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

American photographic model-turned-actress Norma Eberhardtdied of complications from a stroke on 16 September, aged eighty-two. She co-starred in the 1958 film The Return of Dracula (aka The Fantastic Disappearing Man ).

Eton-educated character actor Jonathan Cecil(Jonathan Hugh Gascoyne-Cecil), who usually portrayed upper-class English characters in films and on television, died of pneumonia on 22 September, aged seventy-two. Best known for portraying “Captain Arthur Hastings” in three 1980s TV movies starring Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot, he also appeared in Hammer’s Lust for a Vampire and TV versions of Alice Through the Looking Glass (1973), Gulliver in Lilliput (1982) and Alice in Wonderland (1986).

Mexican comedian and singer Gaspar Henaine[Perez], better known as “Capulina” to his many fans, died from pneumonia on 30 September, aged eighty-five. In a career spanning five decades, he appeared in numerous films, including Se los chupó la bruja, Los invisibles, Santo contra Capulina, Capulina contra los vampiros, El terror de Guanajuato and Capulina contra los monstruos .

Grizzled American character actor Charles Napierdied on 5 October, aged seventy-five. He made his full-frontal screen debut in Russ Meyer’s sex comedy Cherry Harry & Raquel! , and also appeared in the director’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, The Seven Minutes and Supervixens . Napier went on to appear in Wacko, The Night Stalker (1987), Body Count, Deep Space, The Incredible Hulk Returns, Alien from the Deep, Dragonfight, Future Zone, Maniac Cop 2, The Silence of the Lambs, Frogtown II, Eyes of the Beholder, Body Bags, Skeeter, Ripper Man, Alien Species, The Cable Guy, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Steel, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Pirates of the Plain, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Dinocroc, The Machurian Candidate (2004) and One-Eyed Monster . Along with supplying voices to numerous cartoon series, on TV the actor also appeared in the original Star Trek, Starsky and Hutch (“Satan’s Witches”), The Incredible Hulk, Knight Rider, Tales of the Gold Monkey, Outlaws, The New Adventures of Superman, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Roswell High, The Legend of Tarzan and The 4400 . He also reportedly supplied the growls for the final two seasons of TV’s The Incredible Hulk .

Striking Australian actress Diane Cilentodied after a long illness on 7 October, aged seventy-seven. She left her second husband, James Bond actor Sean Connery, after eleven years for playwright Anthony Shaffer while starring in The Wicker Man (1973). After roles in the BBC’s A Tomb with a View (1951) and the 1952 short All Hallowe’en , Cilento appeared in Meet Mr Lucifer, The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp and Z.P.G . (aka Zero Population Growth ), along with episodes of Late Night Horror (“The Kiss of Blood”), Thriller (“Spell of Evil”) and in a recurring role on the children’s series Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left . She also reportedly doubled for Mia Hama in a swimming scene in the Bond film You Only Live Twice .

Bulgarian-born British character actor and writer George BakerMBE, who starred as “Chief Inspector Wexford” in ITV’s The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1987–2000), died of pneumonia after a recent stroke the same day. He was eighty. Baker’s other credits include such films as Sword of Lancelot (aka Lancelot and Guinevere ), Curse of the Fly , the James Bond adventures On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and The Spy Who Loved Me, The Canterville Ghost (1987) and Back to the Secret Garden , along with episodes of The Prisoner (as the “New Number Two”), Doomwatch, Zodiac, Survivors (1975), Doctor Who (“Full Circle”), Robin of Sherwood, Johnny and the Dead (based on the book by Terry Pratchett) and Randall and Hopkirk {Deceased} (2001). Creator Ian Fleming had apparently wanted the actor to play James Bond on the screen. Baker’s third wife, actress Louie Ramsay, died in March at the age of eighty-one.

American actor and musician David[Alexander] Hess, who starred in and additionally composed the soundtrack for Wes Craven’s infamous psycho thriller The Last House on the Left , died on 8 October, aged sixty-nine. He also appeared in The House on the Edge of the Park, Swamp Thing, Body Count, Zombie Nation, Zodiac Killer, The Absence of Light, Fallen Angels and Smash Cut , along with episodes of TV’s Knight Rider and Manimal . Hess also directed the 1980 slasher film To All a Goodnight . In the late 1950s he had a music-recording career under the name “David Hill”. He wrote a number of songs recorded by Elvis Presley, as well as “Speedy Gonzalez”, which was a #1 hit for Pat Boone.

Dependable American actor Alan Fudgedied of lung and liver cancer on 10 October, aged seventy-seven. His movies include Bug, Capricorn One, Are You in the House Alone? The Golden Gate Murders, Goliath Awaits, Brainstorm (1983), Chiller, My Demon Lover, I Saw What You Did (1988), Nightmare on the 13th Floor, Edward Scissorhands, Galaxis and Shark Swarm . Fudge played “C. W. Crawford” on the 1977–78 TV series Man from Atlantis , and he also appeared in episodes of Ghost Story, Wonder Woman, The Greatest American Hero, Knight Rider , the 1980s Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents series, Highway to Heaven, Alien Nation, Quantum Leap, M.A.N.T.I.S . and Dark Skies .

British stage and screen actress Sheila Allendied on 13 October, aged seventy-eight. She appeared in the films Children of the Damned, Venom (aka The Legend of Spider Forest ) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , along with an episode of TV’s The Prisoner (1967).

Michael Cornelison, who starred in Frank Darabont’s 1983 short The Woman in the Room , based on the story by Stephen King, died of liver complications on 15 October, aged fifty-nine. He also appeared in Superstition, Timesweep, Mommy and Mommy’s Day, Haunting Villisca and Husk , along with two episodes of TV’s The Greatest American Hero .

Glamorous British actress Sue Lloyd(Susan Margery Jeaffreson Lloyd) died on 20 October, aged seventy-two. A former chorus girl, showgirl and model, she studied acting with Jeff Corey and appeared in Hammer’s Hysteria, Corruption (with Peter Cushing), Go For a Take, No.1 of the Secret Service and the 1993 Roy “Chubby” Brown comedy U.F.O . During the 1960s and ’70s, the actress was a regular on British TV in such series as The Avengers, Journey to the Unknown, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson and Super Gran . Lloyd starred in a short-lived stage version of The Avengers in 1971, and twenty years later she married actor Ronald Allen, six weeks before his death from lung cancer.

American character actor Leonard Stone(Leonard Steinbock) died of cancer on 2 November, the day before his eighty-eighth birthday. Best remembered as the father of the gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), he also appeared in Shock Treatment (1964), Soylent Green and Once Upon a Spy (with Christopher Lee), along with episodes of TV’s The Outer Limits (1963), the “lost” pilot The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre, The Invaders, Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, The Six Million Dollar Man, Gemini Man, The Next Step Beyond, Bigfoot and Wildboy and The Invisible Man (2001).