In Memoriam: 2019

Every year, Steven H Silver prepares a memorial list for the genre community.  Here is a list (far too long) of those we have loved and lost in 2019 –

2019
In Memoriam

Russian scientist Yuri Artsutsanov (b.1929) died on January 1. Artsutsanov introduced the concept of a space elevator in a scientific paper published in 1960, which was picked up by various science fiction authors, such as Arthur C. Clarke, who used in in The Fountains of Paradise.

Florida gamer Darwin Bromley (b.1950) died on January 2. Bromley founded Mayfair Games and was responsible for the company importing German style games. With Bill Fawcett, Bromley designed Empire Builder and was associated with CWAcon. He also was the conceptual designer of Sim City: The Card Game.

Bookstore owner Lindig Harris (b.1943) died on January 1. Harris ran the Asheville, NC bookstore Lin Digs the Book and after retiring toured the country in an RV, working at various local bookstores and attending conventions. Beginning in 1995, she edited the zine Yclept Yarbro, about the works of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

Actor Bob Einstein (b.1942) died on January 2. Einstein, who has also appeared as Super Dave Osborne, was brother to Albert Brooks. He did voice work for the cartoon Gadget and the Gadgetinis and the film Strange Magic.

Producer John Falsey (b.1951) died on January 3 following a fall at his home. Falsey created the television shows St. Elsewhere and Northern Exposure.

Florida fan Eric Ferguson (b.1953) was found dead in his home on January 3. Fergusson was a member of the Southern Fandom Press Alliance. Ferguson published the ‘zines Infin and Quoz Quarterly.

Artist and author John Burningham (b.1936) died on January 4. Burningham won the 1963 and 1970 Kate Greenaway Medals for British children’s book illustration. He provided the artwork for the original novel Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, by Ian Fleming. He has also provided art for The Wind in the Willows. He tried his hand at writing with “Come Away from the Water, Shirley” and “The Magic Bed.”

Author Solomon Strange died on January 4. Strange was the author of the ghost novel The Haunting of Gospall.

Junya Yokota (b.1945) died on January 4. Yakota, along with Shingo Aizu co-wrote Kaidanji Oshikawa Shunrō: Nihon SF no Oya about Japanese sf author Shunrō Oshikawa. In 2011, he wrote The History of Modern Japanese Fantastic Fiction: Meiji Edition. He also wrote numerous novels and short stories.

Author Alice Rudoski (b.1932) died on January 5. Rudoski’s story “If Big Brother Says So” was originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in 1977, but was later reprinted in the horror anthology Ready or Not: Here Come Fourteen Frightening Stories! Most of her work was not fantastic in nature.

Actor William Morgan Sheppard (b.1932) died on January 6. Sheppard has appeared in The Prestige, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek, Transformers, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, and the Doctor Who episode “The Impossible Astronaut.” He portrayed Captain Nemo in a 2010 adaptation of Mysterious Island, which also featured his son as a younger version of Nemo. He did voice work for Biker Mice from Mars. His son, Mark Sheppard, has also appeared in several science fiction franchises, including Firefly, Warehouse 13, and Doctor Who.

Publisher Robert S. Friedman died on January 9. Friedman was the founder of Rainbow Ridge Books and had previously been the publisher of The Donning Company, which published the original editions of Robert Lynn Asprin’s Myth novels under the Starblaze imprint.

Russian author and translator Mikhail Achmanov (b.1945) died on January 10. Achmanov published the novels Farther than the Farthest Star, The Scythians Feast at Sunset, and Habitat. In addition to his own work, he translated the works of authors including Anne McCaffrey and James Gleick, winning an Alexander Belyaev Literary Prize for the latter work.

Comics artist Ron Smith (b.1924) died on January 10. Beginning in 1979, he drew many of the Judge Dredd strips for 2000 AD. He previously had drawn for D.C. Thomson & Co. and IFC.

Actress Verna Bloom (b.1938) died on January 11. Bloom may be best recognized for her role as Dean Wermer’s wife in Animal House, but she also appeared in the genre film Where Have All the People Gone,

Comic book writer Batton Lash (b.1953) died of cancer on January 12. Lash created Wolff and Byrd.

Artist Gregg Kanefsky died on the weekend of January 12. Kanafsky, who also went by the initials GAK, produced vocers for a variety of books and magazines, including Nova Express.

German artist Glen Klinger died on January 13. Klinger provided artwork for the German magazine Alien Contact in the late 1990s.

Fan Mervyn “Merv” Barrett (b.1940) died on January 15. Barrett was active in Australian fandom in the 1960s and 70s, organizing Wellcon, the first New Zealand natcon, in 1979. He was a member of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club and published the zines Focus, Green Expression, and Out of Focus.

Actress Carol Channing (b.1921) died on January 15. Best known for creating the role of Dolly Levi on Broadway, she appeared in the film The Addams Family and provided voice work for several animated films, including Thumbelina, The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, and Happily Ever After.

Actor Windsor Davies (b.1930) died on January 17. Davies portrayed Toby in the second Doctor serial “The Evil of the Daleks.” He appeared as Rottcodd in Gormenghast. Other appearances include Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, Adam Adamant Lives!, and Terrahawks.

Author Sam Savage (b.1940) died on January 17. Savage was the author of Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife, published in 2006.

Actress Muriel Pavlow (b.1921) died on January 19. Her genre roles include Project M7. She made her television debut in 1937 as one of the title characters in Hansel and Gretel.

Actor Paul Barrett (b.1940) died on January 20. Barrett has had small roles in Blood New Year, Machine Stopped Working, and the series Blood Cuts. He was a frequent attendee at the Festival of Fantastic Films.

Author Russell Baker (b.1925) died on January 21. Baker was best known as a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and the host of Masterpiece Theatre. Over the course of his career, he wrote a handful of science fiction stories, two of which were included by Judith Merril in her “Best” of collections.

Actress Kaye Ballard (b.1925) died on January 21. Ballard appeared in The Munsters Today, Baby Geniuses, Monsters, Freaky Friday, and Cinderella.

Actor Merwin Goldsmith (b.1937) died on January 21. Goldsmith appeared in the horror film Unholy, the fantasy film Hercules in New York, and the science fiction comedy Making Mr. Right.

Author Michaelene Pendleton (b.1947) died on January 21. Pendleton began publishing in 1989 with the short story “Sardines” in Omni and published seven additional stories throughout the 90s. Her last story was published in Asimov’s in 2000. When not writing her own works, Pendleton worked as a copy-editor who specialized in ESL works.

Belarus author Alexander Siletsky (b.1947) died on January 21. Siletsky wrote primarily in the short fiction form and published the short story “A Necessary Condition,” which was translated into English. Siletsky won multiple contests with his short fiction.

Stuntman Dean Copkov (b.1966) died on January 22. Copkov performed stunts in American Gods, the remakes of Carrie and Robocop, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and The Incredible Hulk. At times, he has also

Editor Diana Athill (b.1917) died on January 23. Athill worked for British publisher André Deutsch and worked with Margaret Atwood, Juohn Updike and other authors.

Makeup artist Matt Rose (b.1965) died on January 25. Rose worked on the first two Hellboy films, Predator, Star Trek Beyond, Batman and Robin, Men in Black 3, and The Rocketeer, among others. He won a Saturn Award for his work on the first Hellboy film.

Composer Michel Legrand (b.1932) died on January 26. His musical scores were used in Deadpool 2, From the Future with Love, Gulliver’s Travels, and Les fabuleuses aventures du légendaire Baron de Munchausen.

Actress Erica Yohn (b.1928) died on January 27. Yohn provided the voice of Feivel’s mother in the An American Tail movies. She also appeared in episodes of Quantum Leap, The Incredible Hulk, and in the film Amazon Women on the Moon.

Actor Dick Miller (b.1928) died on January 30. Miller has appeared in The Terminator, Gremlins, The Howling, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He was a regular on the 1990 series of The Flash.

Bookseller Cary Heater (b.1961) died on January 31 after suffering from head injuries in a fall on January 16. Heater was a longtime employee at Borderlands Books in San Francisco, and according to her biography, she had “no actual physical existence outside of Borderlands.” Heater began working at the bookstore in 2002.

UK fan and book seller George Locke (b.1936) died on February 1. Locke published the Spectrum of Fantasy bibliography series from 1980 through 2004, which offered annotated listings of many rare works. He also ran Ferret Fantasy publishing.

Australian author Andrew McGahan (b.1966) died on February 1. McGahan published two books in the Ships Kings series as well as the stand alone novels Underground and Wonders of a Godless World. McGahan was also written for the stage and adapted his novel Praise for film.

Animator Ted Stearn (b.1961) died on February 1 from complications from AIDS. Stearn served as art director for Rick and Morty, Futurama, The Simpsons Movie, and many other films and cartoons. He also wrote the comics Fuzz and Pluck.

Actor Clive Swift (b.1936) died on February 1. Swift portrayed Sir Ector in Excalibur and Illtud in Young Arthur. He appeared in the Colin Baker Doctor Who serial “Revelation of the Daleks” and the David Tennant episode “Voyage of the Damned.” Other genre appearances include Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and an episode of Ray Bradbury Presents.

Author Carol Emshwiller (b.Carol Fries, 1921) died on February 2. Emshwiller’s novels included Carmen Dog, Mister Boots, The Secret City, and the Philip K. Dick Award winning The Mount. She has also written two cowboy novels. Her 1991 collection The Start of the End of It All and Other Stories won the World Fantasy Award and in 2005, the World Fantasy Con presented Emshwiller with a lifetime achievement award. She has been nominated for the Nebula Award four times, winning in the short story category twice, in 2003 for her story “Creature” and in 2006 for the story “I Live with You.”

Author Carrie Richerson (b.1952) died on February 2. Richerson was a two-time Campbell Award finalist and her short story “Love on a Stick” was nominated for the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. She began publishing in 1992 with the short story “Apotheosis” and published several more short stories through 2006, when she stopped publishing. In addition to her writing career, Richerson worked as a bookseller and helped run conventions in Texas, including LoneStarCon 2 in 1997.

Comic colorist James Rochelle (b.) died on February 2. Rochelle worked at WildStorm from 1994 on titles such as Gen13, Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty, and Backlash/Spider-Man. In 1997, he began working as a texture artist in the videogame industry. He joined CrossGen Comics in 2001.

Actress Julie Adams (b.1926) died on February 3. Adams appeared as Kay Lawrence in The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Although most of her roles were in Westerns, she did make guest appearances on The Incredible Hulk, Sliders, Kolchak, and Lost. In 2011, she was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Hall of Fame.

Author and historian Morag Loh (b.1935) died on February 7. Loh’s fantasy short story, “The Moon Goddess” appeared in 1982. Most of her fiction was written for children.

Actor Albert Finney (b.1936) died on February 8. Finney appeared in Looker, Privilege, provided a voice in Corpse Bride, and Big Fish. Two of his most famous roles were as the title characters in Scrooge and Tom Jones.

Director Larry Brand (b.1949) died on February 9. Brand wrote and directed an adaptation of The Masque of the Red Death and wrote the screenplay for Halloween: Resurrection.

British fan Tony “Blindpew” Smith died of cancer on February 9. Smith was an early member of the Peterborough SF Club.

Alsatian author and artist Tomi Ungerer (b.1931) died on February 9. Ungerer won the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1998 for his contributions as a children’s illustrator. He wrote and illustrasted the Mellops series of books and provided the cover for the German translations of several of Ray Bradbury’s novels as well as the American edition of Flat Stanley.

Actor Carmen Argenziano (b.1943) died on February 10. Argenziano appeared in episodes of numerous television series, including Flashforward, Babylon 5, The Greatest American Hero, The Bionic Woman, and more. He played Jacob Carter on Stargate SG-1.

Actor Jan-Michael Vincent (b.1944) died on February 10. Vincent is best known for starring in the television show Airwolf. He also appeared in Damnation Alley, based on Roger Zelazny’s novel. Other genre works included Lethal Orbit, Jurassic Women, and Aliens from Spaceship Earth.

Wisconsin fan William Leanderts (b.1976) died on February 10. Leanderts was active in Madison fandom, attending Odyssey Con, as well as other conventions.

Costumer D. Jeannette Holloman (b.1955) died on February 11. Holloman was one of the founding member sof the Greater Columbia Costumers Guild and she was a participant at masquerades at Worldcon, CostumeCon, and other conventions. Her costumes were featured in The Costume Makers Art and Thread magazine.

Publisher Betty Ballantine (b.1919) died on February 12. Ballantine, along with her husband, Ian, founded several publishing houses and helped introduce mass market paperbacks to the US when they began importing Penguin Books. They founded Ballantine Books and eventually Del Rey Books. Ballantine has received a President’s Award from SFWA and a special committee award from L.A.con IV.

Author W.E. Butterworth (b.1929) died on February 12. Butterworth is better known by his pen name W.E.B. Griffin, under which he wrote military and detective fiction. Many of his novels have science fiction and fantasy elements. Butterworth also wrote many of the novels in the M*A*S*H series in collaboration with Richard Hooker.

Special effects artist Richard Gregory died on February 12. Gregory worked on special effects and animatronics for John Carter, The Dark Knight, The Lost World, Walking with Dinosaurs, and other projects as well as the Daniel Craig James Bond films.

Actor Bruno Ganz (b.1941) died on February 15. Ganz appeared in The Manchurian Candidate, Wings of Desire, Saint-Ex, Faraway, So Close!, and Nosferatu the Vampyre. He became an internet sensation when his portrayal of Adolf Hitler in Downfall became an internet meme.

Archivist Dave Smith (b.1940) died on February 15. Smith created the Walt Disney Archives and was the editor the Disney A to Z, the official encyclopedia for the Disney Company. He also wrote Disney trivia books and was named a Disney Legend in 2007.

Comics fan Glen D. Johnson died on February 16. Johnson edited The Comic Reader beginning with issue 26 and ending with issue 40.

Musician and author Clark Dimond (b.1941) died on February 19. Dimon was co-scripted stories for Creepy and Eerie comics with Terry Bisson and also contributed to Castle of Frankenstein in the 60s and 70s. Dimond, best known as a musician, also wrote mystery novels.

Actress Chelo Alonso (b.1933) died on February 20. Alonso was featured in many sword-and-sandal spectacles and appeared in the fantasy film Atlas Against the Cyclops.

Academic and poet Ace G. Pilkington (b.1951) died on February 20. Pilkington published numerous poems in science fiction magazines as well as a few essays on science fiction. He was primarily an academic who served as the seminar director at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. In 1992, he won an Asimov’s Reader’s Choice poll for his poem “The Robots’ Farewell to the Master.”

Author Victor J. Banis (b.1937) died on February 22. Although primarily an author of gay fiction, some of Banis’s writings, such as The Gay Haunt, The Devil’s Dance, and The Vampire Women had speculative fiction elements. Banis also published as Jan Alexander, Victor Samuels, and Don Holliday.

Actor Morgan Woodward (b.1925) died on February 22. Woodward appeared in two episodes of Star Trek, as well as episodes of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Salvage 1, and The X-Files. He also appeared in the film Battle Beyond the Stars.

Director Stanley Donen (b.1924) died on February 23. Donen’s genre work included The Little Prince, Saturn 3, both versons of Bedazzled, and Singin’ in the Rain.

Author Gillian Freeman (b.1929) died on February 23. Her sceicen fiction novel, The Leader, about fascism, appeared in 1966.

Actress Katherine Helmond (b.1929) died on February 23 from Alzheimer’s complications. Helmond is best known for her roles on Soap and Who’s the Boss, but she also appeared in Terry Gilliam’s films Brazil and Time Bandits as well as episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman.

Actor Charles Craig (b.1932) died on February 24. Craig appeared in The Night of the Living Dead and only a few other films, including Flowers for the Dead and Mortal Remains.

Screenwriter Graeme Curry (b.1965) died on February 24. Curry wrote the three part serial “The Happiness Patrol” for the Sylvester McCoy era Doctor Who and also appeared in an episode of the serial “The Silver Nemesis” that same year.

Writer Janet Asimov (b.Janet Jeppson, 1926) died on February 25. A successful psychiatrist, after she married Asimov, she wrote mysteries and science fiction, including several collaborations with Asimov, The Second Experiment, Murder at the Galactic Writers’ Society, and Mind Transfer. She also continued work as a psychiatrist. Some of her early fiction appeared under the name J.O. Jeppson.

Actress Lisa Sheridan (b.1974) died on February 25. Sheridan appeared in the television series The 4400, Invasion, and Journeyman. She was also on the show Halt and Catch Fire about the early days of personal computers.

Jay Douglas (b.1954) died on February 26. Douglas worked for Anchor Bay entertainment and was responsible for helping the company preserve and release numerous old films and B movies, including Supergirl, Time Bandits, Hellraiser, Dawn of the Dead, and others. Their release of the Evil Dead films helped turn them into cult classics.

Producer Hugh Fordin (b.1935) died on February 25. Best known as the founder of DRG Records, he produced Broadway Original Cast records, including for Little Shop of Horrors. In addition to his recording company, Fordin also wrote a biography of Oscar Hammerstein II

Actress Mitzi Hoag (b.1932) died on February 26. Hoag appeared in episodes of the The Incredible Hulk, Highway to Heaven, Time Express, and Good Heavens, as well as the film The Incredible Shrinking Woman.

Chicago fan Jennifer Adams Kelley (b.1963) died around February 26. Kelley was one of the founders of Chicago TARDIS and helped run a variety of conventions, both in Chicago and elsewhere. She was an active costumer. Her essays appeared in Chicks Dig Time Lords and Red White and Who.

Composer André Previn (b.1929) died on February 28.Previn composed the score to Rollerball, Kismet, and Goodbye Charlie. He conducted the orchestra for numerous films including My Fair Lady.

Fan Steve Ogden died on March 1. Ogden published the fanzine Edgar’s Journal. He also maintained and published the Brad W. Foster Checklist of Published Works from the 20th Century.

Anthologist Hugh Lamb (b.1946) died on March 2. Lamb began editing with reprint anthology A Tide of Terror, Lamb eventually expanded to original anthologies. Although most of his anthologies were published in the 1970s, he remained active through the end of the century.

Actor Luke Perry (b.1966) died on March 4 following a massive stroke. Perry, best known for appearing in Beverly Hills, 90210 starred in the original film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, appeared in The Fifth Element, had a cameo in Dudes & Dragons, and most recently portrayed Fred Andrews in Riverdale.

Author Kristin Landon (b.1958) died on March 5. Landon wrote the Cold Minds trilogy beginning with The Hidden Worlds. Her most recent novel was the stand alone Windhome.

Author Rachel Ingalls (b.1940) died on March 6. Ingalls began publishing stories of genre interest in 1982 with “Mrs. Caliban” and continued to publish stories over the next ten years. In 1983, she published the novel Binstead’s Safari.

Studio executive Sid Sheinberg (b.1935) died on March 7. Sheinberg produced The Devil’s Tomb and Creature. He forced changes to Legend, but when he tried to do the same to Brazil, Terry Gilliam refused. Credited with discovering Steven Spielberg, he also is known for suggesting changing the name of Back to the Future to Space Man from Pluto.

Actor George Morfogen (b.1933) died on March 8. Morfogen appeared in the original mini series for V.

Screenwriter John Boni (b.1937) died on March 9. Boni wrote for the Mel Brooks Robin Hood television series When Things Were Rotten as well as the television show Harry and the Hendersons and Small Wonder.

Author Raven Grimassi (b.Gary Charles Erbe, 1951) died on March 10. Grimassi’s work centered on the study of Wicca and neo-paganism. His books had a strong influence on the growth of modern Wicca.

Dutch fan Ada Meijering (b.1965) died on March 10. Meijering worked on numerous Dutch conventions and served as the head of volunteers at Imagicon.

Author Lee B. Holum (b.1931) died on March 12. Holum’s short story “The 3^rd Party” appeared in If in 1955. Following his retirement, he began writing more science fiction, self-publishing Timeline Pirates through Amazon.

Author Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (b.1928) died on March 12. Most of Sharmat’s work was for the children’s market and she also published using the pseudonym Wendy Andrews. Her genre fiction includes The Trolls of Twelfth Street and Two Ghosts on a Bench.

Artist David Palladini (1946) died on March 13. Palladini created the Aquarian Tarot deck and illustrated numerous children’s books. He created the cover for McKinley’s Beauty and King’s The Eyes of the Dragons. He wrote a memoir, The Journal of an Artist.

Screenwriter Lawrence G. DiTillio (b.1948) died on March 16. DiTillio worked on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Transformers: Beast Wars, Kong: The Animateed Series, She-Ra: Princess of Power, and served as story editor on Babylon 5.

Actor Pat Laffan (b.1940) died on March 14. Laffan appeared in Space Truckers, Mission Top Secret, and The Saint.

Author Charles Black died on March 15. In addition to his own fiction, Black edited the eleven Black Books of Horror between 2007 and 2015. Two of the volumes earned him British Fantasy Award nominations.

W.S. Merwin (b.1927) died on March 15. Best known for his poetry and plays, Merwin wote a handful of short stories of genre interest. He received a Pulitzer for poetry and was named the 17^th Poet Laureate of the U.S.

Screenwriter Lawrence G. DiTillio (b.1948) died on March 16. DiTillio worked on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Transformers: Beast Wars, Kong: The Animateed Series, She-Ra: Princess of Power, and served as story editor on Babylon 5.

Actor Richard Erdman (b.1925) died on March 16. Best known for his roles as Hoffy in Stalag 17 and Leonard on the television show Community, Erdman appeared in episodes of The Twilight Zone, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, and provided voice work for The Jetsons, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Batman: The Animated Series. He also directed my favorite episode of The Dick van Dyke Show.

Comics artist Ken Bald (b.1920) died on March 17. Bald worked on Captain Marvel and Bulletman for Fawcett, Mandrake the Magician for Street & Smith, the original Captain America for Timely. He also worked on Millie the Model.

Author Paul Hugli (b.1951) died on March 17. His short fiction included Death to the Heretic!, As Time Goes By…, Dream’s End, and Sleep No More.

Fan Gwen Peterson (b.1941) died on March 17. Peterson’s son, George, is also a fan.

Norm Hollyn (b.Norm Hochberg, 1952) died on March 17. Hollyn published the fanzine Xrymph in the 1970s and attended Worldcons briefly from 1972-1974. He went on to publish the zine Regurgitation and changed his last name to combine his name with his first wife’s name. He worked as an editor on the miniseries Wild Palms and the films Meet the Applegates and Heathers.

Fan Ellen Vartanoff (b.1951) died on March 17. Vartanoff and her sister, Irene, attended science fiction and comic book conventions and was an occasional costumer. In 1997, she curated an exhibition of her cartoon collection.

Director John Carl Buechler (b.1952) died on March 18. Buechler began directing in 198 with the film Ragewar (a.k.a. The Dungeonmaster) and when on to direct Friday the 15th, Part VII: The New Blood, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Watchers 4. He has often worked on special effects, as well as writing, and acting.

Author François Camoin (b.1941) died on March 18. Although not generally a genre writer, Camoin’s work appeared in Omni and includes the genre stories “Some of My Best Friends Are Americans” and “Centaur,” which appeared in The Twilight Zone Magazine.

Actor Clinton Greyn (b.1933) died on March 19. Greyn appeared as Ivo in the Doctor Who serial “State of Decay” with Tom Baker and played Stike in the Colin Baker/Patrick Troughton serial “The Two Doctors.”

CFG member Frank Johnson (b.1953) died on March 19. Johnson attended conventions throughout the Midwest, most recently, Windycon 45. When he wasn’t engaging in fanac, he played classical music on WGUC in Cincinnati.

Fan Mike Raub (b.1951) died on March 19. Raub published the apazine Unco for the APA Myriad and the fanzine Wonderment. He ran the Dream Factory chain of comics stores in New York and Connecticut. Prior to opening his first story, Raub worked as an on-air personality for several radio stations.

Fan Jamie Hanrahan (b.1952) died on March 20. Hanrahan was a member of General Technics and founded the Star Trek fan club S.T.A.R. San Diego. He co-chaired Equicon 1975 and worked on a variety of other conventions, including Westercon 39.

Director Larry Cohen (b.1941) died on March 23. Cohen’s directorial work includes the films Q, It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive, and A Return to Salem’s Lot. He also wrote the films It’s Alive, It Lives Again, and Body Snatchers.

Actress Denise DuBarry (b.1956) died on March 23. DuBarry appeared in Monster in the Closet, The Darker Side of Terror, and The Devil and Max Devlin.

Producer Michael Lynne (b.1941) died on March 24. Lynne was an executive producers on The Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as The Mortal Instruments The Golden Compass, and A Nighmare on Elm Street.

Actor Joseph Pilato (b.1949) died on March 24. Plato appeared in Day of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead. Other appearances included Knightriders and The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.

Stuntman Bronco McLoughlin (b.1938) died on March 26. McLoughlin performed stunts in Troy, Robin Hood, Total Recall, Willow, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (as well as episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles), and Star Wars.

Author Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire (b.1951) died on March 26. Pugmire wrote horror fiction and often paid homage to Lovecraft. He collaborated with Jeffrey Thomas on the Enoch Coffin stories and with David Barker on the novel Witches in Dreamland. His own work was collected in several collections.

Cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky (b. 1934) died on March 27, 2019. Bykovsky flew on three flights: Vostok 5, Soyuz 22, and Soyuz 31, logging nearly 21 days in space. He set a record for longest time in orbit in 1963 at 5 days, which remains the longest solo endurance record.

Artist Leslie Ann Sternbergh Alexander (b1960) died on March 27. Her work appeared in numerous underground commix as well as in MAD Magazine. She also worked for both DC and Marvel at various times and appeared in the film Alien Space Avenger, for which she also created illustrations.

Chinese voice actress Fuyumi Shiraishi (b.1936) died on March 28. Her work is featured in Mobile Suit Gundam, Space Dandy, The Mouse and His Child, Space Runaway Ideon, and numerous other anime.

Author Jonathan Baumbach (b.1933) died on March 28. Baumbach wrote the novel satirical novel D-Tours. Baumbach was one of the founders of the Fiction Collective in 1974 as a means for authors to publish their works without going through traditional publishers.

Author Allan Cole (b.1943) died on March 29. Cole collaborated on several novels with Chris Bunch, producing the Sten series. Cole occasionally collaborated with others, including Thomas Grubb and Nick Perumov. He also wrote several novels on his own. When not writing novels, he wrote for television, including Dinosaucers, The Incredible Hulk, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Actor Shane Rimmer (b.1929) died on March 29. He is best known for voicing Scott Tracy on Thunderbirds, but he also had small roles in Batman Begins, Superman II, and Dark Shadows.

Mark Alessi (b.1953) died on March 30. Alessi founded CrossGen Comics in 1994, which he ran before the company’s assets were sold to Disney in 2004 following the discovery of accounting irregularities. Alessi created many of the titles for CrossGen, including Mystic, Sigil, and Scion.

Translator Tamara Kazavchinskaya (b.1940) died on March 30. Kazavchinskaya was the editor of the Russian magazine Foreign Literature and she translated works from English and Polish, including gothic literature and Stanislaw Lem for publication.

Actress Tania Mallet (b.1941) died on March 30. Mallet is best known for appearing as Tilly Masterson in Goldfinger. She later appeared in The New Avengers episode “The Midas Touch.” She gave up acting after Goldfinger because she was making substantially more as a model.

Author Jeff C. Stevenson died in March. Stevenson began publishing in 2016 with the story “The Washing of the Bones.” Subsequently, he published several more horror stories and the novel The Children of Hydesville.

Author Vonda N. McIntyre (b.1948) died on April 1. McIntyre won the Nebula Award for her short story “Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand” and the novels Dreamsnake and The Moon and the Sun. Her novel Starfarers series began as a joke on a panel and eventually wound up as a four book series. In 1971, she helped found the Clarion West Writers Workshop and in her Star Trek novel The Entropy Effect, she provided a first name for Hikaru Sulu, which was eventually made canon. In 2010, McIntyre received the Kevin O’Donnell Service to SFWA Award.

Horror host and puppeteer Ron Sweed (b.1949) died on April 1. Sweed resurrected the Ghoulini television host character created by Eric Anderson and introduced horror films on WKBF in Cleveland from 1971 and moved around to various stations through 2018.

Fan Adrian Masters (b.1981) died on April 3. Masters was an active gamer and attending many conventions in the St. Louis area.

Scottish fan Geoff Thorpe (b.1954) died in early April. Thorpe discovered fandom with the 2005 Glasgow Worldcon and became active in the South Hants Science Fiction Group., attending numerous conventions in the UK and Europe and taking an active role in fan fund auctions.

Author Antonia Barber (b.Barbara Anthony, 1932) died on April 4, 2019. Barber wrote the novel The Ghosts and short stories of genre interest. Most of her published work was aimed at the children’s market.

Russian director Georgiy Daneliya (b.1930) died on April 4. He directed the science fiction film Kin-dza-dza! and later the animated version Ku! Kin-dza-dza.

Screenwriter Berto Pelosso (b.19) died on April 6. Pelosso worked as the second unit director on The 10th Victim, based on Robert Sheckley’s story. His own screenplays tended to avoid the genre.

Actor Seymour Cassel (b.1935) died on April 7. Cassell appeared in genre shows and films Star Trek: The Next Generation, Batman, The Twilight Zone, The Last Home Run, and Justice League Unlimited. His early career was closely tied to his friend, John Cassavetes.

Actress Mya-Lecia Naylor (b.2002) died on April 7. Naylor appeared in the films Index Zero, Code Red, and Cloud Atlas. She had a role in the pilot of the television show The Witcher.

Actress Sandy Ratcliff (b.1948) died on April 7. Best known for EastEnders, her only genre credit was in The Final Programme, based on Michael Moorcock’s novel.

Croatian actress Nadja Regin (b.1931) died on April 7. Regin appeared in the films The Man Without a Body, The Magic Sword, and an episode of The Invisible Man. She also appeared in From Russia with Love and Goldfinger.

Spaceship designer Viktor Dmitrievich Blagov (b.1935) died on April 8. Blagov was responsible for the design of the Vostok spacecraft used by Yuri Gagarin and the next five cosmonauts.

Comic writer James Hudnall (b.1957) died on April 9. Hudnall began his career in 1986, writing Espers. He later worked for both Marvel and DC on Alpha Flight, Strikeforce: Morituri, Lex Luuthor: The Unauthorized Biography, and more.

Manga artist Monkey Punch (b. Kazuhiko Katō, 1937) died on April 11. Katō began drawing manga in junior high school and began his professional career in the 1960s using the pen name Monkey Punch at an editor’s suggestion for the strip Lupin III. In 2015, he received a special Tokyo Anime Award.

Actress Georgia Engel (b.1948) died on April 12. Best known for her role as Georgette on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Engel had a busy Broadway career and provided voice work for numerous animated projects, including the Disney Hercules TV series and Open Season.

Actor John McEnery (b.1943) died on April 12. Best known as a stage actor, he has made numerous films, including Merlin, The Land That Time Forgot, Schizo, and Chiller.

Swedish actress Bibi Andersson (b.1935) died on April 14. Andersson appeared in the films The Seventh Seal, The Devil’s Eye, and Quintet. Andersson made thirteen films with Ingmar Bergman.

Author Gene Wolfe (b.1931) died on April 14. His Book of the New Sun was published in four volumes, beginning with The Shadow of the Torturer. Tangentially related to The Book of the New Sun is the four volume Book of the Long Sun sequence and the three volume Book of the Short Sun. Wolfe also wrote the three volume series beginning with Soldier in the Mist and the duology, The Wizard Knight. Wolfe has won the World Fantasy Award for his novels The Shadows of the Torturer and Soldier of Sidon and for his collections The Best of Gene Wolfe and Storeys from the Old Hotel. The Shadow of the Torturer also won the British SF Association Award while its sequel The Sword of the Lictor earned a British Fantasy Award. The final novel in the sequence, The Citadel of the Autarch won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. In 2013, SFWA named him a Damon Knight Grand Master. Wolfe has also received a World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Skylark Award, and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2011, he was the recipient of the first Fuller Award by the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.

Astronaut Owen Garriott (b.1930) died on April 15. Garriott was a member of the fourth astronaut group and finally got a chance to fly during the Skylab 3 mission in 1973. He later flew on the space shuttle Columbia on STS-9. Garriott performed three EVAs during his flights. During Skylab 3, he orchestrated the stowaway prank. Garriott’s son, Richard, eventually became the second offspring of an astronaut to fly into space.

Filker Deborah Hill Kirby (b.1952) died on April 17. Kirby made videos of her husband, Larry Kirby’s filk performances.

Manga author Kazuo Koike (b.1936) died on April 17. Koike collaborated with Goseki Kijima on Kozure Okami. He also created a college course to teach people how to be manga artists. In addition to manga, he also wrote X-Men Unlimited #50.

Fan Moira J. Shearman died on April 17. Shearman was a fan from Edinburgh who was part of the apazine The Women’s Periodical, although she also published in other zines. She was also an avid convention attendee.

Author John Bowen (b.1924) died on April 18. Bowen not only was a novelist, but also a screenwriter and playwright. His genre works included After the Rain, which he also turned into a play, and No Retreat. His television work included The Guardians and Mystery and Imagination.

Russian author Sergei Pavlov (b.1935) died on April 18. Pavlov wrote Moon Rainbow, which was made into a film, and founded the Moon Rainbow Awards. He won the Aelita prize and was nominated for the Efremov Prize.

Producer David V. Picker (b.1931) died on April 20. Picker got his start as an executive producer on A Hard Day’s Night. He went on to produce Royal Flash, Steve Martin’s The Man with Two Brains, episodes of Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairy Tale.

Producer Steve Golin (b.1955) died on April 21. Golin produced Being John Malkovich, The Age of Adeline, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Fan Tom McGovern died on April 22. McGovern was a member of the Southern Fandom Press Alliance. He also published articles in Challenger.

Comic book artist Greg Theakston (b.1953) died on April 22. In addition to his work as an artist, he also developed a process for comics restoration.

Actor Edward Kelsey (b.1930) died on April 23. Kelsey provided the voice of Mr. Growbag in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and appeared in three Doctor Who serials with William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, and Tom Baker.

Film editor Terry Rawlings (b.1933) died on April 23. Rawlings worked as an editor on Watership Down, Alien, Alien³, GoldenEye, and The Phantom of the Opera. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Chariot’s of Fire.

Director David Winters (b.1939) died on April 23. Winters began as a dancer in the Broadway production of West Side Story and also appeared in the film. He worked as an actor, choreographer, director, and producer. His genre projects included The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Star Wars Holiday Special, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Actor Larry Flash Jenkins (b.1955) died on April 25. Jenkins appeared in the horror films Sorority Sister Slaughter, Prison, and Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.

Actor Jessie Lawrence Ferguson (b.1941) died on April 26. Ferguson played the Black Lectroid Commander in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension , appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Code of Honor” and the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode “A Dream of Jennifer.”

Fan H. Stanley Nuttall (b.1926) died on April 26. Nuttall was a member and former chairman of the Liverpool Science Fiction Society as well as a member of the British Interplanetary Society. IN 1957, he was made a Knight of Saint Fantony at Cytricon III. Nuttall collaborated with John Owen writing fanfiction following the adventures of Sir William Makepeace Harrison.

Bookseller Allen Lewis died on April 29. Lewis ran Midnight Books and was a frequent dealer at World Fantasy Con and Worldcon.

Director John Llewellyn Moxey (b.1925) died on April 29. Moxey was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1974 with Gene Roddenberry for the film Genesis II. His other genre work included directing an episode of The Avengers, the film Where Have All the People Gone?, and The Solarnauts.

Comic author Makoto Ogino (b.1959) died on April 29. Ogino broke into manga with Peacock Kingand followed up with several additional series, as well as Spirit Warrior.

Actor Peter Mayhew (b.1944) died on April 30. Mayhew portrayed Chewbacca in the original Star Wars Trilogy and subsequent projects, most recently Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Less famously, he appeared as the tall knight in the television series Dark Towers.

Mark Greyland died on May 1. Grayland was the son of Marion Zimmer Bradley. He provided the cover art for an issue of Apex Magazine in 2014 and an interview with him appeared in that issue.

Actor Max Arthur (b.1939) died on May 2. Arthur appeared in the fifth Doctor serial “Planet of Fire.” Mostly a stage actor, he was also a military historian who focused on first-hand recollections of the World Wars.

Producer Terry Allen Kramer (b.1933) died on May 2. Kramer was a Broadway producer whose shows included The Addams Family, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Frankenstein, and Finding Neverland.

Animator Chris Reccardi (b.1964) died on May 2. Reccardi worked on The Lego Movie and the Lego Batman Movie, as well as Powerpuff Girls, Megamind, Shrek the Third, and Monsters vs. Aliens.

Scientist Jack Cohen (b.1933) died on May 6. Cohen primarily worked in the field of reproductive biology, but as a science fiction fan, he found himself advising many authors, including Anne McCaffrey, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Harry Harrison. He teamed with Ian Stewart to write the novel Wheelers and other science fiction and non-fiction and with Stewart and Terry Pratchett wrote four volumes in the Science of Discworld series.

Actor Kip Niven (b.1945) died on May 6. Niven appeared in various episodes of such shows as The Bionic Woman, Knight Rider, and Project U.F.O., as well as the film Damnation Alley and New Year’s Evil.

Walter Harris (b.1925) died on May 9. Harris published the novelizations Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Werewolf of London as well as the novels The Day I Died, Saliva, and The Fifth Horseman. Some of his works were published under the pseudonyms Carl Dreadstone and E.K. Leyton.

Screenwriter Alvin Sargent (b.1927) died on May 9. Sargent worked on the scnreeplays for Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, and The Amazing Spider-Man. He won Academy Awards for his scripts for Paper Moon, Julia, and Ordinary People.

Fan Paul Condon (b.1970) died on May 10. Condon organized several Doctor Who conventions in the UK, including Manopticon 3 and Icon 2. He edited the book 1001 TV Shows You Must Watch Before You Die as well as several other books co-written with Jim Sangster.

Actress Peggy Lipton (b.1946) died on May 11.. Lipton appeared in the films The Postman and Purple People Eater and several episodes of Twin Peaks and Alias. She may have been best known for her starring role on The Mod Squad.

Samoan actor Pua Magasiva (b.1980) died on May 11. Magasiva played the Red Wind Ranger in Power Rangers Ninja Storm and Power Rangers DinoThunder. He also appeared in the television film Panic and Rock Island.

Fan Tim Bolgeo (b.1949) died on May 12. Bolgeo, who went by Uncle Timmy, was the founder and chairman emeritus of LibertyCon. He was a guest of honor at Con*Stellation III, DeepSouthCon 43, StellarCon 33, and LibertyCon 32.

Animator Makiko Futaki (b.1958) died on May 13. Futaki spent thirty years working at Studio Ghibli working to animate Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, and other classic films the studio produced. Her work on Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind brought her to Hayao Miyazaki’s attention.

Actor Isaac Kappy (b.1977) committed suicide on May 13. Kappy appeared in the film Fanboys and had a small role in Thor. He portrayed Barbarosa in Terminator Salvation

Actor Tim Conway (b.1933) died on May 14. Conway did voice work for Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Dreamworks Dragons, and other animated works. As a comedian, he is best known for his stint on The Carol Burnett Show and his character Dorf.

Author Tommy Donbavand (b.1968) died on May 14. Donbavand was both a comic and prose author, writing for The Beano as well as the Doctor Who novel Shroud of Sorrow. He co-wrote Gravity Storm with Michael Anderle. Many of his novels, in the Fange Vampire Spy series and the Scream Street series, were targeted at younger readers.

Glen Mehn died on May 15. Mehn served as the administrator of the Kitschie Awards. In addition, Mehn published his own stories and appeared in the anthology alt.sherlock.holmes.

Estonian author Nikolai Baturin (b.1936) died on May 17. While Baturin began writing poetry, he eventually expanded to prose, publishing the fantasy novel A Fern in the Stone, with mythological themes often taken a focus in his work. Baturin was also a dramatist.

Author Herman Wouk (b.1915), died on May 17. Wouk was best known for his historical fiction including The Caine Mutiny and The Winds of War, but he also wrote the science fictional short story “The ‘Lomokome’ Papers.”

Artist Justin Ponsor died on May 18. Ponsor served as a colorist for several comic companies, including DC, Marvel, WildStorm, and CrossGen. In 2018, he was nominated for a Golden Issue Award. Ponsor occasionally signed his work as J-Po.

Bengali editor Adrish Bardhan (b.1932) died on May 21. In 1963, Bardhan began editing Ascharya, India’s first science fiction magazine. He later began editing Fantastic magazine and he received the Sudhindranath Raha Award for his work in Bengali science fiction. He was one of the founders of the Science Fiction film club in India.

Steve Creech (b. 1966) died on May 21. Creech began writing role-playing games in 2000, publishing works with Green Ronin, Bastion, and Modiphius. He received an Ennie Award for Torn Asunder: Critical Hits and in 2002 launched Dragon Wing Games.

Artist Everett Kinstler (b.1926) died on May 26. Best known as a portrait artist, Kinstler also did work on some comics and pulps, including for Doc Savage, Crack of Doom, and a cover for Out of the Silent Planet.

Actor Stephen Thorne (b.1935) died on May 26. Thorne appeared in three third Doctor and one fourth Doctor serials, including “The Daemons,” “The Three Doctors,” “Frintier in Space,” and “The Hand of Fear.” He also performed in radio adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, Guards! Guards! and The Magician’s Nephew.

Author Dennis Etchison (b.1943) died on May 28. Etchison’s novels include The Fog, Darkside, and California Gothic. He published novelizations of the Halloween films as by Jack Martin. Etchison’s short stories have been collected in several volumes. He has been recognized with a Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award and has won multiple World Fantasy Awards and British Fantasy Awards.

Jim Michaelson died on May 28. Michaelson worked as a Disney Imagineer and created posters for several Disney attractions, including Pirates of the Caribbean, the Country Bear Jamboree, and Space Mountain. His work also appeared at Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris.

Actress Peggy Stewart (b.1923) died on May 29. Stewart appeared in episodes of Flashforward, The Twilight Zone, Charmed, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the films The Boogens, Something Weird, and The Ghost Goes Wild.

Actress Roslyn Alexander (1924) died on May 30. Alexander made her name on the Chicago stage and appeared in many films and television shows shot in the city, including Child’s Play, The Unknown, 30 Miles from Nowhere, and an episode of Early Edition.

Author Andrew Sinclair (b.1935) died on May 30. Sinclair wrote The Albion trilogy, made up of Gog, Magog, and King Ludd, as well as other novels. He also was an artist, with several pieces appearing in various editions of Spectrum. Sinclair also directed the film Under Milk Wood.

Artist Dennis Neal Smith died in May. Smith chaired Westercon in San Diego in 1966 and created the art for the first progress report for the first San Diego Comic-Con. His artwork inspired Harlan Ellison to write several stories and he created the covers for Arkham House collections by Greg Bear and Joanna Russ.

Actor Alistair Browning (b.1954) died on June 2. Browning appeared at the Silver Power Ranger in Power Rangers Dino Charge and as Damrod in The Lord of the Rings. He had a recurring role as Bronagh in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

Polish author and editor Maciej Parowski (b.1946) died on June 2. Parowski served as editor of Now Fantastyka from 1992-2003 and later was the chief editor of Czas Fantastyki. In 2007, he was awarded the silver medal for cultural achievement. Throughout his career, Parowski fostered new talent among Polish science fiction authors.

Actor Paul Darrow (b.1941) died on June 3. Darrow is best known for his role as Kerr Avon on Blake’s 7, but he also appeared In the Doctor Who serial “Doctor Who and the Silurians.” He provided voice work for several video games, including Star Wars and appeared in the radio adaptation of Tanith Lee’s The Silver Sky.

Artist Keith Birdsong (b.1959) died on June 4. Birdsong provided cover art for numerous Star Trek and Shadowrun novels, depicting his subjects in a photorealistic manner. His art also appeared on U.S. postage stamps and collectable plates. Following a stroke in 2018, he was told he would never speak, walk, or paint. He recovered the ability do all three before he was killed in a car accident.

Fan Carlie Ann Buchanan (b.1989) died on June 4. Buchanan was active in Minnesota fandom, working for several years at CONvergence as their guest liaison.

Actor Sean Hewitt (b.1935) died on June 6. Hewitt played Heywood in Battlefield Earth and also appeared in Thinner and the television series Read All About It!.

Actor Carl Schell (b.1927) died on June 6. Schell appeared in 1961’s Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory and several episodes of Jackanory.

Actress Nonnie Griffin (b.1933) died on June 7. Griffin voiced Harmony Bear in The Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation and a variety of voices on The Care Bears Family. She appeared in the original Robocop and did voice work on the television series Ewoks.

Author Milan Asadurov (b.1949) died on June 8. Asaduroc founded the Galaxy imprint in Bulgaria, which published works by Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, the Strugatskys, and Ursula K. Le Guin. Asadurov also worked as a translator on many of the titles they published. His own fiction included the Tales of Naught trilogy.

Game seller Bill Jaffe died on June 8. Jaffe began working for Zocchi Distribution and later Mr. B’s Games.

Fan Al Johnston died on June 8. Johnston was a frequent attendee of Novacon, serving on the committee for Novacons 20 and 21. He was frequently seen with a camera taking pictures at the convention.

Nickianne Moody died on June 9. Moody worked at Liverpool John Moores University. She was a trustee of the SF Foundation and her essays appeared in Terry Pratchett: Guilty of Literature, Speaking Science Fiction: Dialogues and Interpretations, and The Parliament of Dreams: Conferring on Babylon 5.

Author Eric Basso (b.1947) died on June 10. Basso published the sthort stories “Logues” and “The Beak Doctor” in 1977. In the late 1980s, he also published two science fictional poems.

Chris Cornell (b.1967) died on June 10. Cornell was active in the Codex Writers’ Group and Left Coast Writers. He attended both Taos Toolbox and Viable Paradise and had stories published in Penumbra and Another 100 Horrors. He co-edited the anthology Abandoned Places with George R. Galuschak. He was one of the co-founders and hosts of the Unreliable Narrators podcast.

Japanese voice actor Yuzuru Fujimoto (b.1935) died on June 10. Fujomoto provided voice work for numerous animes, including Metal Gear Solid 2, Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed, and more.

Russian author Alexander Tutov (b.1966) died on June 10. Tutov was a collector of northern Russian folklore and organized the fan club Alien in Kotlas. He was also one of the organizers of the RPG convention Nordcon.

Author and director Peter Whitehead (b.1937) died on June 10. Whitehead wrote the novel The Rison and published the short story “Tonite Let’s Make Love in London (or The Case of the Purloined Soundtrack).” His films include Terrorism Considered as One of the Fine Arts.

Game designer James Mathe (b.1966) died on June 11. Mathe owned several Wisconsin game stores, sat on the board of directors for DriveThruRPG since 2004, and was the president and owner of Minion Games. He began designing games in 2010 with the release of Those Pesky Humans.

Actress Sylvia Miles (b.1924) died on June 12. Miles appeared in the 1987 film Sleeping Beauty, an episode of Life on Mars, and the horror film The Funhouse.

Author Timothy Wade Huntley (b.1939) died on June 13. Huntley wrote the novel One on Me and the satirical Earthgame trilogy.

Actor Nobuyuki Ishida (b.1950) died on June 13. He appeared on Mirrorman, Ultraman Zero, Super Robot Mach Baron, reborn from Hell II: Jubei’s Revenge, and more.

Japanese editor Yoshio Kabayashi (b.1951) died on June 13. Kobayashi translated numerous English works of science fiction into Japanese using the name Takashi Ogawa. He founded the fanzine Palantir and his translated were published by Hayakawa and Shueisha.

Canadian actor Sean McCann (b.1935) died on June 13. McCann appeared in Possible Worlds, Starship Invasions and episodes of The Listener and Haven. McCann also did voice work for several animated series.

Author Holly Prado (b.1938) died on June 14. Primarily known as a poet, Prado also published several novels, beginning in 1985 with Gardens. She published the genre story “The Tall, Upheaving One,” in 1998, which was picked up for Datlow and Windling’s Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror.

Publisher Tom Boardman (b.1930) died on June 15. Boardman served as science fiction advisor to Gollancz, Four Square, Macdonald, and NEL. He edited the anthologies SF Horizons 1, Science Fiction Stories, and The Unfriendly Future.

Actor Bob Dorian (b.1934) died on June 15. Dorian probably achieved his greatest fame as a host on American Movie Classics, but he also appeared in numerous films and television shows, including both The Evil Dead and Evil Dead.

Editor Kevin Killian (b.1952) died on June 15. Killian was a poet, editor, and author, focusing on gay fiction. He began publishing work of genre interest in 1996 with “Brother and Sister.”

Director Suzan Pitt (b.1943) died on June 16. Pitt directed the animated film Visitation, as well as other animated shorts.

Animator Milton Quon (b.1913) died on June 18 at 105. Quon worked as an animator on Fantasia and Dumbo for Disney and had a bit role in an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and some films.

Chicago fan Vern Anderson (b.1949) died on June 19. Anderson was a frequent attendee and participate at Windycon and Capricon and served as the official photographer at Windycon 20, taking “class pictures” for each year of Windycon’s existence.

Screenwriter Peter Allan Fields died on June 19. Fields won a Hugo Award for his script for the Star Trek: TNG episode “The Inn0er Light” and he went on to write episodes of Deep Space Nine as well. Fields also worked on Xena: Warrior Princess, The Six Million Dollar Man, and many other shows. He also produced more than 40 episodes of Deep Space Nine.

Actress Susan Bernard (b.1948) died on June 21. Bernard is best known for appearing in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, but she also appeared in the horror films The Killing Kind, Necromancy, and The Witchmaker. Her father, Bruno Bernard, was a renowned photographer and she handled the rights to his photos following his death.

Actor William Simons (b.1940) died on June 21. Best known for his role on Cribb, he appeared in the Tom Baker Doctor Who serial “The Sun Makers” and the television movie The Woman in Black.

Playwrite William F. Brown (b.1928) died on June 23. Brown is best known for writing The Wiz, based on The Wizard of Oz.

Actor Steve Hawkes (b.1942) died on June 23. Hawkes starred in a series of unauthorized Spanish Tarzan films, which had the character’s name changed to Zan when translated into English. He also appeared in 2056: Escape from Zombie Island and its sequel, 2057: Return to Zombie Island.

Actor Andrey Kharitonov (b.1959) died on June 23. Kharitonov starred in a Soviet era adaptation of H.G. Wells’s The Invisible Man as well as an adaptation of Bulgakov’s The Master and the Margarita.

Actress Stephanie Niznik (b.1967) died on June 23. Niznik appeared in episodes of Sliders, Lost, and Star Trek: Enterprise. She also appeared in the films Star Trek: Inusrrection and Spiders II: Breeding Ground.

Actor Billy Drago (b. William E. Burrows, 1945) died on June 24. Drago is most noted for his roles as Frank Nitti in The Untouchables and John Bly in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. Other genre series he appeared in include Supernatural, The X-Files, and Charmed,. Often typecast as a villain, Drago perfected smarm.

Actor Bryan Marshall (b.1938) died on June 25. He played Captain Potter in Quatermass and the Pit and appeared as Dino Moretti in The Punisher. He appeared in episodes of The Avengers and Time Trax and played Commander Talbot in The Spy Who Loved Me.

Author Paul Abbamondi (b.1983) died from colon cancer on June 26. Abbamondi began publishing short fiction in 2006 and published several short stories over the years, most recently in 2016. In addition to his fiction, Abbamondi was also a comic artist.

Actor Douglas Fielding (b.1946) died on June 26. Fielding played Sgt. Quilley on Z Cars and appeared in an episode of Blake’s 7. He also provided voice work for the video game Privateer 2: The Darkening.

French actress Edith Scob (b.1937) died on June 26. Scob appeared in Vidocq, Eyes without a Face, Brotherhood of the Wolf, and Fantasmagorie. Many of her films and television projects were in French.

Actor Max Wright (b.1943) died on June 26. Wright is best known for playing Willie Tanner on Alf, but he was also a serious Broadway actor. In the mini series From the Earth to the Moon, he portrayed Guenther Wendt and played Dr. Herbert Denninger in the miniseries The Stand. Wright also appeared in the first and last episodes of the Trilogy series of Quantum Leap.

Film distributor Ben Barenholtz (b.Berl Berenholtz, 1935) died on June 27. Barenholtz pioneered the idea of midnight movies. Barenholtz used his theatres to revive interest in silent films, including Buster Keaton movies, to provide a place for the counter culture to meet, and to champion independent films

Game designer Lee Garvin died on June 29. Garvin wrote Tales from the Floating Vagabond and also created marerials for the RPGs Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and 7^th Seas. He ran the gaming company Reality Cheque. Greg Porter created the card game Killing Lee Garvin in his honor and to help raise funds for him.

Editor Edward P. Berglund (b.1942) died in June. Berglund edited the magazine From Beyond the Dark Gatewayin 1972, 1974, and 1977. From 1997 through 2001, he edited the on-line zine Nightscapes. His anthologies included the two volume The Disciples of Cthulhu series and Spoor Anthology.

Author Malaika Rose Stanley (b.1954) died in early-June. Stanley primarily wrote children’s books, including Spike and Ali Enson and Spike in Space.

Actor Arte Johnson (b.1929) died on July 3. Best known for his appearances on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, his genre roles included appearances on The Twilight Zone, Lost in Space, Night Gallery, and voice work for a variety of animated television series.

Actor Cameron Boyce (b.1999) died on July 6. Boyce appeared in the Disney Descendants series and provided voice work for Ultimate Spider-Man and Spider-Man.

Actor Eddie Jones (b.1937) died on July 6. Jones portrayed Jonathan Kent on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Other genre films he appeared in include The Rocketeer, C.H.U.D., and the television series Ghost Whisperer.

German producer Artur Brauner (b.1918) died on July 7. Brauner produced The Return of Dr. Mabuse and sequels, An Angel on Wheels, The Brain, and numerous other films.

Actor Freddie Jones (b.1927) died on July 9. Jones portrayed Thufir Hawat in Dune and provided the voice of Dallben in The Black Cauldron. Jones also appeared in Krull, Firestarter, and episodes of The Avengers and Space: 1999.

Actor Rip Torn (b.1931) died on July 9. Torn portrayed Zed in the first two Men in Black films and also appeared in The Man Who Fell to Earth, Defending Your Life, The Beastmaster, Robocop 3, and Airplane II: The Sequel.

Italian actress Valentina Cortese (b.1923) died on July 10. Cortese appeared in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Juliet of the Spirits, and The Big Scare. She was nominated for an Oscar for her role in La nuit américaine.

Actress Denise Nickerson (b.1957) died on July 10. Nickerson is best known for her roles as Violet Beauregard in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Amy Collins on Dark Shadows. She also appeared on The Electric Company and an episode of The Brady Bunch. She retired from acting in 1978.

Actor Richard Carter (b.1953) died on July 13. Carter appeared in Mad Max: Fury Road, No Escape, and episodes of the television show Farscape.

Author and poet Charlee Jacob (b.1952) died on July 14. Jacob’s works included Soma, The Myth of Falling, and Dark Moods. She won the Stoker Award four times, for her novel Dread in the Beast and for three of her poetry collections, Sineater, Vectors, and Four Elements.

Actor Charles Levin (b.1949) died on July 14. Levin made a career out of bit roles on various television series, including episodes of The Twilight Zone and Tales from the Darkside. He also appeared in the film The Golden Child.

Fan Andi Shechter (b.1953) died on July 15. A science fiction fan and conrunner, she focused a lot of her attention on Bouchercon and other mystery cons, chairing Left Coast Crime in 1997. Shechter was also a book reviewer. She was a longtime companion to Stu Shiffman and the two married shortly before his death in 2014.

Actor Karl Shiels (b.1972) died on July 15. Shiels appeared in the fantasy film Angel and the television series The Tudors. He had a small role in the film Batman Begins.

Actor David Hedison (b.1927) died on July 18. Hedison played Captain Lee B. Crane on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He would go on to portray Felix Leiter opposite Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton and also appeared in the 1958 film The Fly. One of his last roles was voicing Jor-El in Superman and the Secret Planet.

Actor Robert Milli (b.1933) died on July 18. Milli appeared in The Curse of the Living Corpse, but was best known for his role as Adam Thorpe on the soap opera The Guiding Light.

The Victims of the Kyoto Animation fire, July 18. 26 people who worked for Kyoto Animation at their production studio were killed when a man set fire to the building. KyoAni made the series Lucky Star, K-On, and Haruhi Suzumiya.

Anime writer and director Yasuhiro Takemoto (b.1972) was killed in the Kyoto Animation fire on July 18. His genre credits include Gate Keepers, Beyond the Boundary, and Dragon Maid.

Actor Rutger Hauer (b.1944) died on July 19. Hauer has appeared in the original film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ladyhawke, and Bladerunner. More recently, he was in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. His television appearances include Galavant, Merlin, and True Blood.

Actor Jeremy Kemp (b.1935) died on July 19. Kemp portrayed Picard’s older brother on Star Trek: The Next Generation and also appeared in episodes of Space: 1999, Conan the Adventurer, and The Greatest American Hero.

Editor Greg Shoemaker (b.1947) died on July 19. Shoemaker was the founder and editor of The Japanese Film Journal, which he published from 1968 thoruhg 1984.

Author and publisher Sam Gafford (b.1962) died on July 20. Gafford ran Ulthar Pres, which published chapbooks, including works by William Hope Hodgeson. His own writing includes The House of Nodens and the collection The Dreamer in Fire and Other Stories. His non-fiction study William Hope Hodgeson: Voices from the Borderlands was nominated for the Stoker Award.

Composer Ben Johnston (b.1926) died on July 21. Johnston composed the score for the opera Carmilla, which was adapted from J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella.

NASA Director of Flight Operations Chris Kraft (b.1924) died on July 22, just after the 50^th anniversary of the first moon landing. Kraft was instrumental in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions and he trained other flight directors. He retired from NASA in 1982.

Actor Gabe Khouth (b.1972) died on July 23. Khouth appreared in Once Upon a Time and It. He provided voice work for Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Masters of the Unvierse vs. the Snake Men, X-Men: Evolution, and many more animated films and shows.

Author Robert Mayer (b.1939) died on July 23. Mayer’s genre novels include I, JFK, and the satirical Super-Folks.

Filker Zanda Myrande (b.1955) died on July 24. Myrande’s filk albums included On the Battlements, Blood on Bookwalk, Return to Argenthome—The Rough Cuts, and more.

Game designer Mike Brunton (b.1962) died on July 25. Brunton worked at TSR UK on Imagine and various D&D supplements. He edited White Dwarf in the late 1980s and produced Warhammer works, eventually bringing out Realms of Chaos. Brunton also worked on the Total War videogame franchise.

Australian fan Susan Evans (b.1961) died on July 25. Evans worked on a variety of conventions, including Octacon, the 1982 New Zealand Natcon. She was also a contributor to APAs.

Fan Martin Hoare (b.1952) died on July 26. Hoare was an inveterate con-runner, serving on more Eastercon committees than any other individual. He co-chaired two Eastercons, Seacon ’84 and Helicon 2, and worked as a Division Head for ConFiction. In 2015, he received the Doc Weir Award. Over the years, Hoare became known for accepting Dave Langford’s Hugo Awards when Langford couldn’t attend Worldcon. He was scheduled to be the Bar Manager for Dublin 2019.

Academic Josh Lukin (b.1968) died on July 26. Lukin was a writing instructor at Temple University and published essays on Philip K. Dick, Kate Wilhem, and Chan Davis, among others.

Voice actress Russi Taylor (b.1944) died on July 26. Taylor provided the voice for Minnie Mouse as well as voices for Martin Prince on The Simpsons, Huey, Dewey, and Louie for Duck Tales, and various other voices in film and television. She was married to Wayne Allwine, who provided the voice of Mickey Mouse.

Producer Edward Lewis (b.1919) died on July 27. He produced genre films Rhinoceros, The Blue Bird, and Seconds. His best known works were Spartacus and The Thorn Birds.

Author Maggie Secara (b.1950) died on July 27. Secara published the Harper Errant trilogy, beginning in 2012 with The Dragon Ring.

Game designer Richard Berg (b.1943) died on July 29. Berg was the recipient of numerous Charles S. Roberts Awards and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987. His games includes SPQR, The Campaign for North Africa, Terrible Swift Sword, Hastings 1066, The War of the Ring, and numerous others.

Script supervisor Cosmo Genovese (b.1923) died on July 30. Genovese worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight, and other properties in both series.

Producer and director Harold Prince (b.1928) died on July 31. Prince is best known for producing shows like West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Fiddler on the Roof, and Cabaret. His genre work includes producing and directing It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman, and Damn Yankees.

Swedish fan Christian Rosenfeldt (b.1956) died in late July. Rosenfeldt was an active fan in publishing fanzines.

Author Barry Hughart (b.1934) died on August 1. Hughart is the World Fantasy Award winning author of Bridge of Birds, as well as its sequels, The Story of the Stone and Eight Skilled Gentlemen. Hughart managed a bookstore for five years in the 1960s.

Composer Barrington Pheloung (b.1954) died on August 1. Pheloung wrote the scores for Friendship’s Death, The Mangler, and Truly, Madly, Deeply. He was perhaps best known for his work on Inspector Morse.

Animator Kazuko Nakamura (b.1933) died on August 3. Nakamura worked on Alakazam the Great, Space Firebird, and Alice in Wonderland.

Voice actor Stu Rosen (b.1939) died on August 4. He worked on Superman, The Legend of Prince Valiant, Biker Mice from Mars, and Phantom 2040.

Fan Matthew Sims died on August 4. Sims served as gamemaster at Fencon from the convention’s founding and took joy in introducing new games to fans. He was one of the founders of the Mechwarriors’ Guild and ran FenCon Squares.

Author Toni Morrison (b.1931) died on August 5. Prior to becoming a Nobel Prize winning author, Morrison worked as an editor, occasionally in the science fiction field, working with, among others, Michael Moorcock. Morrison went on to write the novels Beloved, Jazz, Paradise, and The Bluest Eyes. In addition to winning the Novel, she also won a Pulitzer.

Cartoonist Ernie Colón (b.1931) died on August 8. Colón worked on Joe Palooka, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and Richie Rich. He created DC’s Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld. He gained his greatest fame for adapting the 9/11 report into graphic novel form in collaboration with Sid Johnson.

Children’s author Lee Bennett Hopkins (b.1938) died on August 8. His fiction included “Great-Aunt Pippa’s Pepperoni Pizza” and “”The Ninety-Sixth Ghost.” He also edited the anthologies A-Haunting We Will Go, Monsters, Ghoulies, and Creepy Creatures, and Witching Time.

Actor Dango Nguyen (b.1970) died on August 10. Nguyen is a stunt performer and actor who has appeared in The Walking Dead, Banshee, and The Originals. Prior to working in television, he pursued a career as a professional wrestler.

Author J. Neil Schulman (b.1953) died on August 11. Schulman won the Prometheus Award for his novels Alongside Night and The Rainbow Cadenza. His other two novels, Escape from Heaven and The Fractal Man, were also nominees for the award. In addition to writing science fiction, he has also written non-fiction and “Profile in Silver,” an episode of The Twilight Zone that aired in 1986.

Australian actor Ningali Lawford (b.1967) died on August 11. Lawford’s only genre role was in the short film Doug the Human.

Actor Barbara March (b.1953) died on August 11. March played the character Lursa in various incarnations of Star Trek, appearing in Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation, and Generations. She also worked as a story editor for the television series Mysterious Island.

Illustrator Charles Santore (b.1935) died on August 11. Santore’s illustrations appeared in editions of L. Frank Baum’s The Tin Woodman and The Wizard of Oz as well as Lewis Carrol’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. He also provided the cover for Daniel Grotta’s J.R.R. Tolkien: Architect of Middle Earth.

Fan Carl Slaughter (b.1958) died in a car accident on August 11. Slaughter’s writing appeared in Tangent Online, File 770, SF Signal and other venues.

Author and editor Robert N. Stephenson (b.1961) died on August 15. Stephenson was the editor of Altair magazine as well as several anthologies. His short story “Rains of la Strange” won the 2011 Aurealis Award.

Actor Peter Fonda (b.1940) died on August 16. Fonda, the son of Henry Fonda, most famously starred in Easy Rider, but also had genre roles in Ghost Rider, Escape from L.A., Futureworld, and Supernova.

Actress Anna Quayle (b.1932) died on August 16. Quayle appeared as Baroness Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, and and episode of The Avengers.

Animator Richard Williams (b.1933) died on August 16. Williams served as the animation director on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, creating the images of both Roger and Jessica Rabbit. In the 1970s, he worked on movie title credits, including Pink Panther films.

Screenwriter Larry Siegel (b.1925) died on August 20. Best known for writing for The Carol Burnett Show and Laugh-In Siegel also wrote the 1967 short Wonder Woman: Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince?

Artist Nigel Dobbyn (b.1963) died on August

24. Dobbyn’s work appeared in Future Shocks, Medivac 318, Strontium Dog, and Sonic the Comic.

Game designer Rick Loomis (b.1946) died on August 23 after a battle with cancer. Loomis founded Flying Buffalo and published Nuclear Destruction and later Nuclear War. In 1975, he published the second edition of Tunnels and Trolls and was one of the founders of GAMA in 1978.

Editor Charles M. Collins died on August 26. Collins edited the anthologies Fright, A Feast of Blood, and A Walk with the Beast. When he wasn’t editing, he worked as a salesman for several publishers.

Author Brad Linaweaver (b.1952) died on August 29. Linaweaver was the author of Moon of Ice, Anarchia, and novelizations for the television shows Sliders and Battlestar Galactica. He was a two time Prometheus Award Winner and a winner of the Phoenix Award.

Screenwriter Gordon Bressack (b.1951) died on August 30. Bressack has worked on many animated series of genre interest, including The Real Ghostbusters, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and Pinky and the Brain.

Actress Valerie Harper (b.1939) died on August 30. Harper is best known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff, Rhoda. Her genre work includes the film My Future Boyfriend and voice work for Generator Gawl and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen.

Author Melissa C. Michaels (b.1946) died on August 30. Michaels began publishing short fiction in 1979 and begin her first series of novels in 1985, publishing five volumes in the Skyrider series, as well as other novels. She was also active in SFWA, creating the organizations first website and serving as webmaster for the first five years.

Voice actor Michael Lindsay (b.1963) died on August 31. Lindsay provided voice work for various Naruto projects and numerous videogames.

Author Katherine MacLean (b.1925) died on September 1. MacLean began publishing in 1949 and had a lengthy career publishing short fiction and some novels. She won the 1972 Nebula Award for her novella “The Missing Man” and was named a SFWA Author Emeritus in 2003. She was the first professional GoH at Wiscon. In 2011, she won the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award.

Author Terrance Dicks (b.1935) died on September 2. Dicks wrote several episodes of Doctor Who and served as script editor form 1968-74. Dicks also worked on The Avengers, Moonbase 3, and Space: 1999. In addition to his scripts, he also wrote numerous Doctor Who novelizations for Target Books.

Editor Lee Salem (b. 1946) died on September 2. Salem was an editor at Universal Press Syndicate who worked with Gary Larson on The Far Side and with Bill Watterson on Calvin and Hobbes.

Fan Jack Weaver (b.1926) died on September 2. He joined SFSFS in Florida and helped run art show at Tropicon with Lee Hoffman. Weaver served as the webmaster for FANAC from 1995 until 2016 and continued to contribute code until his death. In 2016, he received an award at FanHistoricon 13.

Canadian actor Rod Coneybeare (b.1930) died on September 5. He worked on the show The Friendly Giant as an actor, voice artist, and puppeteer. He also provided voice work for The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and X-Men: The Animated Series.

Actress Carol Lynley (b.1942) died on September 5. Lynley appeared in The Shape of Things to Come and episodes of The Invaders, Night Gallery, Journey to the Unknown, and many horror films.

Polish translator Andrzej Polkowski (b.1939) died on his birthday, September 5. Polkowski translated C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling into Polish.

Actor Robert Axelrod (b.1949) died on September 7. Axelrod appeared in The Blob, The Transformers, Tales of Frankenstein, and Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.

Author David Hagberg (b.1942) died on September 8. Hagberg wrote the novel Last Come the Children and also wrote the novelization of Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines and six uncredited Flash Gordon novels. Most of his fiction was techno-thriller, published under a variety of pseudonyms.

Actor John Wesley (b.1947) died on September 8. Wesley appeared in The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and Cursed Angel.

Radio announcer Michael Hanson (b.1940) died on September 9. From 1976 through the mid-1990s, he hosted Mindwebs, a series of science fiction and fantasy readings that aired on WHA in Madison, Wisconsin.

Author Hal Colebatch (b.1945) died on September 10. Colebatch has published Return of Heroes, a study of heroic fantasy and has contributed to the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia. His own science fiction writing has focused on stories in Larry Niven’s Man-Kzin Wars series, and he has written numerous non-genre works.

Author Anne Rivers Siddons (b.1936) died on September 11. Although Siddons is not known as a genre author, her novel The House Next Door does include supernatural elements.

Cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn (b.1937) died on September 12. Jähn became the first German to fly into space when he flew on Soyuz 31 in 1978 and served on the Salyut 6 space station.

Comics historian Bill Schelly (b.1951) died on September 12. Schelly began editing the fanzine Sense of Wonder when he was 15 and eventually published a memoir of the same title outlining what it was like to grow up gay in fandom. He also wrote a biography of Harvey Kurtzman and won an Eisner Award for The Golden Age of Comic Fandom.

Writer Frank Key (b.Paul Byrne, 1959) died on September 13. Key was best known for his nonsensical stories in the Hooting Yard series, which was presented on the radio and also turned into a series of short story collections.

Actor Brian Turk (b.1970) died on September 13. Turk appeared in A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the pilot episode of Patrick Warburton’s version of The Tick, and in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Arizona fan Curtis Stubbs (b.1948) died on September 14. A long-time con-runner and fan, he was involved in the bid to bring the Worldcon to Phoenix in 1978, which resulted in IguanaCon.

Actor David Hurst (b.1926) died on September 15. Hurst played Justin Collins on Dark Shadows and appeared in an episode of Star Trek.

Director Diarmuid Lawrence (b.1947) died on September 20. Lawrence directed the film Peter and Wendy and several episodes of The Witches and the Grinnygog and Dramarama.

Actor Jan Merlin (b.Jan Wasylewski, 1925) died on September 20. Merlin portrated Roger Manning on Tom Corbett, Space Cadet from 1951 through 1954. He had an uncredited voice appearance in Them! And also showed up in episodes of The Time Tunnel, The Invaders, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Actor Jack Donner (b.1928) died on September 21. Donner portrayed the Romulan Tal in Star Trek and also appeared on Star Trek: Enterprise. Other genre appearances include Fear the Walking Dead, Roswell, and My Favorite Martian.

Actor Aron Eisenberg (b.1969) died on September 21. Eisenberg played Nog on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Kar on Star Trek: Voyager, and Fnaxnor on Star Trek: Renegades. Other genre roles include appearances in Amityville Horror: The Evil Escapes, Tales from the Crypt, and Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge.

Fan Norm Metcalf (b.1937) died on September 21. Metcalf published the fanzines Tightbeam, Idle Hands, New Frontiers, and RPSF as well as The Index of Science Fiction Magazines, 1951-1965. He was active in SAPS, OMPA, FAPA, and other APAs.

Producer J. Michael Mendel (b.1964) died on September 22. Mendel has worked as the producer for Rick and Morty and The Simpsons.

Actor Sid Haig (b.1939) died on September 23. Haig is best known for his appearance in House of 1000 Corpses as Captain Spauling, but he has appeared in numerous other horror films.

Artist Mordicai Gerstein (b.1935) died on September 24. Gerstein illustrated and wrote children’s books as well as comics. His The Man Who Walked Between the Towers received the Caldecott Medal. He illustrated several works by Elizabeth Levy, including Frankenstein Moved In On the Fourth Floor and Gorgonzola Zombies in the Park.

Producer Irene Shubik (b.1929) died on September 26. Shubik was the producer of Thirteen Against Fate and Out of the Unknown. She also wrote the script for the Out of the Unknown episode “Thirteen to Centaurus.”

Film critic Rudy Behlmer (b.1926) died on September 27. Belmer provided audio commentary for The Invisible Man and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and wrote the foreword to the critical book The Girl in the Hairy Paw: King Kong as Myth, Movie, and Monster.

Actor Rob Garrison (b.1960) died on September 27. Garrison got his start in Starship Invasions and also appeared in Human Error and an episode of The Munsters Today.

New Zealand author Jack Lasenby (b.1931) died on September 27. Lasenby wrote children’s fiction, including Because We Were the Travelers, Taur, and The Conjuror.

Actor Marshall Efron (b.1938) died on September 30. Efron appeared in THX 1138 and has done voice work for The Transformers and the film Robots as well as other animated shows.

Fan Lester Cole (b.1926) died in late September. Cole chaired SFCon, the 1954 Worldcon in San Francisco. He was a member of the Elves, Gnomes and Little Men’s Science Fiction and Chowder Society and published the fanzine Orgasm. In 2017, along with his wife, Esther, Cole was inducted into the First Fandom Hall of Fame.

Art designer Philip Gips (b.1931) died on October 3. Gips designed the iconic posters for the films Alien, Superman, and Rosemary’s Baby. In addition to his film posters, he also designed the logo used by ESPN.

Author John A. Pitts died on October 3. Pitts began publishing short fiction in 2006 with “There Once Was a Girl from Nantucket (A Fortean Love Story),” co-written with Ken Scholes. He went on to write several short stories on his own and in 2010 began publishing novels under the name J.A. Pitts with Black Blade Blues, the first novel in his series about Sarah Beauhall. From 2015 through 2016, he published The Cleric Journal, a sword-and-sorcery serial which featured daily additions and totaled more than half a million words.

Director Alan Zaslove(b.1927) died on October 3. Zaslove directed the animated film The Phantom Tollbooth as well as the animated television series The Smurfs, Darkwing Duck, The Jetsons, and Aladdin.

Actress Diahann Carroll (b.1935) died on October 4. Carroll appeared in The Star Wars Holiday Special and a variety of animated films.

Actor Stephen Moore (b.1937) died on October 4. Moore is best known for providing the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio and television series. He also appeared in the Doctor Who episode “Cold Blood” opposite Matt Smith.

Screenwriter Jim Schmerer (b.1938) died on October 4. Schmerer worked on The Secrets of Isis, Fantasy Island, Logan’s Run, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and The Six Million Dollar Man.

Comics author Tome (b.Philippe Vandevelde, 1957) died on October 5. Tome worked on the comic strip Spirou et Fantasio from 1980 through 1998.

Children’s author Berthe Amoss (b.1925) died on October 6. Her novels Lost Magic, The Great Sea Monster, and The Loup Garou contain genre elements.

Actor Rip Taylor (b.1931) died on October 6. Taylor provided voice work for numerous animated series, including The Addams Family and The Flintstones. He appeared as Sheldon the Sea Genie in several episodes of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.

Art director John W. Corso (b.1929) died on October 9. Corso worked as a production designer for Tales of the Gold Monkey, Xanadu, Psycho II, Weird Science, and other John Hughes films.

Producer David Weisman (b.1942) died on October 9. Weisman designed film posters and made making-of documentaries. He also produced and the horror film Raiders of the Living Dead.

Screenwriter Sam Bobrick (b.1932) died on October 11. Bobrick wrote episodes of Get Smart and Bewitched. He later became known as the creator of the television series Saved by the Bell.

Academic Edgar L. Chapman (b.1936) died on October 11. Chapman wrote Classic and Iconoclastic Alternate History Science Fiction, The Road to Castle MountL The Science Fiction of Robert Silverberg, and The Magic Labyrinth of Philip José Farmer.

Actor Robert Forster (b.1941) died on October 11. Forster portrayed Arthur Petrelli on the show Heroes and Sheriff Frank Truman on Twin Peaks. He provided voice work for Todd McFarlane’s Spawn and The Justice League.

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (b.1934) died on October 11. On March 15, 1965, he became the first man to perform a spacewalk. He was slated to be the first Soviet to walk on the moon. In addition to being a cosmonaut, Leonov was an artist whose experiences in space influenced and inspired much of his art.

Author Lisa Lepovetsky (b.1951) died on October 11. Lepovetsky begane publishing work of genre interest in 1985 with her short story “Along Came a Spider” and her poem “The Old Dragon’s Song.” She continued to publish short fiction and poety and in 2016 released the collection Voices from Empty Rooms.

Actor Jin Nakayama (b.1942) died on October 12. Nakayama played Captain Kazuki Oyama on Ultraman 80. He also appeared in the film Space Travelers.

Author Alison Prince (b.1931) died on October 12. Prince’s genre novels included The Others and Bird Boy. She also wrote short fiction and a non-fiction study of Kenneth Grahame. Prince wrote for the British show Jackanory and appeared on the show as the Storyteller.

Cartoonist Jack Enyart died on October 13. Enyart wrote for many animated shows and specials, including Scooby Doo, Bionic Six, and Fraggle Rock. He also wrote for Gold Key.

Critic Harold Bloom (b.1930) died on October 14. In addition to his crtiticism, Bloom was known for editing a series of critical anthologies that included works by Shelley, Poe, Le Guin, and Lessing. His only novel is The Flight to Lucifer.

Actor John Clarke (b.1931) died on October 16. Clarke appeared on The Twilight Zone, My Living Doll, and in the filmd Destination Space. He was best known for his role on Days of Our Lives.

Actor Bill Macy (b.1922) died on October 17. Macy was best known for his role on the sitcom Maude, but his genre appearances included epsodes of Starman, The Lone Gunman, and Tales from the Darkside.

Chicago fan Beryl Turner (b.1965) died on October 17. Turner was active in Windycon, Duckon, and was one of the founders of Anime Central.

Actress Wendy Williams (b.1934) died on October 17. Williams who appeared in the Doctor Who serial “Ark in Space,” in Z-Cars, and other British television series.

Author Alex J. Geairns (b.1964) died on October 20. Geairns ran the Cult TV Festival from 1994 to 2007. He published the novel Mindful under the pseudonym alex:g.

Actor Jerry Fogel (b1939) died on October 21. Fogel appeared in a handful of minor genre roles, including an appearance on the sitcom Good Heavens, an episode of Project U.F.O., and the film Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell.

Author Michael Blumlein (b.1948) died on October 25. Blumlein wrote the novels The Movement of Mountain, X,Y, and The Healer and his short fiction was collected in four volumes. His works earned him nominations for the World Fantasy Award, the Stoker, and the Tiptree Award.

Producer Robert Evans (b.1930) died on October 26. Evans produced the genre films Popeye, The Phantom, and The Saint. He also worked on the first two Godfather films and was nominated for an Oscar as the producer of Chinatown.

Romance author Johanna Lindsey (b.1952) died on October 27. Among her novels, Lindsey’s Ly-San-Ter trilogy was science fiction and her romance Until Forever was a time-travel story.

Fan Barbara Wright died on October 29. Wright ran the Chicago TARDIS Masquerade and was active in the International Costumers’ Guild for the Chicagoland chapter.

Comic store owner Cliff Bland died on October 29. Bland was the co-owner of Dragon’s Lair in San Antonio, Texas.

Actor John Witherspoon (b.1942) died on October 29. He appeared in The Meteor Man, Killer Tomatoes Stroke Back!, and an episode of The Incredible Hulk. Witherspoon also provided voice work on Bojack Horseman and Wade’s uncle Wayne on Kim Possible.

Screenwriter Bernard Slade (b.1930) died on October 30. Slade wrote for Julie Newmar’s series My Living Doll, Carl Reiner’s Good Heavens, and many episodes of Bewitched.

Spacesuit designer Benjamin Franklin Jones III (b.1918) died on November 3. Jones worked as an engineer who oversaw the development of airplane de-icing systems and the design of the Mercury spacesuits.

Author Taku Mayumura (b.1934) died on November 3. Mayumura won the Seiun Award for his novels Shōmetsu no Kōrin and Hikishio no toki. His novel Administrator, part of his Shiseikan series, was translated into English in 2004. He got his start when he won the first Kūsō-Kagaku Shōsetsu Contest.

Actress Virginia Leith (b.1925) died on November 4. Leith starred in The Brain That Wouldn’t Die and also appeared in One Step Beyond and The Next Step Beyond.

Actor William Wintersole (b.1931) died on November 5. Wintersole appeared on Star Trek as Abrom, in an episode of I Dream of Jeannie, Voyagers!, and Airwolf.

Author Stephen Dixon (b.1936 died on November 6. Dixon genre work included the novel Letters to Kevin and some short stories. Most of his writing was non-genre and he received the Guggenheim Felloship, the O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize.

Animator Maria Perego (b.1923) died on November 7. Perego worked as an animator on The World of Topo Gigio and Topo Gigio Comes to Town.

UK fan Allan Adams died on November 9 or 10. Adams organized two Doctor Who-themed conventions in Peterborough in the mid 1990s.

Production designer Lawrence Paull (b.1938) died on November 10. Paull was responsible for the look of Blade Runner, Back to the Future, Cocoon: The Return, and Predator 2.

Actress Jane Galloway Heitz (b.1941) died on November 13. Heitz appeared in the film Just Visting and episodes of Moonlight and Early Edition.

Bookseller Bruce Robert MacPhee died on November 13. Also known as Spike, MacPhee was the owner of the Science Fantasy bookstore in Harvard Square.

Comics writer Tom Spurgeon (b.1968) died on November 13. Spurgeon edited The Comics Journal from 1994 through 1999. Beginning in 2004 he contributed to The Comics Reporter. He co-wrote Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book.

Actor Niall Tóibín (b.1929) died on November 13. Tóibín has only appeared in a few genre films, including Rat, Lovespell Miss Morison’s Ghosts, and Rawhead Rex. He is best known for his role in the film Far and Away and on the television show Ballykissangel.

New England fan Ralph Calistro died on November 19. Calistro was an active costumer and part of the Northern Lights Costumers’ Guild. With his partner, Judy Mitchell, he attended various conventions.

Comic book artist Tom Lyle (b.1953) died on November 19. Lyle began working for Eclipse Comics in the 1980s before taking over Starman for SC. He worked on Robin and Detective Comics. Eventually, he did work for Marvel on Spider-Man and later Star Wars for Dark Horse.

Publisher Walter J. Minton (b.1923) died on November 19. Minton served as president and chairman of Putnam. During his tenure, the company published works by James Blish, Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein, and Frank Herbert as well as The Lord of the Flies.

Actor Michael J. Pollard (b.1939) died on November 20. Pollard has appeared in House of 1000 Corpses and Scrooged. He played MR. Mxyzptlk on Superboy, Jahn on Star Trek, and has appeared on Toxic Crusaders and Lost in Space.

Artist and author Gahan Wilson (b.1930) died on November 21. Wilson’s cartoon work was epitomized by his mixture of horror, fantasy, and humor. His work appeared in Playboy, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and other magazines. Wilson also wrote short fiction and his movie and book reviews appeared in The Twilight Zone Magazine and Realms of Fantasy. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from World Fantasy Con in 2005 and designed the World Fantasy Award trophy, a bust of H.P. Lovecraft, which was in use until 2015.

Actress Joan Staley (b.1940) died on November 24. Her genre films include Valley of the Dragons and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. Staley portrayed Okie Annie in two episodes of Batman and also appeared in an episode of The Munsters.

Cartoonist Howard Cruse (b.1944) died on November 26. In addition to his work on the comic strip Barefootz, Cruse also served as the art director for Starlog from 1977-1978.

Costume designer Terry de Havilland (b.1938) died on November 27. De Havilland desgined the shoes worn by Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and by Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

Actor Godfrey Gao (b.1984) died on November 27 while filming an episode of Chase Me. Gao had appeared as Magnus Bane in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. He appeared in the films Legend of the Ancient Sword and The Peach Blossom Neverland.

Actor Jonathan Miller (b.1934) died on November 27. Miller was part of Beyond the Fringe with Allan Bennett, Dudley Moore, and Peter Cook. His genre roles included appearances in the 1966 Alice in Wonderland.

Author Andrew Clements (b.1949) died on November 28. Among the childrens books Clements wrote were the three books in his science fiction trilogy that opened with Things Not Seen.

Actor Makio Inoue (b.1938) died on November 29. Inoue provided voice work for numeorus anime, including Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Mobile Suit Gundam, Lupin the 3^rd, Arcadia of My Youth, and Galaxy Express 999

UK fan Anne Page died in November. Page was active as a conrunner and costumer. She was a guest of honor at the 1990 Eastercon in Liverpool and served on the 1987 Brighton Worldcon committee.

Actress Shelley Morrison (b.1936) died on December 1. Best known for her role on Will and Grace, Morrison appeared in episodes of The Outer Limits, My Favorite Martian, and the film Castle of Evil.

Screenwriter D.C. Fontana (b.1939) died on December 2. Fontana had a lengthy career as a scriptwriter and story editor for various versions of Star Trek, dating back to the original series. She also worked on Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century, Babylon 5, The Six Million Dollar Man, War of the Worlds, and numerous other television series, both genre and non-genre.

Author Andrew Weiner (b.1949) died on December 3. Weiner immigrated to Canada from Britain. His first novel was Station Gehenna. Subsequent novels included Getting Near the End and Boulevard des disparus, the latter only published in French. His fiction was nominated for the Aurora and BSFA Award.

Spanish director Javier Aguirre (b.1935) died on December 4. His genre works include Count Dracula’s Great Love, Hunchback of the Morgue, Los resucitados, and Night of the Rat.

Producer Leonard Goldberg (b.1934) died on December 4. Goldberg mostly worked in television, producing shows including Fantasy Island and Charlie’s Angels, but his films included SpaceCamp and WarGames.

Actress Natalie Trundy (b.1940) died on December 5. Trundy appeared in The Twilight Zone episode “Valley of the Shadow.” She later appeared in four of The Planet of the Ape films, beginning with Beneath the Planet of the Apes. She is the only person to have portrayed both humans and apes in the series.

Actor Robert Walker, Jr. (b.1940) died on December 5. Walker portrayed Charlie Evans in the Star Trek episode “Charlie X” and also appeared in The Time Tunnel as Billy the Kid. In 1964, he won a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer.

Actor Ron Liebman (b.1937) died on December 6. Liebman appeared in the film Slaughterhouse-Five and Zorro: The Gay Blade and has done some voice work for animated series including Archer and Duck Tales. He may be most recognizable as Rachel’s father on Friends.

Actor Rene Auberjonois (b.1940) died on December 8. Best known within the genre for his portrayal of Odo on Star Trek: The Next Generation, he also appeared on Warehouse 13, The Librarians, provided a voice for Ebony Maw in the animated Avengers Assemble, and various other roles. His first credited film role was a Father John Mulcahy in MASH.

Actor Michael Lamper (b.1958) died on December 8. Lamper appeared in the Star Trek: Next Generation episode “The Vengeance Factor” and was married to Marina Sirtis, who played Deanna Troi. Lamper was primarily a musician, playing guitar.

Puppeteer Caroll Spinney (b.1933) died on December 8. Spinney famously played the roles of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street from 1969 through 2018, making appearances as both on a variety of other shows and movies, including Supernatural and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

Actor Philip McKeon (b.1964) died on December 10. McKeon is best known for his role as Tommy on the sitcom Alice, but also appeared in an episode of Amazing Stories, and the films 976-Evil II, Sandman, and Return to Horror High. His sister is actress Nancy McKeon.

Book collector Bert Chamberlain died on December 11. Chamberlain was a frequent Worldcon, World Fantasy Con and Nebula Conference attendee who could often be found browsing for rare first editions and getting them signed.

British fan Ian Covell (b.1953) died on December 11. Covel published An Index to DAW Books in 1989 and J.T. McIntosh: Memoir and Bibliography. Beginning in 1994, he also provided British book listings to Locus magazine.

Fan Amy Wenshe (b.Amy Dobratz, 1957) died on December 11. Wenshe was the chair of Windycons 27 and 28 and served on the ISFiC Board. She ran Windycon’s childcare and was involved in multiple Chicago Worldcons.

Actor Danny Aiello (b.1933) died on December 12. Best known for his roles in Do the Right Thing and Moonstruck, Aiello appeared in The Purple Rose of Cairo, Tales from the Darkside, Jacob’s Ladder, and UnConventional.

Actor Tatsuo Umemiya (b.1938) died on December 12. Umemiya appeared in Conquest with Toshiro Mifune, World War III Breaks Out, and Prince of Space.

Screenwriter John Briley (b.1925) died on Dcember 14. Briley wrote the script for Children of the Damned and The Medusa Touch. He won an Academy Award for the screenplay to Gandhi.

Actress Anna Karina (b.1940) died on December 14. Karina appeared in The Time to Die, Alphaville, Morel’s Invention¸ The Magus, and Treasure Island.

Actor Nicky Henson (b.1945) died on December 15. Henson appeared in episodes of The Avengers, Arthur of the Britons, and Whoops Apocalypse as well as the film Narcopolis. He was a regular on EastEnders and other television series.

Game designer Bill Olmesdahl (b.1966) died on December 15. Olmesdahl worked for West End Games and TSR. He authored the Star Was Gamemaster Screen, Supernova, and Galaxy Guides for West End’s Star Wars RPG. His other work included Sorcerer’s Crib Sheets, The Unnaturals, and TORG RPG: The High Lord Guide to the Possibility Wars.

Stage designer Peter S. Larkin (b.1926) died on December 16. Larkin designed sets for Peter Pan¸ Goldilicks, Shangri-La, and many more. In both 1954 and 1956, he won two Tony Awards for Scenic Design.

Artist Tom Adams (b.1926) died on December 17. Although best known for covers to Agatha Christie novels, he also did cover artw for genre works, including The Alteration, Thorns, Needle in a Timestack, and Timepivot. He also published the short stories “Inheritance” and “Grimers.”

Chinese childrens author Da Chen (b.1962) died on December 17. While most of his works are not genre, he did write the novel Wandering Warrior.

Verne scholar Brian Taves (b.1959) died in December. Taves co-edited The Jules Verne Encyclopedia and wrote Hollywood Presents Jules Verne: The Father of Science Fiction on Screen. He also transalted many of Verne’s works into English.

Actress Claudine Auger (b.Claudine Oger, 1941) died on December 18. Best known for playing Domino in Thunderball, she also appeared in the fantasies Testament of Orpheus and Kalu Yug, la dea della vendetta and the science fiction film The Bermuda Triangle.

Actor Tony Britton (b.1924) died on December 22. Britton appeared in The People That Time Forgot and Night Watch. His best known films were the non-genre The Day of the Jackal and Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Producer David Foster (b.1929) died on December 22. Foster served as producer on Caveman, Short Circuit, both the 1982 and 2011 versions of The Thing, The Core, and many other films.

Author Elizabeth Spencer (b.1921) died on December 23. Spencer has published a handful of science fiction stories among her oeuvre, including “A Long-Forgotten Memory,” “Aspidocelone,” and “First Dark.”

Actress Patricia Alice Albrecht (b.1953) died on December 25. Albrecht did voice work for Jem, Batman: The Animated Series, The Snorks, and other cartoons

Producer Lee Mendelson (b.1933) died on December 25. Mendelson produced numerous Peanuts specials over the year dating back to A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Agent Alex Brewis (b.1927) died on December 26. Brewis represented writer D.C. Fontana and actors Tom Skerritt, Leonard Nimoy, and Ed Harris.

Actress Sue Lyon (b.1946) died on December 26. Lyon is best known for the title role in the film Lolita. Her genre roles included an appearance on Night Gallery and the film The Astral Factor.

Comics creator Gerry Alanguilan (b.1968) died on December 29. Alanguilan published he grphic novel Elmer. He worked as an inker for both Marvel and DC on titles such as Wolverine, Superman: Birthright, and Fantastic Four.

Author and artist Alasdair Gray (b.1934) died on December 29. Beginning with her novel Lanark, Gray designed his own books, which included Poor Things and A History Maker.

Musician Neil Innes (b.1944) died on December 29. Innes played with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and collaborated with various members of Monty Python, particularly Eric Idle, with whom he wrote many songs for the Pythons and other project. He played the role of Ron Nasty in The Rutles.

Actor Jan Fedder (b.1955) died on December 30. Best known to American audiences for Das Boot, he appeared in the German fantasy films Der gestiefelte Kater and Vom Fischer und seiner Frau.

Designer Syd Mead (b.1933) died on December 30. Mead created the look for many films, including Tron, Blade Runner, Aliens, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 2010, and Mission to Mars. He was nominated for a Saturn Award for Short Circuit.

Publisher Sonny Mehta (b.1942) died on December 30. Mehta oversaw the initial publication of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and revived the Picador imprint. He published many mainsteam fantasies.

Actor Martin West (b.1937) died on December 31. West appeared in the films Hellhole and Mac and Me and in episodes of The Invaders and Highway to Heaven.