Stephen (ed.) - The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 18

British actor and film and TV writer David Butlerdied the same day, aged 78. He appeared in the 1970 horror thriller Crucible of Horror .

British musical entertainer Derek Scottdied on May 27th, aged 84. Following World War II, he formed a comedy duo with Tony Hancock, and he later composed the music for Hancock’s 1960s TV series and the film The Punch and Judy Man . Scott also composed many songs for The Muppet Show and was the voice of the piano-playing dog, Rolfe.

American leading man Robert Sterling(William John Hart), best remembered for his role as the ghostly George Kirby in the 1953–56 TV series Topper , died on May 30th, aged 88. He had suffered from shingles for a decade. The son of baseball star William S. Hart (not to be confused with the silent screen actor), Sterling appeared in Mandrake the Magician, Beware Spooks! , and the 1961 film version of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as Captain Lee Crane, along with episodes of TV’s Lights Out, Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Twilight Zone and Fantasy Island . He was married to actresses Ann Sothern from 1943–49 and Anne Jeffreys (who he co-starred with in Topper ) from 1951 until his death.

Johnny Grande,who played piano for Bill Haley and His Comets on their 1954 hit “Rock Around the Clock”, died on June 2nd, aged 76. He also played on “See You Later, Alligator” and “Rockin’ Through the Rye”.

Grateful Dead and The Tubes keyboard player Vince Welnickapparently committed suicide the same day, aged 55 .

75-year-old radio actor James Barrett,who voiced the part of Dan Reid, the young nephew of The Lone Ranger , died on June 4th. He also worked on The Green Hornet and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon .

59-year-old Texas-born singer, songwriter and musician Billy Preston,best known for playing keyboards on the Beatles’ 1970 album Let it Be , died of a heart infection and kidney failure on June 6th. He had been in a coma since November the previous year. Often referred to as “the Fifth Beatle” after he was credited on “Get Back”, Preston was the first musical guest to appear on TV’s Saturday Night Live when the show premiered in 1975.

American character actor Robert Donner,a founding member of Harvey Lembec’s comedy-improv group The Crazy Quilt Comedy Company, died of a heart attack on June 8th, aged 75. After his friend and neighbour, Clint Eastwood, encouraged him to try drama, Donner appeared in more than 100 films and TV shows. Best known for his recurring role as Exidor on Mork and Mindy (1978–82), he also appeared in Agent for H.A.R.M., The Spirit is Willing, The Horror at 37,000 Feet, High Plains Drifter, Damnation Alley, Hysterical, Alan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, Alien Nation: Dark Horizon and episodes of TV’s Ghost Story, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Incredible Hulk, Voyagers!, Blue Thunder, Starman and Early Edition .

Former model and exploitation actress Audrey Campbell(aka “Audrey Theile”) died after a long illness the same day, aged 76. She suffered from kidney and respiratory problems for many years. Best remembered for her role as Madame Olga in the 1964 sexploitation trilogy White Slaves of Chinatown, Olga’s House of Shame and Olga’s Girls , she also appeared in 50,000 B.C. (Before Clothing ) and TV’s original Dark Shadows .

Hollywood leading man Arthur Franzdied of heart failure and emphysema on June 17th, aged 86. His film credits include Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, Flight to Mars, Invaders from Mars (1953), Back from the Dead, The Elame Barrier, Monster on the Campus, The Atomic Submarine, Sisters of Death and Dream No Evil . On TV he starred as Bill Winters in the 1959 series World of the Giants and appeared in episodes of Science Fiction Theatre, Man Into Space, One Step Beyond, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Invaders, Land of the Giants and The Six Million Dollar Man .

American character actor Richard Stahl(aka “Dick Stahl”) died on June 18th, aged 74. His numerous credits include The Student Nurses, Billy Jack, Slaughterhouse-Five, Beware the Blob, Terminal Island, Good Against Evil, High Anxiety, Hi Honey – I’m Dead , plus episodes of TV’s Search, Struck by Lightning, Highway to Heaven and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman .

Claydes “Charles” Smith,co-founder and lead guitarist with the 1970s jazz funk group Kool & the Gang, died after a long illness on June 20th, aged 57. Smith wrote the hits “Joanna” and “Take My Heart”.

Welsh-born character actor and anti-establishment film-maker Kenneth Griffith(Kenneth Griffiths) died on June 25th, aged 84. He made his film debut in the early 1940s, and his credits include Helter Skelter (1947), 1984 (1956), Expresso Bongo, Circus of Horrors, Jane Eyre (1970), Revenge and The House in Nightmare Park (aka Crazy House ). On TV he is best remembered for appearing in two episodes of the 1960s cult classic The Prisoner , including the series finale, “Fall Out”.

71-year-old Lennie Weinrib(aka “Len Weinrib”), who supplied the voice of the title character on the 1969 TV series H. R. Pufnstuff (which he also wrote), died in Santiago, Chile, of a stroke on June 28th. As a prolific voice actor, he worked on numerous cartoons featuring the Addams Family, Flintstones, Charlie Chan, Batman and Scooby-Doo (he was the original voice of Scrappy-Doo), as well as Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks . Weinrib also appeared in Roger Corman’s Tales of Terror, The Strongest Man in the World and episodes of TV’s The Twilight Zone, My Favorite Martian, The Munsters and The Man from U.N.C.L.E .

55-year-old American actor Benjamin Hendrickson,who won a Daytime Emmy Award for playing police chief Hal Munson on the soap opera As the World Turns , committed suicide on July 1st by shooting himself in the head. He had apparently been depressed since his mother’s death from cancer in 2003. Hendrickson also appeared in The Demon Murder Case and Manhunter .

80-year-old American actress Kasey Rogers(Josie Imogene Rogers, aka “Laura Elliot”), who played Louise Tate on TV’s Bewitched , died of a stroke on July 6th after a long battle with cancer. She portrayed the murder victim in Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train , and her other film credits include Two Lost Worlds, When Worlds Collide and My Favorite Spy. A regular on Peyton Place (as “Julie Anderson”), she left the show in 1968 and was cast as the wife of advertising executive Larry Tate in Bewitched . After retiring from acting, she became a motor racing promoter.

Syd Barrett(Roger Keith Barrett), founder of the rock group Pink Floyd, died of diabetes-related symptoms on July 7th, aged 60. Barrett was the lead singer and guitarist of the group until 1968, when an LSD-induced mental breakdown led to him living as a recluse for more than thirty years. He wrote such early hits for the group as “Arnold Layne” and “See Emily Play”, while the Floyd’s songs “Wish You Were Here” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” celebrated Barrett’s genius.

1940s Hollywood star June Allyson(Ella Geisman) died after a long illness from pulmonary respiratory failure and acute bronchitis on July 8th, aged 88. A former Broadway chorus dancer, late in her career she appeared in such TV movies as Curse of the Black Widow and The Kid with the Broken Halo , as well as episodes of The Sixth Sense, The Incredible Hulk, Misfits of Science and Airwolf The first of her three marriages was to actor-director Dick Powell, which lasted from 1945 until his death in 1963.