:30 +0000

Astronaut Janice Voss (b.1956) died on February 6 after a battle with breast cancer. Voss served as a mission specialist on five space shuttle missions between 1993 and 2000. Flying two missions each on Endeavour and Columbia and one on Discovery. Following her in-space career, Voss worked as the Science Director for the Kepler Space Observatory and Payloads Lead of the Astronaut Office Station Branch.

Obituary: Roger Boisjoly

Steven H Silver — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:51:32 +0000

Engineer Roger Boisjoly (b.1938) died on January 6. Boisjoly worked for Morton Thiokol in 1986 and warned NASA that due to falling temperatures, the O-Rings on the space shuttle Challenger could undergo a catastrophic failure and urged for them to cancel the flight. The next day, his predictions came true when Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight.

Obituary: Bill Hinzman

Steven H Silver — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:15:57 +0000

Actor S. William Hinzman (b.1936) died after a battle with cancer on February 5. Hinzman made his debut in George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead where he was the first zombie on screen and subsequently made a career out of playing zombies. He had the title role in 1988′s Flesheaster, and often was cast in roles like “The Experienced Zombie” and “Romero the Zombie.”

Obituary: Ben Gazzara

Steven H Silver — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:30:12 +0000

Actor Ben Gazzara (b.1930) died on February 3. Gazzara, who was perhaps best known for his non-genre roles in Anatomy of a Murder and Run for Your Life, also appeared in a handful of horror, fantasy, and sf films, including Believe, The Neptune Factor, Too Tired to Die, and Christopher Roth.

Obituary: Samuel Youd

Steven H Silver — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 04:11:57 +0000

British fan and author Samuel Youd (b.1922) died on February 3. Youd, who published fiction under the name John Christopher among others, wrote “The Tripods” series and “The Sword of the Spirit” trilogy. He became active in fandom in the post-war years and began publishing fiction in 1949. He won the Guardian Award in 1971.

Obituary: Al Rio

Steven H Silver — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:13:36 +0000

Brazilian comic book artist Al Rio (b.1962) died on January 30, possibly a suicide. Rio, whose full name was Alvaro Araújo Lourenço do Rio, worked on Gen^¹³, Dungeon Siege, X-Men Unlimited, and DV8. his art also appeared on album covers.

Obituary: Ardath Mayhar

Steven H Silver — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:18:36 +0000

Author Ardath Mayhar (b.1930) died on February 1. Mayhar, who won the Balrog Award for a poem that appeared in Masques 1. She wrote more than 60 novels, frequently using pseudonyms and spanning many genres. In the 1990s, Mayhar and her husband owned The View From Orbit Bookstore in Nacogdoches, Texas. In 2008, she was chosen by Science Fiction Writers of America as their Author Emeritus.

Obituary: John Rich

Steven H Silver — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:17:17 +0000

Director John Rich (b.1925) died on January 29. Although best known for his work on The Dick van Dyke Show and All in the Family, Rich’s genre credits included two episodes of The Twilight Zone several episodes of the ghostly comedy Nearly Departed. He also worked on MacGyver.

Obituary: Ian Abercrombie

Steven H Silver — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:05:17 +0000

Actor Ian Abercrombie (b.1934) died on January 26. Abercombie was known best to recent audiences as Elaine’s boss on Seinfeld, but he has a long history of genre roles, including providing the voice of the Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious on The Clone Wars. He has appeared on The Wizards of Waverly Place, Star Trek: Voyager, played Alfred Pennyworth on Birds of Prey, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Flash, and was in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. His other voice work includes Green Lantern, Rango, and The Batman.

Obituary: Dimitra Arliss

Steven H Silver — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:37:59 +0000

Actress Dimitra Arliss (b.1932) died on January 26. Arliss provided voice work for both the Iron Man and Spider-Man animated television series in the 1990s. She also appeared in the science fiction film Firefox and the fantasy film Xanadu. She may have been best know for her brief role as Salino, the hired killer, in The Sting.

Obituary: Eiko Ishioka

Steven H Silver — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:09:33 +0000

Costume designer Eiko Ishioka (b.1939) died on January 21 from pancreatic cancer. Ishioka won an Academy Award for her work on Bram Stoker’s Dracula and also designed costumes for The Cell, The Fall, Immortals, and the upcoming Mirror, Mirror. She recently helped design costumes for teh Broadway show Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Ishioka also won a Grammy Award for the cover design of the Miles Davis album, Tutu.

Obituary: Nicol Williamson

Steven H Silver — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:35:53 +0000

Actor Nicol Williamson (b.1938) died on December 16. Williamson, who hasn’t appeared on film since 1997, is best known for his role as Merlin in John Boorman’s 1981 film Excalibur, has appeared in numerous genre films over the years, including Venom, Spawn, Return to Oz, and The Exorcist III. Williamson also took great pride in a recording of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. He also played Little John in Robin and Marion and Sherlock Holmes in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.

Obituary: James Farentino

Steven H Silver — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:40:53 +0000

Actor James Farentino (b.1938) died on January 24. Farentino appeared in two episodes of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, the film The Final Countdown, and horror films Dead & Buried, The Possessed.

Obituary: Norman Edmund

Steven H Silver — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:33:38 +0000

Norman Edmund (b.1916) died on January 16. Following World War II, Edmund began a catalog company as a reseller of military lenses rendered obsolete by the invention of radar. The company grew into Edmund Scientific, which sold telescopes, microscopes, chemistry kits, robot parts, gyroscopes, and the famous drinking bird among other scientific equipment and supplies.

Obituary: Dick Tufeld

Steven H Silver — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:50:11 +0000

Voice actor Dick Tufeld (b.1926) died on January 22. Tufeld may be best known as the voice of the robot on Lost in Space, a role he reprised for the film and in various homages to the series, such as an episode of The Simpsons. He had numerous other voice over roles, often uncredited, on shows including Space Patrol, The Amazing Spider-Man and His Friends, The Fantastic Four, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and many more.

Obituary: Lister Matheson

Steven H Silver — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 23:15:52 +0000

Lister Matheson (b.1949) died on January 19. Matheson served as director for Clarion East and worked at Michigan State University as a professor of English and Medieval Studies. Matheson’s works include Popular and Practical Science of Medieval England, Icons of the Middle Ages: Rulers, Writers, Rebels, and Saints, and Robin Hood: The Early Poems, 1465-1560, Texts, Contexts, and Ideology.

Obituary: Phyllis MacLennan

Steven H Silver — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:34:01 +0000

Author Phyllis MacLennan (b.1920) died on January 8. MacLennan worked in Military Intelligence during World War II and began publishing science fiction in 1963 with the story “A Contract in Karasthan” in Fantastic. Her only science fiction novel, Turned Loose on Irdra, was published in 1970 and she published six more stories by 1980, including “Thus Love Betrays Us ,” which was reprinted in three different “Best of” collections.

Obituary: Jenny Tomasin

Steven H Silver — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:10:57 +0000

Actress Jenny Tomasin (b.1936) died the week of January 8. Although best known for portraying Ruby on Upstairs, Downstairs, Tomasin also appeared in the 1985 Doctor Who serial “Revelations of the Daleks” as Tasambeker and in 2000 appeared in a made-for-television adaptation of Cinderella.

Obituary: Bob Lovell

Steven H Silver — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:05:36 +0000

Fan Robert Lovell (b.1947) died on January 15. Lovell was involved in Baltimore-Washington fandom from the late 1970s until 1983 and was involved with the bid that landed the 1983 Worldcon, Constellation, for Baltimore. Lovell supported the bids by offering “Backrubs for Baltimore.”

Obituary: Carlo Fruttero

Steven H Silver — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:57:36 +0000

Italian author Carlo Fruttero (b.1926) died on January 15. Much of his work was done in collaboration with Franco Lucentini and the two men edited the science fiction magazine Urania from 1964 through 1985. The men also wrote science fiction, humor, and other genres. From 1972 to 1975 they also edited the comic Il Mago.

Obituary: Howard Hopkins

Steven H Silver — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:18:26 +0000

Author Howard Hopkins (b.1961) died on January 12 while shoveling snow. Hopkins edited the anthology Dark Harbors and wrote the novels Night Demons, Grimm, and The Dark Riders. He wrote the The Nightmare Club series for children and has also written for comics.

Obituary: Barbara Stuart

Steven H Silver — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:10:50 +0000

Actress Barbara Stuart (b.1930) died on May 15. Stuart appeared in episodes of several genre television shows, including Otherworld, The Twilight Zone, Out of This World, and Batman. She also appeared in the film Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills.

Obituary: Israel Baker

Steven H Silver — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:45:52 +0000

Violinist Israel Baker (b.1919) died on December 25. Baker performed on the soundtracks of many films, including Raiders of the Lost Ark, but his most famous performance in a genre film was when he served as first violinist (and concertmaster) for the orchestra on Psycho.

Obituary: Robert E. Briney

Steven H Silver — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:38:17 +0000

Fan Robert E. Briney (b.1933) died in late November. Active in Chicago fandom in the 1950s and 60s, Briney was one of the founding partners of Advent:Publishing. He edited the 1953 anthology Shanadu and co-edited the 1972 reference work SF Bibliographies: An Annotated Bibliography of Bibliographical Works on Science Fiction and Fantasy Fiction. Briney also published the fanzine Contact Is Not a Verb from 1980 through 2006.

Obituary: Richard Alf

Steven H Silver — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:58:38 +0000

Richard Alf (b.1952) died on January 4. Alf began dealing comic books as a teenager and was able to provide a large portion of the capital needed to start the first San Diego Comic-Con. He was active in the con’s early years, chairing at least one event, before stepping away.

Obituary: Bob Anderson

Steven H Silver — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:56:36 +0000

Fencer Bob Anderson (b.1922) died on January 1. Anderson represented Great Britain at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki and later served as a fencing master on numerous films, including The Princess Bride, The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit. Although uncredited, he portrayed Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi in the light saber duel scenes.

Obituary: Glenn Lord

Steven H Silver — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:59:58 +0000

Editor and Agent Glenn Lord (b.1931) died on December 31. Lord was the agent for Robert E. Howard’s estate and edited several collections of Howard’s stories, as well as writing The Last Celt: A Bio-Bibliography of Robert Ervin Howard. Lord’s essays about Howard and those who knew him appeared in a variety of fanzines, magazines, and books. Lord also worked to re-publish Howard’s story in their original form and to find lost Howard works and fragments.

Obituary: Richard Bessière

Steven H Silver — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:13:25 +0000

French author Henri-Richard Bessière (b.1923) died on December 22. Bessière, who began publishing under the name F. Richard-Bessière and later went by Richard Bessière, was the first author published by Fleuve Noir’s Anticipation line in 1951 and proceeded to publish 98 titles between 1951 and 1985. Bessière wrote three major series for Anticipation, the Professor Béac books, the Sydney Gordon books, and the Harry Stewart books, as well as numerous stand-alone novels. His work was discussed in English in the recent volume The Anticipation Novelists of 1950s French Science Fiction, by Bradford Lyau.

Obituary: Louis Thirion

Steven H Silver — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:07:43 +0000

French author Louis Thirion (b.1923) died on December 9. Thirion published his first novel, Waterloo, morne plaine in 1964 and continued to publish for more than 40 years. In addition to his novels, he also wrote radio plays. Beginning in 1968, most of his fiction was published by Fleuve Noir, including his Jord Maogan series, Les Stols, Les Whums se vengent, Ysée-A, Sterga la noire, and Le Secret d’Ipavar. His work was often focused on eco-disasters and was dystopian in nature. In the 2000s, he published three historical novels.

Obituary: Rusty Hevelin

Steven H Silver — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:46:57 +0000

Fan James “Rusty” Hevelin (b.1922) died on December 27. Hevelin became active in fandom in the 1930s, publishing the apazine H-1661. He attended Denvention 1 before joining the army and serving in the South Pacific during World War II. Returning to fandom, Hevelin became a huckster and frequent con attendee, serving as a guest of honor at numerous cons, including Denvention 2, the 1981 Worldcon. He received the First Fandom Sam Mosckowitz Archive Award for collections and the Big Heart Award. Hevelin was a founder of Pulpcon.

Obituary: Harold Hopkins

Steven H Silver — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:13:57 +0000

Australian actor Harold Hopkins (b.1944) died on December 11. Hopkins appeared in episodes of Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, Beastmaster, Time Trax, and the film The Clinic.

Obituary: Susan Gordon

Steven H Silver — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:10:55 +0000

Actress Susan Gordon (b.1949) died on December 11. Gordon’s film debut occurred in Attack of the Puppet, directed by her father, when the actress who had been cast became ill. She also appeared in The Twilight Zone episode “The Fugitive” and the films Picture Mommy Dead, Tormented, and The Boy and the Pirates.

Obituary: Don Sharp

Steven H Silver — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:39:29 +0000

Australian director Don Sharp (b.1922) died on December 18. Sharp directed and wrote numerous films, including The Kiss of the Vampire, Rasputin: The Mad Monk, Curse of the Fly, and Those Fantastic Flying Fools. Much of his work was done for Hammer Studios.

Obituary: Eduardo Barreto

Steven H Silver — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:42:48 +0000

Comic artist Eduardo Barreto (b.1954) died on December 15. Barreto, from Uruguay, worked on titles including Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, The New Teen Titans, and his last work, DC Retroactive The 70′s: Superman, published earlier this year. Also in 2011, Barreto became the artist for the Sunday The Phantom comic strip.

Obituary: Joe Simon

Steven H Silver — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:53:24 +0000

Comic author Joe Simon (b.1913) died on December 14. Simon co-created Captain America along with Jack Kirby. The two men created numerous characters in the 1940s and helped pioneer both the romance and horror comics fields. Simon was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1999.

Obituary: Gianluca Casseri

Steven H Silver — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:16:18 +0000

Italian author Gianluca Casseri (b.1961) killed himself on December 14 after murdering two Senegalese immigrants to Italy and wounding three others. His shooting spree led to a march by the Florentine Senegalese community. Casseri wrote the fantasy novel The Key of Chaos. He also wrote an academic paper about Dracula folklore and was the editor of a magazine about fantasy and horror fiction and comics.

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Obituary: Thomas J. Bassler

Steven H Silver — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:08:18 +0000

Author Thomas J. Bassler (b.1932), who wrote science fiction as T. J. Bass died on December 13. Bass’s two novels, Half Past Human and The Godwhale were both nominated for the Nebula Award. In addition, Bass published a handful of short stories. A doctor, Bassler was an early proponent of the use of Marathon-running for health purposes.

Obituary: Russell Hoban

Steven H Silver — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:59:15 +0000

Author Russell Hoban (b.1925) died on December 13. Hoban’s novel Riddley Walker won the John W. Campbell, Jr. Award and the Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award, it was also nominated for the Nebula Award. His novels covered a range of genres, including science fiction, historical fiction, magic realism, and fantasy.

Obituary: Euan Harvey

Steven H Silver — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:41:44 +0000

Fantasy author Euan Harvey succumbed to cancer on the morning of December 9. Harvey began publishing short fantasy in 2007 when “The Tao of Crocodiles” appeared in Realms of Fantasy. In the years since, Harvey published seven additional stories in that magazine. His story “Kamaratunga’s Masterpiece” is slated for publication in a future issue of Black Gate.

Obituary: Jerry Robinson

Steven H Silver — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:01:46 +0000

Comic artist Jerry Robinson (b.1922) died on December 7. Robinson is best known for co-creating Robin, the boy wonder, and creating the Joker. Robinson also worked on the creation of Alfred and Two-Face. Robinson began working for Batman creator Bob Kane in 1939. In the 1970s, Robinson worked to get credit for his friends, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for their part in creating Superman. Robinson is in the Comic Book Hall of Fame and has received lifetime achievement awards from the Cartoon Art Society and the National Cartoonists Society.

Obituary: Russell Garcia

Steven H Silver — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:34:43 +0000

Jazz musician Russell Garcia (b.1916) died on November 20 in Kerikeri, New Zealand. Garcia scored numerous films including Atlantis, the Lost Continent and George Pal’s The Time Machine. In 2009, Garcia, who was born in Oakland, California but lived for many years in New Zealand, received the Queen’s Service Medal for his musical work.

Obituary: Susan Palermo-Piscitello

Steven H Silver — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:50:48 +0000

Fan Susan Palermo-Piscitello (b.1952) died on November 23. Palermo-Piscatello was active in fandom in the early 1970s, taking pictures that appeared in The Monster Times and working for the company that brought Japanese monster films, including Battle for the Planets and Time of the Apes to the US. She was among the first bartenders at CBGB and was in the band Cheap Perfume. She had recently returned to fandom after several years of gafiation.

Obituary: Marion Dougherty

Steven H Silver — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:58:44 +0000

Casting director Marion Dougherty (b.1923) died on December 4. Dougherty cast the films Slaughterhouse-Five, The Lost Boys, Batman and Batman Returns, Ladyhawke, and dozens of other films. In 1987, she won the Hoyt Bowers Award from the Casting Society of America.

Obituary: Harry Morgan

Steven H Silver — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:45:05 +0000

Actor Harry Morgan (b.1915) died on December 7. Morgan was best known for playing Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H, as well as Bill Gannon on Dragnet, but also had several genre credits, including a recurring role on Third Rock from the Sun, episodes of Night Gallery and The Twilight Zone, and the films The Cat from Outer Space and The Flight of Dragons. Morgan won one Emmy for his work on M*A*S*H out of eleven nominations.

Obituary: Bob Sabella

Steven H Silver — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:34:56 +0000

Fan Bob Sabella died on December 3 after being hospitalized and diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Sabella was the editor of the fanzine Visions of Paradise as well as the OE of FAPA, the oldest and longest running SF Amateur Press Association. In 2000, Sabella published the book Who Shaped Science Fiction? Through October, 2011, he published 170 issues of Visions of Paradise.

Obituary: Darrell K. Sweet

Steven H Silver — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:46:05 +0000

Artist Darrell K. Sweet (1934) died on December 5. Sweet was scheduled to be the artist guest of honor at LoneStarCon 3, the 2013 Worldcon and had been honored as the artist guest of honor at Tuckercon, the 2007 NASFiC, in St. Louis and at the 2010 World Fantasy Con. Sweet’s art appeared on numerous book covers over the years and was known for having an extremely high sell through rate. Some of his art was collected in the book Beyond Fantasy.

Obituary: John Berry

Steven H Silver — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 11:45:52 +0000

Irish fan John Berry died on November 25, eighteen months after undergoing treatment for cancer. Berry entered organized fandom in 1954 after meeting Walt Willis. Over the years, he was involved in British club fandom and published several different fanzines. He ran for TAFF in 1958, losing to Ron Bennett, but the following year, Berry was the fan Guest of Honor at Detention, the Worldcon in Detroit. The following year, Berry was voted best fan writers in a poll conducted in the fanzine Skyrack. By 1962, Berry had gafiated, only returning to fandom after twenty years had passed.

Obituary: Ken Russell

Steven H Silver — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:11:52 +0000

Director Ken Russell (b.1927) died on November 27. Russell directed the films Altered States, The Lair of the White Worm, Gothic, and the Who’s Tommy.

Obituary: Anne McCaffrey

Steven H Silver — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:38:20 +0000

Author Anne McCaffrey (b.1926) died on November 21 following an heart attack. McCaffrey, who was best known for her Pern series, had her first story published in 1953. McCaffrey won a Hugo Award in 1968 for the first Pern story, “Weyr Search” and won a Nebula the following year for “Dragonrider.” In 2005, she was named Grandmaster by the SFWA and is an inductee into the SF Hall of Fame. Other works by McCaffrey include The Ship Who Sang and its sequels, The Crystal Singer and many more. McCaffrey worked on several collaborations with younger writers over the course of her career.