59-year-old British TV and radio presenter Mike Smith (Michael George Smith) died on August 1 of complications following major heart surgery. Smith was one of the co-presenters of Stephen Volk’s infamous Hallowe’en spoof Ghostwatch, along with his wife Sarah Greene and Michael Parkinson, which the BBC broadcast live in 1992.
Canadian character actor Walter [Edward Hart] Massey, the cousin of veteran actor Raymond Massey, died on August 4, aged 85. A prolific voice actor, his films include Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, Happy Birthday to Me, Zombie Nightmare, Whispers and Secrets of the Summer House, and he was also in episodes of the TV anthology series The Twilight Zone (1989), The Hidden Room and Are You Afraid of the Dark?.
American actress Marilyn Burns, who survived Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), died on August 5, aged 65. She was also in Hooper’s Eaten Alive plus Helter Skelter (1976), Kiss Daddy Goodbye (with Fabian), Future-Kill, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, Butcher Boys, Texas Chainsaw 3D, Sacrament and In a Madman’s World.
Northern Irish character actor J.J. Murphy died on August 8, aged 86. Days earlier he had started work on HBO’s Game of Thrones as “Denys Mallister”, the oldest member of the Night’s Watch. He also had an uncredited role as a village elder in Dracula Untold.
American actor Ed Nelson (Edwin Stafford Nelson), who starred in the TV soap opera Peyton Place (1964-69), died of congestive heart failure on August 9, aged 85. He began his career as a member of Roger Corman’s unofficial stock company in such movies as Swamp Women, Attack of the Crab Monsters (as the crab!), Rock All Night, Teenage Doll, Carnival Rock, Teenage Cave Man, She Gods of Shark Reef, I Mobster and A Bucket of Blood. His other credits include Invasion of the Saucer Men, Night of the Blood Beast, The Brain Eaters, Devil’s Partner, The Screaming Woman (based on a story by Ray Bradbury), The Girl the Gold Watch & Everything, Brenda Starr, Deadly Weapon and The Boneyard, plus episodes of TV’s Thriller (‘The Cheaters’), Twilight Zone, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Outer Limits, Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, The Sixth Sense, The Bionic Woman, Gemini Man, Logan’s Run and Salvage 1.
Veteran British-born soap opera actor Charles [Patrick] Keating died of lung cancer in Connecticut the same day, aged 72. He appeared in episodes of The Mind Beyond (‘Meriel, the Ghost Girl’), Supernatural (‘The Werewolf Reunion’ and ‘Countess Ilona’) and Tales of the Unexpected before moving to America in the mid-1980s, where he was featured in such popular soaps as All My Children, Port Charles and Another World. He also portrayed the god “Zeus” in cross-over episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess.
63-year-old comedic film and TV star Robin [McLaurin] Williams committed suicide by hanging on August 11. He had been suffering from severe depression. Williams was an immediate hit as the offbeat alien “Mork” in the TV sitcom Mork & Mindy (1978-82), a spin-off from Happy Days, and he went on to appear in such films as Popeye, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Dead Again, The Fisher King, Hook, In Search of Dr. Seuss, Jumanji, Hamlet (1996), Flubber (1997), What Dreams May Come (based on the novel by Richard Matheson), Bicentennial Man (based on the novel by Issac Asimov), One Hour Photo, Insomnia, The Final Cut and The Night Listener, and he portrayed “Teddy Roosevelt” in the fantasy trilogy Night at the Museum, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. He was presented with an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1998. Williams’ other TV credits include an episode of Faerie Tale Theatre, he was the voice of the “Genie” in Walt Disney’s animated movies Aladdin and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, and he also gave voice performances in A.I. Artificial Intelligence (based on the story by Brian Aldiss), FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Robots, Happy Feet, Happy Feet Two and Absolutely Anything.
Hollywood actress Lauren Bacall (Betty Joan Perske) died of a stroke on August 12, aged 89. Best known for her co-starring roles with future husband Humphrey Bogart in such classic 1940s movies as To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Dark Passage and Key Largo, she also appeared in Blithe Spirit (1956), Shock Treatment (1964), The Fan, Misery (based on the novel by Stephen King), Presence of Mind (based on Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw) and Birth. Bacall also voiced witches in both Howl’s Moving Castle (based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones) and Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King. She was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2010, and her second husband was actor Jason Robards.
American actress Arlene Martel (Arlene Greta Sax, aka “Tasha Martel”), who played Spock’s Vulcan bride “T’Pring” in the classic Star Trek episode ‘Amok Time’ (1967), died of complications from heart bypass surgery and breast cancer the same day, aged 78. Her other credits include Angels from Hell, Conspiracy of Terror, the softcore Chatterbox!, Dracula’s Dog and Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, plus episodes of TV’s Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits (Harlan Ellison’s ‘Demon with a Glass Hand’), The Man from U.N.C.L.E., My Favorite Martian, I Dream of Jeannie, The Wild Wild West, The Flying Nun, The Monkees (‘Monstrous Monkee Mash’), Bewitched, The Six Million Dollar Man and the original series of Battlestar Galactica.