Tribute 2015: The Year We Lost Leonard Nimoy, Wes Craven and Christopher Lee

Below you will find a gallery of those we lost in 2015.

It was a devastating year for science fiction and horror movie fans, in particular, with the loss of luminaries such as Yvonne Craig, Wes Craven, Christopher Lee, Leonard Nimoy and Grace Lee Whitney.

As always, I have attempted to be thorough in this tribute, but no offense is intended if anyone has been left off the tribute list.

James Best

Yvonne Craig

Wes Craven

Jean Darling

Donna Douglas

Anita Ekberg

James Horner

George Clayton Johnson

Dean Jones

Jack Larson

Christopher Lee

Geoffrey Lewis

Robert Loggia

Al Molinaro

Taylor Negron

Leonard Nimoy

Maureen O'Hara

Amanda Peterson

Roddy Piper

Omar Sharif

Rod Taylor

Fred Thompson

Haskell Wexler

Grace Lee Whitney

Tribute: George Clayton Johnson (1929-2015)

Sad news to report today. The great science fiction author George Clayton Johnson has passed away.

Mr. Johnson co-wrote the genre classic novel Logan's Run with William F. Nolan, and was a near-regular contributor to Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone (1959-1965). 

George Clayton Johnson devised the stories for such installments as "The Four of Us Are Dying," "Execution" and "Ninety Years without Slumbering," and penned the teleplays for  "A Game of Pool, " "Nothing in the Dark" (starring Robert Redford) and "Kick the Can," which was remade for the 1983 Twilight Zone movie by Steven Spielberg.

Mr. Johnson also contributed the story to the 1960 Frank Sinatra film Ocean's 11, and teleplays to such TV series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1959), Route 66 (1961), Honey West (1965), and Kung Fu (1974). 

One of his most teleplays was Star Trek's (1966-1969) "The Man Trap," the first aired episode of that classic.

I offer my deepest condolences to Mr. Johnson's family, and reflect that he has left us a great and stimulating legacy of science fiction for all of us to enjoy for years and decades to come.

Tribute: James Horner (1953 - 2015)

The press has reported today the tragic death of James Horner (1953 - 2015) in a plane crash.

It is no exaggeration to state that I grew up listening to the soundtracks of this great composer and conductor. 

Throughout the early 1980s and mid-1980s, Horner's scores for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) and Aliens (1986) were in constant rotation on my father's stereo in our family den.  

That was the location where, on my Atari 800, I wrote short stories and fan fiction and the like.   

Horner's compositions including "Stealing the Enterprise" (from Search for Spock) and "Futile Escape" (from Aliens) were downright rousing.  I remember that whenever those works came on, I would want to jump up out of my chair and run around the room, preferably with a phaser or pulse rifle in hand.

So I absolutely associate Mr. Horner's work with my youth, and more than that, many of my "own" adventures (like a series of short stories I penned in a series called "Omega World.")  The music of James Horner was not just rousing, it was big and emotional, and could bring any scene to life.  

I first read of James Horner in regards to low-budget films such as Humanoids from the Deep (1980) and Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), but after seeing Wrath of Khan, it was truly love at first listen. His scores for Krull (1983), Brainstorm (1983) and Cocoon (1985) were equally memorable.

The rest of the world reports Mr. Horner, of course, as the composer of the scores to Titanic (1997) or Avatar (2009), but for me, I associate him forever with heroes like Willow (1987), or The Rocketeer (1991). 

When I think of Ripley's heroism, or Spock's death and rebirth, my mind goes immediately to those  immortal Horner scores.

It is such a sad day, losing James Horner. He composed the soundtrack of my youth, and I wish I could thank him in person for all the joy, energy, and creativity his music has brought into my life.

Tribute: Sir Christopher Lee (1922 - 2015)

The press is now reporting the passing of a silver screen icon. 

Sir Christopher Lee has died.

Regal, imposing, charming, noble, even menacing...all these words describe this great, beloved talent.

In his extraordinary, long-lasting career as an actor Mr. Lee played virtually every notable monster or villain imaginable. 

He starred as Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu in four movies, circa 1966-1969. 

And, most memorably, he was Hammer's Dracula in a variety of films from 1958 to 1973, including Horror of Dracula (1958), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Dracula has Risen from the Grave (1968), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970), Dracula AD 1972 (1972) and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973).

Sir Christopher Lee was also Kharis in The Mummy (1959), and a James Bond villain, Scaramanga, in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).  

One of Lee's most memorable roles also arrived in the seventies: Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1972).

Christopher Lee's Dracula is, perhaps, my favorite of them all. 

There is something incredibly feral and animalistic about his wide-eyed, dripping-fang interpretation of Bram Stoker's character.

If Bela Lugosi made the Count a charming and romantic foreigner, Lee's interpretation transformed him into something different; something simultaneously less-than and more-than human. He was a physically-intimidating, Dracula, a legitimately fearful, nightmarish presence.

Such was the power of Lee's performances as Dracula that the those who grew up with him in that role continued to cast him in important roles, decades later, when they became filmmakers.

Fore example, Lee is remembered by the younger generation for his many performances as Saruman in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, as well as Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels. 

But such was Sir Christopher Lee's unshakable talent that he was also willing to send up his menacing performances -- quite adroitly -- to vet comedy material.  He was a great mad scientist, and dead-pan straight man, for example in Gremlins 2 (1990). 

Lee's career also included many television roles.  

He made an early guest appearance in the third season of the paranormal horror anthology, One Step Beyond (1959-1961) in the episode "The Sorcerer."  

He also memorably played a friendly alien in "Earthbound," an early episode of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Space: 1999 (1975 -1977).

For me, Christopher Lee was -- and always shall remain -- a cherished royal figure in genre cinema, the grandfather of a whole generation of horror and science fiction art.  

Lee is most famous for playing a character "undead," but in his more than fifty years of memorable genre performances Christopher Lee has achieved true immortality.  We will continue watching him, for years to come, and introducing his work to our children.

Rest in Peace.

Tribute: Grace Lee Whitney (1930 - 2015)

The Star Trek universe has lost more starlight today.  

The press is reporting the death of Grace Lee Whitney (1930 - 2015) at age 85.

Ms. Whitney played Yeoman Janice Rand during the first third (or eight episodes) of the first season of Star Trek in 1966. 

Whitney's beloved character encountered Charlie Evans ("Charlie X"), Romulans ("Balance of Terror") and even a Doctor Jekyll/Mr. Hyde Captain Kirk, due to a transporter malfunction ("The Enemy Within.")  

Whitney's Janice Rand also visited a parallel Earth in "Miri," and revealed her (not very well...) hidden love for Kirk during landing party duty. 

For many of us who grew up with Star Trek, Janice Rand represents our first real movie or TV crush. 

I know this statement is true for me. As a very young man, I felt much like awkward teenager Charlie Evans myself, and that Janice was a radiant beacon of compassion, love and intelligence.  I was sad that the character, and Ms. Whitney, did not have the opportunity to be on Star Trek longer.

Whitney did return to the Star Trek family for roles in The Motion Picture (1979) -- as Transporter Chief Rand -- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).  

Whitney returned to the role Janice Rand a final time in the Star Trek Voyager (1995 - 2001) third season episode "Flashback" in 1996.

Mrs. Whitney was also a familiar face on cult-television throughout the 1960s and 1970s. 

She starred with Carroll O'Connor and Barry Morse in a memorable episode of The Outer Limits, "Controlled Experiment" (1964).  She also starred on a two-part episode of the Adam West Batman series featuring Victor Buono's villain, King Tut.  In 1978, Whitney had a guest role on John Newland's revived paranormal anthology, The Next Step Beyond ("The Confession.")

Beyond sci-fi and superheroes, Grace Lee Whitney logged many memorable appearances on popular TV programs including Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, and The Untouchables.

Grace Lee Whitney will be remembered and loved for generations to come, and I express my deepest condolences to her family and loved ones today.  

Tribute: Brian Clemens (1931 - 2015)

The press is now reporting the passing of legendary horror and TV writer/producer, Brian Clemens, a veritable mainstay of British film-making, and an inspiration to a generation of writers and fans.

Brian Clemens wrote the screenplays for such films as And Soon The Darkness (1970), Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), and Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974), which he also directed.  

My generation may also remember Mr. Clemens as the writer/adapter of the 1980 Disney horror film, The Watcher in the Woods.

In terms of television, Mr. Clemens' impressive credits could fill a good-sized book. 

He wrote several episodes of Danger Man (1960 - 1961), the series he is most closely associated with: The Avengers (1963 - 1964), The Champions (1968-1969), The Persuaders (1971), The Protectors (1972 - 1973), The New Avengers (1976 - 1977), The Professionals (1977 - 1982), and Hammer's House of Mystery and Suspense (1984).

Clemens also contribute screenplays and stories to such American TV series as the horror anthology, Darkroom (1981), Remington Steele (1984) and Highlander (1995). 

Clemens leaves behind a vast body of work, and it is amazing to consider that the same man who gave us the great horror film, And Soon the Darkness also gave us the great fantasy The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. The latter is a key film and influence from my youth, and I film I watched in theaters back in the 1970s.

In this time of grief and loss, I offer my condolences to Mr. Clemens' family with an additional notation of gratitude:

My childhood would not have been as happy or as imaginative without the influence of that Sinbad film, and Mr. Clemens' work for it.