Jack H. Harris isn’t a name that immediately comes to mind, even for most horror fans, but it is because of this particular individual that we have one of the most original alien invaders in movie history, the 1958 film The Blob! Harris started in the business at the very young age of six, working as a performer on the stage. He later became an usher at a movie theater, eventually getting into publicity and distribution, finally becoming a producer. His first film was The Blob, but later gave us titles like 4D Man (1959), Dinosaurus! (1960), Equinox (1970), Beware! The Blob (1972), Schlock (1973) giving a young John Landis his start, Dark Star (1974), and Eyes of Laura Mars (1978). He also produced the 1988 remake of The Blob, though it seems he didn’t care for it too much.
Two years ago, he published his autobiography entitled Jack H. Harris: The Father of The Blob, which we reviewed here on the site. It is a great read with a ton of fascinating stories, and one that I would recommend.
But we are sad to say that Mr. Harris has passed away at the age of 98. With being responsible for so many entertaining films in his career, he might not be as well known as some of the bigger names in Hollywood, but his films have definitely made an impact on millions of movie-goers. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family.
There are some of those actors that play a character with such zest and passion, that as a young film watcher, they are forever cast in your head as that type of person. My introduction to Miguel Ferrer was, like many, in the 1987 film Robocop, where he played a young executive determined to make a difference. While he wasn’t really a bad guy in the film, he definitely showed his power in a tough role. But then a couple of years later, in DeepStar Six (1989), he really showed me how much of a jerk he could be! The real shame is that Ferrer was one of those actors that could play on both sides of the drama, and even be funny! But when he played a bad guy…man was he good.
Thursday, we have lost the author of one of the greatest horror novels of all time, William Peter Blatty. If you’ve never read the actual novel of The Exorcist, you’d be surprised at how effective it is, digging into your core just as much as the film version, if not more. That’s how good Blatty was. Strange though that before this novel, he was known for the most part as a comedic writer, writing several films for Blake Edwards, including the Pink Panther movie A Shot in the Dark. But once The Exorcist came out, there really was no turning back for him and he would always be known as “that guy”. But while it did pigeon hole him, he told the Washington Post in 2013, “I can’t regret The Exorcist. It’s done so much for me and for my family. And it’s given me a great deal of freedom to write what I want.”
Well 2017, that didn’t take long.
Okay 2016, enough, huh? I mean, you’ve only got a few weeks left, let’s end it on a something more than these obits, shall we?
This has been a rough year for horror fans, losing so many people that have given us so much pleasure over the years. And now, news of yet another one. Actress Valerie Gaunt passed away this last Tuesday the 27th. Now Gaunt only appeared in two films in her very short career, but those two made quite the impact in the horror world, not to mention the British film industry.
The acting world has lost another great talent recently, Fritz Weaver. Now he might not have appeared in a ton of genre pieces, but he definitely did his share. He had little parts in plenty of sci-fi/horror TV shows, like the original Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, X-Files, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Friday the 13th: The Series, Monsters, and Tales from the Darkside (which featured Tom Savini’s directorial debut). But he also appeared in a few feature film, like Demon Seed (1977). But for me, the role that I will always remember him from, which just happens to be one of my all-time favorites, the 1982 film Creepshow, where he plays Prof. Dexter Stanley, who comes face to face with the contents of The Crate!
