In MEMORIAM

Note:  Steven H Silver regularly maintains the In Memoriam list, displayed in various places including preceding the Hugo Awards ceremony.  It is an unenviable task and we greatly appreciate Steven’s dedication to the field.  (Our apologies to Steven for our delay in publishing it.)

2018

Director and actor Frank Buxton (b.1930) died on January 2. Buxton did quite a bit of voicework for animation, including creating the character Batfink. He wrote several episodes of The Odd Couple and Happy Days and directed both of those shows as well as episodes of Mork and Mindy.

Actor Jon Paul Steuer (b.1984) died on January 2. Steuer began acting when he was 4, appearing in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Alexander Rozhenko. He retired from acting when he was 12 after starring in Grace under Fire and as an adult performed with bands Soda Pop Kids and P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. using the name Jonny P. Jewels.

Bookseller Fred Bass (b.1928) died on January 3. Bass’s father opened The Strand Bookstore in 1927 and Bass began working there in 1941, taking over the store in 1956 after he returned from the Korean War. He moved the store from its original location on Fourth Avenue to its current location. The store is co-owned by Bass’s daughter, Nancy Bass Wyden.

Author Nicola Gordon Bowe (b.1948) died on January 4. Bowe was most well known as an art historian and wrote a study of Celtic revival artist Harry Clarke, who worked in stained glass. She also wrote an essay exploring Lord Dunsany’s art collection.

Author Adrian Barnes (b.1963) died on January 5. Barnes wrote the fantasy novel Satan a la Mode and the science fiction novel Nod. Barnes intended for Nod to be the first book of a trilogy.

Actor Jerry van Dyke (b.1931) died on January 5. Van Dyke starred in the sitcom My Mother the Car and later appeared on Teen Angel. He was also Dick van Dyke’s younger brother and made appearances on his brother’s show. He may be best known for his non-genre role on Coach.

Astronaut John Young (b.1930) died on January 5. Young flew the first Gemini mission with Gus Grissom, flew on Apollo 10, landed on the moon during Apollo 16, and later flew the inaugural flight of the space shuttle Columbia. He is the only man to fly four different classes of spacecraft. He holds the record for astronaut with the longest active service with NASA: 42 years. With Young’s death, only five moonwalkers survive.

Amateur astronomer Thomas J. Bopp (b.1949) died on January 6. Bopp was working as a manager at a construction materials factory when he discovered Comet Hale-Bopp (also discovered by Alan Hale), on July 22, 1995. Following the discovery, he left his job to become a full time speaker and educator on astronomy.

Author Peter Preston (b.1938) died on January 6. Preston worked as an editor for the Guardian, and continued a weekly column for The Observer after he retired. He published two science fiction novels, Bess and 51st State in the late 1990s.

Actor Doug Young (b.1919) died on January 7. Young provided a variety of voices for Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, The Peter Potamus Show, The Huckleberry Hound Show, and others.

Comic writer Bill Harris (b. 1933) died on January 8. Harris has worked for King Features and Gold Key working on titles including The Phantom, Bullwinkle, and Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery.

Actor Donnelly Rhodes (b.1937) died on January 8. Rhodes appeared on Battlestar Galactica as Dr. Cottle and appeared in The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow as Agent Smith. Other genre appearances included Smallville, The Dead Zone, and The Outer Limits.

Production Designer Terence Marsh (b.1931) died on January 9. Marsh worked on films such as The Green Mile, Scrooge, and Spaceballs. He won Oscars for his work on Oliver! and Doctor Zhivago.

Actress Greta Thyssen (b.1933) died on January 6. Thyssen was named Miss Denmark before moving to Hollywood, where she had a short career that included appearances in the films Journey to the Seventh Planet and Terror Is a Man. She also appeared in some Three Stooges shorts with Joe Besser.

Scriptwriter David Fisher (b.1929) died on January 10. Fisher wrote the Doctor Who serials “The Stones of Blood,” “The Androids of Tara,” “The Creatures from the Pit,” and “The Leisure Hive.” As David Abzug, he provided the script that was turned into the serial “City of Death.” Fisher is not the same David Fisher who is working as a Script Editor for Doctor Who in 2018.

British actress Bella Emberg (b.Sybil Dyke, 1937) died on January 12. Emberg appeared in the Doctor Who serials “The Time Warrior” and “Doctor Who and the Silurians” with Jon Pertwee and the episode “Love & Monsters” with David Tennant. She also appeared in episodes of Doomwatch and The Tomorrow People. Emberg also appeared on The Benyn Hill Show and in the French Revolution sequence in History of the World, Part I.

Actress Jean Porter (b.1922) died on January 13. Porter’s career in films and television began in 1936 and ran until 1961 and included an appearance in One Million B.C. and Sea Hunt.

Actor Peter Wyngarde (b.1927) died on January 15. Wyngarde played Klytus in the 1980s film Flash Gordon and Timanov in the Doctor Who serial “Planet of Fire.” He also appeared in episodes of One Step Beyond and Out of This World. He played Peter King in the television series Department S.

Actor Bradford Dillman (b.1930) died on January 16. Dillman appeared in episodes of The Wild Wild West, Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, and Night Gallery. His film work included Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Piranha, and The Swarm

British director Bob Carlton (b.1950) died on January 18. Carlton was the creator and director of the jukebox musical Return to the Forbidden Planet, which was based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest and the film Forbidden Planet. The musical received the Laurence Oliver for Best New Musical in both 1989 and 1990.

Fan Donald “Dea” Cook (b.1948) died on January 18. Cook was the bid chair for the Atlanta in ‘95 Worldcon bid. Cook received the Rebel Award in 1994 and the Hank Reinhardt Fan Award in 2013.  In 1997, he was the Fan Guest of Honor at Balticon 31.

Author Julius Lester (b.1939) died on January 18. Lester was a civil rights activist, professor, and musician who wrote the novels Time’s Memory and Cupid, among several non-genre books.

Actress Dorothy Malone (b.1925) died on January 19. Malone appeared in The Day Time Ended, The Being, and Rest in Pieces. She may be best known for her appearance on the television series Peyton Place. Malone won an Academy Award for her role in Written on the Wind.

Producer Allison Shearmur (b.1963) died on January 19. Shearmur was a producer of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and both The Hunger Games: Mockingjay films. She produced Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and was one of the producers on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Author Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) died on January 22. Le Guin is the author of the Earthsea cycle and has won the Nebula and Hugo Awards six times each and the World Fantasy Award twice, among many others. She was Guest of Honor at the 1975 Worldcon, Aussiecon 1, and was named a SFWA Grand Master in 2003. Her novels included The Left Hand of Darkness, The Lathe of Heaven, Always Coming Home, and Powers.

Actor Robert Dowdell (b.1932) died on January 23.Dowdell is best known for his role as Chip Morton on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and also appeared in episodes of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Max Headroom, and V, as well as the television film City Beneath the Sea.

Author Jack Ketchum (b.Dallas Mayr, 1946) died on January 24 from cancer. His novels include Joyride, The Lost, and The Girl Next Door. Ketchum received three Bram Stoker Awards and was named a Grand Master by World Horror Con.

Actor Robert Dowdell (b.1932) died on January 23. Dowdell played Lt. Commander Chip Morton on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and appeared in episodes of V, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Land of the Giants, and Max Headroom.

Composer John Morris (b.1926) died on January 25. Morris wrote the soundtracks for many of Mel Brooks’s comedies, including Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs, and History of the World, Part I. His other work included Second Sight, Doctor Franken, and The Littlest Angel. He was nominated for Oscars for his music for Blazing Saddles and The Elephant Man.

Fan David Oberhelman (b.1965) died on January 25.Oberhelman spent several years administering the Mythopoeic Awards and the Mythopoeic Society’s scholarship program.

Actress Kendall Carly Browne (b.1918) died on January 26. Browne appeared in the horror films Alligator and Dreamscape as well as in an episode of Freddy’s Nightmares. Her sons were director of Charles Braverman and actor Bart Braverman, who appeared in various science fiction films. Browne got her start working as a receptionist for the Zeppo Marx Talent Agency.

Minneapolis fan Rob Ihinger (b.1955) died on January 26. Ihinger was active in MinnSTF and worked in various departments for Minicon over the years, including work as a hotel liaison and operations. He was married to author Peg Kerr.

Cartoonist Mort Walker (b.1923) died on January 27. Walker is best known for the comic strips “Beetle Bailey” and “Hi and Lois.” Under the name Addison, he created “Boner’s Ark.” In 1974, Walker opened the first Museum of Cartoon Art in Greenwich, CT, although he later moved it to Rye Brook, NY and then Boca Raton, FL. Walker was inducted into its Museum of Cartoon Art Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Sparky Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Actor Mark Salling (b.1982) committed suicide on January 30 while awaiting sentencing on child pornography charges. Salling is best known for his role on Glee and appeared in the horror films The Graveyard and Children of the Corn: The Gathering.

Don J. Arneson (b.1935) died on February 1. Arneson wrote comics for Dell magazines and Western Publishing, working on titles including Frankenstein, Dracula, Werewolf, and Dark Shadows.

Author Michael Fleisher (b.1942) died on February 2. Fleisher worked for DC Comics on The Spectre and Jonah Hex. He wrote three volumes of The Encyclopedia of Comic Books Heroes. Working on Batman, he created the Electrocutioner and reintroduced the character Crime Doctor. He worked on 2000 A.D. and eventually left the comics dield in 1991 to work on a PhD in anthropology.

Artist William O’Connor (b.1951) died on February 2. Connor worked on interior illustrations for TSR in the 1990s and produced artwork for other game publishers as well. He wrote instructional art books including Dracopedia and was nominated for a Chesley Award in 2002.

Physicist Joseph Polchinski (b.1954) died on February 2. Polchinski helped create the mathematical foundation for the idea that our universe is part of the multiverse. He was also working with string theory and credited his interest in physics to his love of science fiction.

Author David F. Case (b.1937) died on February 3. Case published a handful of short stories and novels in the late 60s and 70s before disappearing from the horror field, only to reappear in the 1980s. His novel Fengriffen was made into the film And Now the Screaming Starts!.

Actor John Mahoney (b.1940) died on February 4. Best known for his role on Frasier and his long affiliation with Chicago’s Steppanwolf Theatre, his genre credits include the film The Iron Giant, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Third Rock from the Sun.

Hugh Hancock died on February 5. Hancock created Strange Company to make movies, shorts, and machinima and developed the VR RPG Left-Hand Path. Among his earlier work was the mechanima film Bloodspell.

Argentinian author Liliana Bodoc (b.1958) died on February 6. Bodoc published La Saga de los Confines trilogy between 2000 and 2008, all of which has also been translated into Dutch and the first volume of which was translated into English in 2013 as The Days of the Deer.

Dave Palter (b.1952) died on February 6. Palter edited the fanzine Apple of Discord and was active in the Toronto fannish scene, attending First Thursday before he left fandom. In the 1970s, he was active in Scientology, but left the movement and became a critic of it in the early 1980s.

Author John Anthony West (b.1932) died on February 6. West began publishing sf with “The Fiesta at Managuay,” which appeared in F&SF. He had a handful of stories that appeared in that magazine and Omni over the years.

Actor Mickey Jones (b.1941) died on February 7. Jones may be best known for his roles on Home Improvement and Justified, but he also appeared in the film Starman, the original Total Recall, and the television shows V, Battlestar Galactica, and Alf.

Artist Robert Bonfils (b.1922) died on February 8. Bonfils painted numerous book covers in the second half of the 1960s, not only working in science fiction, but also working for William Hamling’s erotica lines. When Hamling set up Greenleaf Classics, with Earl Kemp as Editor-in-Chief, Bonfils was given the assignment as the imprint’s Art Director.

Actor Reg E. Cathey (b.1958) died on February 9. Cathey played Dr. Franklin Storm in Fantastic 4 and appeared in Tank Girl and The Mask. He played Baron Samedi in Grimm and played Morag in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Actor John Gavin (b.Juan Vincent Apablasa, 1931) died on February 9. Gavin appeared in the films Psycho, Pedro Páramo, and an episode of The Wide World of Mystery. He left acting in 1981 to serve as the Ambassador to Mexico during the Reagan administration.

Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (b.1969) died on February 9. Jóhannsson composed the music for the films Arrival and The Theory of Everything, being nominated for an Oscar for the latter film, as well as Sicario. Other science fiction films with his music included By Day and by Night and the shorts Junk Love and The Sea of Perdition.

Comedian Marty Allen (b.Morton David Alpern, 1922) died on February 12. Best known as a nightclub comedian, he teamed up with Steve Rossi to form the act Allen & Rossi, which appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show the night the Beatles debuted. He made several films and television appearances, including in an episode of Night Gallery.

Author Bill Crider (b.1941) died on February 12. Crider was best known as a mystery author who wrote several different series, including the Sheriff Dan series, the Carl Burns series, the Sally Good series, etc. he also wrote Westerns and Horror novels. His short story “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” won the 2015 Sidewise Award and he won the Golden Duck Award in 1998 for Mike Gonzo and the UFO Terror.

Author Victor Milán (b.1954) died on February 13. Milán co-wrote the War of Powers novels with Robert E. Vardeman and published his own novels, often using the pseudonyms Alex Archer, Robert Baron, S.L. Hunter, and Richard Austin. He published several BattleTech novels and many novels under the James Axler house name. In 1986, he won a Prometheus Award for his novel Cybernetic Samurai.

Actress Nanette Fabray (b.1920) died on February 22. Fabray appeared in Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Man in the Santa Claus Suit, and The Munsters Today.

Coventry fan David Thomas (b.1954) died on February 22. Thomas attended many UK conventions.

Director Lewis Gilbert (b.1920) died on February 23. Gilbert directed the film Haunted, based on the novel by James Herbert, as well as the James Bond films Moonraker, The Spy Who Loved Me, and You Only Live Twice. He was nominated for an Oscar for directing the film Alfie.

Animator Bud Luckey (b.1934) died on February 24. Luckey not only did character design for Toy Story, Cars, A Bug’s Life, and several other animated films and television shows, he also provided the voice of Rick Dicker in the first Incredibles movie, the narrator in the Pixar short Boundin’ , and Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh.

Actor Peter Miles (b.1928) died on February 26. Miles portrayed Secretary Rontane in two episodes of Blake’s 7, appeared in several episodes of Z Cars, and appeared in Doctor Who serials “Doctor Who and the Silurians,” “Invasion of the Dinosaurs,” and “Genesis of the Daleks.”

Artist and animator Bill Lignante (b.1925) died on February 27. He took over the comic strip “The Phantom” at Wilson McCoy’s death and drew the strip and books for newspapers, Gold Key, and Charlton. He worked as an animator for Hanna-Barbera for 16 years before becoming a courtroom sketch artist, where he illustrated the trials of Patty Hearst, Sirhan B. Sirhan, and Charles Manson, among others.

Actor David Ogden Stiers (b.1942) died on March 3. Best known for his portrayal of Charles Emerson Winchester III on MASH, he also voiced Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast, Harcourt in Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Jumba Lilo & Stitch, Radcliffe & Wiggins in Pocahontas, and Solovar in Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited. His on-screen SF appearances included appearances in the film THX 1138, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Outer Limits, and Stargate: Atlantis.

Swedish fan Lars-Olov Strandberg (b.1929) died on March 3. Strandberg began attending Swedish SF conventions in the 1950s and served as the treasurer for most of the cons from the 50s through the 2011 Eurocon. He was also a board member of the Swedish Science Fiction Association. Strandberg was instrumental in the creation of the Science Fiction Bookstore in Stockholm. In 2005, he was the Fan Guest of Honour at Interaction, the Worldcon in Glasgow.

French editor Daniel Walther (b.1940) died on March 3. Walther began writing in 1965 with the story “Les étrangers.” His novel series included Le Livre de Swa and Synge Tarzaniak & Brenn de Dijkal, as well as many stand-alone novels. He won the Prix Imaginaire twice, for his short story “Les soleils noirs d’Arcadie” and the novel L’épouvante.

St. Louis fan Steve Lopata (b.1942) died on March 5. Lopata worked operations, security, and Medical Response teams at numerous Worldcons over the past 40 years. Lopata was a long-time attendee of Archon in Collinsville, IL and had published articles in Soldier of Fortune.

Author Clive Sinclair (b.1948) died on March 5. Sinclair wrote the novels Blood Libelsand Augustus Rex. His short stories were collected in Bedbugs in 1982. His first novel was Bibliosexuality, which he considered a collection of linked stories.

Editor and author Peter Nicholls (b.1939) died on March 6 from cancer. Nicholls is perhaps best known as the editor of The Science Fiction Encyclopedia, which won a Hugo Award in 1980 for its first edition. The second and third editions, under the title The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction also earned Nicholls a second and third Hugo Award when they were released. Nicholls also won the Pilgrim Award, Peter McNamara Award, and Eaton Award. From 1974-1978, he was the co-editor of Foundation.

Author Norman Zierold (b.1927) died on March 7. Zierold was the editor of Theatre Arts Magazine and eventually began writing biographies of actors and directors. When he turned his attention to fiction, he wrote the science fiction thriller The Skyscraper Doom.

Author Kate Wilhelm (b.1928) died on March 8. Wilhelm began publishing in 1956 with the story “The Pint-Sized Genie” and her first sf novel, The Clone, written with Theodore L. Thomas, was nominated for the Nebula Award. She won the Hugo Award twice, including for her novel Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang and the Nebula three times. She helped establish the SFWA and Clarion Workshop and helped run the early Milford Writers Workshops. Along with husband Damon Knight, she was a Pro Guest of Honor at Noreascon Two and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2003. She received an inaugural Solstice Award in 2009 and in 2016, the awards was renamed the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award in her honor.\

Actor Don Eitner (b.1934) died on March 9. Eitner got his start on the television show Science Fiction Theatre in 1956 and later appeared on Men Into Space, The Aquanauts, and Sea Hunt. He appeared in the Star Trek episode “Charlie X” and also performed stunts for William Shatner in the episode “The Enemy Within.”

Swedish fan Jörgen Peterzén (b.1941) died on March 9. Peterzén was one of the co-founders of the Swedish Tolkien Society. In the 1960s, he published the fanzine Fregna and was a guest of honor at Nasacon 7 and Upsala SF-Möte VI. He worked as an editor at Askild & Kärnekull and other publishing houses.

Author Mary Rosenblum (b.1952) died on March 11 when the small plane she was flying crashed near Battle Ground, Washington. Rosenblum won the Compton Crook Award in 1994 for her debut novel, The Drylands and followed up with several other novels, writing mysteries as Mary Freeman, her maiden name. Her short story, “Sacrifice” won the 2009 Sidewise Award for Alternate History.

Scientist Stephen Hawking (b.1942) died on March 14. Hawking was a theoretical physicist who suffered from motor neurone disease in 1963 and given two years to live. He had a successful career that included the publication of the popular science text A Brief History of Time and appearances as himself on various television shows, including The Big Bang Theory and Star Trek: The Next Generation. The film The Theory of Everything was made about his life.

Producer Erwin C. Dietrich (b.1930) died on March 15. Best known for his work in sexploitation films, his genre movies included Jack the Ripper, Der Teufel in Miss Jonas, and Reyes.

Karen Anderson (b.June Millichamp Kruse, 1932) died on March 17. Best known as the wife of Poul Anderson and one of the founders of the SCA, Karen Anderson co-wrote the King of Ys series with her husband and wrote short stories both with him and solo. She also provided illustrations and maps for Anderson’s work as well as fanzines and occasional other professional publications. She is believed to be the first person to use the term “filk” in print.

Her daughter is Astrid Anderson.

Author David Bischoff (b.1951) died on March 19. Bischoff’s first novel, The Seeker, was published in 1976. His 1977 story, “Tin Woodman,” written with Dennis R. Bailey, was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Other novels included two books in the Bill, the Galactic Hero series, two Dr. Dimension books written with John DeChancie, and several film and television novelizations. He also wrote screenplays for the television series Dinosaucers, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Space Precinct.

Texas fan Earl Cooley III died on March 20. Cooley volunteered at Armadillocon, including maintaining the convention’s website. He was also the SysOp for the SMOF BBS in Austin.

Filker Rennie Levine (b.1954) died on March 21. Levine was active in New York and East Coast filk circles and is known for songs like “FIAWOL (Filking Is A Way Of Life).” In 1998, her song “Ode to the Sci Fi Channel” won first place in the OVFF Songwriting Contest in the TV Theme Songs category.

Author Tony Plank(b.1940) died on March 21. Plank began publishing genre fiction in 1994 with “The Keeper of the Eddystone Light” in the fanzine E.O.D. His first professional sale was to Keen Science Fiction! In 1996, with the story “The Name of the Game.” Plank published intermittently, with his last appearance the story “Nine Weeks a King” in Aurealis.

Animator Fred Crippen (b.1928) died on March 22. Crippen formed Pantomime Studios in 1958 and went on to create the cartoon Roger Ramjet, which aired for 5 seasons. Crippen later worked on Men in Black: The Series, Yogi’s Space Race, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and other cartoons. He also taught art at a variety of colleges in southern California.

Argentinian author Claudia De Bella (b.1958) died on March 23. De Ball has published her own fiction in Axxón and other magazines and has translated more than 150 short stories and novels by English speaking authors into Spanish. She has received the Axxón Prize and the Más Alla Award. De Bella has run writing workshops for teenagers, publishing their works in a series of anthologies.

Scottish author Philip Kerr (b.1956) died on March 23. Writing as P.B. Kerr, he wrote the Children of the Lamp series as well as the novel One Small Step. Kerr also wrote under his own name and several books using the pseudonym Bernard Gunther.

Cinematographer Ralph Woolsey (b.1914) died on March 23. Woolsey worked as a cinematographer on the 1966 Batman television series and the film Oh, God! Book II. He won an Emmy Award for his work on To Catch a Thief.

Actress Debbie Lee Carrington (b.1959) died on March 24. Carrington stood 3’10” and appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Mighty Joe Young, Men in Black, Total Recall, The High Crusade, and Return of the Jedi. In addition to appearing as an actress, she also performed stunts in several films including Bride of Chucky, Van Helsing, and Spawn.

Game Designer Donald Saxman (b.1954) died on March 24. In addition to working for Quality Assurance Management for the International Space Station Life Support System, Saxman was the author of four superhero-based role playing games, including Superhero 2044, the first superhero based RPG.

Artist Martin G. Cameron died on March 26. Cameron’s artwork appeared in Analog and he also produced 3D imagery for LucasArts videogames.

Spanish author Carlos Saiz Cidoncha (b.1939) died on March 27. In addition to writing space opera, Cidoncha also helped organize the Spanish convention Hispacon. In the 1960s, he helped create the Anticipation Readers Circle and the Spanish Fantasy and Science Fiction Association. He was awarded an Ignotus Prize in 1993 for lifetime achievement.

Author William Prochnau (b.1937) died on March 28. Known mostly as a journalist, Prochnau’s novel Trinity’s Child was a nuclear warning novel, along the lines of Fail Safe and was adapted for screen as By Dawn’s Early Light.

Governing Director Livia Gollancz (b.1920) died on March 29. Gollancz served as the Governing Director (CEO ) of the Victor Gollancz publishing company from 1976-1990. Prior to joining the family firm in 1953, she spent fifteen years as a professional French horn player.

French author Hughes Douriaux (b.1947) died in March. Douriaux began publishing in 1985 with the novel Le monde oublié. Through the end of the century, he published several other novels, both stand-alone and in several series, including Les chroniques de Vonia, Les Démoniqaues de Kallioh, and Un homme est venu. His final novel, Aberration cosmique appeared in 2007.

Illinois fan Al Babcock died on April 1. Babcock ran ChambanaCon with his wife, Sharon, for several years and always worked the relaxacon’s registration desk. He served as ChambanaCon’s toastmaster on several occasions.

Director Gil Brealey (b.1932) died on April 1. Brealey directed The Stranger, the first Australian science fiction television series, from 1964-65.

Egyptian author Ahmed Khaled Tawfik Farraag (b.1962) died on April 2. Towfik’s novel Utopiawas first published in Arabic in 2008 and subsequently translated into English, Finnish French, and German. His novel Metaphysics was published in installments in 1993.

Author Samuel Sackett (b.1928) died the first week of April. Sackett worked as a professor of English and a freelance journalist in addition to writing the novels The Robin Hood Chronicles and Adolf Hitler in Oz. His short fiction appeared in Imagination Science Fiction, Popular Science Fiction, and Future Science Fiction. From 1952-1955, he published the fanzine Fantastic Worlds.

Australian artist Noela Young (b.1930) died the first week of April. Young began illustrating books in the 1950s and her genre work includes covers for Emma Rodda’s Finders Keepers, Patricia Wrightson’s The Rocks of Honey, and Rodda’s The Timekeeper. Young also provided interior illustrations for many of the works she did covers for.

Actor Tim O’Connor (b.1927) died on April 5. O’Connor portrayed Dr. Elias Huer on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. He also appeared on the television shows Wonder Woman, Knight Rider, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Anime director Isao Takahata (b.1935) died on April 5. Takahata was one of the founders of Studio Ghibli and produced Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Castle in the Sky. He also worked as director on Grave of the Fireflies.

German artist Lothar Reher (b.1932) died on April 6. Reher was cover designer for the Spektrum line of books and personally designed the covers for several books, including many science fiction novels. He became a photographer in 1959 and many of his works used manipulated photographs he took.

Danish critic Palle Juul Holm (b.1931) died on April 7. Holm published the first Danish educational text for science fiction, Syzygy og den sorte stjerne. He published fiction, such as En blå og skyfri himmel, using the name Bernhard Ribbeck.

Czech film-maker Juraj Herz (b.1934) died on April 8. Herz directed Nosferatu vs. Father Pipecock & Sister Funk, The Last Trick of Mr. Schwarcewallde and Mr. Edgar, and other science fiction, fantasy, and horror films. His Ferat Vampire was nominated for a Gold Hugo, presented by the Chicago International Film Festival.

Actor Chuck McCann (b.1934) died on April 8. McCann provided the voice of Duckworth in various DuckTales projects. He voiced the Thing in Marvel cartoons and appeared on screen in Dracula: Dead and Loving It. He was Bossman on The Powerpuff Girls

Actor Alex Beckett (b.1982) died on April 12. Becket appeared in two episodes of The Aliens.

British author A.R. Lloyd (b.1927) died on April 12. Although trained as an artist, he turned his creative talents to writing. Lloyd wrote the Kine Saga fantasy novels for teenagers. His work for adults was published under the name Alan Lloyd, beginning with his first book, the non-fiction The Drums of Kumasi. He published Kine in 1982.

Actor R. Lee Ermey (b.1944) died on April 15. Best known for his role in the film Full Metal Jacket, Ermey provided the voice of Sarge in the Toy Story movies and provided voicework in various other animated shows and in the film Starship Troopers. He played Brisco County, Sr. in two episodes of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.

Actor Harry Anderson (b.1952) died on April 16. Best known for playing Judge Harry Stone on Night Court and Dave Barry on Dave’s World, his genre roles included an appearance on Lois & Clark, Tales from the Crypt, Tales from the Darkside, and Harvey. In addition to acting, Anderson was a magician.

Actress Pamela Gidley (b.1965) died on April 16. Gidley played Brigitte on the television show The Pretender. She played Teresa Banks in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces. She was in the films Cherry 2000, The Little Vampire, and Highway to Hell.

Fan Regina Gottesman (b.1948) died on April 18. Gottesman co-edited issues of the fanzine Time Warp and was a Star Trek fan writer. She was nominated for a Fan Q Award in 1982. She was involved in the early New York Star Trek conventions, as well as Lunacon. She also published the fanzines Comlink and Errantry.

Author Raymond Reid Collins (b.1929) died on April 19. Best known as a radio broadcast, Collins published four stories in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, beginning with “The Book Keeper” in 1978 and ending with “Great Speckle Bird” in 1984. Collins covered presidential campaigns from 1968 through 1980. He also covered all the Gemini and Apollo launches. In 1985, he became an anchor for CNN until 1996.

Actor Verne Troyer (b.1969) committed suicide on April 21. Troyer portrayed Griphook in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and also appeared in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. He was Mini-me in the second and third Austin Powers films. He made his film debut in 1996 in the title role of Pinocchio’s Revenge.

Artist Alice Provensen (b, Alice Twitchell, 1918) died on April 23. Provensen worked in collaboration with her husband, Martin Provensen on artwork for children’s books and continued to write and illustrate books based on myths and folklore following his death in 1987.

Director Michael Anderson (b.1920) died on April 25. Anderson directed the 1956 film Around the World in 80 Days, which earned him an Academy Award nomination. In the 1970s, Anderson directed Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze and Logan’s Run. He directed a television version of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea in 1997.

Actor Noble Craig (b.1948) died on April 26. Craig appeared in The Blob, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5, Bride of the Re-Animator, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, and Sssssss. Craig lost both of his legs, an arm, and the sight in his right eye when he stepped on an artillery shell twelve days after arriving for his tour of duty in Viet Nam.

Argentinian author Elvira Orpheé (b.1922) died on April 26. After living in France, Italy, Spain, and Venezuela, Orpheé returned to Aregntina. She published her first novel, Dos veranos in 1956. Her science fiction includes the sort stories “Un Miedo eterno,” “VOlvere, mamita,” and “¡Cómo lloran las cocodrilitas!” all published in 1981.

Director Gianfranco Parolini(b.1930) died on April 26. Parolini, who was also credited as Frank Kramer, directed Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century, The Three Fantastic Supermen, and The Secret of the Inca’s Empire

Agent Susan Ann Protter (b.1939) died on April 26. Protter began working for Harper before striking out as an independent literary agent. She has represented Rudy Rucker, Kathryn Cramer, Glenn Grant, and others.

German-born author Eric Koch (b.1919) died on April 28. Koch’s books include The French Kiss, The Leisure Riots, and The Last Thing You’d Want to Know. Koch’s family fled Nazi Germany and after studying at Cambridge and University of Toronto, he wound up working for the CBC, where he was a producer of This Hour Has Seven Days.

Actor Robert Mandan (b.1932) died on April 29. Mandan may be best known for his role as Chester Tate on Soap, but he appeared in genre films like Zapped! and episodes of television shows including Mr. Merlin, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Weird Science.

Actor Harry Robinson (b.1930) died on April 30. Robinson worked as a stand-in and double for Richard Harris and Michael Gambon in the Harry Potter films, beginning with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He also appeared in episodes of Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis. Prior to becoming an actor, Robinson flew with the RAF in the Berlin Airlift and worked as a paramedic, being one of the first on the scene for the Great Train Robbery.

Letterer James R. Novak died in April. Novak began working for Marvel in 1975 and became a staff letterer and logo designer before moving on to production manager. He worked on The Avengers, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Four, and Wolverine. Novak also helped design the logo used for Star Wars.

Kottayam Pushpanath (b.1938) died on May 2. Pushpanath was mostly known as a mystery author, but also wrote several fantasy, horror, and science fiction novels, including Dracula in Asia and several other novels based on Dracula, which he also translated into Malayalam.

Actor John Altamura died on May 4. Altamura played the title character in the second and third films in The Toxic Avenger series. He also appeared in Heaven Becomes Hell.

Children’s author Daniel Cohen (b.1936) died on May 6. Cohen worked for Time and Science Digest until he turned to freelance writing in 1969. Many of his books, both fictional and non-fiction, drew on ghosts, UFOs, cryptozoology, and the occult. His books included How to Test Your ESP, Phone Call from a Ghost, and Curses, Hexes, and Spells, which has appeared on several banned book lists.

Children’s book editor Ann Durell (b.1930) died on May 6. Durell began to collect children’s books as a child and wanted to become an author. She joined the Doubleday training program and became secretary to Margaret Lesser. Durell published her first novel, Holly River Secretin 1956. She was promoted to editor in 1959 and over the years worked for Holt and Dutton. Her authors included Lloyd Alexander, Judy Blume, and Marc Brown.

Brad Steiger (b. Eugene Olson, 1936) died on May 6. Steiger wrote both novels and non-fiction books which had a tendency to focus on the paranormal, exploring aliens, Atlantis, alien astronauts, and similar phenomenon.

Austrian author Andreas Findig (b.1961) died on May 7. Findig wrote several novels in the long-running Perry Rhodan series, including Die Solare Residenz trilogy, Der Konquestor, and Tote Helden gibt es nicht. He also wrote three short stories.

British publisher Peter Mayer (b.1936) died on May 11. Mayer was the CEO of Penguin who decided to publish Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses and, like Rushdie, received death threats over the book. During his tenure at Penguin, he helped revitalize the brand, a feat he also accomplished with Ardis and Duckworth. After leaving Penguin, Mayer founded The Overlook Press.

Costumer Deborah Sears (b.1959) died on May 12.  Along with her husband, Greg, she not only participated in masquerades, but also shared her knowledge and expertise at various conventions.

Canadian actress Margot Kidder (b.1948) overdosed on drugs and alcohol on May 13. Kidder shot to fame after portraying Lois Lane in Superman, opposite Christopher Reeve, a role she reprised in all of the sequels. Kidder also appeared in episodes of The Outer Limits, Tales from the Crypt, and R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour. Kidder had long dealt with mental health issues.

Author Tom Wolfe (b.1931) died on May 14. Wolfe mostly wrote mainsteam novels, but his book The Right Stuff about test pilots and the Mercury program, appeals to science fiction fans and was adapted into a Hugo-nominated film.

Writer Dean Stefan (b.1952) died on May 15. Stefan wrote scripts for the animated He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, X-Men, Men in Black, and The Mask.

Actor Joseph Campanella (b.1924) died on May 16. Campanella may be best known for his roles on Mannix and The Fugitive, but he also appeared in Meteor, Hanger 18, and provided voicework for Curt Connors/Lizard on Spider-Man and the Crime Doctor on Batman: The Animated Series.

Japanese actress Yuriko Hoshi (b.1943) died on May 17. Hoshi appeared in several kaiju films, including Mothra vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. She also appeared in the apocalyptic film The Last War.

Dutch author Eddy C. Bertin (b.1944) died on May 19. Bertin, who also published under the names Karla Madonna and Christiane Varen, wrote the Membraan-Universum trilogy, as well as three stand-alone novels. His short fiction was collected in seven volumes and was occasionally translated into English editions.

Designer Bill Gold (b.1921) died on May 20. Gold worked in Hollywood and designed posters for Space Cowboys, A Clockwork Orange, Aline, Barbarella, Clash of the Titans, Somewhere in Time, and many others. At the time of his death, a documentary, This is Gold, was being made about him.

Actor Clint Walker (b.1927) died on May 21. Walker is best known for his appearance as Samson Posey in The Dirty Dozen. He also appeared in Killdozer, based on Theodore Sturgeon’s story, Snowbeast, and provided a voice for his final film, the animated Small Soldiers.

Author Philip Roth (b.1933) died on May 22. Roth may be best known for novels such as Portnoy’s Complaint, Goodbye, Columbus, and I Married a Communist. His work of genre interest includes the alternate history novel The Plot Against America, which earned him a Sidewise Award for Alternate History. Roth was also presented with a National Humanities Medal by Barack Obama and earned the Man Booker International Prize for Lifetime Achievement.

Actor Jerry Maren (b.1920) died on May 24. Maren was the last surviving actor to portray a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz, having presented the lollipop to Dorothy. He also played a Munchkin in the tv-movie The Dreamer of Oz in 1990. Maren’s other roles included the films Tron, Planet of the Apes, Superman and the Mole-Men, episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Wild Wild West. He was also in the Marx Brothers’ film At the Circus.

Children’s author Richard Peck (b.1934) died on May 24. Peck won the Newbery Medal for A Year Down Yonder. His genre work included Monster Night at Grandma’s House, The Ghost Belonged to Me, Lost in Cyberspace!, and Ghosts I Have Been. He also won the Scott O’Dell Award, the Margaret A. Edwards Award, and the National Humanities Medal.

Visual effects artist George Jenson (b.1930) died on May 25. Jenson worked on Return of the Jedi, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 2010, The Rocketeer, and Dune. He started out working on the television shows The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Land of the Giants.

Astronaut Alan Bean (b.1932) died on May 26. Bean was a Navy pilot who was chosen for the Astronaut Corps, but seemed fated to fly a desk until his colleague Pete Conrad went to bat for him following the death of Clifton Williams. Bean wound up walking on the moon with Conrad during Apollo 12 and later served as commander of Skylab 3. Subsequent to his career at NASA, Bean became an artist, focusing on space painting and used relics of his career as an astronaut to make his paintings. His artwork is collected in multiple books, including Apollo: An Eyewitness Account.

Author and actor Pierre Bellemare (b.1929) died on May 26. Bellemare appeared as the narrator in the television film Trois contes merveilleuxand wrote the story “La machine à étrangler” in collaboration with Jacques Antoine. He also worked as a television and radio presenter in France.

Gardner Dozois (b.1947) died on May 27. Dozois may be best known as the long time editor of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine and The Year’s Best Science Fiction anthology series. He was also a successful author in his own right, publishing the novel Hunter’s Run in collaboration with George R.R. Martin and Daniel Abraham, Nightmare Blue with George Alec Effinger, and the solo novel Strangers. His own short fiction has been collected in six volumes. He has edited numerous original anthologies, both alone and in collaboration with, among others, Martin, Jack Dann, Sheila Williams, Stanley Schmidt, and Mike Resnick. Dozois won 15 Hugo Awards for Best Editor, 2 Nebula Awards for his short stories, a World Fantasy Award for the anthology Dangerous Visions, a Sidewise Award, Readercon Award, and Ditmar Award. A week before his death, he was the recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award from the SFWA. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2011.

Screenwriter Tom Swale died on May 30 from an heart attack. Swale wrote scripts for Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Land of the Lost, and The Smurfs, as well as other animated television series. After retiring, he moved to Puerto Vallarta, which he had written about as a scriptwriter for The Love Boat.

Set designer Michael Ford (b.1928) died on May 31. Ford created sets for The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi, Space 1999, and numerous other films and television series. He won Oscars for his work on Titanic and Raiders of the Lost Ark and was nominated for the Oscar for his two Star Wars films.

Fan June Moffatt (b. June Konigsberg, 1926) died on May 31. Moffatt was active in LASFS and a member of First Fandom. She published fanzines, served on a variety of con coms, and in 1973 was a TAFF delegate with her husband, Len Moffatt. Moffatt had served as a LASFS President, among other offices. She was also a member of SCIFI, the Petards, and the Burroughs Bibliophiles. Moffatt helped found Bouchercon and chaired three of the events.

Actor William Phipps (b.1922) died on June 1. Phipps provided the voice for Prince Charming in Cinderella and went on to appear in War of the Worlds, Dune, Invaders from Mars, and episodes of Batman, The Green Hornet, The Wild Wild West, and The Twilight Zone, as well as numerous other television shows and movies.

Author Tony Morphett (b.1938) died on June 2. Morphett wrote the novel Litterbug and as a screenwriter wrote episodes of Mirror, Mirror and Sky Trackers and the film The Last Wave.

Actress Georgann Johnson (b.1926) died on June 6. Johnson played Admiral Gromek in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Emissary.” Other genre appearances including The Day After, One Step Beyond, Tales of Tomorrow, and Captain Video and His Video Rangers, on which she had the recurring role as Princess Arura.

Actress Eunice Gayson (b.1928) died on June 9. Gayson played Sylvia Trench in Dr. No and From Russia with Love. She appeared in The Revenge of Frankenstein. She was in The Avengers episode “Quick-Quick Slow Death” and was in the horror musical Melody in the Dark.

Shelby Vick (b.1928) died on June 9. Also known as ShelVy, he became a fan in the 1940s and was a member of the Alien Science Fantasy Club. Vick started the fund to bring Walt Willis to Chicago for TASFIC in 1952 and won the Rebel Award in 2012. Vick published several fanzines, including Comet, Confusion, The Corflu Courier, Confusions Conception, Countdown X-10, and several others which did not start with the letter C.

Christopher Stasheff (b.1944) died on June 10. Stasheff is best known as a humorous author of the Gallowglass/Warlock series of novels. He also published the Starship Troupers and Saint Vidicon trilogies. With L. Sprague de Camp’s approval, Stasheff continued the Harold Shea/Enchanter stories begun by de Camp and Fletcher Pratt and he edited a collection of stories set in that universe. Stasheff also co-edited the two-volume Crafters shared-world anthology series with Bill Fawcett.

British author and poet Steve Sneyd (b.1941) died on June 13. Sneyd began publishing fiction in 1974 when his story “The Duke of Oldfranc” appeared in the fanzine Sfinx. In 1976, his first poem, “The Waiting Game” appeared in the fanzine Astral Dimensions. He also occasionally contributed illustrations to fanzines and his poems were collected in six volumes. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Poetry Assocation in 2015.

Author Chloe Zerwick (b.1923) died on June 13. Zerwick co-wrote The Cassiopeia Affair with Harrison Brown. In addition to her writing and working in public relations and for electoral politics, Zerwick was an artist who exhibited her work at a variety of New York galleries.

Producer Martin Bregman (b.1926) died on June 16. Bregman produced the films The Shadow, Real Men, Simon, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash. He had more success outside the genre, with his film Dog Day Afternoon receiving an Oscar nomination.

Actress Deanna Lund (b.1937) died on June 22. Lund was cast as Valerie Scott by Irwin Allen for the show Land of the Giants. She also had guest appearances on Batman and The Incredible Hulk. Lund appeared in the films Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, Dimension 5, and Sting of Death. Although she retired from film and television in 1992, she did make three appearances in the 2000s.

Alfred Kamajian (b.1957) died on June 23. Kamajian worked as both a professional drummer and an artist. His artwork appeared on the covers of magazines such as Omni and Scientific American and he described his art as “art for the machine age.” He also did cover art for Batman comics, basing his renditions on art deco.

Australian fan Peter Eisler (b.1968) died in a fire on June 26. Eisler was a book collector and when a fire started in his flat, firefighters believe his collection provided fuel for the conflagration that killed him. He was the only victim of the fire that may have started in his kitchen.

Artist Steve Ditko (b.1927) died on June 27. Ditko created the look for Spider-Man and many of his classic victims and also created Doctor Strange. After leaving Marvel, Ditko created The Question, Hawk and Dove, and the Creeper. When he returned to Marvel, Ditko created Squirrel Girl in 1992.

Author Harlan Ellison (b.1934) died on June 28. Ellison began his professional career in 1956 with the publication of the short story “Glowworm” in Infinity Science Fiction. Mostly known for his short stories like are “’Repent, Harlequin,!’ Said the Ticktockman,” “Jeffty is Five,” “A Boy and His Dog,” and” “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,” Ellison also wrote for television and film, writing the Star Trek episode “The City on the Edge of Forever,” among other works. He is noted for editing the anthologies Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions. Ellison contracted stories for a third volume, The Last Dangerous Visions, which has failed to appear to date, although some of the stories have been printed elsewhere. Ellison has won four Nebula Awards and was named a SFWA Grand Master in 2005. He has also won seven Hugo Awards, five Bram Stoker Awards, and a World Fantasy Award among others. He has received a Special Award from the World Science Fiction Society (Worldcon) on three separate occasions and was the Guest of Honor at Iguanacon, the 36th Worldcon, held in 1978 in Phoenix, AZ. He was named a Grandmaster by World Horror Con and received Life Achievement Awards from the International Horror Guild, the Eaton Award, Bram Stoker Award, the Forry Award, and the World Fantasy Awards. In 2011, he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

Austrian author Christine Nöstlinger (b.1936) died on June 28. Nöstlinger wrote Guardian Ghost and Conrad: The Factory-Made Boy. IN 1984, she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her lasting contribution to children’s literature and she was one of the inaugural recipients of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

Actress Helen Griffin (b.1959) died on June 29. Griffin portrayed Mrs. Moore in the Doctor Who episodes “Rise of the Cybermen” and “The Age of Steel” opposite David Tennant. She also appeared in Life Force and The Machine. Prior to becoming an actress, Griffin worked as a psychiatric nurse.

Actor Derrick O’Connor (b.1941) died on June 29 from pneumonia. O’Connor’s genre credits include Alias, Brazil, Time Bandits, The Final Programme, Jabberwocky, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. O’Connor was also a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company

Author and cartoonist Richard Siegel (b.1955) died in June. Siegel wrote the novel The Extraterrestrial Report in collaboration with John Butterfield and the novel Alien Plague using the pseudonym Stephard Noir. He may be best known as the one-time head writer for Weekly World News.

Australian Fan Lucy Zinkiewicz died in June.  Zinkiewicz published the fanzines Strawberry Filks Forever and ZinkieZine.  She served as the first NAFF (National Australian Fan Fund) delegate.  Zinkiewicz was the editor of issues 36 and 57 of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine.

Writer and producer Peter Firmin (b.1928) died on July 1. Firman wrote Noggin the Nog and Clangers and with Oliver Postgate created the Smallfilms stop-motion animation company that produced those and other films.

Bookdealer Jack Gonzalez (b.1945) died on July 1. Gonzalez was a used bookseller who ran Fantastic Voyages in Saint Simons Island, Georgia.

Choreographer Gillian Lynne (b.1926) died on July 1. Lynne provided choreography for the stage productions of Phantom of the Opera and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as for the films Man of La Mancha and 200 Motels. She also worked on The Muppet Show. Lynne was awarded a CBE in 1997.

Author James B. Adair died on July 2. Adair was the author of the DeepCore trilogy and with Gordon Rottman wrote the WWIII: Behind the Lines trilogy.

Dutch cinematographer Robby Müller (b.1940) died on July 3. Müller worked on the films Repo Man, Dead Man, Il piccolo diavolo, and Until the End of the World.

Animator Darrell McNeil (b.1957) died on July 4. McNeil worked as a storyboard artist for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Real Ghostbusters. He also worked as a model designer for the television show Jem. He got his start working for Hanna-Barbera.

Choreographer Alan Johnson (b.1937) died on July 7. Johnson worked on several projects with Mel Brooks, choreographing sequences in History of the World, Part I, Blazing Saddles, Dracula: Dead and Loving It. He also directed the film Solarbabies and To Be or Not to Be. Johnson also choreographed and performed on Broadway, including appearing in the original production of West Side Story.

Composer Oliver Knussen (b.1952) died on July 8. Knussen was most widely known for his classical music, but he also wrote operas based on two works by Maurice Sendak, including an adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, with a libretto by Sendak.

Italian screenwriter and director Carlo Vanzina (b.1951) died on July 8. Vanzina wrote and directed the films A spasso nel tempo and its sequel, A spasso nel tempo – L’avventura continua as well as S.P.Q.R.: 2,000 and a Half Years Ago, and Torno indietro e cambio vita.

Armenian author Karen Simonyan (b.1936) died on July 9. Simonyan worked as a design engineer and was the cief editor of the magazine Literary Armenia. She spent the last years of her life living in Paris and advocating for the removal of Vladimir Putin. Her fiction included The Martians, The Wandering Planet, and Circus on the Moon. Simonyan was considered a pioneer of Armenian science fiction.

Author Clive King (b.1924) died on July 10. King was a British children’s author who wrote Stig of the Dump, about a caveman living in modern England. His other works of genre interest include The Seashore People and “Hamid of Aleppo.” In addition to his children’s books, King also wrote four plays.

Actor Roger Perry (b.1933) died on July 12. Perry played Major Christopher on Star Trek and appeared in Count Yorga, Vampire and in episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, and Wonder Woman.

French author Claude Seignolle (b.1917) died on July 13. Seignolle also used the pseudonyms Starcanteand Jean-Claude Dumoulin. Originally interested in archaeology and folklore, Seignolle began writing books of supernatural horror, such as The Accursed, Man with Seven Wolves, The Black Cupboard, and several collections of his short stories.

Actor Gary Beach (b.1947) died on July 17. Beach got his start on Broadway as an understudy for Edward Rutledge in the original production of 1776. He portrayed Duke in the Broadway musical Doonesbury and created Lumiere on Broadway in Beauty and the Beast and Roger De Bris in the musical The Producers. He appeared in the North America touring company of Spamalot.

Costume designer Yvonne Blake (b.1940) died on July 17. Blake created costumes for Fahrenheit 451, Superman, Superman II, and What Dreams May Come. She was nominated for an Oscar for her costumes in The Four Musketeers and won an Oscar for Nicholas and Alexandra.

Playwright and screenwriter Hugh Whitemore (b.1936) died on July 18. His genre work included the Out of the Unknown episode “Too Many Cooks,” the Fascist British play The Guardians, and the horror films Three Dangerous Ladies, Dead of Night, and The Haunting of Helen Walker. His most famous work may be the film version of 84 Charing Cross Road.

Writer Shinobu Hoshimoto (b.1918) died on July 19. Hoshimoto is best known for his screenplay for Rashomon and Seven Samurai and other Kurusawa films. Lesser known are his horror films Village of Eight Gravestones and Ghost Story of Kakui Street and the science fiction film Tidal Wave.

Art director Michael Howells (b.1957) died on July 19. Howells got his start working on the television film The Ghosts of Oxford Street and later worked on Ever After: A Cinderella Story, and Nanny McPhee.

Animator Jon Schnepp (b.1967) died on July 19. Schnepp worked as a background artist on Aqua Team Hunger Force and later as an animator of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. He was the producer and director of the documentary The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened, which explored the failure of the Nicholas Cage-starring Superman film. Schnepp also directed several episodes of The Venture Brothers and Metalocalypse.

Z.S. Adani died on July 21. Adani began publishing in 2007 with the short story “Tomb” in the anthology Desolate Places. She published several works over the next four years, collecting them in The Last Outpost and Other Tales, published by Hadley Rille Books. Adani also co-edited the anthology Destination: Future with Hadley Rille publisher Eric T. Reynolds.

Actress Elmarie Wendel (b.1939) died on July 21. Wendel appeared as Mrs. Dubcek in the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. Other genre roles included the film Rumpelstiltskin, and episode of the television show Weird Science, voicework on The Lorax and the video game Fallout 4.

Sound engineer Doug Grindstaff (b.1931) died on July 23. Grindstaff created sound effects for Star Trek and also worked on Max Headroom, Arthur the King, Quark, and Destination Inner Space. He won Emmy Awards for his work on Max Headroom and This Immortal. In 1998, the Motion Picture Sound Editors recognized his work with a lifetime achievement award.

Visual Effects designer Jeff Heusser (b.1957) died on July 23. Heusser worked on X-Men: The Last Stand, Deep Impact, Aeon Flux, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D, and numerous other films and television shows.

Actor Bernard Hepton (b.1925) died on July 27. Hepton appeared in episodes of Doom Watch, Catweazle, Jackanory, and Out of the Unknown. He provided voicework for the animated film The Plague Dogs. Hepton played Archbishop Cranmer in three different projects and was twice considered for roles on Doctor Who, although he never appeared on the show.

Russian author Vladimir Voinovich (b.1932) died on July 27. Voinovich wrote dystopian science fiction as a way of satirizing the Soviet Union and was stripped of his citizenship in 1980, although he was allowed to return in 1990. He continued to speak out against Russian policies and was a critic of Vladimir Putin. During Brezhnev’s leadership, his works were not openly published, but circulated via samizdat.

Actress Mary Carlisle (b.1914) died on August 1 at the age of 104. Carlisle made her film debut in 1923, but most of her career was from 1930 until 1943. During that time, she appeared in Super-Speed and her final film, the horror movie Dead Men Walk.

Comic creator Vicky Wyman (b.1953) died on August 3. Wyman began drawing the comic book Xanadu in 1988, part of the early history of furry fandom. Wyman was the Guest of Honor at ConFurence 2, ConFurence East 1995, and Anthrocon 1999. In addition to her comics, Wyman self-published the Raven trilogy of novels, which were not part of the furry tradition.

Comics writer and artist John Blair Moore (b.1948) died on August 5. Moore wrote and drew Invaders from Home and also worked for Disney, drawing stories for Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Roger Rabbit, and Darkwing Duck.

Actress Charlotte Rae (b.1926) died on August 5. Rae is best known for portraying Mrs. Garrett on Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life. Rae made appearances in the Roald Dahl series ‘Way Out and in the film Hello Down There.

Polish director Piotr Szulkin (b.1950) died on August 5. Szulkin wrote and directed Golem and The War of the Worlds: Next Century. His other science fiction films included Ga, Ga – Chwala bohaterom and O-bi, O-Ba – The End of Civilization.

Actor Robert Dix (b.1935) died on August 6. Dix appeared as a crewman in Forbidden Planet, he later appeared in Frankenstein’s Daughter, Blood of Dracula’s Castle, Satan’s Sadists, and Horror of the Blood Monsters. At the time of his death, he was making the film The Last Frankenstein, scheduled for release in 2019.

Cinematographer Richard H. Kline (b.1926) died on August 7. Kline has worked on The Andromeda Strain, Howard the Duck, and Soylent Green. He was nominated for an Oscar for his cinematography for Camelot and Dino de Laurentiis’s King Kong. In 2006, the American Society of Cinematographers recognized him with a lifetime achievement award.

Author Gerald M. Weinberg (b.1933) died on August 7. Weinberg published his first novel, The Aremac Project, in 2007. He has since published the novels Mistress of Molecules, Earth’s Endless Effort, and two novels in the Stringers series. Weinberg was also a computer scientist and taught the psychology and anthropology of computer software development.

Quebecois Martin Lessard (b.1971) died on August 9. Lessard began writing after a career in academia. His first story was “Brins d’éternité” and he published several more stories over the next couple years before his first novel, Land without Evil, appeared in 2011. He published Seasons of Independence in 2016. He was twice a nominee for the Rosny Aîné Award.

Collector Wes Shank (b.1946) died on August 10. Shank was a movie memorabilia collector who was nicknamed “The Caretaker of the Blob” because he rescued the prop when it was going to be thrown out. He also owned props from Planet of the Apes and Forbidden Planet, among other science fiction films.

Trinidadian author V.S. Naipaul (b.1932) died on August 11. Not generally considered a genre author, Naipaul story “The Enigma of Arrival” can be considered within the genre. Naipaul received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001.

Choreographer Mariam Nelson (b.1919) died on August 12. Nelson worked as a choreographer on Visit to a Small Planet, the Matt Helm film Murderer’s Row, Alice in Wonderland, and the pilot film of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Author Michael Scott Rohan (b.1951) died on August 12 after a long illness. Rohan published the novel Run to the Stars and The Winter o the World series, as well as the novels in the Spiral sequence. He also co-authored the non-fiction The Hammer and the Cross with Allan J. Scott, about the introduction of Christianity to Viking lands.

Scott Frazier Watson (b.1963) died in a plane crash on August 12. Watson served as the Chief Technology Officer for Disney Imagineering and held 45 patents for technologies used to create Disney’s Indiana Jones, Soarin’, and Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge rides.

Publisher John Calder (b.1927) died on August 13. Calder was a friend of Samuel Beckett and Calder Publishing was the primary publisher of his plays in English. He also was the first publisher to make William S. Burroughs’s work available in the UK. He founded the Calder Bookship Theatre and co-founded the Traverse Theatre. He wrote two short stories that appeared in New Worlds in the 1960s.

Peter C. Coene (b.1943) died on August 13. Coene was instrumental in the creation of NCSF in the Netherlands and more recently had worked to preserve the organizations video archives.

Joseph Giddings (b.1973) died on August 16. Giddings a reviewer whose work appeared in Bull Spec and Tangent. In addition to his reviews, Giddings published two stories in 2012 in the magazine Mystic Signals and the anthology Dark Stars.

Producer Craig Zadan (b.1949) died on August 20. Zadan has produced several live television musicals, including Peter Pan Live! and The Wiz Live!. In 2000, he produced a made-for-television film based on Flowers for Algernon. He was also a producer for the films Footloose, Chicago, and Hairspray.

Actress Barbara Harris (b.1935) died on August 21. Harris starred in the 1976 film Freaky Friday, with Jody Foster. She also appeared in the time travel film Peggy Sue Got Married. Harris go ther start with the Playwrights Theatre Club alongside Ed Asner, Elaine May, and Mike Nichols. She went on to be part of the Compass Players, which eventually led to Second City.

Icelandic actor Stefán Karl Stefánsson (b.1975) died on August 21. Stefánsson provided voiceover work for Thor and A Night in the Museum. He is best known for his work on the children’s show LazyTown, where he appeared as Robbie Rotten using the name Stefán Karl.

Author Ian Cameron (b.Donald Cameron Payne, 1924) died on August 22. Cameron published The Lost Ones in 1961, which was later reprinted as Island at the Top of the World when it was turned into a film. He also wrote the sequel The Mountains at the Bottom of the World. Cameron used the pseudonym Donald Gordon for some of his works, such as Star-Raker and Flight of the Bat.

Author H.M. Hoover (b.1935) died on August 22. Hoover began publishing fiction in 1969, with most of her works aimed at the children’s market. Her titles include The Delikon, The Rains of Eridan, The Shepherd Moon, and Away Is a Strange Place to Be. Hoover’s novel The Winds of Mars won the Golden Duck Hal Clement Award in 1996, tying with The Night Room, by E. M. Goldman.

Comic artist Russ Heath (b.1926) died on August 23. Heath created the Haunted Tank for DC Comics. He received an Inkpot Award, a Comic Art Professional Society Sergio Award, and the National Cartoonists Society’s Milton Caniff Award. In 2009, he was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.

Actor and choreographer Lindsay Kemp (b.1938) died on August 24. Kemp worked as a choreographer for David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust tour and appeared in the film The Wicker Man.

Washington DC area fan Rebecca Prather (b.1938) died on August 24.

Artist Walter Velez (b.1939) died on August 24. Velez may have been best known for his artwork for the original Thieves’ World anthology covers.

Actor Lindsay Kemp (b.1938) died on August 25. Kemp got his start in a production of Hamlet at Elsinore and also appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 1970, he appeared in The Vampire Lovers. His highest profile film role may have been his appearance in The Wicker Man.

Actress Barbara Russell (b.1933) died on August 25. Russell appeared on several episodes of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and other films over the years, but her only genre roles was as a zombie in Day of the Dead.

Literary agent Michael Sissons (b.1934) died on August 25. Sissons works at PFD and edited three science fiction anthologies, including The Masque of the Red Death, Asleep in Armageddon, and In the Dead of Night. He also helped established the Association of Authors’ Agents in the 1970s and was one of the first agents to use a computer to track his authors’ works, deadlines, and royalties.

Author K.C. Ball died on August 26. Ball won the Writers of the Future Contest in 2009 and attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop in 2010. She served as the publisher and editor of 10Flash Quarterly, an on-line flash fiction magazine. In 2012, her short fiction appeared in the collection Snapshots from a Black Hole and Other Oddities and her first novel, Lifting Up Veronica, was serialized on-line and published in hardcover the following year.

Production designer Michael Pickwoad (b.1945) died on August 27. Pickwoad worked on Doctor Who from 2010 until his death. He also worked as art director for The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood and as assistant art director for Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Austrian photographer Erich Lessing (b.1923) died on August 29. Lessing’s work has been published in Time, Life, Picture Post, and used as the cover art for books such as Oryx and Crake, Vittorio the Vampire, and The Book of Air and Shadows.

Comics artist Gary Friedrich (b.1943) died on August 30. Friedrich took over Sgt. Fury from Roy Thomas in the early 1960s and also wrote for The Sentinels and the Blue Beetle. Although he wrote for several superhero comics, most of his work was on westerns and he was one of the creators, along with Dick Ayers and Thomas, or the character The Ghost Rider.

Actress Vanessa Marquez (b.1968) died on August 30. Marquez appeared in the Star Wars parody Return of Pink Five. She also appeared in the horror film Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence. Her largest role was as nurse on ER.

Comics artist Marie Severin (b.1929) died on August 30. Severin worked for EC, where she apparently colored panels she felt were in poor taste dark blue, although Severin refuted the claim. She later illustrated Doctor Strange and served as Marvel’s head colorist before turning more to penciling and inking. She co-created Spider-Woman.

Actress Carole Shelley (b.1939) died on August 31. Shelley provided the voice of Lady Kluck in the Disney animated Robin Hood and played Madame Morrible in the original Broadway cast of Wicked.

Norwegian-Swedish author Margit Sandemo (b.1924) died on September 1. Sandemo wrote the 47 book long Sagan om Isfolket series as well as the Häxmästaren and Legenden om Ljusets Rike series. She published more than 185 books.

Actress Jacqueline Pearce (b.1943) died on September 3. Pearce portrayed Servalan in Blakes 7, Chessene in the seventh Doctor serial “The Two Doctors,” and Miss Pendragon in Dark Season. She also appeared in Moondial. She started out making films for hammer when she was cast as one of the undead in The Plague of the Zombies

Actor Bill Daily (b.1927) died on September 4. Daily had long runs on the Bob Newhart show as neighbor Howard Borden and on the genre show I Dream of Jeannie as Roger Healy. His first screen role was on Bewitched, followed by an appearance on My Mother the Car. He had recurring role on ALF and played Count Strimpkin in the made-for-tv film The Munsters Today. His final role was in the film Horrorween.

Actor Christopher Lawford (b.1955) died on September 5. Lawford appeared in the films Slipstream, The Sixth Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. He also had a role in the Tales from the Crypt episode “The Switch.” Lawford was the son of Peter Lawford and Patricia Kennedy.

Édouard Aidans (b.1930) died on September 6. Aidans work appeared in the covers of French novels Police spatiale, by Jacques Pierroux and Trafic interstellaire, by Claude Vauzière, as well as numerous other books, many of them aimed at the juvenile market.

Actor Peter Benson (b.1943) died on September 6. Benson played Bors in the fifth Doctor serial “Terminus” and Henry VII in Black Adder. He appeared in the miniseries Merlin and the films The Shout, Cry of the Banshee, and Hawk the Slayer.

Actress Liz Fraser (b.1930) died on September 6. Fraser’s genre credits include appearances on My Partner the Ghost and The Avengers.

Writer Thad Mumford (b.1951) died on September 6. Mumford was most famous for his work on M*A*S*H, which included a writers credit for the final episode. He also wrote and produced for ALF.

Actor Burt Reynolds (b.1936) died on September 6. At one time Reynolds was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, starring in a string of comedies that included Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, and The Cannonball Run. His genre work included appearances on The X-Files, The Twilight Zone, Amazing Stories, and in the Universal Soldiers franchise.

Swedish author Sven Wernström (b.1925) died on September 6. He began writing in high school and published numerous YA novels, often with a strong political message. His Trälarna series covers a span of over a thousand years. Several of his books were published pseudonymously in collaboration with Stig Malmberg.

Artist Terry Wiley (b.1961) died on September 8 from brain cancer. Wiley was self-publishing his comics in the 1990s and co-founded Gratuitous Bunny Comix. Some of his titles included Verityfair, Surreal School Stories and More Tales from Sleaze Castle. Wiley won the Comic Creators’ Guild Award for Best Small Press Comic in 1994 and the Knockabout Award for Best Independent British Comic in 2001.

Actor Peter Donat (b.1928) died on September 10. Donat played William Mulder in The X-Files and appeared in an episode of The Outer Limits. He played Mordecai Sahmbi in Time Trax and portrayed George Washington in an episode of Voyagers! Donat was passed over for the role of Tom Hagen in The Godfather, but was given a role in the first sequel.

Actress Fenella Fielding (b.1927) died on September 11. Fielding appeared in the various Uncle Jack series, including Uncle Jack and Cleopatra’s Mummy, Uncle Jack and the Dark Side of the Moon, and Uncle Jack and the Loch Ness Monster. He had a role in The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood and appeared on The Avengers and The Prisoner.

Illustrator Vladimir Radunsky (b.1954) died on September 11. Radunsky emigrated from the USSR to the US in 1982 and began working as an illustrator of children’s books. In addition to painting the cover for Louis Sachar’s Holes, and David Elliott’s The Transmogrification of Roscoe Wizzle, he illustrated many books based on folklore and fairy tales.

Stuntman Jack N. Young (b.1926) died on September 12. After serving in the US Navy during World War II, Young moved to Hollywood to become a stuntman. He appeared in Creature from the Black Lagoon, Night of the Lepus, The Wraith, and Timemaster.

Hoaxster Alan Abel (b.1955) died on September 14. Abel entered the public consciousness in 1959 when he created the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals. He continued to prank the public and the press throughout the years, including arranging to have his own obituary appear in the New York Times in 1980.

Actress Zienia Morton (b.1945) died on September 14. Morton may be best known for her portrayal of Sandra Benes on Space: 1999. She also appeared as Ping-Cho in the first Doctor serial “Marco Polo” and as a high priestess in the Beatles film Help! She has a small role in Dinotopia and appeared in The Sarah Janes Adventures and Wizards vs. Aliens.

Actor Dudley Sutton (b.1940) died on September 15. Sutton appeared in episodes of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Delta Wave, The Avengers, and Highlander. He also had roles in the films The Glitterball and Cockneys vs. Zombies.

Film Critic Annette Michelson (b.1922) died on September 17. Michelson wrote for Arts Magazine, Art International, Artforum, and the New York Herald. She established the Department of Cinema Studies at New York University and founded the journal October. She wrote a major essay about 2001: a space odyssey in 1969.

Academic J.R. Hammond (b.1933) died on September 20. In 1960, Hammond was one of the founders of the H.G. Wells Society and he wrote several critical works on Wells, including H.G. Wells and the Modern Novel, An H.G. Wells Companion, and Herbert George Wells: An Annotated Bibliography of his Works.

Actor Arell Blanton (b.1943) died on September 21. Blanton portrayed General Nathan Twining in multiple episodes of Dark Skies and appared on episodes of Knight Rider. His first television role was as a security guard in the Star Trek episode “The Savage Curtain” in 1969.

Actor Al Matthews (b.1942) died on September 22. Matthews began working as a folk singer and musician before turning to acting. He had a bit role in Superman III and played Sgt. Apone in Aliens. He was promoted to General Tudor in The Fifth Element and also appeared in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies.

Producer Gary Kurtz (b.1940) died on September 23. Kurtz produced Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back as well as The Dark Crystal, Slipstream, and Return to Oz. As producer he was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture twice, for Star Wars and American Graffiti. He was nominated for the Hugo Award for The Dark Crystal.

New Zealand fan Sue Martin-Smith (b.1960) died on September 23. Martin-Smith entered New Zealand fandom in the 1970s and made contributions to conventions, clubs, and fanzines. She was one of the founders of the Phoenix SF Society in Wellington and was the first editor of the club’s zine. She was also a founder of FFANZ, the Fan Fund of Australia and New Zealand.

Comics artist Norm Breyfogle died on September 24. Breyfogle worked on Batman from 1987-1995 and co-created the villains Ventriloquist and Ratcatcher with Alan Grant and John Wagner. His most enduring character may be Victor Zsasz, created with Grant. In addition to his work in comics, Breyfogle worked as a technical illustrator of a space shuttle training manual.

Director Roger Mainwood (b.1953) died on September 24. Mainwood worked as an animator on the film Heavy Metal and Faeries. He has also directed episodes of Meg and Mog and Stressed Eric.

Actor Roger Robinson (b.1940) died on September 26. Robinson appeared in an episode of Voyagers! and The Incredible Hulk. His films included Meteor, H, Rougarou, and Foreclosure.

Actress Yvonne Suhor (b.1961) died on September 27 from pancreatic cancer. Suhor played Cicely, the town’s namesake, in a flashback episode of Northern Exposure. In the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Prime Factors,” she played Eudana, and she appeared in an episode of Sheena. On stage, she appeared in Vampires in 1988, a role that earned her a Jefferson nomination.

Boulder fan Cass Mitchell died on September 28.

Duke Seifried (b.1935) died on September 29. Seifried ran a miniature company in the 1950s. In the 1970s, he served as the first executive vice president for TSR and managed to get their products into the mass market.

Artist Carlos Ezquerra (b.1947) died on October 1.  Esquerra was one of the co-creators of Judge Dredd.  He also worked on Fiends of the Eastern FrontStrontium Dog, and adaptations of Harry Harrison’s The Stainless Steel Rat.

Animator Will Vinton (b.1947) died on October 4. Vinton worked in Claymation on a variety of shorts and feature length animated films. He also worked on the California raisin series of commercials and produced a segment of Michael Jackson’s film Moonwalker.

Screenwriter Audrey Wells (b.Audrey Lederer, 1960) died on October 4. Wells wrote the screenplay for the live action George of the Jungle, the Disney film The Kid, and A Dog’s Purpose. Prior to writing for films, she was a DJ for a jazz radio station in San Francisco and for a public radio station in Alaska.

Collector David Willoughby died on October 5. Willoughby had an extensive collection of books, many of them signed, and could often be found sitting behind a table in dealer’s rooms across the US selling books.

Australian actor Quentin Kenihan (b.1975) died on October 6. Kenihan appeared in Mad Max: Fury Road as Corpus Colossus, but is best known for his work as a disability advocate.

Actor Scott Wilson (b.1942) died on October 6. Most recently, he portrayed Hershel Greene on The Walking Dead. His earlier roles included roles on The X-Files, The Host, Judge Dredd, and The Twilight Zone. He first made a name for himself after appearing in In the Heat of the Night in 1967.

Actress Celeste Yarnall (b.1944) died on October 7. Yarnall portrayed Yeoman Martha Landon in the Star Trek episode “The Apple.” Other genre credits include appearances in the television shows Land of the Giants and The Wild Wild West. She also appeared in the films Around the World Under the Sea and The Nutty Professor.

Author Robert Bausch (b.1945) died on October 9. Bausch has written numerous short stories and novels, but his novel Almighty, Me! was turned into the film Bruce Almighty. In 2009, he was awarded the Dos Passos Prize and his novel The Gypsy Man won the Fellowship of Southern Writers Award.

Editor Roger Donald died on October 11. Donald started working for Magraw Hill and eventually moved to Little, Brown. He edited John Barth, Edward Abbey, Norman Mailer, William Shirer, and Paul Monette, among others.

Game Designer Greg Stafford (b.1948) died on October 11. Stafford created the Glorantha setting for his game White Bear and Red Moon and later it was used for the game Runequest, published by Chaosium, the gaming company Stafford co-founded. Stafford also designed the Arthurian RPG Pendragon and Elric, based on Michael Moorcock’s fiction. He was inducted into the Origins Award Hall of Fame in 1987.

Fan Tim Bateman (b.1961) died on October 13. Bateman was a founder of the Prime Amateur Press Association, which late because the British APA. He was a comics and pulp fan and a contributor to various fanzines.

Producer Derrick Sherwin (b.1936) died on October 17. Sherwin came on board as script editor for Doctor Who in 1968 and created UNIT. Shortly before Patrick Troughton’s final serial, during which the Time Lords were first mentioned.

Translator Anthea Bell (b.1936) died on October 18. Bell translated the Inkworld novels, by Cornelia Funke and the Asterix comics in collaboration with Derek Hockridge. Most of her work was translating children’s works and she produced a translation of Andersen’s fairy tales. She was named an OBE in 2010.

Pat Lupoff (b.Pat Loring, 1937) died on October 18. Lupoff married Richard Lupoff and the two, along with Bhob Stewart, published the fanzine Xero, which won the Hugo Award in 1963, making Lupoff only the second woman to win a Hugo Award. She was nominated again in 2005, when she and her husband published The Best of Xero. Lupoff joined the Futurian Society and helped found the Fanoclasts. The couple appeared as Captain and Mary Marvel at the 1960 Worldcon in Pittsburgh.

Actress Diana Sowle (b.Diana Mae Laumer, 1930) died on October 18. Sowle only appeared in three films and is best known for her first appearance, as Mrs. Bucket in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. She also had bit roles in Guarding Tess and Clear and Present Danger. Sowle did voice work for the video game Fallout 3. Although she didn’t appear in films, Sowle was active in regional theatre.

Japanese actor Takanobu Hozumi (b.1921) died on October 19. Hozumi appeared in The X from Outer Space and Urutora Q, provided voice work for Harmagedon: Genma taisen and Doraemon, and dubbed Back to the Future into Japanese.

Actor Hua Yueh (b.Ngok Wah, 1942) died on October 20. He appeared in Black Magic, Super Stooges vs. the Wonder Women, The Web of Death, and The Enchantress.

Actor James Karen (b.1923) died on October 23. Karen has appeared in the films Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster, Hercules in New York, Capricorn One, Time Walker, Return of the Living Dead, and Invaders from Mars. His television appearances include episodes of Amazing Stories, The Bionic Woman, The Invisible Man, and The Powers of Matthew Star.

Writer and producer John D. Lamond (b.1947) died on October 24. Lamond wrote and produced Sky Pirates, and produced Sword of the Bushido and directed Stage Fright.

Filk technician Harold Stein died on October 26 from cancer. Stein worked sound at numerous conventions, including at OVFF since 2008, and worked to archive live filk concerts. He published twenty-four albums of filk music. He was an Honored Listerner at OVFF 34 in 2018, although his final illness meant he was unable to attend.

Scottish/Canadian author Dave Duncan (b.1933) died on October 29. Duncan began publishing when he was 53 and went on to write the King’s Blade series, the Pandemia duology, and The Great Game. He won the Aurora Award twice, for the novels West of January and Children of Chaos. Duncan, who also wrote under the names Ken Hood and Sarah B. Franklin, was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2015.

Chinese author Jin Yong (b.Zha Liangyong, 1924) died on October 30. Yong was sent to Hong Kong to establish a branch of a Shanghai newspaper there and became a permanent resident. His novels include Xiao Ao Jianghu, Bixue Jian, and XIake Xing, as well as the Condor Heroes trilogy. Most of his works were originally published in the 1960s, with few new works appearing after 1970, although he revised and reissued several of his books after that date. By the time of the turnover of Hong Kong to the Chinese, he was considered a major power broker in the city.

Actor Ken Swofford (b.1933) died on November 1. Swofford appeared in The Andromeda Strain and showed up in episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man, Voyagers!, Battlestar Galactica, The Incredible Hulk, The Wild Wild West, and Max Headroom.

Spanish author Domingo Santos (b. Pedro Domingo Mutiño, 1941) died on November 2. He co-founded the magazine Neuva Dimensión with Sebastián Martínez and Luis Vigil and the annual award presented at HispaCon is named in his honor. He has published more than forty novels and edited more than fifty anthologies as well as translate foreign works into Spanish.

Stunt woman Kitty O’Neil (b.1946) died on November 2. O’Neil performed stunts on the television shows Wonder Woman and The Bionic Woman, as well as in the film Damien: Omen II. She also served as Stockard Channing’s stunt double in Silent Victory, in which Channing portrayed O’Neil.

Actress Sondra Locke (b.Sandra Smith, 1944) died on November 3. Locke appeared in the film Willard, and episodes of Amazing Stories, Night Gallery, and Planet of the Apes. From 1975 to 1989, Locke was in a relationship with Clint Eastwood which ended in a lengthy palimony struggle and a lawsuit against Warner Brothers.

Swedish author Bertil Martensson (b.1945) died on November 4. Martensson co-edited the fanzine Science Fiction Forum with John-Henri Holmberg and Mats Linder, later taking over sole editorship. His first novel, Detta är verkligheten, was published in 1972 and he continued to publish science fiction, fantasy, and police procedurals.

Comics artist John Allard (b.1928) died on November 7. Allard wrote the science fiction comic strip “Garth,” which appeared in the Daily Mirror. Allard began working on the strip in 1943, shortly before it launched and continued to work on it until his retirement in 1992.

Composter Francis Lai (b.1932) died on November 7. Lai is best known for composing the score for Love Story, but he also composed the scores for The Lake House and Stranger than Fiction.

German author Achim Mehnert (b.1961) died on November 7. Mehnert was one of the founders of ColoniaCon in Köln, Germany in 1982. He published numerous novels in many series, including Heisse Spur, Die Dämonenfalle, and several books in the Perry Rhodan series.

Actor James Greene (b.1926) died on November 9. Greene appeared in Philadelphia Experiment II and Photographing Fairies. He had a small role in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager and played Koral in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s “The Reckoning” and Dr. Barron in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Who Watches the Watchers.” He had a recurring role in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. as Cartwright, one of the robber barons and also a recurring role on Alien Nation.

Fan John Rogers (b.1961) died on November 10. Roger served as President of San Diego Comic-Con International since 1986 and oversaw the growth and evolution of the event into a major media and pop culture convention.

Fan Maurine Dorris died on November 11. Doris chaired the 1987 World Fantasy Convention in Nashville, Tennessee and in 1991, she co-founded and chaired the first two World Horror Con. She was a fan Guest of Honor at Con*Stellation III in 1984 and at Chattacon XIII in 1988. In 1989, she was received the Rebel Award.

Actor Douglas Rain (b.1928) died on November 11. Rain is best known for providing the voice of the HAL9000 in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, a role he recreated for the sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Rain also provided the voice for the evil computer in Woody Allen’s spoof, Sleeper.

Author and gamer Carl Sargent (b.1952) died on November 11. Trained as a psychologist, Sargent began playing Dungeons and Dragons in 1978 and eventually began writing source material for TSR, focusing on works set in the World of Greyhawk, including From the Ashes, Iuz the Evil, Ivid the Undying, and The City of Skulls. He also wrote for Warhammer. He published several YA novels using the pseudonym Keith Martin.

Stan Lee (b.Stanley Lieber, 1922) died on November 12. Lee began working for Timely Comics in 1939 and stayed with the company when it became Marvel, working his way up through the ranks and wrote his first script for Captain America in 1941. He began creating characters later that year with the Destroyer and went on to create and co-create many characters, including the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the X-Men, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and more. Lee’s name eventually became synonymous with Marvel and he would have cameos in many of Marvel’s later films. His many awards included the Inkpot, Eisner, Kirby, and Saturn Award.

Fan Fred Patten (b.1940) died on November 12. Patten became active in LASFS in the early 1960 and was part of the LASFS Justice Society of America costume group at the Chicon III Masquerade. He began publishing the fanzine Shangri L’Affaires and was nominated for a Hugo for Best Fanzine in 1963. Patten chaired Loscon XIV and Westercon 27. He organized the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization in 1977 and went on to help structure the furry community, editing several collections of furry fiction. He was a recipient of the Evans Freehafer Trophy in 1965, the Sampo Award in 1971, and the Forry Award in 2009.

Actor John Bluthal (b.1929) died on November 15. Bluthal’s genre work included the films Dark City, Superman III, Help!, and The Fifth Element. He voiced a goblin in Labyrinth.

Actor Andrew Burt (b.1945) died on November 16. Burt appeared in episodes of Blake’s 7 and Tales of the Unexpected and played Valgard in the fifth Doctor serial “Terminus.” In 1979, he played the title role in the television series The Legend of King Arthur and later starred in the title role of Gulliver in Lilliput.

Actor George A. Cooper (b.1925) died on November 16. He appeared in the first Doctor serial “The Smugglers” as Cherub. Other genre roles included appearances in the television shows The Avengers, Wonder Woman, Doomwatch, and Q.E.D.

Title artist Pablo Ferro (b.1935) died on November 16. Ferro designed the titles used in the films A Clockwork Orange, Men in Black, Beetlejuice, Darkman, The Addams Family, Dr. Strangelove, and many others.

Screenwriter and author William Goldman (b.1931) died on November 16. Goldman wrote the novel and screenplay for The Princess Bride. Other genre work included Memoirs of an Invisible Man, The Stepford Wives, Dreamcatcher, and The Last Action Hero. His non-genre work earned him Oscars for All the President’s Men and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In addition to numerous memorable films, he also wrote one of the quintessential books on working in Hollywood.

Comic book artist Mike Noble (b.1930) died on November 19. Noble worked on comic strips for Fireball XL5, Star Trek, Time Slip, and Space 1999. He mostly retired from illustrating in the late 1980s, although would occasionally contribute to comic strips through the 1990s.

Actress Michele Carey (b.1943) died on November 21. Carey’s genre roles included appearances on shows including The Six Million Dollar Man, The Wild Wild West, Man from Atlantis, and the film Death Ray 2000.

Filker Lee Billings (b.1956) died on November 22. Billings was a member of Middle Tennessee Science Fiction Society and created Musicon and chaired the first five conventions. She was the Toastmistress at GAFilk 1 and was a Guest of Honor at Harmonicon III. She eventually moved to Houston and became active in Apollocon. In addition to filking, Billings also made and sold jewelry.

Actor David Conville (b.1929) died on November 24. Conville appeared in episodes of Out of the Unknown and Undermind and the films The Curse of the Werewolf and The Evil of Frankenstein.

Director Nicholas Roeg (b.1928) died on November 24. Roeg directed the “Paris, October 1916” episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles as well as the Roald Dahl film The Witches and the David Bowie film The Man Who Fell to Earth. Prior to working as a director, he was a cinematographer who worked on Fahrenheit 451, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and The Masque of the Red Death.

Actor and magician Ricky Jay (b.Richard Potash, 1946) died on November 24. Jay appeared in the television show Flashforward, based on Robert J. Sawyer’s novel and the film The Prestige, based on Christopher Priest’s novel, as well as episodes of The X-File and the films Mystery Men and Tomorrow Never Dies.

Actor Dominick Brascia (b.1956) died on November 25. Brascia appeared in several genre films, including Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Once Bitten, Evil Laugh, Doin’ Time on Planet Earth, and an episode of Amazing Stories. Brascia turned his attention to radio announcing in the mid-1990s.

Producer Gloria Katz (b.1942) died on November 25. Katz worked as a writer, often in collaboration with her husband, Willard Huyck, on American Graffitti and its sequel, Willard Huyck, and also wrote Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Howard the Duck, the last of which she also produced. She wrote, produced, and directed Messiah of Evil in 1973, her first film. Katz and Huyck shared a writing and worst picture Razzie Award for Howard the Duck.

Actor Wright King (b.1923) died on November 25. Although best known for his work in Westerns, King appeared in two episodes of The Twilight Zoneand played Dr. Galen in the original Planet of the Apes. He also played Ernest P. Duckweather on the 1953 television series Johnny Jupiter and made guest appearances on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Invaders, and Logan’s Run. His television debut was in Captain Video and His Video Rangers in 1949.

Anime director Akira Miyazaki (b.) died on November 25. Miyazaki’s career included work on the series Moomin and Comet in Moominland, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, The Wizard of Oz, and Grimm Masterpiece Theatre.

Writer Stephen Hillenburg (b.1961) died on November 26. Hillenburg is best known as the creator and show-runner for SpongeBob SquarePants. He also worked on Rocko’s Modern Life. In 2018, he won the Winsor McCay Award for animation.

Author Barbara Books Wallace (b.1922) died on November 27. Wallace wrote the five book Miss Switch series and the stand-alone novels The Barrel in the Basement and Dragon for Hire. She has won the NLAPW Children’s Book Award and the William Allen White Children’s Book Award.

Writer John D.F. Black (b.1932) died on November 29. Black was nominated for a Hugo Award for the Star Trek episode “The Naked Time” and later wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes “The Naked Now” and “Justice.” He wrote the original Wonder Woman television movie that starred Cathy Lee Crosby and an episode of Man from Atlantis.

Actor Peter Armitage (b.1939) died on November 30. Armitage appeared in the BBC shows The Second Coming and Chimera. He also appeared in nearly 400 episodes of Coronation Street.

Actor Ken Berry (b.1933) died on December 1. Berry is best known for appearing on F Troop and Mama’s Family, but he also appeared in several Disney films, often with a science fictional or fantasy element, including The Cat from Outer Space, Herbie Rides Again, and Hello Down There. He also appeared in several episodes of Fantasy Island.

Director Geoff Murphy (b.1938) died on December 3. Murphy directed The Quiet Earth, Dante’s Peak, Freejack, and Fortress 2. He serve as a second unit director of the three Lord of the Rings films made by Peter Jackson. He won the New Zealand Film and TV Award for Best Director for his work on The Quiet Earth.

NESFA member Claire Anderson died on December 4 following a battle with leukemia. Anderson was active in Boston con-running and served as the Librarian at the NESFA Clubhouse as well as Assistant Archivist. She was named a Fellow of NESFA in 1984.

Comics artist Terry Bave (b.1931) died on December 6. Bace began drawing “Sammy Shrink” for Wham! In 1967 and began working on a variety of other titles over the years, ghosting some titles for Leo Baxendale. He worked on strips including “Draculass,” “Full O’Beans,” and “The Desert Fox.” He often illustrated strips written by his wife, Shiela.

Brazilian translator Lia Wyler (b.1934) died on December 11. Wyler translated J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series into Portuguese and also worked on translations of works by Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Nigerian author Emeka Walter Dinjos (b.1984) died on December 12. Dinjos began publishing in 2014 with the poem “My Maker” and later the story “The Diamond Fish.” In 2015, he co-edited an issue of Sub-Saharan Magazine with Chigozie Nelson. He published addition stories in from 2016 through 2018, including appearances in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Galaxy’s Edge, and Abyss & Apex.

Author Paul Dale Anderson (b.1944) died on December 13. Anderson published the novels in the Philip Ashur series and his short stories were collected in The Devil Made Me Do It! In addition to writing science fiction, he has written thrillers, mysteries, and westerns. He was diagnosed with cancer in November.

Cryptographer Tim May (b.1951) died in December 13. May co-founded the Cypherpunks, a pro-cryptography grassroots organization, in 1992. An early employee at Intel, May was also a science fiction fan, a member of PenSFA in the San Francisco peninsula.

Italian translator and editor Giuseppe Lippi (b.1953) died on December 14. Lippi edited the magazine Robot beginning in 1977 and from 1990-2018 he edited Urania. In addition to buying Italian stories, he also translated works by Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft into Italian.

Composer Galt MacDermot (b.Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot, 1928) died on December 17. MacDermot is best known for writing the musical Hair and won a Grammy Award for the song “African Waltz.” His musical Via Galactica is set on an asteroid and features a space sanitation man. His musical Isabel’s a Jezebel is based on the Grimm Fairy Tales.

Actress and director Penny Marshall (b.1943) died on December 17. Marshall may be best known for her role as Laverne DiFazio on Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley, but she was also a director. Her age-swapping fantasy film Big was the first film directed by a woman to gross more than $100 million. As an actress, she appeared in Hocus Pocus.

Author Morgan J. Bolt (b.1991) died on December 18 from cancer. Bolt’s YA novel, The Favored was published in October.

Actor and stuntman Steve Dash (b.Steve Daskewisz, 1944) died on December 18. Dash’s highest profile role was as Jason’s stunt double in Friday the 13th. He also appeared in a couple episodes of Superboy. He served as William Atherton’s stunt double in Ghostbusters.

Actor Peter Masterson (b.1934) died on December 18. Masterson appeared in The Exorcist as Dr. Barringer and in The Stepford Wives as Walter Eberhart. He also worked as a director and adapted The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas into a Broadway musical.

Audrey Geisel (b.Audrey Dimond, 1921) died on December 19. Dimond married Theodore Geisel, Dr. Seuss, in 1968, a year after his first wife’s suicide. Following his death in 1991, Dimond oversaw his estate. She served as executive producer on The Lorax, The Grinch, and Horton Hears a Who.

Composer Norman Gimbel (b.1927) died on December 19. Gimbel wrote the lyric to the theme song for the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman. He wrote “A Whale of Tale,” which appeared in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. His lyrics also appeared in The Phantom Tollbooth and Pufnstuf. He won an Oscar for his song “It Goes Like It Goes” from Norma Rae. His most widely known lyrics may be “The Girl from Ipanema.”

Director William Sellars (b.1925) died on December 19. Sellars may be best known as a producer of the British television show All Creatures Great & Small, but he also directed the first Doctor’s serial “The Celestial Toymaker.” He started out as a production assistant on the television series A for Andromeda and one of his only acting roles was in an episode of The Andromeda Breakthrough.

Actor Donald Moffat (b.1930) died on December 20. Trained classically in Shakespeare in his native England before coming to the US, Moffat had a long career on Broadway was well as in film. His genre work included the 1982 adaption of The Thing, Popeye, and The Terminal Man, and episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man, Night Gallery, Logan’s Run, and The Twilight Zone.

Author Jane Langton (b.1922) died on December 22. Most of Langton’s books were mysteries and chidlren’s books, which drew heavily on the philosophies of Ralph Waldo Emerson. She often mixed native American magic into her stories. Her novel The Fledgling received a Newbery Honor.

Author and poet Larry Eisenberg (b.1919) died on December 25. Eisenberg’s first story was published in Harper’s and his first science fiction story appeared in the August 1962 issue of Fantastic Stories of the Imagaination. His best known story is “What Happened to August Clarot?” from Dangerous Visions. Eisenberg was also a successful poet and published two collections of limericks.

Austalian actress Penny Cook (b.1957) died on December 26. Cook appeared in Coda and The Dreaming.

Boston fan Fred Isaacs (b.1943) died on December 26. Isaacs has been active in NESFA since the 1960s, serving as the organizations Treasurer and President as well as serving on various committees and helping to run Boskone, including chairman of Boskone 9 and treasurer for Noreascon 1. He organized Tax:APA to discuss issues around convention 501(c)3 status.

Author Billie Sue Mosiman (b.1947) died on December 26. Mosiman’s science fiction and fantasy included the novels Deadly Affections, the Vampire Nation trilogy, Angelique, and DiaboliQ. She co-edited the anthology Armageddon with David Drake and Martin H. Greenberg. Mosiman’s work was nominated for the Edgar and Bram Stoker Awards.

Director Jorge Grau (b.1930) died on December 26. Grau’s genre work included the film El extranfer-oh! De la calle Cruz del Sur, Miracles of Thursday, The Legend of Blood Castle, and Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, which was originally supposed to be a color rip-off of Night of the Living Dead.

Actor Frank Adonis (b.1935) died on December 26. Adonis is best known for appearing in Goodfellas and Raging Bull, but he also appeared in the horror films The Woods Have Eyes, Ghost Dog, and Wolfen. He had a small role in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

Actor Jer O’Leary (b.1945) died on December 26. O’Leary appeared in episodes of Penny Dreadful and Game of Thrones as well as the films Braveheart and The Majesty of the Haunt.

Voice actress Toshiko Fujita (b.1950) died on December 28. She has voiced characters in numerous anime including the Dragon Ball series, Wicked City, Fist of the North Star, Space Adventure Cobra, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and more. She was the official dubbed voice in Japan for Candice Bergen.

Actress June Whitfield (b.1925) died on December 28. Best known as Edina’s mother on Absolutely Fabulous, she appeared in the two-part Doctor Who episode “The End of Time” as well as episodes of You, Me and the Apocalypse. She also voiced Nanny Ogg in the animated adaptation of Sir Terry Pratchett’s Wyrd Sisters.

Hong Kong director Ringo Lam (b.Lin Lingdong, 1955) died on December 29. Lam directed Burning Paradise, Esprit D’amour, and Replicant. He worked as a location manager on Ghost in the Shell.

Filker Sue Landerman died on December 29. Landerman published several filkzines, such as Loose Notes, in the pre-internet days using mimeographs. She was also a gamer who played RPGs and painted miniatures. She wrote the filk “Banning’s Theme”

Animator Don Lusk (b.1913) died on December 30. Lusk began working for Disney in 1933 and began animating with the 1938 film Ferdinand the Bull. He worked on Bambi, Song of the South, Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, and more. His best known work is the fish dance sequence in Fantasia, Cleo the goldfish from Pinocchio, Wendy from Peter Pan, and Alice. He received the Winsor McCay Award in 2015.

British fan Wendy Freeman (b.1939) died in late December, shortly before Christmas. Freeman was married to Keith Freeman and in 1967, she was made a Knight of St. Fantony.

British fan Graham Connor (b.1957) died in late December. Connor worked in the aerospace industry on communications satellites. He joined fandom in 1976 and won the Unicon 2 short story contest. He helped run the PSFIFA Shoestring cons and served as a film projectionist for BECCONs. In 1987, he co-founded the SF2 Concatenation newsletter. He continued to attend conventions until health interfered in 2008.

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