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?
There is something about a movie that can have the best dialogue, the best makeup effects, production values, locations, and everything else to make it a memorable feature. But if you don’t have the right cast making these characters come to live, it will just come across flat and uninteresting. Actor Don Calfa made his career at bringing characters to life. Whether he was in a feature film or just a small part on an episodic television show, it was magic when Calfa came on.
My first memory of him where he stood out was as the guy who lived across the ravine from Dudley Moore in Blake Edwards 10 (1979), who was always having sex parties. But it also could have been one of his seven different appearances on the TV show Barney Miller, which I used to watch religiously. But no matter what show it was on, he makes an impact. He worked with directors like Spielberg, Scorsese, Bogdonovich, Levinson, and many more. He was quoted in saying that “I’m not a star, I’m a journeyman actor.” I think he was right.
Of course, we horror fans know him from one his greatest characters, that of Ernie Kaltenbrunner, the mortician from Dan O’Bannon’s 1985 film Return of the Living Dead. From his dialogue to just the way he acts, he gives the horror genre an unforgettable performance, and one that he puts RotLD in a lot of fans Top Ten lists.
Calfa passed away last Thursday at his home in Yucca Valley, California, just two days before his birthday. So, on what would have been his 77th birthday, let us take a moment to remember Calfa and the incredible and memorable performances that he gave us over his career that almost reached 50 years. You will most definitely never be forgotten and always remembered by us horror fans. Even if it as a white-haired mortician. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family.
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!
