Stephen Jones - The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror. Volume 23

American comedian Charlie Callas(Charles Callias), best remembered for his zany sound effects, died in Las Vegas on 27 January. He was eighty-three. A TV talk show favourite and “Rat Pack” associate, the rubber-faced Callas’ credits include such movies as The Snoop Sisters, Silent Movie , Disney’s Pete’s Dragon (as the voice of “Elliott”, the dragon), High Anxiety, History of the World: Part I, Hysterical (as “Dracula”), Amazon Women on the Moon, Vampire Vixens from Venus, Dracula Dead and Loving It and Horrorween , along with episodes of TV’s The Munsters, The Monkees, Legends of the Superheroes (as the voice of “Sinestro”), Silk Stalking s and A. J.’s Time Travelers .

TV character actor Michael Tolan(Seymour Tuchow) died of heart disease and kidney failure on 31 January, aged eighty-six. He appeared in episodes of Inner Sanctum, Diagnoses: Unknown (“The Curse of the Gypsy”), Play of the Week (“The Dybbuk”), The Outer Limits (“The Zanti Misfits”), Tarzan, The Invaders , Hammer’s Journey to the Unknown and Ghost Story .

Welsh-born TV character actress Margaret Johndied after a short illness on 2 February, aged eighty-four. She began her career in 1960 and appeared in episodes of Suspense, Mysteries and Miracles, Doctor Who (in 1968 and 2006), Menace, Doomwatch, Dead of Night, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, The Ghosts of Motley Hall, Blakes 7, Shadows, The Boy Merlin, Tardisodes, Being Human , and Game of Thrones . John also portrayed “Mrs Hudson” in the early 1990s TV movies Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady and Incident at Victoria Falls , both starring Christopher Lee as Holmes and Patrick Macnee as Dr Watson.

French actress Maria Schneider, best known for her role opposite Marlon Brando in Bernardo Bertolucci’s controversial Last Tango in Paris (1972), died of cancer on 3 February, aged fifty-eight. Her other film credits include Mama Dracula and Franco Zeffirelli’s 1996 version of Jane Eyre .

Japanese-born American actress, exotic dancer and martial arts expert Tura Satana(Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi), who starred in Russ Myer’s cult classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965) died of heart failure on 4 February, aged seventy-two. She also appeared in Our Man Flint (uncredited), The Astro-Zombies, The Doll Squad, Mark of the Astro-Zombies, Astro-Zombies M3: Cloned and an episode each of TV’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E . and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. . Her life stories included being gang-raped when she was nine years old, first marrying at thirteen, posing for nude for photographs taken by silent screen comic Harold Lloyd, working as a stripper, turning down a marriage proposal from Elvis Presley, being shot by a former lover and breaking her back in a car accident.

American character actress Peggy Readied of complication from congestive heart failure on 5 February, aged eighty-nine. She appeared in 7 Faces of Dr Lao, What’s the Matter with Helen? Lipstick , and episodes of TV’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E ., The Wild Wild West, The Immortal and Monsters .

J. Paul Getty, III, the grandson of oil magnate J. Paul Getty, died after a long illness the same day, aged fifty-four. After being kidnapped and held to ransom in Italy for four months in 1973, he appeared in the Portuguese horror film The Territory (aka O Território , 1981).

Hollywood character actress Myrna Dell(Marilyn Adele Dunlap) died on 11 February, aged eighty-six. While under contract to RKO Pictures she appeared in three Falcon movies, along with The Spiral Staircase (as an uncredited murder victim). The former showgirl was also in an episode of the Jungle Jim TV series and had a small role in an episode of Batman . Along with actress Marguerite Chapman, Dell is credited with originating the idea of autograph shows.

American character actor Kenneth Mars, best known for his comedy roles in Mel Brooks’ The Producers and Young Frankenstein (as the one-armed “Inspector Kemp”), died of pancreatic cancer on 12 February, aged seventy-five. His other film credits include Superman (1975), Full Moon High, Get Smart Again! , Disney’s The Little Mermaid and The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea, Shadows and Fog, We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story , and as the voice of “Grandpa Longneck” in The Land Before Time sequels. He appeared in episodes of Get Smart, The Ghost & Mrs Muir, Wonder Woman, Tabitha, Project U.F.O ., Supertrain, Tucker’s Witch, Misfits of Science, The Twilight Zone (1986), Shades of LA, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, M.A.N.T.I.S ., The New Adventures of Superman, Weird Science and The Pretender . Mars also supplied voices for numerous cartoon shows, including The Jetsons, Challenge of the GoBots, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Teen Wolf, The Flintstone Kids, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Duck Tales, Tiny Toon Adventures, Darkwing Duck, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Animaniacs, The Little Mermaid, Batman (1994–95), Freakazoid! The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Godzilla: The Series, The Legend of Tarzan and The Land Before Time TV series.

Hollywood actress and singer Betty Garrettdied the same day, aged ninety-one. Best know for her role as the man-hungry taxi driver in the classic musical On the Town (1949), later in her career she also appeared in an episode of the children’s TV show Mr Merlin , along with Larry Blamire’s low budget genre comedies Trail of the Screaming Forehead and Dark and Stormy Night . Garrett was married to actor Larry Parks from 1944 until his death in 1975. During the 1950s both their careers were derailed by the anti-Communist witch-hunts.

Irish character actor T.(Thomas) P.(Patrick) McKennadied in London after a long illness on 13 February, aged eighty-one. He always brought class to the roles he played in such movies as Tigon’s The Beast in the Cellar, Straw Dogs, Percy’s Progress (with Vincent Price), Britannia Hospital, The Doctor and the Devils and Jack the Ripper (1988). McKenna’s TV credits include The Avengers, Adam Adamant Lives! Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), BBC Play of the Month (“Rasputin”), Thriller , Nigel Kneale’s Beasts, Blakes 7 and Doctor Who .

British character actor Alfred Burke, who portrayed down-at-heel private eye “Frank Marker” in the popular TV series Public Eye (1965–75), died on 16 February, aged ninety-two. Although he appeared in such films as Children of the Damned , Hammer’s The Nanny, The Night Caller (aka Blood Beast from Outer Space ), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1996) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , Burke was much better known for his numerous appearances on TV in shows like Colonel March of Scotland Yard (starring Boris Karloff), Invisible Man (1959), One Step Beyond, The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling, The Avengers, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Tales of the Unexpected and Shades of Darkness .

American character actor Len Lesser(Leonard King Lesser) died of cancer-related pneumonia the same day, aged eighty-eight. Best known for playing “Uncle Leo” on Seinfeld (1991–98), Lesser appeared in such movies and TV shows as How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Blood and Lace, Ruby, Someone’s Watching Me! Through the Magic Pyramid, Sorority Girls and the Creature from Hell, The Werewolf Reborn! Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Outer Limits, The Wild Wild West, The Munsters, My Favorite Martian, Get Smart, The Monkees, Land of the Giants, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Ghost Busters, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The Amazing Spider-Man, Amazing Stories (“Mummy Daddy”) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch .