There is probably not a horror fan alive that does not know Clu Gulager, and rightfully so. He is probably best known as Burt, in Dan O’Bannon’s 1985 zombie classic The Return of the Living Dead. He appeared in quite a few horror titles in his later years, but started acting back in the ’50s, appearing in quite a few westerns, both on TV and the big screen. He also appeared alongside Lee Marvin as a hitman in Don Siegel’s remake of The Killers (1964). But for me, my first memory of Mr. Gulager, believe it or not, was thanks to Disney, in a two-part movie called Mystery of Dracula’s Castle (1973). Cheesy and from Disney, but as an 8-year-old kid, I loved every minute of it. But he also appeared in horror titles like the infamous A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), From a Whisper to a Scream (1987), to the incredible entertaining Feast (2005), playing a crusty old bartender.
But as you all probably know, Gulager passed away on Aug. 5th, at the age of 93. No matter you’re a horror fan, a western fan, or just a film fan, we have all lost a great talent. But as I always say, because of their incredible body of work, we can always pop one of their titles in and remember just how good they were. And just why do we need the cinema in our lives? Mr. Gulager gives us a reason here in this quote:
“We need to laugh, we need to be scared, we need to hug our girl in the theater.
It lightens the load of this crummy life.”
Our thoughts go out to his friends and family during this difficult time.
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