2020: In Memoriam

2020

January

Anime writer Shozu Uehara (b.1937) died on January 2. Uehara wrote Return of Ultraman and its sequels as well as the Japanese Spider-Man.

French agent Michelle Lapautre (b.1932) died on January 3. Lapautre represented authors such as Ray Bradbury for French translation.

Author Earl Staggs died on January 3. Primarily a mystery author, some of Staggs’ work, such as Memory of a Murder included science fictional elements.

Publicist Gerry Lewis (b.1928) died on January 5. Lewis fashioned the publicity campaigns around films including Jaws, E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Rosemary’s Baby, and other films.

Austrian author Kurt Bracharz (b.1947) died on January 6. Bracharz began publishing short fiction of genre interest in 1977 with “Vorschalg zur Kopfarbeit” and published seven more stories over the next fourteen years. His story “Venice 2” was translated into English.

Actor Harry Hains (b.1992) died on January 7. Hains appeared on American Horror Story and in the films A Haunting at Silver Falls: The Return, The Mangled, and Klowns.

Writer and Producer Silvio Horta (b.1974) died on January 7. Best known for creating Ugly Betty, he worked on the short-lived series The Chronicle and Jake 2.0. His only screen appearance was in the film Urban Legend.

Rush drummer Neil Peart (b.1952) died on January 7. In addition to playing for Rush, Peart co-wrote the Clockwork Angels books with Kevin J. Anderson as well as some short stories and poetry.

Actor Buck Henry (b. Buck Henry Zuckerman, 1930) died on January 8. Henry co-created the spy spoof Get Smart with Mel Brooks and later created the short-lived science fiction spoof Quark. He was nominated for an Oscar for directing Heaven Can Wait and for writing The Graduate. Some of his other genre credits include Harrison Bergeron and The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Actor Edd Byrnes (b.1932) died on January 9. Best known for his role on 77 Sunset Strip, which gave him the nickname “Kookie,” and a later appearance in the film Grease, his genre credits include Thriller and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.

Screenwriter Lan O’Kun (b.1932) died on January 9. O’Kun also wrote scripts for the television shows Small Wonder, The Twilight Zone, and provided a story for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Haven.”

Author and editor Mike Resnick (b.1942) died on January 9. Resnick is the five-time Hugo Award winning author of Kirinyaga, Santiago, and Ivory. He has also edited numerous anthologies of short stories, through which he mentored many newer authors. Most recently, he served as the editor of Galaxy’s Edge magazine. Resnick was also one of the founding members of ISFiC, the organization that runs Windycon in Chicago.

Carol Serling (b.1929) died on January 9. Serline was married to Rod Serling, who created The Twilight Zone. In 1981, she launched The Twilight Zone Magazine and served as editor through 1989. She also licensed Serling’s image and name for television projects and Disney’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

Actress Neda Arnerić (b.1953) died on January 10. Arnerić appeared in the films Full Moon over Belgrade, Dark Echoes, and The Legend of Spider Forest.

Actor Jack Kehoe (b.1934) died on January 10. Best known for his roles in Serpico and The Sting, Kehoe appeared in The Twilight Zone episode “One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty” and the films Two of a Kind and Gospel According to Harry.

Chicago fan Alan Voecks (b.1968) died on January 10. Voecks has been active in con-running, heading dealers’ rooms for Capricon and also spending time behind dealers tables selling t-shirts.

Actor Stan Kirsch (b.1968) died on January 11. Kirsch is best known for his role on television in Highlander, but he also appeared on Grimm and other science fiction and fantasy series and films.

Fan artist and Hugo winner Steve Stiles (b.1943) died on January 11 following a battle with cancer. In addition to his fan art, Stiles also drew comics for Marvel and underground publishers. He was first nominated for the Hugo in 1967 and finally won in 2016.

Actor William Bogert (b.1936) died on January 12. Bogert appeared on the sitcom Small Wonder, about a family with a robot daughter, and also played the father in the film War Games. Other genre work included Heaven Can Wait, A Fire in the Sky, and appearances on Salvage 1, The Incredble Hulk, The Greatest American Hero, and 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Producer Tony Garnett (b.1936) died on January 12. Garnett produced the sf-comedy Earth Girls are Easy and the horror film The Sweet Body of Deborah.

Academic Paul K. Alkon (b.1935) died on January 13. Alkon wrote the works Science Fiction Before 1900: Imagination Discovers Technology and Transformations of Utopia: Changing Views of he Perfect Society.

Author Christopher Tolkien (b.1924) died on January 15. Not only did Tolkien draw the maps for The Lord of the Rings, but following his father’s death, he edited The Silmarillion as well as Unfinished Tales, the multi-volume The History of Middle Earth, and other works by his father.

Director Alan Pattillo (b.1929) died on January 16. Patillo directed episodes of Fireball XL5, Thunderbirds, and Supercar. He worked as an editor on Space: 1999 and Strange Report.

Author Charles Alverson (b.1935) died on January 15. Alverson wrote the screenplay and novelization for Jabberwocky and co-wrote the original draft of Brazil with Terry Gilliam.

Actor Derek Fowlds (b.1937) died on January 17. Best known for his role as Bernard on Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, Fowlds also appeared in The Solarnauts, Frankenstein Created Woman, and an episode of Thriller.

British fan David Brider (b.1969) died on January 20. Brider was a Doctor Who fan who could frequently be found at British Who conventions.

Comics author Wolfgang J. Fuchs (b.1945) died on January 20. Fuchs co-wrote Comics: Anatomy of a Mass Medium with Reinhold C. Reitberger as well as Comics-Handbuch. He also translated Prince Valiant into German, as well as Garfield, and created original comics.

Comedian Terry Jones (b.1942) died on January 21 after suffering from dementia. Jones was a member of Monty Python and directed their films Monty Python’s Holy Grail and Life of Brian, in which he played various roles, as well. Jones also made documentaries on medieval life and the barbarian invasions of Europe and he wrote the novelization of Douglas Adams’s Starship Titanic.

Actor Jô Shishido (b.1933) died on January 21. Shishido appeared in Fugitive Alien and its sequel, Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis, 8 Man, and Noyuki yamayuki umibe yuki.

Julius Montgomery (b.1929) died on January 22. Montgomery was the first African-American hired by NASA for a non janitorial position when he was hired to repair electronics malfunctioning in ballistic missiles and satellite equipment. He later was the first African-American to be admitted to what eventually became the Florida Institute of Technology.

Actor John Karlen (b.1933) died on January 22. Kareln portrayed several characters including Willie Loomis and Desmond Collins on Dark Shadows. He also appeared on Night Gallery and Shazam!

Actor Robert Harper (b.1951) died on January 23. Harper appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode ‘The Host,” Creepshow, and the Disney film Not Quite Human.

Artist Barbara Remington (b.1929) died on January 23. Remington painted the covers for the initial Ballantine editions of The Lord of the Rings as well as works by E.R. Eddison.

German YA author Gudrun Pausewang (b.1928) died on January 24. Pausewang published the novels Noch lange denach, Die letzten Kinder von Schewenborn oder…sieht so unsere Zukunft aus?, and Die Wolke, which won the Kurd Lasswitz Prize.

Actor Alan Harris (b.1938) died on January 25. Harris appeared in bit parts in all three of the original Star Wars films, portraying the bounty hunter Bossk in The Empire Strikes Back. He appeared in two serials of Doctor Who, one during the Tom Baker years, the other during the Colin Baker years. He appeared in The Shining, Superman, A Clockwork Orange, and numerous other films.

Actress Monique Van Vooren (b.1927) died on January 25. Van Vooren appeared in Flesh for Frankenstein, Tarzan and the She-Devil, The Decameron, and two episodes of Batman.

Screenwriter Jack Burns (b.133) died on January 26. Burns wrote for The Muppet Show and was nominated for a Hugo Award for The Muppet Movie. He also wrote an adaptation of Peter Pan and episodes of Darkwing Duck and The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.

Actress Marj Dusay (b.1936) died on January 28. Best known for appearing on a variety of soap operas, Dusay also appeared in a two part episode of Galactica 1980, an episode of The Bionic Woman, the television film A Fire in the Sky, and the Star Trek episode “Spock’s Brain.”

Harriet Frank, Jr. (b.Harriet Goldstein, 1917) died on January 28. Best known as the screenwriter of Hud and Norma Rae, Frank wrote the science fiction novella “The Man from Saturn” in 1953.

Actor Nicholas Parsons (b.1923) died on January 28. Parsons appeared in the seventh Doctor serial “The Curse of Fenric” and several episodes of Kappatoo. His final appearance was as the voice of Dagon, Lord of the Flies, in Good Omens.

Actress Dyanne Thorne (b.1936) died on January 28. Best known for starring in the Ilsa films, she also appeared in the Star Trek episode “A Piece of Action” and the film Pinocchio. Other genre work included Wham Bam Thank you Spaceman.

German author Christoph Meckel (b.1935) died on January 29. Meckel published several short stories bweteen 1975 and 1983, with many of them translated into English and collected in The Fiture on the Boundary Line. He also worked as a graphic artist.

Television programmer Fred Silverman (b.1937) died on January 30. Silverman was perceived as a programming wunderkind, heading CBS, ABC, and NBC at various times. The number of shows he scheduled were legion, but some of his genre work included commissioning Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, The Bionic Woman, Fantasy Island, and The Smurfs.

Author Mary Higgins Clark (b.1927) died on January 31. Best known as a suspense novelist, her novels The Anastasia Syndrome, Before I Say Good-Bye, and Two Little Girls in Blue have genre elements.

Translator Jean Migreene (b.1938) died in January. Migreene primarily translated poetry, but also worked on portions of Samuel R. Delany’s Atlantis: Model 1924.

British fan Marge Nuttall died in January. Nuttall was a member of the Liverpool Science Fiction Soiety and was married to fellow fan Stan Nuttall.

February

Producers and director Gene Reynolds (b.1923) died on February 2. Best known for his work on M*A*S*H, Reynolds also directed episodes of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, The Munsters, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, and Touched by an Angel. As a child, he appeared in the Laurel and Hardy film March of the Wooden Soldiers.

Author Paul Barnett (b.1949) died on February 3. Barnett also published as John Grant. In addition to writing the Lone Wolf novels with Joe Dever, and several of his own novels, he co-edited the Encyclopedia of Fantasy with John Clute. He won Hugo Awards for botht he Encyclopedia of Fantasy and The Chesley Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy Art: A Retrospective.

Cinematographer Douglas Knapp (b.1949) died on February 3. Knapp began working as a best boy on the science fiction film Moonchildand eventually became a cameraman, working on The Six Million Dollar Man, Escape from New York, and Beetlejuice. Late jobs included Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise. He worked as a director of photography on both of those shows as well as the film Dark Star.

Kamau Brathwaite (b.1930) died on February 4. Best known as a poet and academic, Brathwaite’s single foray into science fiction was the short story “My Funny Valentine,” published in Nalo Hopkinson’s Whispers from the Cotton Tree Root.

Actor Kevin Conway (b.1942) died on February 5. Conway provided the Control Voice on The Outer Limits and also appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation as Kahless and in the film version of Slaughterhouse-Five.

Actor Kirk Douglas (b.Issur Demsky, 1916) died on February 5 at the age of 103. Douglas appeared in genre films 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, Saturn 3, The Final Countdown, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. He also starred as the title role in Spartacus.

Fan and author Earl Kemp (b.1929) died on February 6. Kemp was active in fandom and chaired Chicon III, the 1961 Worldcon and edited The Proceedings: Chicago III. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine in 1961 for Who Killed Science Fiction. His career as a writer was linked to William Hamling and Greenleaf Classics.

Actor Orson Bean (b.Dallas Burrows, 1928) was struck by a car and killed on February 7. Bean appeared in Being John Malkovich, InnerSpace, and voiced Frodo and Bilbo Baggins in the animated versions of The Hobbit and The Return of the King.

German fan Rolf Bingenheimer (b.1946) died on February 7. Bingenheimer owned the science fiction bookstore Transgalaxis in Fredrichsdorf, Germany, which was founded by his father, Heinz.

Actor Raphaël Coleman (b.1994) died on February 7. Coleman appeared in the film Nanny McPhee as one of Mr. Brown’s children. He retired from acting after appearing in three more films and became a climate activist, working under the name Iggy Fox.

Actress Ann E. Todd (b.Ann Phillips, 1931) died on February 7. As a child actress she appeared in The Blue Bird and played the young Dorothy Lamour role in Beyond the Blue Horizon.

Actor Robert Conrad (b.1935) died on February 8. Conrad starred in the television series The Wild Wild West. He also appeared in the horror film Dead Above Ground and the television movie Assassin.

Actress Paula Kelly (b.1943) died on February 9. Kelly appeared in Soylent Green and The Andromeda Strain as well as episodes of Mission: Impossible and a made-for-tv version of Peter Pan.

Actor Patrick Jordan (b.1923) died on February 10. Jordan appeared in Star Wars as Siward Cass. He also appeared in Lifeforce, UFO, and The Prisoner.

Actor Marge Redmond (b.1924) died on February 10. Redmond portrayed Sister Jacqueline on The Flying Nunand also appeared in episodes of The Twilight Zone, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Munsters, and My Favorite Martian.

German fan Ulrich Bettermann died on February 11. Bettermann reviewed various films, video games, and novels related to science fiction and was a long-time con attendee.

Actress Lynn Cohen (b.1933) died on February 14. Cohen appeared as Mags in The Hunger Games and also appeared in Golden Years, 7 Splinters in Time, Beautiful Dreamer, and Across the Universe.

Actress Esther Scott (b.1953) died on February 14. Scott appeared in Transformers, Species, and provided voicework for the animated Ewoks television series.

Animator Vatroslav Mimica (b.1923) died on February 15. Mimica was one of the founders of the Zagreb school of animation.

Boston area fan Ben Bishop (b.1961) died on February 16. Bishop’s fanac mostly revolved around his attendance at Arisia.

Actress Zoe Caldwell (b.1933) died on February 16. Best known for her stage work, she provided the voice for the grand councilwoman in Lilo & Stitch as well as the subsequent films and television series.

Actor Jason Davis (b.1984) died on February 16. Davis appeared in Rush Hour and Beverly Hills Ninja. His genre credit was an appearance in an episode of Surface.

Actress Kellye Nakahara (b.1948) died on February 16. Best known as Nurse Kelly on M*A*S*H, she appeared in Doctor Dolittle, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Amazon Women on the Moon, and Otherworld.

Game designer Daniel Palter (b.1950) died on February 17. Palter was the owner of West End Games and was the publisher of Star Wars: The Role Playing Game, which helped expand the Star Wars brand after the release of Return of the Jedi. He later founded Final Sword Productions, where he was developing games based on the works of David Weber and S.M. Stirling.

Author Charles Portis (b.1933) died on February 17 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Best known for the western True Grit, Portis wrote the science fiction novel Masters of Atlantis in 1985.

German author Ror Wolf (b.Richard Wolf, 1932) died on February 17. Wolf wrote the novel Die Vorzüge der Dunkelheit and also published a short story and poem. Most of his writing was not genre and he also published under the pseudonym Raouk Tranchirer.

Actress Ja’net DuBois (b.1945) died on February 18. DuBois appeared in Heart Condition and can be heard singing in X-Files: I Want to Believe and Shark Tale, both of which used the theme to The Jeffersons, “Movin’ On Up,” which she wrote and sang.

Composer Bob Cobert (b.1924) died on February 19. Cobert composed the music for Dark Shadows and television versions of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Dracula. He also wrote the theme music for the game shows The Price is Right, To Tell the Truth, and The $10,000 Pyramid.

Toy designer Jens Nygaard Knudsen (b.1942) died on February 19. As the Chief Design Officer for LEGO, Knudsen created the LEGO mini-figure.

Actress Claudette Nevins (b.Claudette Weintraub, 1937) died on Feburary 20. Nevins portrayed the Empress of Evil on Electra Woman and Dyna Girl and also appeared on episodes of Out of This World, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and in the film Star Trek: Insurrection.

Fan Elyse Rosenstein (b.1950) died on February 20. Rosenstein was one of the organizers of the first Star Trek convention, held in New York in 1972. She went on to run Nova Enterprises with her husband, Steve, selling Star Trek related materials. She chaired the 1983 Lunacon and was named an honorary Lunarian.

Comic book artist Nicola Cuti (b.1941) died on Feburayr 21. Cuti co-created E-Man, Moonchild, and Captain Cosmos. His first published story, “Grub,” appeared in Creepy Magazine. In the 1970s, he worked for Charlton.

Poet Lisel Mueller (b. Elisabeth Mueller, 1924) died on February 21. Mueller has won both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for poetry. During her career, she wrote a handful of poems of genre interest.

Author Walter Satherthwait (b.1946) died on February 23. Mostly known for his mysteries, Satherthwaite did write two short stories of genre interest, “Territorial Imperative” and “Murder One.”

Actress Diana Serra Cary (b.Peggy-Jean Montgomery, 1918) died on February 24. Known as Baby Peggy, she made her silent film debut in 1921 and made most of her appearance by 1924. In the 1930s, she appeared in films sporadically, including the horror film The Return of Chandu. Most of her films have been lost.

Actor Ben Cooper (b.1933) died on February 24. Cooper mostly appeared in Westerns, but also had a role in The Twilight Zone episode “Still Valley” and episodes of One Step Beyond and The Time Tunnel.

Calculator Katherine Johnson (b.Creola Katherine Coleman, 1918) died on February 24. Johnson worked as a calculator for NASA from the the 1950s through the 1970s calculating orbits and trajectories for the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and space shuttle missions. She was one of the focuses of the book Hidden Figures and subsequent film. NASA has named two facilities in her honor.

Author Clive Cussler (b.1931) died on February 25. Cussler wrote the Dirk Pitt novels and used his money and celebrity to further oceanographic exploration. His best known work, Raise the Titanic! Was turned into a film in 1980.

Game designer Kazuhisa Hashimoto (b.1958) died on February 25. Hashimoto is best known for creating the Konami Code, which allows gamers to acquire extra lives in video games.

Children’s author Betsy Byars (b.1928) died on Feburary 26. Best known for the book Summer of the Swans, her genre works included The Winged Colt of Casa Mia, The Computer Nut, and McMummy.

Actor R.D. Call (b.1950) died on February 27. Call appeared in episodes of The X-Files and V and well as the film Waterworld.

Actor Gene Dynarski (b.1933) died on Febrary 27. Dynarski appeared in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and and episodes of both Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Other appearances include Batman and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Scientist Freeman Dyson (b.1923) died on February 28. A theoretical physicist and mathematician, Dyson’s concept of a sphere around a sun inspired numerous science fiction stories and novels.

Actress Joyce Gordon (b.1929) died on February 28. Gordon mostly appeared in commercials and was the first woman to do network promotions and the first woman to be elected president of a branch of the Screen Actor’s Guild.Her dubbed voice can be heard in the film Planet of the Vampires.

Fan Frank Lunney (b.1952) died on February 28. Lunney was a best fanzine Hugo nominee in 1970 for editing Beabohema, which he published from 1968 to 1971. He later published the fanzine Syndrome on an occasional schedule.

Actor Dieter Laser (b.1942) died on February 29. Laser appeared in We, Operation Ganymed, The Human Centipde, Lexx, and Das blaue Palais.

Fan Michael Rightor (b.1952) died on February 29. Rightor was the editor of the fanzines The Captain’s Woman and Free Spacers’ Press. He was a frequent attendee of worldcons and world fantasy con.

March

Doctor Charles Berry (b.1923) died on March 1. Berry worked as a flight surgeon for NASA from 1959 to 1974. During that time, he served on the selection committee for the original Mercury Seven and subsequent astronaut groups.

Interviewer James Lipton (b.1926) died on March 2. Lipton was best known as the host of Inside the Actors Studio, but he appeared as versions in himself in the films Bewitched and Igor.

Actor Nicholas Tucci (b.1981) died on March 3. Tucci appeared in the television series Daredevil and provided voicework for the video games Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.

Screenwriter David Wise (b.1955) died on March 3. Wise wrote for Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Transformers, Defenders of Earth, My Little Pony ‘n Friends, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, among many animated shows.

Comics artist Frank McLaughlin (b.1935) died on March 4. McLaughlin co-created Judomaster and drew for daily strips Gil Thorp, Brenda Starr, Reporter¸and The Heart of Juliet Jones.

Fan Kate Hatcher (b.1974) died on March 5. Hatcher was the chair of Spikecon, the 2019 NASFIC, Westercon 72, the 1632 Minicon and Manticon 2019. Prior to Spikecon, Hatcher was active in Utah fandom and con-running for many years.

Malaysian fan Nesa Sivagnanam died on March 6. Sivagnanam was active in the Malaysian International Literature Society and attended conventions around the world. She edited 25 Malaysian Short Stories for Silverfish Books.

Screenwriter Earl Pomerantz (b.1945) died on March 7. While mostly known for writing comedies, he also wrote two episodes of Amazing Stories.

Special effects producer Rebecca Ramsey (b.1966) died on March 7. Ramsey worked on such films as The Nightmare Before Christmas, Queen of the Damned, Hellboy, Spider-Man 3, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.

New York fan Ariel Makepeace Julienne Winterbreuke (b.c.1954) was found dead on March 8. Winterbreuke, who was also known as Abby, I Abra Cinii, and Ariel Cinii, was a contributor to APA-NYU, a filker, artist, and performer. She wrote the Touching Land’s Dance trilogy and was one of the first trans people in fandom. She once appeared on the $10,000 Pyramid, partnered with William Shatner.

Actor Max von Sydow (b.1929) died on March 8. Von Sydow appeared in The Seventh Seal and playing Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon. Other genre films included The Force Awakens, The Minority Report, Dune, The Exorcist, Conan the Barbarian, and many more.

Actor Johnny Yune (b.1936) died on March 8. Yune’s sole genre role was in the film Meteor.

Comic illustrator Allen Bellman (b.1924) died on March 9. Bellman began working for Timely Comics in 1942 and began working on early issues of Captain America and Human Torch. He stopped working on comics in 1953.

Gary B Kibbe (b.1941) died on March 12. Kibbe worked a camera operator on Big Trouble in Little China, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Tales from the Crypt, and Halloween II. He also worked as a cinematographer on The Librarians, Ghosts of Mars, RoboCop 3, and They Live.

Georgian author Giwi Margwelaschwili (b.1927) died on March 13. Margwelaschwili was a philosopher and authors whose only work of genre interest was the novel Officer Pembry.

Belgian illustrator René Follet (b.1931) died on March 14. Follet’s first comic, an issue of Treasure Island was published when he was 14. He went on to work on both Tintin and Spirou, making a career out of one-shot comics and short runs.

Netherland fan Jan Veldhoen (b.1939) died on March 20. Veldhoen served as treasurer for the NCSF (Nederlands Contactcentrum voor Science Fiction) and for the King Kong Award/Paul Harland Prize.

Actor Roy Hudd (b.1936) died on March 15. Hudd appeared in the film Robot Overlords and episodes of Cold Lazarus, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), and Ashes to Ashes.

Academic Ryder W. Miller (b.1965) died on March 15. Miller is the compiler of the book From Narnia to Space Odyssey: The War of Letters between Arthur C. Clarke and C.S. Lewis and author of Tales of Suspense and Horror.

Actor Stuart Whitman (b.1928) died on March 16. Best known for the film The Comancheros wth John Wayne, he also appeared in Night of the Lepus, Time Trax, and pilot for The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.¸and as Jonathan Kent on Superboy.

Actor Lyle Waggoner (b.1935) died on March 17. Waggoner played Colonel Steve Trevor on Wonder Woman, opposite Lynda Cater and also appeared in an episode of Mork and Mindy. He lost the role of Batman to Adam West. He appeared in the film Wizards of the Demon Sword.

Astronaut Al Worden (b.1932) died on March 18. Worden was the command module pilot on Apollo 15. On the return to earth, Worden performed the first deep space EVA. Worden detailed his experiences in the book Falling to Earth.

Actor David Collings (b.1940) died on March 23. Collings appeared in several Doctor Who serials as well as episodes of UFO, Blake’s 7, Sapphire & Steel, and more.

Actor William Dufris (b.1958) died on March 24 from cancer. In addition to voicing characters on Bob the Builder, he provided voicework for Space Adventure Cobra, Genocyber, Venus Wars, and Appleseed.

Director Stuart Gordon (b.1947) died on March 24. Gordon directed Re-Animator, From Beyond, The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, and Dagon. In Chicago, he was a writer for the Organic Theatre, where he wrote and directed Bleacher Bums and E/R.

Playwright Terrence McNally (b.1938) died from coronavirus on March 24. Mcnally wrote episodes of Salvage 1 and The Greatest American Hero. He may have been best known for writing the Braodway musicals Ragtime and Catch Me If You Can.

Composer Gerard Schurmann (b.1924) died on March 24. Schurmann composed the music for the films The Headless Ghost, Konga, The Last Continent, and Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow.

Comics writer and illustrator Albert Uderzo (b.1927) died on March 24. Uderzo was the co-founder and illustrator of the Astérix sieres. He also drew the comic Oumpa-pah.

Software designer Landon Montgomery (b.1974) died on March 25. Montgomery worked on Half-Life, Halo, and Borderlands. He was one of the co-founders of Gearbox Software.

Actor Mark Blum (b.1950) died on March 26 from coronavirus complications. Blum appeared in Desperately Seeking Susan and episodes of Fringe and New Amsterdam.

Fan Dan Goodman died on March 26. Goodman was a St. Paul fan who was active in MNStf. He edited issues of Einblatt and was later a member of LASFS and FiSTFA.

Fan William Levy (b.1955) died on March 26 from an heart attack. Levy was active in a variety of areas, including work as an artist, writer, cartoonist, and game designer. In addition to his cartooning, Levy created the role-playing game Deep Sleep.

Game designer Brian J. Blume (b.1950) died on March 27 of Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Blume designed the game Boot Hill and wrote the AD&D Rogues Gallery.

Actor John Callahan (b.1953) died on March 28 from a heart attack. Callahan is best known for appearing on All My Children and Days of Our Lives, but his genre work includes Donicroc vs. Supergator, Bone Eater, and Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre.

Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki (b.1933) died on March 29. Penderecki’s music was generally not composed directly for films, but was often used in movies, including Ready Player One, The Shining, Heavy Metal, and Twin Peaks.

Actor David Schramm (b.1946) died on March 29. Schramm may be best known for his role as Roy Biggins on Wings, but he appeared in Dreamer of Oz, episodes of Space Cases, and provided voicework for Disney’s Hercules television series.

Artist and author Tomie dePaola (b.1934) died on March 30, a week after suffering from a fall. DePaola was the author and illustrator of the Strega Nona series as well as numerous other books. DePaola has won the Caldecott Medal and the Newbery Medal.

Voice actress Julie Bennett (b.1932) died on March 31 from complications from COVID-19. Bennett’s voice can be heard as Aunt May in Spider-Men: The Animated Series, in The Real Ghostbusters, and in Captain Caveman among many other animated shows.

Gamer Paul Cardwell, Jr. (b.c.1934) died on March 31. Cardwell served as the Chair of the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games and wrote articles in which he defended RFPs from hostile media coverage. He was a contributor to Alarums and Excursions.

Actor Andrew Jack (b.1944) died on March 31 from coronavirus. Jack worked as a dialect coach on a variety of films and appeared as Caluan Ematt in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi and provided the voice of Moloch in Solo. He worked as a dialect coach on Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, Thor: Ragnarok, and Avengers, among others.

Actor Vincent Marzello (b.1951) died on March 31. Marzello appeared in the films The Witches, Superman, the television show The Tomorrow People, and provided voicework for Planet 51 and Venus Wars.

British fan Brian Varley died on March 31 from COVID-19 complications. He has been attending conventions since Medcon in 1953 and wrote a column under the name Machiavarley that appeared in Ethel Lindsay’s fanzines.

Comics artist Dale Crain died in March. Crain was active in the industry, working as an inker, colorist, and editor for more than 25 years for Marvel and DC. He dropped out of the industry in 2010.

April

Costumer Cat Devereaux died on April 1. Devereaux discovered costume fandom in the early 1980s and received a lifetime achievement award from the International Costumers Guild in 2005. In addition to creating her own costumes, she served as a judge and often held concom positions to promote costuming.

Musician Adam Schelsinger (b.1967) died from COVID-19 on April 1. The bass player with Fountains of Wayne, his best known song was the title song from the film The Thing You Do. His music appeared on The Haunted Hathaways, Supernoobs, and in the film Robots.

Comics artist Hy Fleishman (b.1927) died on April 2. He attended the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and worked for numerous publishers during the Silver Age

Argentine comic book artist Juan Giménez (b.1943) died from COVID-19 complications on April 2. Giménez was a co-creator of The Metabarons and The Fourth Power.

Actor Logan Williams (b.2003) died on April 2. Williams portrayed the young Barry Allen on the CW series The Flash.

Actress Hilary Heath (b.Hilary Dwyer, 1945) died on April 3 from COVID-19 complications. Heath appeared opposite Vincent Price in Witchfinder General, The Cry of the Banshee, and The Oblong Box. She also appeared in episodes of The Avengers, Space: 1999, and The Prisoner.

Michigan fan Tom Barber (b.1949) died on April 4 from complications from COVID-19. Barber was active in the Dorsai Irregulars. He was active as a filker and chaired ConClave 1 and chaired or co-chaired several subsequent ConClaves.

He chaired the 1986 ConFusion and was a GoH at the con in 2001.

Actor Timothy Brown (b.1937) died on April 4. After a career in football, Brown turned to acting, debuting in The Wild Wild West. Best known as a regular on the first season of M*A*S*H, he also appeared in the horror film Midnight Ride and his last role was in the science fiction film Frequency.

Actor Frank Compton (b.1925) died on April 4. Compton appeared in episodes of The Invaders and The Twilight Zone. He may be best known for his appearances on Gomer Pyle: USMC, The F,B,I,, or various soap operas.

Chinese comic book artist Rao Pingru (b.1922) died on April 4. Rao wrote and drew the comic Our Story following the death of his wife.

Author Alexander Thynn, the Seventh Marquess of Bath (b.1932) died on April 4 from COVID-19. Thynn self-published the novels The Carry-Cot and The King Is Dead.

Actor Jay Benedict (b.1951) died on April 5 from COVID-19. Benedict played Deak Starkiller in Star Wars, although his scenes at Tosche Station were cut from the film. He later appeared in The Dark Knight Rises, Aliens, provided voicework for Ekkusu bonbâ.

Actress Honor Blackman (b.1925) died on April 5. Blackman is best known for her roles as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger and Catehrine Gale on The Avengers. She also played Hera in Jason and the Argonauts and appeared in the Doctor Who serial “The Trial of a Time Lord.”

Astronomer E. Margaret Burbidge (b.1919) died on April 5 from complications after a fall. Burbidge was the first woman to serve as the director of the Royal Observatory and contributed to the design of the Hubble Space Telescope. She had to break through many doors to be accorded the respect and access male astronomers would naturally receive.

Bay area fan Tony Cratz (b.1955) died on April 5. Cratz was the Support Services Division head for ConJose and worked on other Bay area conventions as well, although he had backed away from fandom in recent years.

Actress Shirley Douglas (b.1934) died on April 5 from pneumonia. Douglas provided voicework for Flash Gordon and Silver Surfer. She was married to Donald Sutherland was was Kiefer Sutherland’s mother.

Author Jerrold Mundis (b.1941) died on April 5 from COVID-19. Mundis published “Bad Tommy” as Eric Corder before using his own names. His horror novels, starting with Echo in a Dark Wood were published with the pseudonym Julia Withers.

Director George Ogilvie (b.1931) died on April 5. Ogilvie’s films included Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

British artist Tim White (b.1952) died on April 5. White began painting book covers in 1974 with Arthur C. Clarke’s The Other Side of the Sky and has gone on to paint numerous other covers. His art as been collected in The Science Fiction and Fantasy World of Tim Whiteas well as later collections.

Fan JoAnn Wood died on April 5. Wood was the founder of the Connecticut Valley SF Society and an early member of NESFA. She was on the bid committee for 7 in ’77 and Hawaii in 1981. Her husband, Ed Wood, was one of the founders of Advent:Publishers.

Actor James Drury (b.1934) died on April 6. Best known for his role on The Virginian, he appeared in the film Forbidden Planet and in two episodes each of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.

Fan Al Fitzpatrick (b.) died on April 6 from COVID-complicated pneumonia. A native of England, Fitzpatrick was involved with Australian fandom and later MnStf.

Children’s author Jean Little (b.1932) died on April 6. Although Little wrote numerous books and stories, only a couple of them, “Without Beth” and Once Upon a Golden Apple are of genre interest.

Musician Hal Willner (b.1956) died on April 6 from COVID-19, the day after his birthday. Best known for his work on Saturday Night Live, he also worked on the films Howard the Duck and Bewitched.

Australian fan and bookseller Merv Binns (b.1924) died on April 7 following a lengthy illness. Binns was one of the founders of the Melbourne Science Fiction Group in 1952 and was one of the group’s driving forces. In 1971, he founded Space Age Books, which remained open until 1985. He published Australian Science Fiction News. Binns won the Big Heart Award in 2010.

Actor Allen Garfield (b.1939) died on April 7. Garfield’s genre credits include an episode of Tales from the Darkside, and film Until the End of the World, and Night Visitor. He was best known for appearing in The Candidate, One Trick Pony, and Nashville.

Producer Thomas Lee Miller (b.1940) died on April 7 from COVID-19. Best known for Family Matters, Nanny and the Professor, and Silver Streak, he also worked on Meego, The Immortal, and Out of the Blue.

Mad Magazine artist Mort Drucker (b.1929) died on April 8. Drucker drew for Mad for more than five decades, specializing in satires of films and television. He held the longest continuous tenure of any artist for the magazine.

Actress Lois Kelly-Miller (b.1917) who was mostly a stage actress in Jamaica, died on April 8. Miller’s only film was the 1998 remake of Meet Joe Black.

Actor Malcolm Dixon (b.1953) died on April 9. He appeared in Time Bandits, Willow, Return of the Jedi, Labyrinth, and other films in a variety of roles that took advantage of his four foot ine inch height. He played on the the Oompa Loompas in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. From 1986 to 1989, he portrayed Bilbo Baggins in a theatrical production of The Hobbit.

Scottish actress Ida Schuster (b.1918) died on April 9. Schuster’s one genre role was in Death Watch and she appeared mostly on British television shows.

Fan Anne Zeek (b.1942) died on April 9. Zeek wrote fan fiction and was active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1982, she won the FanQ Award for Best Star Wars Writer. With Regina Gottesman, she was the publisher of the fanzine Right of Statement.

Fan John Sardegna died in early April from complications from COVID-19 and pneumonia. Sardegna was a comic book fan and a frequent participant in the pro/fan trivia contest at San Diego Comic Con International.

Japanese director Nobuhiko Ōbayashi (b.1938) died on April 10. Ōbayashi directed the films Labyrinth of Cinema, The Discarnates, and The Little Girl Who Conquered Time.

Actress Diane Rodriguez (b.1951) died on April 10. Rodriguez appeared in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Psycho III. She worked as a cultural advisor on the television series Elena of Avalor.

Actor and comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor (b.1940) died on April 11 from COVID-19. Brooke-Taylor is best known for tTe Goodies, I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again, and At Last the 1948 Show!, the latter of which included the first version of Monty Python’s “Four Yorkshiremen” sketch, written by Taylor-Brooke. His genre work included Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Asterix and the Big Fight.

Mathematician John Horton Conway (b.1937) died from COVID-19 on April 11. Conway created the Game of Life, which influenced many science fiction authors and his writing was also often used as the basis for columns by Martin Gardner in Scientific American.

Editor Keith Ferrell (b.1953) died on April 11. Ferrell wrote the biography H.G. Wells: Citizen of the Future and later became the Editor-in-Chief of OMNI magazine.

Actress Margot Hartman Tenney (b.1933) died on April 11. Tenney made her screen debut as Margot Hartman in 1956 in an episode of Goodyear Playhouse. Her genre appearances included the horror films Violent Midnight, The Curse of the Living Corpse, and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. She had a writing credit for the first two.

Puppeteer Pat Brymer (b.1950) died on April 12. Brymer performed stunts in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, worked as a puppeteer for Short Circuit and Team America: World Police,

Voice actor Kenji Fujiwara (b.1964) died on April 12 from cancer. Fujiwara has worked on Fullmetal Alchemist, Kingdom Hearts, and Crayon Shin-chan. He has also dubbed the voice of Iron Man for Japanese releases and founded his own talent agency.

Boston fan Stacy Mandell (b.) died on April 12. Mandell became active in fandom and con-running at Stony Brook in 1977. She served as the president of the Science Fiction Forum and ran the soft-sculpture business Sleeping Dragon. She ran the Masquerade Green Room at Arisia as well.

Director Joel M. Reed (b.1933) died on April 12. Reed got his start as the director in the adult film industry before making the horror films Blood Bath, Bloodsucking Freaks, and Night of the Zombies. He also appeared in several films.

Los Angeles fan Ken Rowand (b.1948) died on April 12. Rowand was diagnosed with kidney cancer late last year. Rowand interviewed Ralph McQuarrie for the zine Bantha Tracks. Rowand was a comics fan as well as a Star Wars fan. He is survived by his wife, Marta Strohl.

Voice actor Danny Goldman (b.1939) died April 13. Goldman is best known for provifing the voice of Brainy Smurf. He has also done voice work for The New Scooby Doo Mysteries and Batman: The Animated Series. His live appearances include the medical student who needles Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein.

Voice actor Rick May (b.1940) died on April 13. May’s work can be found in numerous video games, including Star Fox 64, Freddi Fish 5: The Case of the Creature of Coral Cove, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, and more.

Animator S. Ann Sullivan (b.1929) died on April 13. Sullivan began working for Disney on the 1953 film Peter Pan and over the years worked on several of their films, including The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Mulan, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo & Stitch, and Treasure Planet.

Screenwriter Pip Baker (b.Philip Baker, 1928) died April 14. Baker wrote the Doctor Who serials “The Mark of the Rani, The Trial of the Time Lord,” and “Time and the Rani,” as well as an episode of Space: 1999, Z Cars, and the film Captain Nemo and the Underwater City. He also co-wrote the Doctor Who book Race Against Time with his wife, Jame Baker.

Actor Mario Donatone (b.1933) died on April 14. Donatone is best known as the false priest who shot Michael Corleone in The Godfather, Part III, but he also appeared in John Wick: Chapter 2 and King of Kong Island (a.k.a. Eva: La Venere Selvaggia).

Actor Sean Arnold (b.1941) died on April 15. Arnold appeared in the BBC radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, episodes of Bugs and Out of the Unknown, and Hunters of the Deep.

Cinematographer Allen Davieau (b.1942) died on April 15 from COVID-19. A five-time Oscar nominee, he worked on E.T. the Extraterrestrial, Empire of the Sun, Van Helsing, Harry and the Hendersons, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and The Astronaut’s Wife.

Actor Brian Dennehy (b.1938) died on April 15. Well known for his appearance on both stage and screen, his genre work included Cocoon and its sequel, The Discarded, The 4400, and Ratatouille.

Brazilian author Rubem Fonseca (b.1925) died on April 15. Fonseca is the author of Corações solitários, which was translated into English as Lonelyhearts. Most of his works were non-genre and he tended toward being a reculse.

Actor Bruce Myers (b.1942) died on April 15. Myers appeared in episodes of the television series Highlander and Relic Hunter.

Comic artist Gene Deitch (b.1924) died on April 16. Deitch was the creative director at Terrytoons and created Tom Terrific and Sidney the Elephant. In the early 1960s, he directed Popeye and Tom and Jerry cartoons.

Producer Andrew J. Fenady (b.1928) died on April 16. Fenady directed Terror in the War Museum, The Stranger, Who Is Julia?, and Black Noon.

Actor Sergio Fantoni (b.1930) died on April 17. Fantoni has appeared in Mission: Eureka, episodes of La traccia verde, and Seddok.

Fan Neale Mittenshaw-Hodge (b.1962) died on April 17. Miitenshaw-Hodge has attended and worked on many British conventions over the years. He ensured badges were clear and readable.

Fan D.J. Rowe (b.1937) died on April 19. Rowe’s appreciation of Michael Moorcock led to him running Nomads of the Time Stream, the first Moorcock fan club. Rowe published many articles in the club’s zine, The Time Centre Times.

Fan Hugh Casey (b.1964) died on April 21. Casey has served as the President of PSFS and has chaired two Philcon and served as programming chair for the convention. He was a guest of honor at 5 Pi-Con in 2010.

Art director Matteo De Cosmo (b.1968) died on April 21. De Cosmo worked on the Marvel television shows Luke Cage and The Punisher.

Producer Joel Rogosin (b.1932) died from COVID-19 on April 21. Rogosin produced the television shows Mr. Merlin and Knight Rider.

Actress Shirley Knight (b.1936) died on April 22. Knight appeared in episodes of Tales of the Unexpected, Night Visions, The Invaders, and The Outer Limits.

Actor Bruce Allpress (b.130) died on April 23. Allpress appeared in the mini-series Hercules. He also appeared in the films The Water Horse and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Actor Dimitri Diatchenko (b.1968) died on April 23. Diatchenko appeared in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Get Smart, and an episode of the television series Timecop. He also did a lot of voicework for videogames, including Iron Man 2, Tomb Raider, and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.

Actress Kumiko Okae (b.1956) died from COVID-19 on April 23. Okae was an active anime voice actress, who performed in The Cat Returns, Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, and The Dog of Flanders.

Eizo Kaimai (b.1929) died on April 24. Kaimai created costumes for various Godzilla and Ultraman films.

Chicago fan Shelagh Nikkel (b.1966) died on April 24 after a long battle with cancer. Nikkel began coordinating massages at Chicago area conventions when she was still in massage school, including at Chicagon 2000, and continued after she set up her own practice.

Author and editor Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (b.1955) died on April 24. Pulver edited the anthologies The Grimscribe’s Puppets and Cassilda’s Songs: Tales Inspired by Robert W. Chambers’ King in Yellow Mythos.

Fan Reed Andrus died on April 25. His fanzines included Laughing Osiris and The Bull of the Seven Battles. He was a member of the National Fan Federation, contributing to Yesterday and Today.

Author Helen McCabe (b.1942) died on April 25. Mostly known for her romance and historical fiction, she has also written the Piper trilogy of horror novels.

Rare book librarian George McWhorter (b.1931) died on April 25. McWhorter developed and curated the Edgar Rice Burroughs Memorial Collection at the University of Louisville and published the Burroughs Bulletin and the Gridley Wave.

Swedish bookstore manager Michael Svensson died in the spring. Svensson worked at SF-Bokhandeln. He was also a conrunner and fanzine editor and in 1986 won the Alvar Appeltofft Memorial Award.

French author G-J Arnaud (b.1928) died on April 26. Arnaud wrote La Compagnie des glaces series. And won the Prix Apollo, the Prix Mystère, and the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres. He also published under the names Saint-Gilles and Georges Murey.

Actor Aarón Hernán (b.1931) died on April 26. Hernán appeared in Santo vs. the Martian Invasion, Planet of the Female Invaders, and Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell and other similar films.

Director Peter H. Hunt (b.1938) died on April 26. His works of specific genre interest include Touched by an Angel and The Mysterious Stranger, but he is best know for directing the play and film 1776.

Actress Jill Gascoine (b.1937) died on April 28. Gascoine appeared in a television version of Peter Pan and an episode of Touched by an Angel. She is best known for starring in the television series The Gentle Touch.

Dancer Mari Winsor (b.1950) died on April 28. Winsor worked as a fitness instructor, dancer, and choreographer in Hollywood and choreographed a dance sequence for an episode of the 1990’s series The Flash.

Actor Irrfan Khan (b.1967) died on April 29 from cancer. Khan appeared in Jurassic World, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Life of Pi. Although Khan made a mark in Hollywood films, most of his movies came out of Bollywood.

Director John Lafia (b.1957) committed suicide on April 29. Lafia wrote the screen play for Child’s Play and directed the film Child’s Play 2 and episodes of Freddy’s Nightmares, The Dead Zone, and Bablyon 5.

Author Wally K. Daly (b.1940) died on April 30 Daly was primarily a playwright and screenwriter, but when his script “The Ultimate Evil” was cancelled for filming on Doctor Who, he turned it into a novel, which was later adapted by Big Finish.

Actor Michael Keenan (b.1939) died on April 30. Keenan appeared in various episodes of Star Trek, Sliders, and Earth vs. the Spider.

May

Actress Silvia Legrand (b.1927) died on May 1. Legrand portrayed Laura Strassberg in the television series ¡Robot!

Actor Sam Lloyd (b.1963) died on May 1 after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Lloyd is best known for played Ted Buckland on Scrubs, but also appeared in Galaxy Quest, Flubber, and episodes of Third Rock from the Sun.

Actor John Ericson (b.Joachim Meibes, 1926) died on May 3 from pneumonia. Ericson appeared in episodes of Automan, The Invaders, and Knight Rider. His films included 7 Faces of Dr. Lao and the German captain in Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Actor John Patrick Mahon (b.1938) died on May 3. Mahon appeared in Armageddon and episodes of X-Files, Star Trek Enterprise, and Angel.

Fan Graham Kennedy (b.1970) died on May 4 from cancer. Kennedy was an avid Star Trek fan who created the Daystrom Institute Technical Library website and forums.

Actor Arthur Dignam (b.1939) died on May 9. Dignam appeared in the films 7 from Etheria, The Return of Captain Invincible, and Strange Behavior, as well as several episode sof Escape from Jupiter. He provided voicework for Grendel Grendel Grendel and King Solomon’s Mines.

Cartoonist Richard Sala (b.1959) died on May 9. Sala worked on Invisible Hands and Evil Eyes. Other works included Super-Enigmatix, Peculia, and The Chuckling Whasit.

Actor Geno Silva (b.1948) died on May 9. Silva appeared in Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise as Senator Vrax and episodes of Monsters.

Comic book writer Martin Pasko (b.Jan-Claude Rochefort, 1954) died on May 10. Pasko wrote Superman for various media, the script for Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and Doctor Fate. Other work including Thunfarr the Barbarian, The Tick, and scripts for Buck Rigers in the 25th Century, The Twilight Zone, and Max Headroom.

Actor Jerry Stiller (b.1927) died on May 11. Stiller appeared in episodes of Touched by an Angel, Tales from the Darkside, Disney’s Hercules, and othe science fiction and fantasy television series. He is best known as a comedian, working with his wife, Anne Meara, and as the father of Ben Stiller.

Comic book writer Frank Bolle (b.1924) died on May 12. Bolle worked on Soctor Solar, Man of the Atom and Detective Comics. Man of his comics were westerns or romance, but he also inked about a dozen stories for Marvel.

D.C. area fan Barry Newton (b.1949) died from cancer on May 12. Barry wrote reviews for SFRevue and was an active con attendee and conrunner in the Washington, DC area.

Actor Michel Piccoli (b.1925) died on May 12. Piccoli appeared in Tykho Moon, The Timekeeper, Long Live Life, and Le prix du danger.

Actor Gregory Tyree Boyce (b.1989) died on May 13. Boyce appeared in the film Twilight as Tyler and had an uncredited appearance in Breaking Dawn, Part II.

Production designer David Nichols (b.1941) died on may 13. Nichols worked on Groundhog Day, The Serpent and the Rainbow, and Swamp Thing.

Director Lynn Shelton (b.1965) died on May 15. Shelton directed episodes of the television series The Good Place and Ghosted, as well as the film Prospect.

Actor Fred Willard (b.1933) died on May 15. Best known for his portrayal of goofy guys who had a higher opinion of their sense of humor than they should have, he was a member of Christopher Guest’s stock film company. Willard did voicework for Wall-E and numerous other cartoons, appeared on Get Smart, Pushing Daisies, Wizards of Waverly Place, and numerous other films and television shows.

Chinese author Ye Yonglie (b.1940) died on May 15. Ye began publishing science fiction in 1978 with Xiao Lington Manyou Weilai, and became known as one of the country’s foremost science popularizers. He was most active prior to 2000.

Actress PIlar Pellicar (b.191933) died on May 16. She appeared in the horror film Paedro Páramo, Cuentos de Madrugada, and El Mundo de los Muertos.

Actress Monique Mercure (b.19) died on May 17. Mercure appeared in Quintet, Master Key, Dans le ventre du dragon, and Saints Martyrs des Damnes.

Composer Peter Thomas (b.1925) died on May 17. His music appeared in Raumpatrouille, Horror Hospital, Moonwolf, and The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism.

Annie Glenn (b.1920) died from COVID-19 on May 19. Glenn was the wife of astronaut John Glenn, who was the first American in orbit and also flew on the space shuttle. After overcoming her stutter, she found a career as a successful speech pathologist.

Charles Lippincott (b.1939) died from COVID-19 on May 19. Lippincott was the marketing director behind Star Wars in 1977 and made sure to trademark all the characters, creating one of the most successful tie-in marketing plans of all time and changing the way movies were sold to the public.

Montreal fan Alice Novo (b.1958) died on May 19. Novo was active in the Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (MonSFFA) and wrote for the group’s fanzine, WARP. She was also involved in running conventions.

Costume designer Denise Cronenberg (b.1938) died on May 22. Cronenberg began working in Hollywood on The Fly, directed by her brother, David, and went on to work on eXistenZ, Dracula 2000, and Dawn of the Dead.

Academic Marshall B. Tymn (b.1937) died on May 24. Tymn was the founder of the Instructors of Science Fiction in Higher Education and published numerous academic works, including A Director of Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing Houses and Book Dealers, The Teacher’s Guide to Science Fiction, and The Celebration of the Fantastic. In 1990, he received the Pilgrim Award from SFRA.

Taiwanese actor Pong Fong Wu (b.1964) died on May 25. His genre work included Twa-Tiu-Tiann, Double Vision, Silk, and The Ghost Tales.

Actress Cindy Butler (b.Cindy Lu Stevens, 1955) died on May 26. Butler appeared in the horror films The Town That Dreaded Sundown and Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues.

Actor Richard Herd (b.1932) died on May 26. Herd appeared in episodes of Quantum Leap, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager, and The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.

Actor Anthony James (b.James Anthony, 1942) died on May 26. James appared on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Man from Atlantis, and Knight Rider.

Actress Peggy Pope (b.1929) died on May 27. Pope played Elvira in The Last Starfighter and appeared in episodes of Bewitched, Mork & Mindy and The Twlight Zone. Other genre films included Oh, God! and Once Bitten.

Actor Tony Scannell (b.1945) died on May 27. Scannell played one of Ming the Merciless’s officers in Flash Gordon and did voice work for The Thief and The Cobbler. He appeaared in the film Evil Never Dies.

NASA engineer Arnie Aldrich (b.1936) died on May 28 from cancer. Aldrich worked on every US manned spaceflight program from Mercury through space shuttle and served as the director of the shuttle program following the Challenger disaster.

Composer Lennie Niehaus (b.1929) died on May 28. His music appeared in the films Space Cowboys, Demon Seed, The Nightcomers, and the television series Faerie Tale Theatre.

Animator Mark Glamack (b.1947) died on May 29. Glamack has worked as an animator on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Sonic the Hedgehog, as director for Bionix Six, and as producer on G.I.Joe as well as various roles on numerous other animated television shows.

Actor Michael Angelis (b.1944) died on May 30. Best known as the narrator on Thomas the Tank Engine and its various spin-offs, Angelis also appeared in the film Fated and the short film Zombie Nation: Ein dolles Blutbad.

Canadian author Charles R.Saunders (b.1946) died in May. Saunders is the author of the Imaro series and the Dossourye series, as well as numerous short stories. With Charles de Lint, he co-edited issues of Dragonfields in the late 70s and early 80s. He had two Balrog nominations, a World Fantasy nomination and an Aurora nomination.

June

Academic Colin Manlove (b.1942) died on June 1. Manlove was a literary critic who wrote Modern Fantasy: Fice Studies and Science Fiction: Ten Explorations. He wrote several volumes on C.S. Lewis as well as books on Harry Potter.

Mary Pat Gleason (b.1950) died on June 2 from cancer. Gleason played the cranky robot Ida on The Middleman. Other genre appearances included 13 Going on 30, Bruce Almighty, Defending Your Life, and Quantum Leap.

Screenwriter Bruce Jay Friedman (b.1930) died on June 3. Friedman wrote the film Splash and its sequel as well as the show Sniff. He also wrote the afterlife play Steambath.

Croatian translator Melina Benini (b.1966) died on June 4. Benini receved the SFERA Award six times and multiple Artefakt awards. She translated works by Guy Gavriel Kay, Terry Pratchett, Michael Moorcock, N.K. Jemisin, and Iain M. Banks from English into Croatian.

Actor Fabrizio Mioni (b.1930) died on June 8. Mioni appeared in Hercules and Hercules Unchained with Steve Reeves and an episode of One Step Beyond.

Actress Anita Linda (b.1924) died on June 10. Linda appeared in the films Temptation Island, Lorelei, Puso ng pasko, Voltes V and Darna at ang Babaing Tuod and an episode of Genesis.

Comic editor Dennis O’Neill (1939) died on June 11. O’Neill worked on Green Arrow, Green Lantern, and Batman, creating the characters Ra’s al Ghul and Talia al Ghul. He also served as editor in chief of DC Comics.

Author Stella Pevsner (b.1921) died on June 11. Pevsner was a childrens author whose works included Sister of the Quints and Is Everyone Moonburned But Me?

Actor Mel Winkler (b.1941) died on June 11. Winkler appeared on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Star Trek: Voyager and Bablyon 5. He also did voicework for Superman: The Animated Series.

French author Jean Raspail (b.1925) died on June 14. Raspail wrote the novel Le camp des saints which is an anti-immigration novel embraced by the white supremacy movement. He also wrote the novel Sire, about the reinstallation of the French monarchy.

Screenwriter Lewis John Carlino (b.1932) died on June 17. Carlino wrote the movies Seconds, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Resurrection, and Where Have All the People Gone. He also wrote and directed The Great Santini.

Publicist Harry Clein (b.) died on June 18. Clein worked on publicity for Star Wars, Batman Returns, Toy Story, and The Blair Witch Project.

Screenwriter James S. Henerson (b.1936) died on June 18. Henerson wrote episodes of Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and Starman and also served as an executive producer on Starman.

Fan and game designer Monica Stephens died on June 18. Stephens worked for Steve Jackson Games in nearly every capacity and helped Jackson make the first Munchkin test set. She was Jackson’s companion for 30 years, attending numerous conventions with him.

Actor Ian Holm (b.1931) died on June 19. Holm portrated Frodo Baggins for the BBC adaptation of The Hobbit and later played Bilbo in the Lord of the Rings films. He also played the android Ash in Alien. Other genre films included The Fifth Element, Ratatouille, Brazil, and Time Bandits.

Author Carlos Ruiz Zafón (b.1964) died on June 19. Zafón was the author of The Shadow of the Wind.

Author Dean Ing (b.1931) died on June 21. Ing’s first story wasa published in 1955, but he really began wrting in the late 1970s. His first novel Soft Targets, appeared in 1979 and in the mid-8s, he completed five of Mack Reynolds manuscripts after Reynolds died. His story “Devil You Don’t Know” was a nominee for the Hugo and Nebula Award.

Producer Steve Bing (b.1965) committed suicide on June 22. Most of Bing’s work in film was non-genre, although he financed the film Polar Express.

Director Joel Schumacher (b.1939) died on June 22. Schumacher directed The Lost Boys, Batman Forever, and Batman and Robin. His other films included St. Elmo’s Fire, The Client, and The Phantom of the Opera.

Actor Charly Bravo (b.Ramón Carlos Mirón Bravo, 1943) died on June 23. Bravo appeared in Eliminators, La Fuga, To Love, Perhaps to Die, and The Beast and the Magic Sword.

Author Wendy Cooling (b.1941) died on June 23. Cooling established literacy programs in England and also wrote numerous childrens books in the Quids for Kids series, including Aliens to Earth andWeird and Wonderful.

Actor Michael O’Hear (b.19) died on June 24. O’Hear appeared in the films Snow Shark, Dry Bones, and Lycanimator. He wrote an episode of Captain Isotope & the Enemy of Space.

Comic book artist Joe Sinnott (b.1926) died on June 25. Sinnott worked on various titles for Marvel, in cluding Fantastic Four, The Avengers and Thor. He inked the Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic.

Film director Kelly Adam Asbury (b.1960) died on June 26. Asbury worked in the art department from several films, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. He went on to direct Shrek 2 and Smurfs: The Lost Village.

Game store owner Chris Collett (b.1951) died on June 26. Collett owned The Hobby Store, a game and collectible store in Forest Hills, NY beginning in the 1980s.

Producer Stuart Cornfield (b.1952) died on June 26. Cornfield was an associate producer on History of the World, Part I and a producer of The Fly. He served as executive producer of The Fly II and Megamind.

Author Kathleen Duey (b.1950) died on June 26. Duey began publishing in 1991 with Double-Yuck Magic and published several YA novels over the years, including the Unicorn’s Secret series, the Faeries’ Promise series and the Resurrection of Magic series.

Artist Milton Glasser (b.1929) died on June 26. Glasser co-founded New York Magazine and created the I(heart)NY logo. His genre contribution was to design the logo for DC Comics.

Actress Taryn Power (b.1953) died on June 26. She appeared in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger and The Sea Serpent.

Actor Ramon Revilla (b.1927) died on June 26. Revilla appeared in the films Ang Agimat: Anting-anting ni Lolo, Lumaban ka, Satanas, and Exodus: Tales from the Enchanted Kingdom.

Actor Linda Cristal (b.1931) died on June 27. Cristal appeared in the films The Dead Don’t Die and Panic in the City and episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Fantasy Island..

Artist Jim Holloway died on June 28. Holloway worked on interior illustrations for TSR’s Dungeons and Dragons books and did the cover art for several of their games. He was the original artist for Paranoia and also worked for Pacesetter and Sovereign Press.

Actor Louis Mahoney (b.1938) died on June 28. Mahoney appeared in the Doctor Who episode “Blink” and the series Being Human and You, Me and the Apocalypse. His film appearances include Sheena and Prehistorica Women.

Composer Johnny Mandel (b.1925) died on June 29. Mandel wrote the music for M*A*S*H and his genre credits included music for Escape to Witch Mountain, A Visit to a Small Planet, and Amazing Stories.

Actor, director, and producer Carl Reiner (b.1922) died on June 30. He played an angel in the television show Good Heavens, created The 2000 Year Old Man with Mel Brooks, appeared in the live action The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, and did voice work for numerous cartoons. Reiner received a Saturn nomination for directing Oh, God!

July

French author Jean-Pierre Laigle (b.1947) died on July 1. Liagle translated many works of science fiction into French and under the name Jean-Pierre Moumon he edited and published Antares. His own short fiction included “Premier acte” and “Le spectre de Vulcain.”

Author Kurt Mitchell (b.19) died on July 1. A freelance author, Mitchell self-published more than an dozen comics, graphic novels and anthologies. Prior to turning to self-publishing, he worked in videogame development.

Producer Ronald L. Schwary (b.1944) died on July 2. Schwary won an Oscar for the film Ordinary People. He also produced *batteries not included and directed episodes of the series Medium.

Actor Earl Cameron (b.1917) died on July 3. Cameron appeared in the final William Hartnell Doctor Who serial “The Tenth Planet” and also appeared in Battle Beneath the Earth, The Andromeda Breakthrough, and Inception.

Film maker Ted Newsom (b.1952) died on July 4. Newsom made the documentaries The Other Dracula: The Vampire Films of John Carradine and various films in the 100 Years of Horror series. He also wrote and directed Superman and the Secret Planet.

Actor Nick Cordero (b.1978) died on July 5 after a long battle with COVID-19. He made his Broadway debut in the title role in The Toxic Avenger and later won a Tony for his role in Bullets Over Broadway.

Musician Charlie Daniels (b.1936) died on July 6. Daniels formed the country band The Charlie Daniels Band, whose biggest hit was “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” Some of their other songs also had a fantastic element.

Critic Mavis Haut (b.1936) died on July 6. Haut’s reviews appeared in Foundation and she wrote The Hidden Library of Tanith Lee and 16 Takes on a Self-Invented Woman.

Composer Ennio Morricone (b.1928) died on July 6. Morricone’s music appeared in more than 500 films, including The Thing, Mission to Mars, When Women Had Tails, and 12 to the Moon. He won an honorary Oscar for his contributions to the art of music in film.

Actress Naya Rivera (b.1987) drowned on July 8. Best known for her role on Glee, she appeared in The Master of Disguise, Frankenhood, and At the Devil’s Door.

Author Brad Watson (b.1955) died on July 8. Watson’s genre work included the short story “Water Dog: A Ghost Story.” He also published the collection Last Days of the Dog-Men: Stories.

Critic Gary William Crawford (b.1953) died on July 9. Crawford founded Gothic Press and published Gothic magazine. He wrote several non-fiction studies, including Ramsey Campbell, K/ Sheridan Le Fanu: A Bio-Bibliography, and Robert Aickman: An Introduction, as well as several short stories.

Screenwriter Guy Thomas died on July 10. Thomas wrote the screenplay for Wholly Moses! and a couple of non-genre films.

Costume designer James Keast (b.1957) died on July 11. Keast worked on the television series The Lost World, Him, and Moondial. He also worked on the films Five Children and It, and Truly, Madly, Deeply.

Fan Jomil Mulvey (b.1950) died on July 11 from COVID-19. A poet, she was also known as Lady Mare and Lady Elinor de la Paz.

Author Joanna Cole (b.1944) died on July 12. Cole was a children’s book author who created The Magic School Bus series.

Actress Kelly Preston (b. Kelly Smith, 1962) died on July 12 from breast cancer. Preston appeared in the films Battlefield Earth, Sky High, and The Cat in the Hat.

Comics editor Carl Gafford (b.1953) died on July 13. Gafford worked for Marvel, DC, and Topps Comics. He also worked as a proofreader and in the 70s did layout for Super Friends for Hanna-Barbera.

Grant Imahara (b.1970) died on July 13. Imahara starred on Mythbusters and portrayed Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek Continues.

Actress Galyn Görg (b.1964) died on July 14. Görg appeared on Xena, Hercules: The Legend Continues, Lost and Stargate SG-1 and in the film RoboCop 2.

Actor Maurice Roëves (b.1937) died on July 15. Roëves guested in the Doctor Who serial “The Caves of Androzani,” Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Chase,” and appeared in the film Judge Dredd.

Actress Phyllis Somerville (b.1943) died on July 16. Somerville appeared in the series Daredevil, Castle Rock, and Fringe. She was also in the films The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Simply Irresistible, and It All Came True.

Congressman John Lewis (b.1940) died on July 17. Best known as a civil rights activist and Cnogressman, Lewis wrote the graphic novel March about his role in the 1960s civil rights movement, ad the follow-up graphic novel Run. He attended Comic Con International.

Rod Loe (b.1938) died on July 17. Loe served as an EECOM for NASA during the Gemini era, delaying a promotion to management so he could work on the Apollo 8 mission. He retired from NASA in 1998 after managing the Space Shuttle cross country flight on a 747.

Film editor Jonathan Oppenheim (b.1952) died on July 17. Oppenheim worked as an editor on the films Simon, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and The Adventures of a Two-Minute Werewolf.

UK fan Glen Warminger (b.1957) died on July 17. Waringer was active in the Norwich science fiction group and published the fanzine This Face in the early 1980s.

Ohio fan Glenn Chambers died on July 18 from COVID-19. Chambers was active in PARSEC in in Pittsburgh fandom before moving to Ohio, where he was active in SAGES.

Casting director Moonyeenn Lee died on July 18. Lee worked on the television series The Hot Zone and the films The Prisoner, Tarzan and the Lost City, and Nukie.

Actor Haruma Miura (b.1990) died on July 18. Miura appeared in the Attack on Titan series, Harlock: Space Pirate, and the series Never Let Me Go and Ima ai ni yukimasu.

Producer Elisa Cabrera (b.1971) died on July 20. His films included Zombie Spring Breakers, Liquid Dreams, Ibiza Undead, The Tombs, and Witchcraft X: Mistress of the Craft. He also made the documentary Who’s Changing: An Adventure in Time with Fans.

Artist Victor Chizhikov (b.1935) died on July 20. Chizhikov was a prolific illustrator whose most famous work was the mascot for the 1980 Olympics, but he also illustrated several children’s books that were fantasies.

Editor Robert Martin (b.1948) died on July 20. Martn was the original editor of Fangoria and wrote the novelization of the film Frankenhooker. Under the name Ed Flixman, he edited Sci-Fi Entertainment and SCI FI Magazine.

Author Susan Sizemore (b.1951) died on July 20. Sizemore began writing Star Trek fan fiction and eventually began writing romance novels. Her debut novel, Wings of the Storm was a time-travel romance novel and she soon began writing tie-in novels for Forever Knight. She was active in SCA as Sibeol the Sinister.

Actress Annie Ross (b.1930) died on July 21. Ross made her film debut in 1937 and appeared in The Beast Must Die, The Ghosts of Motley Hall, Superman III, and Witchery.

Author Brian N. Ball (b.1932) died on July 23. Ball wrote Singularity Station, The Regiments of Night, and The Venomous Serpent, as well as the Timepiece series. Ball also edited the YA anthology Tales of Science Fiction.

Actress Jacqueline Scott (b.1931) died on July 23. Scott appeared in The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits in the 1960s. She played Kira and Zantes in The Planet of the Apes television series and was in The Ghost of Cyprus Swamp and Empire of the Ants.

Rene Carpenter (b.1928) died on July 24. Rene was the former wife of astronaut Scott Carpenter, she was the last living member of the Astronaut .Wives Club made up of the wives of the original Mercury 7. She used her time in the spotlight to begin a successful career as a journalist and wrote a syndicated column in the 1960s.

Michigan fan Dave Ivey (b.1950) died on July 24. Ivey worked on local television shows Wolfman Mac’s Chiller Drive-In and The Ghoul Show as a costumer.

Actor Regis Philbin (b.1931) died on July 24. Philbin is best known as a talk and game show host, but he also had a lengthy acting career, including appearances on Get Smart, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and in the Shrek movies.

Author Gillian White (b.1945) died on July 24. White began writing works of genre interested with 1990’s The Plaque Stone. Other novels include Unhallowed Ground, The Crow Biddy, and Veil of Darkness.

Actress Olivia de Havilland (b.1916) died on July 25. De Havilland starred as Melanie Wilk in Gone with the Wind, but had roles in the horror films The Swarm, Lad in a Cage, and The Screaming Woman. In 1935, she appeared as Hermia in the film A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Actor John Saxon (b.1935) died on July 25. Saxon appeared in episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man, Wonder Woman, and The Time Tunnel. He also appared in the films Battle Beyond the Stars, Prisoners of the Lost Universe, and Lancelot: Guardian of Time.

Fan Ro Nagey (b.1953) died on July 27. Nagey chaired the Ann Arbor Relax-I-Con and the first two ConFusions. Nagey worked at the bookstore Cloak and Rocket and founded the Stilyagi Air Corps. She was also the Secret Handgrip Fandom. Nagey served as Guest of Honor at ConFusion 14 and Ad Astra II.

Composer Bent Febricius-Bjerre (b.1924) died on July 28. His music appeared in These Are the Damned, Dreaming of Paradise, Valhalla, and Hodja from Pjort.

Atlanta fan Emily Hunter (b.1970) died on July 28. Hunter was a fan and spent nearly two decades in the printing business before forming the writing agency Hunting for Words. She was active in the Society for Creative Anachronism as Stefania Zaffiro and frequently attended GAFilk.

Producer André Ptaszynski (b.1953) died on July 29. Ptaszynski produced stage productions of Groundhog Day, Return to the Forbidden Planet, and Matilda.

Filmmaker Alan Parker (b.1944) dued in July 31.

In addition, Parker worked on the 1984 restoration of Metropolis. He worked on Hellraiser, Halloween III, and Angel Heart.

Artist and film critic Paul Hammond (b.1948) died in late July. Hammond wrote the essay “M. Melies’ Marvellous Movies” about the French filmmaker.

Artist Lizzie Sanders (b.1950) died in late July. Primarily a botanical artist, Sanders painted the covers for a variety of books, including Geraldine McCaughrean’s Princess Stories.

August

Documentary producer Richard Bright (b.1969) died in early August. Bright produced the film Paddington: The Man Behind the Bear and episodes of The Secret Life of Books and Time Team.

Actor Wilford Brimley (b.1934) died on August 1. Brimley appeared in both Cocoon films, as well as Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, The Thing, and Mutant Species.

Producer Tom Pollack (b.1943) died on August 1. Pollock worked as a producer on Evolution and the animated sequels Evolution: The Animated movie and Alienators: Evolution Continues. He also produced the 2016 version of Ghostbusters.

Actor Rani Santoni (b.1939) died on August 1. Santoni played Lt. Rivera on Manimal and appeared in aan episode of Quantum Leap. He did voicework for the two Eddie Murphy Doctor Dolittle films.

Roberta Pournelle (b.Roberta Isdell, 1936) died on August 2. Pournelle married author Jerry Pourelle in 1969

Susan Ellison (b.Susan Toth) died on August 2. The wife of Harlan Ellison, she published the short story “Man of Many Parts: in 1973 and published the “Through the Lens” series of essays in from the late 1980s through the mid 1990s.

Actor Brent Carver (b.1951) died on August 4. Carver appeared in episodes of The Twilight Zone and War of the Worlds and played Ichabod Crane in a television film version of The Legend of Sleepy Hallow. In 2006, he played Gandalf in a musical production of The Lord of the Rings.

Author Pete Hamill (b.1935) died on August 4. Hamill’s novels Forever and Snow in August have fantasy elements, as does his short story “From the Lake.”

Anime artist Jiro Kuwata (b.1935) died on August 4. Kuwata created 8 Man and Batman Manga. He began to draw comics with The Strange Star Cluster when he was 13.

Costumer Max Helfant (b. Mindy Helfant) died on August 6. Helfant was a regular at Lunacon and Costumecon.

Actor Bob March (b.1927) died on August 6. March portrayed the title character on Captain Satellite, a kid’s show that aired in the late 1950s and 1960s on San Francisco area television.

Actor Raymond Allen (b.1929) died on August 10. Allen made his screen debut in Fight That Ghost and spent most of his career appearing on television shows.

Author P.M. Griffin (b.1947) died on August 11. Griffin was the author of 12 Star Commandos novels and more recently wrote the novels Stand at Cornith and The Elven King. She also wrote two novels set in Andre Norton’s Witch World cycle.

Russian author Andrei Moscovit (b.Igor Markovich Efrimov, 1937) died on August 12. Moscovit’s science fiction included the novel The Judgment Day Archives and he founded Hermitage Publishers.

Chicago author P.J. Beese (b.1946) died on August 13. Beese was the author of the novel The Guardsman with Todd Cameron Hamilton and the two wrote two additional short stories together. Although their novel was nominated for the Hugo, there were claims of ballot stuffing and the work did not appear on the final ballot.

Author Elaine Moss (b.Elaine Levy, 1924) died in August. Moss was a children’s librarian, book reviewer, and writer. She wrote an introduction to A Wrinkle in Time and a children’s adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels.

Actor Linda Manz (b.1961) died on August 14. Manz appeared in the Faerie Tale Theatre adaptation of “The Snow Queen” and the film The Game.

Comics writer Svetozar Obradovi

(b.1950) died on August 15. Obradović co-created Cat Claw, Blek, and Kobra and worked on Tarzan.

Producer Paul Knight (b.1944) died on August 16. In the 1980s, Knight was a producer of the television series Robin Hood and Dick Turpin. He also produced the film Stanley’s Dragon and the series The Frighteners.

Actor Ben Cross (b.Harry Cross, 1947) died on August 18. Best known for portraying Harold Abrahams in Chariots of Fire, Cross appeared as Sarek in the 2009 film Star Trek. He also appeared on the television series Pandora, 12 Monkeys, and The Twilight Zone.

Australian fan John Bangsund (b.1939) died on August 22 from COVID-19. Bangsund was a major force in brining the Worldcon to Australia in 1975 and served as the Hugo toastmaster that year. He founded ANZAPA and published Australian Science Fiction Review. Bangsund coined Muphry’s Law: “If you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written.”

Actress Leslie Hamilton Freas (b.1956) died on August 22. Freas was an RN who specialized in hospice systems, but she appeared in the film Termintator 2 as the T-1000 version of Sarah Connor. She was Terminator star Linda Hamilton’s twin sister.

Actor Allan Rich (b.1926) died on August 22. Rich appeared in Highlander II: The Quickening and episodes of The Incredible Hulk and Misfits of Science.

Actress Lori Nelson (b.1933) died on August 23. Best known for playing Rosie Kettle in the Ma and Pa Kettle films, she appeared in Revenge of the Creature and recreated that role in The Naked Monster. She also appeared in Da the World Ended.

Swedish comic artist Rolf Gohs (b.1933) died on August 25. Gohs created cover art for the Swedish edition of The Phantom.

Chicago fan Vicki Bone (b.1946) died on August 26. Vicki worked in the Windycon art show, the print shop, and childcare. She also coordinated the classics of SF Art Exhibit at Chicon 2000.

Astronaut Jerry Carr (b.1932) died on August 26. Carr served as commander of Skylab 4

Belgian author André-Paul Duchâteau (b.1925) died on August 26. Duchâteau wrote the comic Ric Hochet and the science fiction series Hans.

French publisher Jean Rosenthal (b.1923) died on August 26. Rosenthal translated works by Asimov, Simak, van Vogt, and many other science fiction authors into French.

Animator Joe Ruby (b.1933) died on August 26. Ruby, along with Ken Spears, developed Scooby-Doo. He also created Elektra Woman and Dyna Girl and Captain Caveman and the Teen Anges and wrote for Space Ghost.

Author and illustrator Althea Braithwaite (b.1940) died on August 27. Braithwaite was best known for her children’s series about Desmond the Dinosaur, some of which were adapted for television.

Actor Sidney Noel Rideau (b.1929) died on August 27. Rideau played Morgus, a horror host on New Orleans television and was inducted into the Horror Host Hall of Fame in 2011.

Actor Chadwick Boseman (b.1977) died on August 28 from colon cancer. Boseman played T’Challa, the Black Panther, in four Marvel films. He also appeared in Gods of Egypt and an episode of Fringe.

Stuntman David S. Cass, Sr. (b.1942) died on August 28. Cass worked on TRON, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Greatest American Hero, Voyagers, and many other television shows and films.

Fan Neil Kaden (b.1954) died on August 28. Kaden was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2005. Kaden was active in APAs, founding DAAPA and belonging to Taps, Applesause, Anzapa, Canadapa, and Vanapa. In 2000, he co-chaired Ditto 13.

Author Randall Kenan (b.1963) died on August 28. Kenan frequently wove supernatural elements into his novels like A Visitation of Spirits and his short stories.

Actor Shirô Kishibe (b.1949) died on August 28. Kishibe appeared as Sha Wu-Jing in the series Monkey and provided voicework for Nutcracker Fantasy and Tengoku kara kita e 3 kiro.

Actress Virginia Bosler (b.1926) died on August 30. Bosler created the role of Jean MacLaren in the Broadway musical Brigadoon and reprised the role for the film.

Actress Ceclia Romo (b.1945) died on August 30. Romo began her career in the film Dune and later appeared in La Telaraña, Horo Marcada, and La casa al final de la calle.

Swedish fan Bo Stenfors (b.1928) died on August 30. He became active in Swedish fandom in the 1950s and published the fanzines Candy Fantasy and Drunken Saturnus. In the early 1960s, he edited the Stockholm clubzine SF Forum.

Author Thomas RP Mielke (b.1940) died on August 31. Mielke began publishing science fiction in 1960 with Enterprise Twilight, which he wrote using the name Mike Parnell, one of many pseudonyms. With Rolf W. Liersch, he wrote The Terranauts series. He has won the Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis, the German Science Fiction Prize, and the Germany Fantasy Prize.

Actor Norm Spencer (b.1958) died on August 31. Spencer provided the voicework for Cyclops on X-Men: The Animated Series. He also voiced Drax the Destroyer on Silver Surfer and provided voice work for numerous other animated shows.

September

Illustrator Martin McKenna (b.1969) died in early September. McKenna Illustrated the Fighting Fantasy game book Curse of the Mummy and provided cover art for numerous books and magazines, including The Wizard of Rondo, Journey into the Void, and Talon of the Silver Hawk. In 1995, he won the British Fantasy Award for Best Artist.

Swedish fan Michael Bernander (b.1959) died on September 1. Bernander co-edited the fanzine Zeméra in the 1980s.

Animator Sue C. Nichols Maciorowski (b.1965) died on September 1. Nichols contributed to the stories for the Disney films Aladdin and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Shee worked in the animation department for Hunchback as well as Mulan and The Princess and the Frog.

Cinematographer Arthur Wooster (b.1929) died on September 1. Wooster worked on Highlander II: The Quickening, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, Warlords of the Deep, and several James Bond films.

Comic store owner Bart Bush (b.James Barton Bush, 1951) died on September 2. Bush was one of the founders of the Oklahoma Alliance of Fans and founded Down Memory Lane, the first comic store in Oklahoma.

Comic book artist Jim Jamns (b.) died on September 2. Janes worked on Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He also worked on Superman Family and House of Mystery and did some work for Marvel. In addition to working in print, Janes worked on several animated series for both DC and Marvel.

Swedish author Carl-Henning Wijkmark (b.1934) died on September 4. Wijkmark was a mainstream author who adopted science fictional tropes in his novels Den Svarta väggen and Vi ses igen i nästa dröm.

Actor Kevin Dobson (b.1943) died on September 6. Dobson appeared in 1408 and Bering Sea Beast and episodes of Early Edition and Touched by an Angel.

Comic book artist Bob Fujitani (b.1921) died on September 6. Fujitani began working in comics in the 1940s and eventually became a ghostwriter for Flash Gordon. In the 1960s, he created Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom.

Melbourne fan Phil Ware (b.1958) died on September 6 from cancer. Ware joined fandom in the 1970s at the Melbourne University Science Fiction Association. He took over as DUFF administrator in 1993 following the death of Roger Weddall.

Minnesota fan Bruce G. Albrecht (b.1957) died on September 8. Albrecht was a frequent attendee at local and regional Minnesota cons as well as Worldcons.

South African playwright Ronald Harwood (b.1934) died on September 8. Harwood wrote several episodes of Tales of the Unexpected and The Doctor and the Devils.

Director Tony Tanner (b.1932) died on September 8. Tanner directed the original Broadway production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and acted in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Exorcism, and Return to the Batcave.

Wrestler Stevie Lee died on September 9. In addition to working as a wrestler, he appeared in many films, including Oz The Great and Powerful and American Horror Story: Dreak Show—Freaklore: The Specter of Edward Mordrake.

Comics fan Gene Reed (b.Edward Eugene Reed, 1952) died on September 9. Reed used his ability as a computer programmer to help create the Grand Comics Database and was a contributor to APA-I and a longtime comcis fan.

Filker Naomi Pardue (b.1961) committed suicide on September 10. Pardue discovered fandom in 1979 and filk the following year. Her song “My Thousand Closest Friends” is a multiple Pegasus nominee and she was also nominated in 1991 for Best Writer/Composer.

Italian publisher Ranco Maria Ricci (b.1937) died on September 10. Ricci published he magazine FMR, which included stories by major authors of fantastic realism. He also published aa variety of anthologies of fantaskia.

Actress Diana Rigg (b.1938) died on September 10. Rigg portrayed Emma Peel on The Avengers and James Bond’s wife, Teresa di Vicenzo, in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. More recently, she played Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones.

Sculptor Keith Short (b.1941) died on September 11. Short made miniatures used in Aliens, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and many other films and television series.

Stuntman Ernie F. Orsatti (b.1940) died on September 12. Orsatti performed stunts in Alien: Resrrection, The Greatest American Hero, The Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, and the film My Favorite Martian.

Acress Sei Ashina (b.Aya Igarashi, 1983) died on September 14. Ashina appeared in Kamen Rider Hibiki, AI Amok, and Masuyama Chounouryokushi jimusho.

Composer Al Kasha (b.1937) died on September 14. Kasha composed “The Morning After” for The Poseidon Adventure, “We May Never Love This Way Again” for The Towering Inferno, and “Candle on the Water” for Pete’s Dragon. He won Oscars for both “The Morning After” and “We May Never Love Life This Again.”

Filk publisher Bob Laurent died on September 14. Laurent was the founder of Wail Songs, one of the first commercial filk labels, which also published the filk songbook Stave the Wails. He founded the filk con Consonance and the Interfilk fan fund. He was inducted into the filk hall of fame in 1996.

Fan Mike Eber (b.1977) died on September 16. Eber was involved in Texas conventions, including running tech at numerous Fencon. He was also involved in the Dallas Makerspace.

Actress Penny McCarthy died on September 16. McCarthy as a stand-in for Carrie Fisher in Star Wars and also played members of the cantina band, a Jawa, and Kardue’sai’Malloc.

Author Terry Goodkind (b.1948) died on September 17. Goodkind wrote the novel Wizard’s First Rule and the other novels in the Sword of Truth universe. Goodkind also recently had published three novellas in the Angela Constantine series.

Producer Jerome M. Zeitman (b.1930) died on September 17. Zetiman produced the television series The Starlost and an adaptation of Roger Zelazny’s Damnation Alley.

Artist Ron Cobb (b.1937) died on September 21. Cobb started his career as an inbetweener on Sleeping Beauty. He later helped design aliens for the cantina scence in Star Wars, the Nostromo for Alien, the weaponry for Conan the Barbarian and helped plot out the film E.T.

Actor Michael Lonsdale (b.1931) died on September 21. Lonsdale played Hugo Drax in the James Bond film Moonraker. Other genre work included Chronopolis, Hibernatus, and Sculpt.

Author John J. Myers (b.1941) died on September 24. Myers collaborated with Gary K. Wolf on the novel Space Vulture. The also collaborated on a short story for which Myers used the pseudonym Jehane Baptiste because he was unsure of how the Vatican would view an archbishop publishing science fiction.

Fan Lindy Laurent (b.Lindy Sears, 1956), committed suicide on September 25. Laurent was responsible for brining filk guests to Balticon and served as a chair for Conterpoint 1993. She was married to filk publisher Bob Laurent and worked with him on Wail Songs.

Production Assistant George J. Steiner, Jr. (b.1952) died on September 25. Steiner worked as a PA on Ender’s Game and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and as a location manager for Terminator Genisys.

Actor Jimmy Winston (b.James Edward Winston Langwith, 1945) died on September 26. Winston portrayed Shura in the Doctor Who serial “Day of the Daleks.”

Actress Yuko Takeuchi (b.1980) died on September 27. Takeuchi appeared in the television series Flashforward and the films Yomigaeri and Be With You.

Producer Kevin Burns (b.1955) died on September 27. Burns was a huge fan of the television series Lost in Space and became friends with many of the cast members. He became a producer, eventually rebooting Lost in Space as a television show and also working on numerous other reality shows and documentaries of genre interest.

Producer Gene Corman (b.1927) died on September 28. The brother of Roger Corman, he worked as a producer on the films Beast from Haunted Cave, Attack of the Giant Leeches, Premature Burial, and numerous other B movies.

Academic Robert Eighteen-Bisang (b.1947) died on September 29. Eighteen-Bisang co-edited the Lord Ruthven Award-winning Bram Stoker’s Notes for Dracule: A Facsimile Edition with Elizabeth Miller. He edited several other volumes of vampire literature and has claimed that Dracula is based on Jack the Ripper rather than Vlad the Impaler.

Comics fan Chandler Rice (b.1962) died on September 29. Rice owned the Las Vegas comic store Desert Wind Comics. He was also involved in running comic conventions.

Cinematographer Michael Chapman (b.1935) died on September 30. Chapman worked on Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Lost Boys, Ghostbusters, and Scrooged.

Argentinian cartoonist Joaquin Salvador Lavado Tejón (b.1932) died on September 30. Tejón, who also worked under the name Quino, drew the comic Mafalda.

Actor Frank Windsor (b.Frank W. Higgins, 1928) died on September 30. Windsor appeared in two Doctor Who serials, once opposite Peter Davison, one opposite Sylvester McCoy. Other genre appearances included Z Cars and A for Andromeda.

October

Screenwriter Murray Schisgal (b.1926) died on October 1. Schisgal was nominated for an Oscar for Tootsie, but his genre credit was serving as a producer for an adaptation of Jane Yolen’s The Devil’s Arithmetic.

Producer Edward S. Feldman (b.1929) died on October 2. Feldman produced the Hugo Award winning film The Truman Show as well as Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, Explorers, and The Golden Child.

Actress Armelia McQueen (b.1952) died on October 3. She played the Red Queen in Adventures in Wonderland and appeared in Ghost as Oda Mae’s sister.

Actor Jean-Marc Avocat (b.1948) died on October 4. Avocat appeared in episodes of Kaamelott and in the video game The Last Dynasty.

Stuntman Chris Carnel (b.1963) died on October 4. Carnel performed stunts in Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, Spider-Man, The Island and numerous other films and television shows.

Actor Clark Middleton (b.1957) died on October 4. Clark appeared in Sin City, episodes of Gotham and Agents of SH.I.E.L.D., AND Fringe.

Actress Margaret Nolan (b.1943) died on October 5. Nolan appeared in Goldfinger and episodes of The Adventures of Don Quick and Adam Adamant Lives!.

Dancer Tommy Rall (b.1929) died on October 6. Rall appeared in the films Saturday the 14th Strikes Back and Invitation to the Dance.

Editor David Gale (b.1955) died on October 9. Gale worked as editorial director at Simon & Schuster Young Readers for 25 years, during which time he worked with several genre authors, including Tony DiTerlizzi, Magaret Peterson Haddix, and Gary Paulsen.

Dutch fan Lian Koh (b.1955) died on October 10. Koh was the editor of the magazine SF Terra.

Actor Bradley Mott died on October 10. Active on the stage in Chicago, he has appeared in the films Meet the Applegates and Stranger Than Fiction.

Ukrainian poet Mykola Petrenko (b.1925) died on October 10. Among Petrenko’s poetry and plays were numerous works based on fairy tales.

Cinematographer Kent L. Wakeford (b.1928) died on October 10. Wakeford worked on The Shadow Men, Last Lives, Halfway Home, and Doctor DeathL Seeker of Souls.

Agent Janet Freer (b.1931) died in early October. Freer began working for Panther Books and then Scott Meredith before forming her own agency. She represented Michael Moorcock, Harlan Ellison, Anne McCaffrey, and Ursula K. Le Guin.

Screenwriter Gerard Gardner (b.1929) died on October 11 from cancer. Gardner wrote many of the scripts for The Monkees and also wrote for Get Smart and the television series The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.

Actress Conchata Ferrell (b.1943) died on October 12 from cardiac arrest. Ferrell appeared in the films K-PAX and Edward Scissorhands. She provided voicework for Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, The Mask, and Frankenweenie.

Academic Stephen Prickett (b.1939) died on October 12. The president of the George MacDonald Society, Prickett published Victorian Fantasy. Most of his work focused on the English romantic poets.

Actress Rhonda Fleming (b.1923) died on October 14. Fleming appeared in the 1948 version of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, the Get Smart film The Nude Bomb, and the horror film The Spiral Staircase.

Author Chris Meadows (b.1973) died on October 14 from cardiac arrest, a week after he was hit by a driver while biking. Meadows was active in the e-publishing field and had a strong influence on the way e-publishing takes place and was a strong proponent of DRM-free publishing.

Typographer Ed Benguiat (b.1927) died on October 15. Benguiat developed the font used on the show Jeopardy! as well as fonts used in a variety of films, including Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, and Stranger Things.

Publisher Tom Maschler (b.1933) died on October 15. Maschler served as literary director and chair of Jonathan Cape, overseeing the publication of works by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Philip Roth, Martin Amis, J.G> Ballard, and many other authors.

Actor David Toole (b.1964) died on October 16. Toole appeared in an episode of the series Rome. Toole learned to dance after hacing both legs amputated and appeared in They Only Come at Night: Resurrection as well as other stage plays. He also performed during the opening of the 2012 London Olympics.

Polish actor Ryszard Ronczewski (b.1930) died on October 17. Ronczewski appeared in The Two Who Stole the Moon, The Saragossa Manuscript, and Aftermath.

Producer Dana Baratta (b.1961) died on October 18. Baratta produced Jessica Jones, Warehouse 13, and The Secret Circle.

Producer Richard de Croce (b.1967) died on October 18. De Croce procuded Torchwood: Inside the Hub, Doctor Who: Inside the TARDIS, Doctor Who: The David Tennant Special, Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide, and The Real History of Science Fiction. He was also the exeutive in charge of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Live Pre-Show.

Author Jill Paton Walsh (b.1937) died on October 18. Paton Walsh published the novels A Chance Child and Torch and a handful of genre short stories among her works.

Actor Gianni Dei (b.1940) died on October 19. Dei appeared in the horror films Il Sesso della Strega, Giallo a Venezia, Patrick Vive Ancora, and La Settima Tomba.

Comic book author Alex Varenne (b.1939) died on October 19. Varenne and his brother, Daniel, created the series Ardeur as well as Angoisse et Colèreand Gully raver.

Magician James Randi (b.1928) died on October 20. Under the stage name The Amazing Randi, he not only performed magic, but made a career out of debunking paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.

Fan Karen Babcock (b.1964) died on October 21 from COVID-19. Babcock worked as a freelance editor and proofreader and was a frequent Worldcon attendee. She also worked as an acquisitions editor at Double Dragon Publishing.

Dancer Marge Champion (b.1919) died on October 21. Champion served as the model for the title character in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio, and the hippo ballerinas in Fantasia.

Actress Pamela Kosh (b.1930) died on October 21. Kosh appeared on multiple episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as Superman vs. The Elite, Charmed, Pushing Daisies, and Northern Exposure.

William Blinn (b.1937) died on October 22. Best known for writing Brian’s Song, he also wrote two episodes of My Favorite Martian and an episode of The Invaders.

Production designer Arvinder Grewal died on Oxtober 22. He worked on The Boys, Timeless, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Land of the Dead, and eXistenZ amongf other shows and films.

Game designer Len Lakofka (b.1944) died on October 22. Lakofka played the character Leomund in early Dungeons & Dragons games and helped Gary Gygax with game design elements. He eventually wrote a column for Dragon and became the first non-TSR employee to write official AD&D material.

Author Dick Lupoff (b.1935) died on October 22. Lupoff wrote the novel Circumpolar! and its sequel, as wekk as several stand alone novels and numerous short stories. Along with his wife, Pat, he won a Hugo for Best Fanzine for Xero and published The Best of Xero, collecting many articles for the zine. He was nominated for the Nebula three times and the Hugo five times.

Fan Miriam Lloyd (b.Miriam Dyches) died on October 23. Lloyd co-edited the zines Klein Bottle and Fanac with her first husband, Terry Carr. She later married Jerry White and published the FAPAzine A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Poughkeepsie. She published a variety of other zines throughout the late 1950s and 1960s.

Actor Johnny Leeze (b.1941) died on October 25. Leeze appeared in an episode of Life on Mars, played Inspector Cox on The League of Gentlemen and Billy Hamilton on Chimera.

Actor Jacques Godin (b.1930) died on October 26. Godin appeared in Dans une galaxie près de chaz vous 2 and Mario and an episode of Grande ourse.

Swedish author Jan Myrdal (b.1927) died on October 30. Myrdal wrote some science fiction and compiled an anthology of stories from Jules Verne Magasinet, as well as occasionally reviewing works of science fictional interest.

Minneapolis fan Jan Applebaum (b.1952) died on October 31. Applebaum, also known as Jeffrey Applebaum, produced the fanzine Jibara, which appeared in the apazine Poke. Along with Geri Sullivan, he was one of the original purchases of Toad Hall, who selected the building’s name.

Author Rachel Caine (b.1962) died on October 31. Caine published several young adult series, included the Great Library and the Morganville Vampires, which was turned into a film. She published under several additional pseudonyms, includedin Roxanne Conrad, Roxanne Longsrreet, and Julie Fortune and collaborated with Ann Aguirre on the Honor novels.

Actor Sean Connery (b.1930) died on October 31. Best known for playing the first James Bond in films, Connery’s genre work has included Time Bandits, Highlander, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Dragonheart, Meteor, and Robin and Marion. He won an Oscar for his role in The Untouchables.

Author Debra Doyle (b.1952) died on October 31. Doyle co-wrote with her husband Jim Macdonald. Over the years, the two wrote the Wizard Apprentice series, the Bad Blood trilogy, the Mageworld series, a two-volume alternate history series, and several works under various housenames. Doyle received the Mythopoeic Award in 1992.

Producer Charles Gordon (b.1947) died on October 31. Gordon produced the films The Rocketeer, Field of Dreams, Waterworld, and October Sky.

November

Actress Carol Arthur (b.1935) died on November 1. Arthur appeared in three Mel Brooks movies, in minor roles in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, and as Harriett Johnson in Blazing Saddles. She also appeared in an episode of Amazing Stories.

Animator Tony Eastman (b.1966) died on November 1. Eastman worked on the show Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and Doug.

Actor Eddie Hassell (b.1990) was killed on November 1 when he was carjacked. Hassell played Phil Nance on Surface and also appeared in an episode of Joan of Arcadia and the film 2012.

Actor John Sessions (b.John Gibb Marshall, 1953) died on November 2. Sessions appeared in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Outlander, Gormenghast, and Doctor Who.

Fan Jeanette Gugler (b.1955) died of cancer on November 3. Gugler was active in SCA as Theodora von Schmidtlingwald and in MILWAPA.

Director Johnny Kevorkian (b.1972) died on November 4. Kevorkian directed Await Further Instructions, The Disappeared, and Short Lease.

Actor Geoffrey Palmer (b.1927) died on November 5. Palmer appeared in the Doctor Who episode “Voyage of the Damned” as well as Peter Pan, The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, and episodes of The Avengersand Out of the Unknown.

Agent Kay McCauley (b.) died in November. McCauley worked as an agent, representing George R.R. Martin, Ian Tregellis, Ramsey Campbell, and other science fiction and fantasy authors. She partnered with her brother, Kirby to set up their agency.

Writer Charles Kenneth Spears (b.1938) died on November 6. Spears co-created Scooby-Doo, Where Are You and created Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. He wrote for Space Ghost and served as a consultant for the Planet of the Apes television series.

Actor John Fraser (b.1931) died on November 7. Fraser appeared in the Doctor Who serial “Logopolis” as well as episodes of Journey to the Unknown and My Partner the Ghost.

Artist Keith Newstead (b.1956) died on November 8. Newstead created automata which often had science fictional themes, including witches, mermaids, dinosaurs, and other more whimsical works.

Game show host Alex Trebek (b.1940) died on November 8. Best known for hosting Jeopardy! which many sf/f fans have appeared on and more wanted to, he also played himself in the forthcoming film Free Guy and a Man in Black in an episode of The X-Files.

Fan John S. Walker (b.1975) died on November 8. Walker worked on MileHiCon, Nan Desu Kan, Starfest Convention, and Dencer Pop Culture Con, often appearing as a panelist as well. He served as president of the Dallas Anime International from 2004-2007.

Marvel publisher Michael Z. Hobson (b.1936) died on November 12.. Hobson worked at Publishers Weekly and Scholastic before taking a position at Marvel and running their international business.

Director Walter C. Miller (b.1926) died on November 13. Miller directed the television series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl and also worked on a couple episodes of The Lost Saucer and Far Out Space Nuts.

Chicago fan Ogre Henderson died on November 14. Ogre worked at both the Bristol Renaissance Faire and the Chippewa Valley Renaissance Faire making and selling chain mail.

Actor David Hemblen (b.1941) died on November 16. Hamblen provided the voice for Magneto in X-Men: The Animated Series. He has also appeared on The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Rollerball..

Oregon bookseller Amy Carpenter died on November 17. Carpenter’s Book Universe was a feature of numerous science fiction conventions and SCA events. Carpenter was active in fandom from 1977 and found the SCA two years later. She opened Book Universe in 1997.

Artist Jael (b.Jael Ashton, 1937) died on November 17. Jael became a professional artist in 1958 and earned an art degree in 1973, teaching art in Utah and Nevada before moving to New York and focusing on science fiction art beginning in 1986. She painted numerous covers for Baen and DAW as well as the first cover for ISFiC Press. Her sf/f work ceased in 2004.

Actor Kirby Morrow (b.1973) died on November 18. Morrow provided voicework for Ninjago, Dragon Ball Z, and Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales. He also appeared in The Flash, Supergirl, Legion, and Stargate: Atlantis.

Author Hayford Peirce (b.1942) died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on November 19. Peirce was the author of Napoleon Disentimed and The Thirteenth Mistral. He published many humorous stories in Analog, beginning with Mail Supremacy in 1975. His wife was found dead from a gunshot woung the same day as Peirce died.

Producer Herb Solow (b.1930) died on November 19. Solow was the executive at Desilu who oversaw production of Star Trek and sold the series to NBC. He also worked on the film Killdozer, based on Sturgeon’s story and co-wrote Inside Star Trek with Robert H. Justman.

Swedish author Sten Andersson (b.1951) died on November 20. Andersson began publishing short fiction in the 1970s in Jules Verne-magasinet and went on to publish five novels as well as translating works into Swedish.

Swedish fan Sture Hellström (b.1941) died on November 20. Hellström became active in 1956 using the name Sture Sedolin and published the fanzines Super SF, Science Fiction Times, and Cactus.

Actress Dena Dietrich (b.1928) died on November 21. Dietrich appeared in History of the World, Part I and provided voicework for The Ghost Busters and Space Academy. She achieved her greatest fame portraying Mother Nature in a series of Chiffon margarine commercials.

Screenwriter Robert Garland (b.1937) died on November 21. Garland’s genre credits were limited to a section of The Twilight Zone: The Movie. His best known work may have been for Tootsie, The Electric Horseman, and No Way Out.

Stunt coordinator Jery Hewitt (b.1949) died on November 21. Hewitt worked on Tomorrow People, K-Pax, The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Independence Day, Ghostbusters II, and numerous other films and television shows.

Screenwriter Malcolm Marmorstein (b.1928) died on November 21. Marmorstein wrote and more than 80 episodes of Dark Shadows and the original Pete’s Dragon. He also wrote and directed the films Dead Men Don’t Die and Love Bites.

Stuntman Hamish MacInnes (b.1930) died on November 22. A noted mountain climber, he worked on The Living Daylights, Highlander, and Monty Puthing and the Holy Grail.

Actress Abby Dalton (b.1932) died on November 23. Dalton appeared in The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent, Cyber Tracker, and Roller Blade Warriors: Taken by Force.

Japanese author Yasumi Kobayashi (b.1962) died from cancer on November 23. His short story “The Man Who Watched the Sea” received the Hayakawa Award for best short story in 1998. He was twice nominated for the Seiun Award for best short story as well as the Galaxy Award (China) for best foreign author.

Stuntman Charles Bail (b.1935) died on November 25 from COVID-19. Bail performed stunts on the television show Conan, Batman, and served as stunt coordinator on Werewolves on Wheels

Actress Daria Nicolodi (b.1950) died on November 26. Nicolodi appeared in the films Deep Red, Suspiria, The Black Cat, and prodied voicework for numerous animated projects produced by Saban. She also wrote Suspiria, Inferno, and Paganini Horror.

Actor Basil Moss (b.1935) died on November 28. Moss had an uncredited role in the James Bond gilm You Only Live Twice and Journey to the Far Side of the Sun. He appeared in multiple episodes of UFO and an episode of Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible.

Actor David Prowse (b.1935) died on November 28. Prowse is most famous for wearing Darth Vader’s suit in the original Star Wars trilogy. He also appeared in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy television series as Hotblack Desiato’s bodyguard, in Jabberwocky, and in A Clockwork Orange. He played an android in The Tomorrow People and a minotaur in Doctor Who.

Author Ben Bova (b.1932) died from COVID-19 related pneumonia on November 29. A six-time Hugo winner, he served as the editor of Analog following John W. Campbell’s death and later was the editorial director of Omni. Bova published numerous hard science fiction novels, notably the 26 volume “Grand Tour” series looking at the various planets in our solar system and the Orion series about an eternal hero. Bova served two terms as the President of SFWA and was President Emerius if the National Space Society. He was the Author Guest of Honor at Chicon 2000.

Tolkien scholar Richard C. West (b.1944) died on November 29 from COVID-19. West helped found the Tolkien Society of the University of Wisconsin and later edited Tolkien Criticism: An Annotated Checklist. He was the founding editor of the Tolkien zine Orcrist.

Fan David Burton died on November 30. Burton founded RAPS and was a member of FAPA. He published the zines Catchpenny Gazette, Microcosm, and Pixel, the last of which was designed for on-screen reading.

December

Actor Hugh Keays-Byrne (b.1947) died on December 1. Keays-Byrne appeared as a villain in both Mad Max and Mad Max: Fury Road. He also appeared in episodes of Farscape and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Actor Warren Berlinger (b.1937) died on December 2. Berlinger appeared on Gemini Man, The Shaggy D.A., Small & Frye, and provided voicework for Off to See the Wizard.

Artist Richard Corben (b.1940) died on December 2. Corben’s comic “Den” appeared in Heavy Metal and he worked on the film Heavy Metal.

Actor Rafer Johnson (b.1934) died on December 2. Johnson appeared in the films Tarzan and the Jungle Boy and Tarzan and the Great River as well as episodes of the television series Tarzan and The Six Million Dollar Man. Before becoming an actor, he was a silver and gold medalist at the Olympics.

Author Alison Lurtie (b.1926) died on December 3. Her ghost stories were collected in Women and Ghosts. She edited The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales and has also written non-fiction about children’s literature.

Screenwriter Cliff Green (b.1934) died on December 4. Green wrote an episode of Mission: Impossible and The Steam-Driven Adventures of Riverboat Bill. He is best known for writing Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Actor David Lander (b.1947) died on December 4. Best known for playing Squiggy on Laverne and Shirley, he did voicework on several animated series, including Batman: The Animated Series, Galaxy High School, The Tick, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and the films Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Titan A.E. He also appeared on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Author Phyllis Eisenstein (b.1946) died on December 7. Eisenstein began publishing short fiction in collaboration with her husband in 1971, but she quickly developed her solo career. She was a two-time Hugo and three-time Nebula nominee. Hercollection Born to Exile won the coveted Balrog Award in its inaugural year.

Academic Walter Hooper (b.1931) died on December 7. Hooper edited multiple collections of C.S. Lewis’s work, including Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories and also co-wrote C.S. Lewis: A Biography.

General Chuck Yeager (b.1923) died on 7. In 1947, as a test pilot, he became the first human to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1. Yeager also flew missions during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

Saxophone player Jerry Peterson (b.) died on December 8 from COVID-19. Petterson played with the band Billy and the Beaters. He appeared in the film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension playing two saxophones at Artie’s Artery.

Actress Carol Sutton (b.1933) died on December 9 from Covid related complications. Sutton appeared on Lovecraft Country and American Horror Story and in the film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

British fan John Philpott (b.1944) died on December 9. Philpott was instrumental in the establishment of Hitchhiker’s fandom in the UK, helping create merchandise for ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha. He served as President of the organization three times, but turned down an offer to be Honorary President for Life.

Actor Tom Lister (b.1958) died on December 10. Known as Tiny, he appeared in The Fifth Element, The Dark Knight, The Meteor Man, and provided voicework for Zootopia. He appeared in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Broken Bow.”

Actress Barbara Windsor (b.1937) died on December 10. Windsor appeared in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, and the Doctor Who episode “Arm of Ghosts.”

Australian bookseller David Syber died on December 11. Syber ran Syber Books in Victoria with his wife, Penny, and frequently dealt books at conventions.

Author Dave Galanter (b.1969) died of cancer on December 12. Galanter, frequently in collaboration with Greg Brodeur, published several works, usually set in the Star Trek continuum. His novels included Foreign Foes and Maximum Warp. He also wrote short stories in the universe.

Czech author Jaroslav Mostecký (b.1963) died on December 13. Mostecký’s fiction includes “Axes on Viola.´ He won the Karel Čapek prize for short story three times as well as the ASFFH Award.

Author Parnell Hall (b.1944) died on December 15. Hall wrote the short story “Death of a Vampire,” but is best known for writing the screenplay for C.H.U.D. and appearing in the film. Most of his published work was in the mystery field.

Actor Marcus D’Amico (b.1965) died on December 16. He made his film debut in Superman II. He later went on to appear in Tales of the City and The Alienist.

Comics historian and actor David Ashford (b.1941) died on December 17. Ashford has edited many collectors’ indices, often in collaboration with Norman Wright. He has also appeared in Quatermass Conclusion and the Doctor Who serial “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.”

Actor Jeremy Bulloch (b.1945) died on December 17. Bulloch portrayed Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi and as Captain Colton in Revenge of the Sith. He also appeared in two Doctor Who serials, “The Space Museum” and “The Time Warrior.”

Animator Doug Crane (b.1935) died on December 17 from cancer. Crane worked on the television series Spider-Man, The Mighty Thor, and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. He also did work on the film Heavy Metal.

Robert P. Cohen (b.1944) died on December 17. Cohen worked as a coordinating producer on Night Stalker and Haunted. He was an Assistant Director for Prophecy and The Man Who Wasn’t There.

Art director Peter Lamont (b.1929) died on December 18. Lamont has worked on several James Bond films as well as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Other genre films include The Boys from Brazil and Aliens. Lamont won an Oscar for his work on Titanic.

Comics fan David Mruz (b.1951) died on December 18. Mruz published the comics fanzine Mindrot and studied the history of cartooning in Minnesota, with an emphasis on the works of Charles Schultz, who was native to Mruz’s Minneapolist.

Russian author Roman Arbitman (b.1960) died on December 19. Writing under the pseudonym Rustam Katz, Arbitman wrote the mock-academic alternate history A History of Soviet SF.

Producer David Giler (b.1943) died on December 19 from cancer. Giler served as a producer on the Alien franchise, Tales from the Cryptkeeper, and Perversions of Science. He won a Hugo Award for Aliens and was nominated again for Alien3.

Kevin Evans died on December 23. Evans wrote many non-fiction articles that appeared in The Grantville Gazette as part of Eric Flint’s 1632 project. Several of the articles were co-written with his wife, Karen.

Author James E. Gunn (b.1923) died on December 23. Gunn, who founded the Center for the Study of Science Fiction and the Campbell Conference, began publishing science fiction in 1949 with “Communications,” under the byline Edwin James. His first novel was published in 1955, Star Bridge, a collaboration with Jack Williamson. He was named a Grand Master by SFWA in 2007, was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2015, and was a Worldcon Guest of Honor in 2013. He won the Hugo Award for Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction and was nominated for the Nabula for his novelette “The Listeners,” which was later expanded into a novel.

Actor Rebecca Luker (b.1961) died on December 23. Luker appeared in Spectropia and provided voicework for Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. She also appeared on Broadway in Mary Poppins, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Secret Garden, and The Phantom of the Opera.

Producer Larry Barron (b.1965) died on December 24. Most well known for producing unscripted television, he also produced the 1997 version of The First Men in the Moon, based on Wells’ novel and starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and John de Lancie.

Author Guy N. Smith (b.1939) died on December 24. Smith published his first horror novel, Werewolf by Moonlight in 1974. Subsequent novels included Night of the Crabs and the Sabat and Deathbell series. His novels had a pulp sensibility to them.

Author Ron Weighell (b.1950) died on December 24. Weighell began publishing work of genre interest in 1986, focusing on short stories, which have been collected in three collections, beginning with The Greater Arcana. He also co-edited the anthology Pagan Triptych with John Howard and Mark Valentine.

Producer Qi Lin was murdered on December 25. Qi was an executive producer on The Three Body Problem and appeared as an actress in Disney High School Musical: China. She was poisoned by a colleague. Qi was also the CEO of Yoozoo Entertainment group.

Screenwriter William Link (b.1933) died on December 27. Best known for creating Columbo and Murder, She Wrote, he also wrote for Probe, Darkroom, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Composer Claude Bolling (b.1930) died on December 29. Bolling’s music has appeared in the films The Hands of Orlac, Le Magnifique, The Awakening, and Joker.

Author David Britton (b.1945) died on December 29. Britton got his start in fanzines and went on to write the Lord Horror books. In the early 70s, he rand the bookshop The House on the Borderland, in Manchester. One of the co-founders of Savoy Books with Michael Butterworth, he also guest edited issues of New Worlds and Weird Fantasy.

Actor Jessica Campbell (b.1982) died on December 29. Campbell is best known for her role in Election. She worked as an assistant camera operator on the film Birth of the Vampire

Game writer Jackie Cassada (b.1949) died on December 29. Cassada worked on World of Darkness, Ravenloft, Mage: The Ascension, and Werewolf: The Apocalypse. She wrote novels set in the World of Darkness universe as well as some short fiction.

Casting director Mike Fenton (b.1935) died on December 30. Fenton cast Blade Runner, E.T., Back to the Future, Aliens, Amazing Stories, and numerous other films.

Dancer Adolfo Quiñones (b.1955) died on December 30. Quiñones, who also danced under the name Shabba-Doo, helped popularize break dancing. He appeared in the films Xanadu and Steel Frontier.

German fan Dieter Steinseifer (b.1941) died on December 30. Steinseifer was a fanzine editor and publisher and was also involved in running conventions. He is credited with saving the Science Fiction Club of Deutschland in the 1970s. In 1978, he received a German fan Hugo (not related to the Worldcon Award).

Filmmaker Carter Stevens (b.1944) died on December 30. Best known for making pornographic films, he was also a science fiction fan who used the name Mal Worob and attended cons during the early 1970s, often setting up a film room to show explicit films.

Author Anton Strout (b.1970) died on December 30. Strout wrote the Simon Canderous series, beginning with Dead to Me in 2008. His first story, “The Lady in Red” appeared the year before. He was the host of the Once & Future Podcast.

Actress Dawn Wells (b.1938) died on December 30 from COVID-19. Wells is best known for portraying MaryAnn Summers on Gilligan’s Island and related projects, including the animated Gilligan’s Planet, Other genre shows she appeared on include The Invaders, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and The Wild Wild West.

Actor Gary Howard Klar (b.1947) died on December 31. Klar appeared in Big, Day of the Dead and A Stranger Is Watching. Prior to going into film, he had planned on a career in football that was sidelined by an injury.

Baltimore fan Bob Ahrens (b.1952) died on December 31. Ahrens was one of the original members of the Boogie Knights filk group. He was also an early member of Shore Leave, participating in the convention’s tech crew.

British fan Brian Jordan (b.1942) died in December. Jordan became an active fan in 1960s, publishing in OMPA and later joined BSFA and the Young Science Fiction Reading Group. He founded the Sheffield University Union SF&F Association. Jordan helped assemble TAFF Take and converted Meadows of Fantasy for the web.

Producer Marilyn Jacobs Tenser (b.1941) died in late December. Tenser produced Point of Terror, My Mom’s a Werewolf, Galaxina, and Hunk.

Please take a moment to support Amazing Stories with a one-time or recurring donation via Patreon. We rely on donations to keep the site going, and we need your financial support to continue quality coverage of the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres as well as supply free stories weekly for your reading pleasure. https://www.patreon.com/amazingstoriesmag

Previous Article

Carrie de Stephen King y la extraordinaria vida de la clase media común

Next Article

Navigating the Parallel but Uneven Ecosystems of TraditionalPublishing and Self-Publishing 

You might be interested in …

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.