aged eighty-six. While under contract to RKO Pictures she appeared in three Falcon movies, along with The Spiral Staircase (as an uncredited murder victim). The former showgirl was also in an episode of the Jungle Jim TV series and had a small role in an episode of Batman. Along with actress Marguerite Chapman, Dell is credited with originating the idea of autograph shows.
American character actor Kenneth Mars, best known for his comedy roles in Mel Brooks’ The Producers and Young Frankenstein (as the one-armed “Inspector Kemp”), died of pancreatic cancer on 12 February, aged seventy-five. His other film credits include Superman (1975), Full Moon High, Get Smart Again!, Disney’s The Little Mermaid and The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea, Shadows and Fog, We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story, and as the voice of “Grandpa Longneck” in The Land Before Time sequels. He appeared in episodes of Get Smart, The Ghost & Mrs Muir, Wonder Woman, Tabitha, Project U.F.O., Supertrain, Tucker’s Witch, Misfits of Science, The Twilight Zone (1986), Shades of LA, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, M.A.N.T.I.S., The New Adventures of Superman, Weird Science and The Pretender. Mars also supplied voices for numerous cartoon shows, including The Jetsons, Challenge of the GoBots, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Teen Wolf, The Flintstone Kids, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Duck Tales, Tiny Toon Adventures, Darkwing Duck, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Animaniacs, The Little Mermaid, Batman (1994–95), Freakazoid! The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Godzilla: The Series, The Legend of Tarzan and The Land Before Time TV series.
Hollywood actress and singer Betty Garrett died the same day, aged ninety-one. Best know for her role as the man-hungry taxi driver in the classic musical On the Town (1949), later in her career she also appeared in an episode of the children’s TV show Mr Merlin, along with Larry Blamire’s low budget genre comedies Trail of the Screaming Forehead and Dark and Stormy Night. Garrett was married to actor Larry Parks from 1944 until his death in 1975. During the 1950s both their careers were derailed by the anti-Communist witch-hunts.
Irish character actor T. (Thomas) P. (Patrick) McKenna died in London after a long illness on 13 February, aged eighty-one. He always brought class to the roles he played in such movies as Tigon’s The Beast in the Cellar, Straw Dogs, Percy’s Progress (with Vincent Price), Britannia Hospital, The Doctor and the Devils and Jack the Ripper (1988). McKenna’s TV credits include The Avengers, Adam Adamant Lives! Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), BBC Play of the Month (“Rasputin”), Thriller, Nigel Kneale’s Beasts, Blakes 7 and Doctor Who.
British character actor Alfred Burke, who portrayed down-at-heel private eye “Frank Marker” in the popular TV series Public Eye (1965–75), died on 16 February, aged ninety- two. Although he appeared in such films as Children of the Damned, Hammer’s The Nanny, The Night Caller (aka Blood Beast from Outer Space), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1996) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Burke was much better known for his numerous appearances on TV in shows like Colonel March of Scotland Yard (starring Boris Karloff), Invisible Man (1959), One Step Beyond, The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling, The Avengers, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Tales of the Unexpected and Shades of Darkness.
American character actor Len Lesser (Leonard King Lesser) died of cancer-related pneumonia the same day, aged eighty-eight. Best known for playing “Uncle Leo” on Seinfeld (1991–98), Lesser appeared in such movies and TV shows as How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Blood and Lace, Ruby, Someone’s Watching Me! Through the Magic Pyramid, Sorority Girls and the Creature from Hell, The Werewolf Reborn! Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Outer Limits, The Wild Wild West, The Munsters, My Favorite Martian, Get Smart, The Monkees, Land of the Giants, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Ghost Busters, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The Amazing Spider-Man, Amazing Stories (“Mummy Daddy”) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
British actor Nicholas Courtney (William Nicholas Stone Courtney), best known for his recurring role as UNIT leader “Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart” in BBC-TV’s Doctor Who, died on 22 February, aged eighty-one. The Egyptian-born actor first appeared in the show in a 1965 episode entitled “The Dalek’s Master Man”, but he became a semi-regular when he took over the role of the Brigadier (after actor David Langton pulled out) in the 1968 serial “The Web of Fear”. Courtney appeared in 107 episodes of Doctor Who and recreated the character of Lethbridge-Stewart in a number of short films, audio dramas, a video game and a 2008 two-part episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures. He also appeared in episodes of The Avengers, The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling, The Champions, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Doomwatch and The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, and had uncredited roles in the films The Brides of Fu Manchu, Doppelganger (aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun) and Endless Night. Courtney also portrayed “Inspector Lionhart” in four episodes of the radio drama The Scarifyers, broadcast on BBC Radio 7 (2007–10). His 1998 autobiography was entitled Five Rounds Rapid! after a line of dialogue he had as the Brigadier in “The D?mons” (1971). A revised autobiography, Still Getting Away with It (co-written with Michael McManus), appeared in 2005.
American character actor Frank Alesia, who appeared in the AIP “Beach Party” movies Bikini Beach, Pajama Party, Beach Blanket Bingo and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, died on 27 February, aged sixty-five. He also appeared in episodes of Bewitched and The Flying Nun before becoming a TV director.
Hollywood star Jane Russell (Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell) died on 28 February, aged eighty-nine. A former dentist receptionist and discovery of Howard Hughes (who orchestrated her screen debut in his controversial 1943 Western The Outlaw), she mostly appeared in musical- comedies during the 1950s, including an uncredited cameo appearance in Road to Bali. In 1967 she had a small roll in the “Billy Jack” motorcycle exploitation movie The Born Losers. With the first of her three husbands, quarterback Bob Waterfield, she formed Russ-Field Productions, who produced The Most Dangerous Game remake, Run for the Sun (1956). During the 1970s Russell was the TV spokesperson for Playtex bras.
Former beauty queen turned actress Darlene Lucht (Darlene Brimmer), who was crowned Miss Wisconsin in 1961, died on 5 March, aged seventy-two. She had small roles in The Haunted Palace, Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Beach Blanket Bingo and Al Adamson’s Five Bloody Graves (as “Tara Ashton”), which starred her husband, Robert Dix.
Japanese voice actor Kan Tokumaru died on 6 March, aged sixty-nine. His many anime, TV and game credits include Vampire Hunter D, Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Vampire Savior EX Edition. In the Japanese dub of Live and Let Die (1973) he was the voice of “M”.
Distinguished British stage actor and iconic horror film star Michael Gough died on 17 March, aged ninety-three. Best known to modern audiences for his role as faithful butler “Alfred Pennyworth” in the 1980s–90s Batman films (Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin) and his later collaborations with director Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Alice in Wonderland), the Malaysian-born Gough’s many other movies also include The Man in the White Suit, Hammer’s Dracula (aka Horror of Dracula) and The Phantom of the Opera (1962), Horrors of the Black Museum, Konga,
