Yank Science Fiction Series

[Guest Guest]

sorry forgot to say George Clayton Johnson finally did die yesterday http://deadline.com/2015/12/logans-run-novelist-george-clayton-johnson-dead-at-86-1201671841/

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Actually, I'm one of those who doesn't have very much in the way of family for the holidays, so it's not such a huge deal for me any longer; with how freakishly warm it's been in the Eastern States, it hardly feels like Christmas, too.

 

Yes, I saw where George Clayton Johnson died Christmas day - from all accounts, a nice guy and free spirit. He wrote the story upon which Oceans Eleven was based, and co-wrote Logan's Run first published 1967, plus two sequels to it which have never been filmed(these with William F. Nolan). Somebody apparently got ahead of themselves a few days ago in an honest mistake. Makes me wonder how many scriptwriters are left from Star Trek original as well, being as his "The Man Trap" was first episode of that actually aired due to some strange network decision-making.

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Earl Hamner, J,r 1923 is the only scriptwriter definitely still living at the moment from the original Twilight Zone, it does appear. Quite possible a couple of others are who left Hollywood years ago and haven't been traced. Hamner might get a UK mention due to the often sickly-sweet The Waltons which really made his fortune for him.

 

On original Star Trek, John D. F. Black, Harlan Ellison, D C Fontana,David Gerrold, Stephen Kandel, and Norman Spinrad are still with us among the scriptwriters. Ellison, Fontana, Gerrold and Spinrad all migh well receive UK obituaries. Ellison and Spinrad are both in declining health- Ellison had heart surgery several years ago at his wife's insistence, else he'd probably have made his exit some time ago. Spinrad reportedly took experimental treatments in France (where he lives btw) which seems to have extended his life. Off-hand, I don't know of anybody who's been truly cured of stomach cancer. A few writers haven't been traced here also, but aren't well-known enough to receive obits across the pond, I'm sure.

[Davey Jones' Locker 1,324]

Earl Hamner, J,r 1923 is the only scriptwriter definitely still living at the moment from the original Twilight Zone, it does appear. Quite possible a couple of others are who left Hollywood years ago and haven't been traced. Hamner might get a UK mention due to the often sickly-sweet The Waltons which really made his fortune for him.

 

On original Star Trek, John D. F. Black, Harlan Ellison, D C Fontana,David Gerrold, Stephen Kandel, and Norman Spinrad are still with us among the scriptwriters. Ellison, Fontana, Gerrold and Spinrad all migh well receive UK obituaries. Ellison and Spinrad are both in declining health- Ellison had heart surgery several years ago at his wife's insistence, else he'd probably have made his exit some time ago. Spinrad reportedly took experimental treatments in France (where he lives btw) which seems to have extended his life. Off-hand, I don't know of anybody who's been truly cured of stomach cancer. A few writers haven't been traced here also, but aren't well-known enough to receive obits across the pond, I'm sure.

Ellison's actually featured on the Death List before.

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Yes, I recall Ellison having been on the List before - could return, though, right?

 

Anyway, with the talk of Twilight Zone, the original Outer Limits (1963-1965) should be mentioned some, I would think. It was quite good, although I imagine the creatures would be laughed at heartily today by many. Oddly enough, Nimoy, Shatner and James Doohan all appeared on OL as well as Adam West. Not many surviving guest stars from it, either. Leslie Stevens helped produce Buck Rogers in the 25th Century later on as well - Stevens died in 1998.

 

Come to think of it, Night Gallery has steadilylooked better with the passage of time, although I realize that Serling wasn't pleased with it greatly having somehow let creative control slip through his fingers. Still, a number of good episodes appeared on Gallery with stories by authors like Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber, A E Van Vogt, and Richard Matheson being adapted along with other writers with strong reputations in macabre fiction.

[time 8,596]

 

/snip

Ellison's actually featured on the Death List before.

 

 

 

Yes, I recall Ellison having been on the List before - could return, though, right?

 

/snip

 

Back in 2011. He has his own thread. I flagged him as a possibility based on this quote: (source)

 

"The truth of what's going on here is that I'm dying," says Ellison, by phone. "I'm like the Wicked Witch of the West -- I'm melting. I began to sense it back in January. By that time, I had agreed to do the convention. And I said, I can make it. I can make it.'"

That was a year after I suggested John Edrich; he's still alive as well.

[Youwanticewiththat 611]

Close, but no Edrich then time?

[time 8,596]

Close, but no Edrich then time?

Both were dropped after a disappointing 2010, replaced with Basil D'Oliviera and Tiger Pataudi, who were my only scorers that year.

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I recall the same statement from Ellison; his wife did save'im by insisting on heart bypass several years before. Regrettably, he did not keel over at whatever convention this was he was going to. Given his age, though, and history heart problems, Ellison won't last too much longer in all probability (although sci-fi writers generally are noted for their longevity). Given, also, his acerbic personality, it's somewhat surprising nobody has attempted to help him along over the years, if you will. Then again, US society has grown much more violent since his "prime" years of insulting everybody left and right!

 

While commenting, hope Richard Anderson is consiudered seriously for the main DeathList; with Martin E. Brooks recent death, that leaves him as main surviving support for both Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner, whose series was actually the better of the two(I.e. The Bionic Woman) although it had a shorter run. I found her acting much better than Majors.

 

Oh, yes.Character actor Gregg Palmer died on halloween day this year @ 87. He was co-lead in The Creature Walks Among Us (1956), the last of the "Gill-Man"(Creature from the Black Lagoon, that is) series and weakest of the three script-wise. Leading lady Leigh Snowden passed in the early 1980's. Palmer was no doubt best-known for his many westerns in which his large size usually led to him being a villain people like old John Wayne could punch w/o looking like a bully.For the record,I am definitely not a John Wayne fan - despite all the war movies, he was one of the only major US film stars who didn't actually serve in the military.Alleged reasons keep changing - one of the latest is that he was legally deaf, but there have been several reasons offered by his supporters( most rather dubious), of course. By staying Stateside, he successfully built his career up so that the sky was the limit by the late 1940's.

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Any Kolchak:the Night Stalker fans here by chance? The original series ran for one slightly-shortened season 1974 - 1975 after two highly-rated TV films

both scripted by Richard Matheson, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973). Strangler was unavailable for a # of years in its unedited form which includes a sequence with Al "Granpa Munster' Lewis in the real-life Seattle underground (although the real version is somewhat smaller). Chris Carter has mentioned that this was a direct influence on The X-Files (due to return for a short run in February,'16 with a chance at continuing if the ratings are good). Unfortunately, everyone save Jack Grinnage ("Ron Updyke") is gone now from the cast of he TV series. A short-lived sequel/remake appeared in the mid-2000's entitled The Night Stalker which starred Stuart Townsend as a nephew of the Karl Klchak darren McGavin played, along with Gabrielle Union as a reluctant partner - which made it seem a bit too much like The X-Files, in turn.

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Although his passing went largely unnoticed, one of the people from The Twilight Zone as well as the original Outer Limits passed on Christmas Day, 2015 acc ording to several reliable sources, Jason Wingreen (95). Wingreen appeared three time son TZ, and three time of Outer limits as well oddly enough in a career which accumulated nearly 200 credits all-total. He was the original voice of Bobba Fett until Lucas saw fit to replace him with someone else for the "special editions" he released of the films in the 2000's for reasons never explained. I suppose when you're George Lucas, you don't have to have a good reason for what you do. Anyway, Wingreen was best-known for co-starring as Harry Snowden on All in the Family and its continuation series for several more years. He appeared on various other sci-fi programs like of course, Star Trek and others from the 1960's, '70's and 80's.

 

Given what happened with George Clayton Johnson, I wanted to wait until i was confident this news was accurate before posting it.

[YoungWillz 21,033]

Largely unnoticed? *sigh*

 

See Star Wars Deaths and Rumours threads.

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Yes,afraid so here, anyway, perhaps ironically. It was about 5 days after his demise bef0re word showed up on may US sites, let alone "official" notices for Wingreen. I would say he received as much comment for the 3 Zone episodes as most anything else he did, really.

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One more comment about Ellison from myself here; I do recall from an ancient interview(i.e. probably about 1979, so ancient fits i imagine for most others here) that H.E. remarked somebody had shot-out the windshield of his car - I believe him. What puzzles me, though, is why additional efforts weren't made given his personality. At 82, now, what would be the point

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Perhaps, I really Need.... a better term for Wingreen would have been some "belated" news of his passing, or the like.

 

Anyway, among VERY old literary types in U.S. sci-fi circles, David Kyle is still hanging in there to the best of my knowledge @ 97, possibly the oldest livng sf writer in the world since Fred Pohl died in 2013. Editor as well given that he founded the specialty press Gnome Press in the 1950's(or possible Fantasy Press? Gnome,I think, though) which helped bring sf in the States to the attention of "mainstream" publishers and ran into the 1960's itself. Nobody gives this any thought today, but for many years in 20th century, very little science fiction appeared from the large publishing houses save rare items by people like George R. Stewart, Philip Wylie, and the like save Bradbury and the first few to break out of the pulp magazines. There was Wells, and Verne, etc, long before, but u see my point.

 

I think William L. Hamling is hanging in there @ 95 behind Kyle, who edited Amazing, Fantastic Adventures, Imagination and so forth until making his fortune in the "skin" magazine/book field during which time he ran afoul of the Nixon regime with serious consequences for what would be considered laughable "Obscene" charges today. In any event, Hamling never really liked sci-fi much despite being a good editing hand at it, and has refused contact with the field for a good many years, now.

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Not everybody follows "things Star wars" with every breath, I really neeed..., you know! Just thought I would mention this - after those 3 "middle" films, one could hardly be blamed for that, I think, too.

 

Still, give him credit for the current one to judge from reports I have heard by those who have seen it; so, maybe he did try to produce a good-quality product this time around. The man can do great stuff, i admit, although he has attitude problems, I'm afraid. Then again, most who are THAT wealthy do, I suppose.

[Sir Creep 7,070]

For behind the scenes people on original Twilight Zone, surviving directors are Robert Butler(1927) Richard Donnor(1930)/RobertEllis Miller(1932)/Ralph Senesky(1923)/James Sheldon(1920)/Elliot Silverstein(1927).

 

Richard L. Bare was one of the oldest surviving US directors until his recent death;(1913 - 2015).

 

Earl Hamner, Jr may indeed, be the last surviving scriptwriter from the original series with the death of George Clayton Johnson.

Hamner Jr (1923) is 92 and one to keep a newsworthy eye on.

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I have a list of science fiction writers who may pass in 2016, mostly US, but some good chances of a couple of successes.

 

1. Brian Aldiss
2. James (E) Gunn
3. Jerry E. Pournelle
4. Bran Lumley
5. David A. Kyle
6. Harlan Ellison
7. Robert Silverberg
8. Norman Spinrad
9. Peter Straub
10. Stephen King

 

I included Pournelle and Spinrad because they have both been fighting cancer for several years now; Spinrad lives in France, also.

Kyle isn't terribly well-known outside of the dwindling handful of old-time sci-fi fans(although he has appeared in a couple of documentaries, I believe) even in the US now given he is from the World War Two generation, but he is of importance in getting the genre published in hardback on a regular basis by U.S. publishers outside of "manstream" authors. 97 in February. King is included because of the lingering effects of his near-fatal incident when struck be a van on a Maine roadside some years ago, which the man just survived. Ellison has had well-documented heart-disease issues as has been noted in diverse places on the DeathList. The others are well-known and getting considerable age onto their shoulders now, although I realize Lumley is more properly a horror writer.

 

There are perhaps a couple'others in the US but obscure men not likely to receive obituaries outside the States, and not a great deal of coverage in the US, at that.

 

​

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Below is my "Top 15" of sci-fi/horror film people well-known enough to receive obits in both the US and UK with possibly one or two exceptions.

 

1. Julie (Julia) Adams (90) The Creature from the Back Lagoon (1954).
2. Richard Anderson (90), Forbidden Planet, The Six Million Dollar Man, etc.
3. Robert Colbert (85) The Time Tunnel.
4. Mara Corday (86), Tarantuala (1955), The Black Scorpion (1957).
5. Roger Corman (90), director.
6. David Frankham (90), Return of the Fly, Star Trek.
7. Peter Hansen (94) When Worlds Collide (1951).
8. (Al) David Hedison (90) The Fly(1958), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
9. Tippie Hedren (86) The Birds (1963).
10. Lee Meriweather (80) The 4-D Man (1959), Batman (1966), etc.
11. David McCallum (82), The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Outer Limits, etc.
12. Lee Meriweather (80?), The 4-D Man (1959), Batman (1966), The Time Tunnel.
13. Beverly Owen (79); the original Marilyn Munster on The Munsters.
14. William Phipps (94), Five(1951), The War of the Worlds (1953).
15. Barbara Shelley (84), numerous Hammer films.

I considered a few others, but these seem enough for one or two successes during the year. Hedren is still active although showing her age rather badly. McCallum is also active, but into his 80's, people - anyone recall his short-lived 1975 US TV series of The Invisible Man? Owen might get an obit in the UK due to the continuing popularity of The Munsters and its various remakes, etc., over the years.Hansen is perhaps a little iffy, but is well-known enough for his "soaps" work to possibly make the Uk obituaries. The rest should have no problem gaining considerable media attention.

[YoungWillz 21,033]

You're probably looking at 60% getting hits UK-side. Meantime, you've got Lee Meriweather twice, did you mean to place another name in one of those slots?

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Hi, I REALLY...! Yeah, I had meant to include somebody else rather than repeat Lee (shows what happens when the eye gets tired, eh?); say replace her duplication with perhaps Barbara Rush? I think B R is mentioned on other lists as well, so one thing I was trying to do was hit upon some people perhaps not mentioned as often here. Rush is known for her numerous credits in this area such as It Came from Outer Space(1953) on to 1970''s fare like Moon of the Wolf (1972).This last-named isn't such a bad made-for-TV horror film with the unfortunate exception of rather poor make-up for the werewolf towards the conclusion (kept off-screen until the final act). Co-stars David Janssen and Bradford Dillman, so the ID of the creature shouldn't be hard to guess early on simply from the cast.

 

The Munsters Today was a revival of the 1960's series If I recall its title correctly) from( probably) the late 1980's/early 1990's. Pat Priest no doubt would stand a much - better chance of a UK obit simply from the number of appearances as Marilyn she made.

 

It's curious btw how both this show, and The Addams Family debuted the same year. Perhaps some industrial spying going on? Then again, the 1960's were still the years of the great "monster craze" in the States which began in the late Fifties, so perhaps simply a coincidence. Christina Ricci sure made for a wonderfully ghoulish Wednesday in the Raul Julia/Angelica Huston big-screen films, did she not? Nice to see her continue to take off-beat roles most actresses shy away from.

[YoungWillz 21,033]

We had Judith Malina (Grandma Addams) pass away last year, she went quite quietly as I recall. Only one paper picked up on her. Pat Priest is probably a 50-50 shot to obit over here I'd say, but you never know.

 

I've heard of Barbara Rush, seen her in a few things (maybe not the sci-fi early stuff). Given her body of work and particular that she worked with James Mason, Richard Burton etc I can see her getting picked up on over in the UK.

 

You've surprised me with Roger Corman...thought he was long gone, but no! Definitely will obit.

 

Don't worry about doubling up on lists, we've all done it - I just did the same last month!

[Sir Creep 7,070]

We had Judith Malina (Grandma Addams) pass away last year, she went quite quietly as I recall. Only one paper picked up on her. Pat Priest is probably a 50-50 shot to obit over here I'd say, but you never know.

 

I've heard of Barbara Rush, seen her in a few things (maybe not the sci-fi early stuff). Given her body of work and particular that she worked with James Mason, Richard Burton etc I can see her getting picked up on over in the UK.

 

You've surprised me with <b>Roger Corman</b>..thought he was long gone, but no!

Wow thought he was dead a decade or more.

SC

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No, Corman still seems to in good health unless something has happened recently which is being kept quiet, but is getting the years on his shoulders, guys.

 

Given that I messed-up a bit on Meriweather, here's an extra five to make 20 total

 

16 Bert I. Gordon (94) director THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN (1957), many more "B"'s"

17 Lee Majors (76/77), The Six Million Dollar Man..

18 Roy Thinnes, (79)m The Invaders, 19990's revival of Dark Shadows, numerous TV films.

19 Martin Landau (85), Mission:Impossible( sometimes strayed into sci-fi), Space: 1999, Ed Wood.

20 Robert Vaghn, (83), The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Battle Beyond the Stars (1980).

 

Maybe shouldn't have included McCallum and Vaughn both from U.N.C.L.E., but anyway, Vaghn is still active as well, although shows his age more than McCallum. Majors has a dob of 1939 now in many sources, doesn't seem to be ageing well. Gordon is infamous enough for his films to possibly garner an obit in the UK and is at a ripe old age now.

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On Corman a bit more, his Poe films made mostly with Vincent Price are highly-regarded; he was in the war as well, I understand - not too many veterans of it left in the States, now - I imagine Gordon is a veteran as well.

 

Been discussing some 1970's sci-fi TV; Filmation Studios did a great deal of that both animated and the live-action series in the '70's. starting with the early Superman animated series in the late 1960's, and continuing on into the 1980's until the company ceased operations in 1989. Some of their better efforts included Star Trek:the Animated Series, The Secrets of Isis(live), Shamam!(live), Ark II(live) and later Space Academy and Jason of Star Command( both live action). Curiously enough, the two commanders of Academy were James Doohan and Jonathan harris who were both best-known for other sci-fi series set in space. Unfortunately, given recent developments, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids or variations there-of was another effort from the studio back when everyone thought Cosby a much different type fo fellow.

 

The three men who were most cosely associated with Filmation Studios (whose limited animation style save lots of money but was quite annoying at times0 are Norm Prescott(1927 - 2005), Lou Scheimer(1928 - 2013), and director Hal Sutherland(1929- 2014).. Scheimer's daughter Erika performed voices for some of her father's programs sometimes credited as "Erika Lane," but was a capable voice actress, luckily.