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

British actor Nicholas Courtney(William Nicholas Stone Courtney), best known for his recurring role as UNIT leader “Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart” in BBC-TV’s Doctor Who , died on 22 February, aged eighty-one. The Egyptian-born actor first appeared in the show in a 1965 episode entitled “The Dalek’s Master Man”, but he became a semi-regular when he took over the role of the Brigadier (after actor David Langton pulled out) in the 1968 serial “The Web of Fear”. Courtney appeared in 107 episodes of Doctor Who and recreated the character of Lethbridge-Stewart in a number of short films, audio dramas, a video game and a 2008 two-part episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures . He also appeared in episodes of The Avengers, The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling, The Champions, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Doomwatch and The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes , and had uncredited roles in the films The Brides of Fu Manchu, Doppelgänger (aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun ) and Endless Night . Courtney also portrayed “Inspector Lionhart” in four episodes of the radio drama The Scarifyers , broadcast on BBC Radio 7 (2007–10). His 1998 autobiography was entitled Five Rounds Rapid! after a line of dialogue he had as the Brigadier in “The Dæmons” (1971). A revised autobiography, Still Getting Away with It (co-written with Michael McManus), appeared in 2005.

American character actor Frank Alesia, who appeared in the AIP “Beach Party” movies Bikini Beach, Pajama Party, Beach Blanket Bingo and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini , died on 27 February, aged sixty-five. He also appeared in episodes of Bewitched and The Flying Nun before becoming a TV director.

Hollywood star Jane Russell(Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell) died on 28 February, aged eighty-nine. A former dentist receptionist and discovery of Howard Hughes (who orchestrated her screen debut in his controversial 1943 Western The Outlaw ), she mostly appeared in musical-comedies during the 1950s, including an uncredited cameo appearance in Road to Bali . In 1967 she had a small roll in the “Billy Jack” motorcycle exploitation movie The Born Losers . With the first of her three husbands, quarterback Bob Waterfield, she formed Russ-Field Productions, who produced The Most Dangerous Game remake, Run for the Sun (1956). During the 1970s Russell was the TV spokesperson for Playtex bras.

Former beauty queen turned actress Darlene Lucht(Darlene Brimmer), who was crowned Miss Wisconsin in 1961, died on 5 March, aged seventy-two. She had small roles in The Haunted Palace, Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Beach Blanket Bingo and Al Adamson’s Five Bloody Graves (as “Tara Ashton”), which starred her husband, Robert Dix.

Japanese voice actor Kan Tokumarudied on 6 March, aged sixty-nine. His many anime , TV and game credits include Vampire Hunter D, Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Vampire Savior EX Edition . In the Japanese dub of Live and Let Die (1973) he was the voice of “M”.

Distinguished British stage actor and iconic horror film star Michael Goughdied on 17 March, aged ninety-three. Best known to modern audiences for his role as faithful butler “Alfred Pennyworth” in the 1980s–90s Batman films ( Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin ) and his later collaborations with director Tim Burton ( Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Alice in Wonderland ), the Malaysian-born Gough’s many other movies also include The Man in the White Suit , Hammer’s Dracula (aka Horror of Dracula ) and The Phantom of the Opera (1962), Horrors of the Black Museum, Konga, What a Carve Up! (aka No Place Like Homicide! ), Black Zoo, Dr Terror’s House of Horrors, The Skull, They Came from Beyond Space, Berserk, Curse of the Crimson Altar (aka The Crimson Cult ), Trog, The Corpse (aka Crucible of Horror ), Horror Hospital, The Legend of Hell House (uncredited), Satan’s Slave (aka Evil Heritage ), The Boys from Brazil, Venom, A Christmas Carol (1984), Arthur the King (aka Merlin and the Sword ), The Serpent and the Rainbow, Nostradamus and the TV movie The Haunting of Helen Walker (based on “Turn of the Screw” by Henry James). He also appeared in episodes of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Wednesday Play (“Alice in Wonderland”), Doctor Who, The Avengers (“The Cybernauts”), Hammer’s Journey to the Unknown, The Champions, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, Moonbase 3, Blakes 7, The Little Vampire (1986–87) and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles .

American dancer and novelist Dorothy Young, who worked as an assistant to stage magician Harry Houdini from 1925–26, died on 20 March, aged 103. She made her debut as the futuristic “Radio Girl of 1950”, but left the act two months before the escapologist’s death on 31 October, 1926. Young was the last surviving member of Houdini’s touring show.

Legendary Hollywood star Dame Elizabeth[Rosemond] Taylordied of complications from congestive heart failure on 24 March, aged seventy-nine. She had been hospitalised for six weeks. Born to American parents in London, England, Taylor’s family relocated to Los Angeles in 1939 where, within a few years, she became a child star at MGM. In later years she developed into one of the screen’s most iconic figures, winning two Academy Awards for Best Actress. Her films include Jane Eyre (1943), Suddenly Last Summer, Doctor Faustus (1967), Hammersmith is Out, Night Watch, The Blue Bird (1976) and The Flintstones (1994). She also contributed voice work to the animated TV series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, The Simpsons and God, the Devil and Bob , and in later years became a spokesperson for AIDS research. Taylor was almost as well-known for her eight marriages as her movies, and her husbands included Michael Wilding, Michael Todd, Eddie Fisher and, most famously, Richard Burton (twice). It was revealed that the scheduled start time was delayed for almost fifteen minutes, after the actress left instructions that she wanted to be late for her own funeral.

American leading man Farley[Earle] Granger[II] died on 27 March, aged eighty-five. Best remembered for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope (1948) and Strangers on a Train (1951), he also appeared in Behave Yourself! (with Lon Chaney, Jr.), Full House (“The Gift of the Magi”), Hans Christian Andersen, Something Creeping in the Dark (aka Qualcosa striscia nel buio ), Amuck! (aka Hot Bed of Sex ), So Sweet So Dead (aka Penetration ), Arnold and The Prowler (aka Rosemary’s Killer ), along with episodes of TV’s The United States Steel Hour (“The Bottle Imp”), Dow Hour of Great Mysteries (“The Inn of the Flying Dragon”), Get Smart, Wide World Mystery (“The Haunting of Penthouse D”), The Six Million Dollar Man, Matt Helm, The Invisible Man (1975), Tales from the Dark Side and Monsters . In 1980 Granger also starred on Broadway in Ira Levin’s Deathtrap .

American child actress and singer Donna Lee[O’Leary], who appeared in Val Lewton’s The Body Snatcher and Bedlam , both starring Boris Karloff, died on 3 April, aged eighty-one. She also appeared (uncredited) as a member of the Donna Lee Trio in the 1936 mystery thriller A Face in the Fog .