SCIFIPEDIA:This Day in SCI FI/May 2007

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May 1

V miniseries debuts (1983). Kenneth Johnson, the producer with "the human touch," puts together a groundbreaking look at fascism, loyalty, and betrayal in America with the alien-invasion miniseries, V. Kenneth's humane vision can also be seen in his other TV series, The Incredible Hulk and Alien Nation.

Edna Mayne Hull is born (1905). Hull married A. E. van Vogt on May 9, 1939. Hull has a number of science fiction stories to her credit, from "The Flight That Failed" (Astounding, December 1942), possibly in collaboration with van Vogt, who is considered to be one of the pioneers of science fiction. Hull was born in Brandon, Manitoba, and died on January 20, 1975.

Joel Rosenberg is born (1954). Rosenberg has published more than 23 fantasy novels, including the ten-book Guardians of the Flame series. Rosenberg was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

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May 2

Hugh Marlowe dies (1982). Marlowe managed to convey both heroism and intellect in a variety of sci-fi classic films, including World Without End (1956), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, (1956) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Hugh was born in 1911 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

George Pal dies (1980). This producer, director, and Hollywood visionary produced such effects-laden sci-fi adventures as Conquest of Space (1955), The War of the Worlds (1953), When Worlds Collide (1951), and Destination Moon (1950]). Pal's directorial credits include Seven Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), Atlantis, the Lost Continent (1961), and The Time Machine (1960). George was born in 1908 in Cegled, Hungary.

Oliver Reed dies (1999). Reed was the original "bad boy" of British cinema. His genre projects include The Pit and the Pendulum (1990), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Venom (1982), David Cronenberg's The Brood (1979), Burnt Offerings (1976), Ken Russell's The Devils (1971), and The Shuttered Room (1967). Oliver was born in 1938 in Wimbledon, London, England.

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May 3

The Black Cat opens (1934). Horror movie legends Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi team up for the first time in this gruesome screen adaptation of a story by Edgar Allan Poe. The director is Edgar G. Ulmer, who later helms such genre offerings as The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) and The Man From Planet X (1951) as well as the rediscovered noir gem, Detour (1945).

Jeanne Bal is born (1928). Jeanne had the privilege to portray the very first alien (if you don't count Mister Spock, that is) in the very first regular Star Trek episode, "The Man Trap." She was the "salt-vampire" and Nancy Crater impersonator, the last of her species. Jeanne was born in Santa Monica, California.

Walter Slezak is born (1902). This film actor met his match when he faced off against television's Batman. Walter played criminal mastermind The Clock King, who ticks off The Caped Crusader and winds up in jail. His other genre credits include appearances in Sinbad the Sailor (1947), and Twenty-Four Hours to Kill (1965). Walter, who died in 1983, was born in Vienna, Austria.

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May 4

Moe Howard dies (1975). Moe Howard, the "Boss Stooge" of Three Stooges fame, appeared in more than 250 films during his career. Howard was born June 19, 1897, in Brooklyn, New York.

The Mummy opens (1999). Director Stephen Sommers takes a high-tech approach to this remake, which stars heartthrob Brendan Fraser as an Indiana Jones-–like adventurer who teams up with a timid librarian (Rachel Weisz) to find the tomb of a mummified, mean-spirited Egyptian priest. This Mummy turns out to be one of the surprise box office hits of 1999, and spawns a 2001 sequel, The Mummy Returns.

Audrey Hepburn is born (1929). One of the most beloved screen icons of all time, Hepburn was the personification of elegance. She first gained stardom in romantic comedies, but later crossed genre lines to star as a blind woman terrorized by homicidal drug dealers in Wait Until Dark (1967), as a Hitchcockian heroine in Charade (1963), and as an angel in Steven Spielberg's Always (1989). Hepburn, who died in 1993, was born in Brussels, Belgium.

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May 5

John Rhys-Davies is born (1944). This busy British character actor appeared as Gimli in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Rhys-Davies also played Sallah in both Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), then spent three seasons as Professor Maximillian P. Arturo on television's Sliders. Rhys-Davies's other genre credits include Cyborg Cop (1994), Unnamable II (1993), The Lost World (1992), Return to the Lost World (1992), and Waxwork (1988). Rhys-Davies was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.

Lance Henriksen is born (1940). Henriksen, a graduate of the prestigious Actors Studio, is as adept at playing villains as he is at playing heroes. He portrayed Frank Black on television's Millennium (1996), as well as Lt. Bishop in Aliens (1986) and Bishop II in Alien3 (1992). He also lent his sinister stare and tough-guy demeanor to a host of thrillers, among them Scream 3 (2000), The Horror Show (1989), Pumpkinhead (1988), Near Dark (1987), The Terminator (1984), Nightmares (1983), and Damien: Omen II (1978). Henriksen was born in New York, New York.

Pat Frank is born (1907). Author Pat Frank is well known work for his post-apocalyptic novel Alas, Babylon, which first appeard in the same year as Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s post-apocalyptic novel A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959). Frank's first novel, Mr. Adam (1946) deals with a situation in which all men have been rendered sterile—except one.

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May 6

Wilfrid Hyde-White dies (1991). Fans may remember this actor most fondly as wise and soft-spoken Dr. Goodfellow in the 1980s TV version of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. However, he had a long and varied career, appearing in everything from the TV film Battlestar Galactica (1978) as Sire Anton, to the films Dr. Jekyll-Mr.Hyde (1949) and episodes of television's The Twilight Zone ("Passage on the Lady Anne").

Lori Singer is born (1962). Singer, the sister of Marc Singer (Beastmaster, V), is known for her star turn as brilliant hacker-inventor Sydney Bloom on the short-lived series VR.5 (1995). She also played a young woman tormented by witchy Julian Sands in Warlock (1989). Singer was born in Corpus Christ, Texas.

George Clooney is born (1961). This television hunk-turned-movie star produced and starred in a live television remake of the paranoid thriller, Fail Safe (2000). In addition to his role as Bruce Wayne in Batman & Robin (1997), he battled vampires in the Quentin Tarantino-produced From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). During the 1980s, before he became a big-name performer on E.R., he also worked in such low-budget genre fare as Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988) and Return to Horror High (1987). Clooney was born in Lexington, Kentucky.

Orson Welles is born (1915). Among this cinematic giant's most successful films are three suspenseful noir masterpieces: Touch of Evil (1958), The Lady from Shanghai (1948), and The Stranger (1946). To genre fans, Welles is perhaps best remembered for his famous radio play, The War of the Worlds, which was turned into a big-screen feature in 1953. Orson, who died in 1985, was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

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May 7

Val Lewton is born (1904). Producer Val Lewton is remembered for the touch of class he brought to a number of genre films of the 1940s, among them Bedlam (1946), Isle of the Dead (1945), The Body Snatcher (1945), The Curse of the Cat People (1944), and two bona fide classics: I Talked with a Zombie (1943) and Cat People (1942). Val, who died in 1951, was born in Yalta, Russia.

Darren McGavin is born (1922). McGavin played the title role and acted as executive producer on television's beloved The Night Stalker. He first played Carl Kolchak, a journalist who specializes in the occult, in two highly rated, made-for-television movies—The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973)—and later took the character onto a short-lived but still highly regarded series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974). His other genre projects include Dead Heat (1988), television's The Martian Chronicles (1980), Hangar 18 (1980), Spielberg's made-for-television Something Evil (1972), and Mission: Mars (1968). Rounding out his genre work, he, like many other notable actors, has lent his voice to the animated TV Series Gargoyles, and in the television movie The Six Million Dollar Man he played the head of the secret government agency that authorized the bionics project. Darren was born in San Joaquin, California.

Traci Lords is born (1968). Former adult film star Traci Lords made her "legit" film debut in a 1988 remake of Roger Corman's space-age vampire tale, Not of This Earth. Since then, she has been seen in Blade (1998), Virtuosity (1995), Circuitry Man 2 (1994), and Stephen King's The Tommyknockers (1993). She also fought against alien takeover on the TV series First Wave (1998). Traci was born Nora Louise Kuzma in Steubenville, Ohio.

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May 8

Deep Impact opens (1998). Mimi Leder is the director behind this emotional end-of-the-world epic in which a pair of comets threaten to collide with Earth and wipe out civilization as we know it. The cast includes Morgan Freeman (as the U.S. President), Robert Duvall, Tèa Leoni, Elijah Wood, and Vanessa Redgrave. Along with the same summer's Armageddon, Deep Impact uses big-budget special effects to wreak havoc on the planet—and hit big at the box office.

Robert A. Heinlein dies (1988). Heinlein's middle name was Anson, and this highly influential genre author was sometimes credited as Anson McDonald, Lyle Monroe, John Riverside, Caleb Saunders, and Simon York. A number of his works have been adapted to film. His best-known works include Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, The Puppet Masters (adapted into the film The Puppet Masters in 1994), Rocket Ship Galileo (adapted into the film Destination Moon in 1950), Starship Troopers (adapted into the film Starship Troopers in 1997) and Stranger in a Strange Land. He was born in Butler, Missouri.

Melissa Gilbert is born (1964). Gilbert not only played the role of Captain Sheridan's long-lost wife Anna in the Babylon 5 episodes "Z'ha'dum" and "Shadow Dancing," she's also married to Sheridan's off-screen alter-ego, actor Bruce Boxleitner. Gilbert has appeared in the episode "Relativity Theory" on The Outer Limits and has given voice to Barbara Gordon/Batgirl on Batman: The Animated Series. She was born Melissa Ellen Gilbert in Los Angeles, California.

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May 9

Vertigo opens (1958). Alfred Hitchcock's undisputed classic concerns a retired San Francisco detective with a fear of high places, and the alluring woman of his dreams—who just might be possessed by the spirit of a dead woman. Vertigo features James Stewart, Kim Novak, stunning visuals, and a thrilling musical score composed by Bernard Herrmann.

James L. Brooks is born (1940). James, the executive producer and developer of The Simpsons, also produced the fanciful Tom Hanks blockbuster, Big. James was born in North Bergen, New Jersey.

Albert Finney is born (1936). This respected British actor played a cosmetic surgeon who uncovers a high-tech conspiracy in Michael Crichton's Looker (1981), a big-city detective trying to make sense of a series of brutal murders in Wolfen (1981), and a psychotic ladykiller (literally) in Night Must Fall (1964). Albert was born in Salford, Manchester, England.

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May 10

Olaf Stapledon was born (1886). Stapledon's body of work, including Last and First Men, Star Maker, Odd John, and Sirius, is considered to be fundamental to modern science fiction, and he was awarded the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award in 2001. Stapledon died September 6, 1950.

Max Steiner was born (1888). Steiner was an Austrian composer who scored more than 300 films in Hollywood and was nominated for an incredible twenty-six Academy Awards, winning three of them. He will always be remembered for his exuberant symphonic score for King Kong (1933). Steiner died December 28, 1971.

Gary Owens was born (1936). American voice artist and announcer, Owens is best known as the hand-to-his-ear announcer of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, and has brought his "so earnest it's funny" delivery to many cartoons. He has been the voice of such heroes as Roger Ramjet, Space Ghost, and the Blue Falcon. He voiced the 1950s version of Batman in Batman: Gotham Knights. Owens was born in Mitchell, South Dakota.

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May 11

Doug McClure is born (1935). Doug had a long career as a leading man on television and on the big screen. Among his memorable genre projects are The House Where Evil Dwells (1982), Humanoids from the Deep (1980), Warlords of Atlantis (1978), At the Earth's Core (1976), and The Land that Time Forgot (1975). Doug, who died in 1995, was born in Glendale, California.

Firestarter opens (1984). Firestarter, based on the best-selling novel by Stephen King, casts cherubic Drew Barrymore (fresh from E.T.) as a pyrotechnic prodigy on the lam from evil government agents. The rest of the cast includes David Keith and Heather Locklear, along with veterans Martin Sheen and George C. Scott. Though the reviews are mixed, the movie proves to be hot at the box office.

Natasha Richardson is born (1963). Richardson, daughter of British acting royalty Vanessa Redgrave and director Tony Richardson, starred as Frankenstein novelist Mary Shelley in Ken Russell's haunting Gothic (1986). She also appeared in the futuristic feature The Handmaid's Tale (1990), a cautionary feminist parable based on the popular novel by Margaret Atwood. She was born in London, England.

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May 12

Bruce Boxleitner is born (1950). Bruce played Captain Sheridan of Babylon 5, but that's not his only link to B5—his real-life wife, Melissa Gilbert (who has a May 8 birthday, just like fellow B5 alum Stephen "Vir" Furst) played Captain Sheridan's long-lost wife, Anna. Aside from B5, Bruce also starred in Tron (1985) as Alan Bradley/Tron. You might also have seen Bruce in episodes of Tales From the Crypt ("Top Billing") and the updated The Outer Limits ("Decompression"). Bruce was born in Elgin, Illinois.

Gabriel Byrne is born (1950). This handsome, brooding Irishman starred in two back-to-back supernatural thrillers in 1999: the apocalyptic End of Days and the demonic Stigmata. Byrne's other genre fare includes Lionheart (1987), Ken Russell's Gothic (1986), and John Boorman's Excalibur (1981). He also starred as an ill-fated ex-con cartoonist in Ralph Bakshi's Cool World (1992). Byrne was born in Dublin, Ireland.

Emilio Estevez is born (1962). Estevez, son of Martin Sheen, has tried his hand at directing (with decidedly mixed results) when not lending his acting abilities to such genre projects as Freejack (1992), Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive (1986), the cult classic Repo Man (1984) and Nightmares (1983). He was born in New York, New York.

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May 13

Conan the Barbarian opens (1982). Arnold Schwarzenegger takes his first step toward superstardom in this John Milius–directed epic which casts him as a vengeful, heroic, extremely well-built Cimmerian. The cast also includes the equally buff Sandahl Bergman, as well as James Earl Jones (who voiced Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy) and Max von Sydow (of The Exorcist and Flash Gordon). Co-written by Milius and Oliver Stone, the movie goes on to spawn a 1990 sequel, Conan the Destroyer, as well as a slew of copycats.

Daphne Du Maurier is born (1907). This respected British novelist wrote a number of haunting tales, including Rebecca and The Birds, each beautifully adapted to the big screen (in 1940 and 1963, respectively) by master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. Daphne's other classic, the ghostly Don't Look Now (1973), was memorably adapted to the screen by director Nicholas Roeg, with a cast led by Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. Daphne, who died in 1989, was born in London, England.

Solaris premieres at the Cannes Film Festival (1972). This seminal film by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, based on a novel by Polish author Stanislaw Lem, is awarded a Special Jury Prize by the Cannes judges. The film, which concerns the eerie events transpiring in a human settlement on an alien world, explores humanity's limitations in understanding both the universe and our own inner nature.

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May 14

Robert Zemeckis won an Oscar for directing Forrest Gump (1994), but his extensive sci-fi credits include the Back to the Future trilogy as well as such star-driven genre vehicles as Contact (1997), with Jodie Foster; and Death Becomes Her (1992), with Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis. Along the way, Zemeckis also hit the small screen with episodes of Tales from the Crypt and Amazing Stories. He was born in Chicago, Illinois.

George Lucas is born (1944). Lucas, the father of the Star Wars franchise, remains one of the most successful director/producers in Hollywood history. His track record also includes acting as an executive producer on such projects as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Labyrinth (1986) and, lest we forget and history repeats itself, Howard the Duck (1986). He was born in Modesto, California.

Francesca Annis is born (1944). Annis played the powerful Bene Gesserit witch Lady Jessica, mother to Paul Atreides, the Kwisatz Haderach, in David Lynch's big-screen adaptation of Dune (1984). She also brought to life the "Widow of the Web" character in Krull (1983). She was born in London, England.

László Kovács is born (1933). This busy cinematographer began his career working on such drive-in fare as Blood of Dracula's Castle (1967) and The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (1963), then graduated during the 1970s to working with top-notch Hollywood directors such as Peter Bogdonovich, Hal Ashby, and Bob Rafelson. His more recent credits include Return to Me (2000) (as director of photography), Jack Frost (1998), Multiplicity (1996), Copycat (1995), and Ghostbusters (1984). He was born in Hungary.

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May 15

L. Frank Baum is born (1856). The true "Wizard of Oz," Baum's numerous children's books, particularly those about the Land of Oz and its surrounding environs, have inspired more than a hundred film and television adaptations in countries around the world—including The SCI FI Channel's upcoming Tin Man (December 2007). The most famous adaptation so far is the 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz by Victor Fleming, starring the inimitable Judy Garland. Baum was born Lyman Frank Baum in Chittenango, New York.

Jane Seymour weds James Keach (1993). For many fans, Seymour will forever be remembered as the beautiful, doomed Serina of Battlestar Galactica. Aside from that brief stint, her other genre work includes The Phantom of the Opera (1983), Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977), Frankenstein: The True Story (1973) and the haunting Somewhere in Time (1980).

Joseph Cotten is born (1905). This always reliable character actor played one of his most memorable roles when he starred as Uncle Charley, the sinister "Merry Widow" murderer in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Later in his career, Cotten became a regular in scads of horror and SF flicks, among them The Hearse (1980), Soylent Green (1973), Baron Blood (1973), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), and Lady Frankenstein (1974). Cotten, who died in 1994, was born in Petersburg, Virginia.

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May 16

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones opens (2002). Attack of the Clones is the fifth movie in the Star Wars universe. However it is the second in the Star Wars timeline. Starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, and Christopher Lee, the movie depicts Anakin Skywalker's forbidden romance with Padmé Amidala while Obi-Wan Kenobi investigates an assassination attempt against Padmé, leading to the discovery of a secret clone army.

Vincent Regin is born (1965). Actor Vincent Regin has a successful career in the distant past, with heavy-hitting historical roles in such films as The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), Troy (2004), Black Knight (2001), and 300 (2006), and telefilms Killing Hitler (2003) and the occasional outing set in the current day, such as Messiah 2: Vengeance Is Mine (2002). He was born in Swansea, Wales.

Margaret Hamilton dies (1985). Veteran actress Margaret Hamilton, forever associated with her dual role as Miss Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939), died on this day in 1985. Hamilton, who appeared in William Castle's 13 Ghosts (1960), on television's The Night Strangler (1973), and in The Invisible Woman (1940), also provided the voice of Auntie Em in the animated Journey Back to Oz (1971). Genre fans might also remember Hamilton for her recurring role as Hester Frump on television's The Addams Family. She was born in 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio.

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May 17

Dennis Hopper is born (1936). Dennis Hopper has lent his eccentric persona to a number of genre movies, including Space Truckers (1997), Blue Velvet (1986), Waterworld (1995), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), and My Science Project (1985). Hopper was born in Dodge City, Kansas.

Sendhil Ramamurthy is born (1974). Ramamurthy is an American actor whose family originates from Tamil Nadu, South India. He graduated from Tufts University in 1996 and won his first TV role in 2000 in the Biblical tale In the Beginning. He guest-starred on Casualty, The Guiding Light, and Numb3rs, before taking on the role of Mohinder Suresh on the series Heroes. Ramamurthy was born in Chicago, Illinois.

Victor Halperin dies (1983). Victor Hugo Halperin was an independent director who, with his brother Edward as producer, made a number of low-budget films from the 1920s until the early '40s, including White Zombie (1932) and Revolt of the Zombies (1936). Unfortunately, their concepts usually exceeded their talent. Halperin was born August 24, 1895, in Chicago, Illinois.

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May 18

Robert Morse is born (1931). Robert has appeared in episodes of Night Gallery ("Marmalade Wine") and the updated Twilight Zone ("Ye Gods"), as well as the miniseries Wild Palms (1993). He also played Grandpa in television's Here Come the Munsters (1995) and lent his voice to an episode of the 1995 animated series Superman ("Father's Day"). Robert was born in Newton, Massachusetts.

Liam Sullivan is born (1923). Liam is another Star Trek alum: He played Parmen in the original series episode "Plato's Stepchildren." Liam also has appeared in episodes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. ("The Brain Killer Affair"), Logan's Run ("The Crypt"), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ("Leviathan"), and the original Twilight Zone ("Changing of the Guard" and "The Silence"). Liam, who died in 1998, was born in Jacksonville, Illinois.

Elizabeth Montgomery dies (1995). As Samantha Stevens, the perkiest witch ever to hit television, Elizabeth Montgomery continues to charm generation after generation of Bewitched viewers. Following that show's run, Montgomery was acclaimed for her complex portrayal of an alleged axe murderess in the television-movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975). Earlier in her career, she played the last woman on Earth (opposite Charles Bronson) in the famous 1959 The Twilight Zone episode entitled "Two." She was born in Hollywood, California.

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May 19

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman opens (1958). This camp classic is about a neurotic woman whose close encounter with an alien spaceship transforms her into a towering beauty hell-bent on revenge against her philandering husband. The title role is filled by curvaceous 1950s B-movie queen Allison Hayes, whose other credits include The Unearthly (1957) and Zombies of Mora Tau (1957). This gem was remade for television in 1993 with Daryl Hannah in the lead.

Grace Jones is born (1948). The imposing Grace Jones, model and night club music phenomenon-turned-actress, starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and later appeared as a seductive bloodsucker in Vamp (1986). Grace's others movie credits include Cyber Bandits (1995), Straight to Hell (1987), and the James Bond feature A View to a Kill (1985). Grace was born in Spanishtown, Jamaica.

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace opens (1999). The wait finally ends for die-hard Star Wars fans everywhere as George Lucas unveils the first chapter of his new Stars Wars prequel trilogy. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor star as two Jedi knights out to help a young queen (Natalie Portman) save her world. Though some fans are disappointed by the storyline, the box office receipts are as big as the film's special effects.

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May 20

Tony Goldwyn is born (1960). Tony played Neil Armstrong in the television miniseries From the Earth to the Moon (1998), but he is best known by genre fans for his role as the villain in Ghost (1990). Tony started his career with roles in both Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood (1988) and Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives (1986). Tony was born in Los Angeles, California.

Anthony Zerbe is born (1936). Anthony has been in quite a few genre efforts. He played the nefarious, ethically-challenged Admiral Matthew Dougherty in Star Trek: Insurrection and was in the NBC television miniseries Asteroid (1997) and in the film adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone (1983). Genre fans, however, might best remember Anthony as the deranged mutant Matthias in the classic film The Omega Man (1971). Anthony was born in Long Beach, California.

David Hedison is born (1927). Before Jeff Goldblum became BrundleFly, there was David Hedison, who first created a buzz when he played Andre, the obsessed scientist whose experiments turn him in a half-man, half-insect mutant in the original version of The Fly (1958). David also is remembered as Captain Lee B. Crane on the television series version of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and as one of the dinosaur hunters in the 1960 remake of The Lost World (1960). David was born in Providence, Rhode Island.

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May 21

Richard Hatch is born (1945). Richard plays Tom Zarek on The SCI FI Channel TV series Battlestar Galactica. He also portrayed the Colonial Warrior Apollo, son of Adama, in the film and television versions of Battlestar Galactica (1978). He also appeared in The Ghost (2000), and the made-for-television Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983). Richard was born in Santa Monica, California.

Burgess Meredith weds Paulette Goddard (1944). Burgess marries Hollywood legend Paulette Goddard on this date. Burgess, a true giant of the genre, is probably best known to genre fans for his portrayal of the Penguin in the Batman television series of the 1960s and his work in episodes of the original The Twilight Zone series ("The Obsolete Man," "Mr. Dingle the Strong," and "Time Enough at Last"). Sadly, his marriage to Paulette ends in divorce in 1950.

Raymond Burr is born (1917). Raymond has made only a few contribution to the genre, but his most notable foray was enough to make him unforgettable. Raymond portrayed Steve Martin in the Americanized version of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956). When director Toho remade the film in 1984, Raymond reprised his role and was Steven Martin all over again in Godzilla 1985. Raymond's other turns in the genre include The Return (1980), the made-for-TV The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (1980), and Tarzan and the She-Devil (1953). Raymond, who passed away in 1993, was born Raymond William Stacy Burr in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.

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May 22

Michael Sarrazin is born (1940). Sarrazin's genre contributions include Frankenstein: The True Story (1972), a made-for-television feature in which he played the monster, and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975), a big-screen feature based on the popular novel by Max Ehrlich. Sarrazin has also guest-starred in episodes of a number of television series, including the updated Outer Limits, Poltergeist: The Legacy, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Sarrazin was born in Quèbec City, Quebec, Canada.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is born 1859. He will always be most associated with Sherlock Holmes, the fictional consulting detective. In 1912, he introduced the overtly sci-fi character Professor Edward Challenger in The Lost World. Probably less well known is Doyle's support of the paranormal. One of his more unusual books is The Coming of the Fairies, in which he supports the authenticity of the Cottingly photos, a series of pictures of a couple of young girls playing with tiny humanoids. Doyle died July 7, 1930.

Richard Benjamin is born (1938). Benjamin made his biggest splash in Love at First Bite (1979), but he's also been the lead in the television series Quark (1978), and was a vacationer in Westworld (1973). He appeared on television's Ray Bradbury Theatre (1985), in the episode "Let's Play Poison." Benjamin was born in New York, New York.

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May 23

The Shining opens (1980). Director Stanley Kubrick takes liberties in adapting Stephen King's ghost story to the big screen, and creates a vision that will continue to cast its spell over viewers for decades to come. As a haunted man dead-set on murdering his wife and young son, Jack Nicholson perfects the maniacal grin and arched eyebrows that become his trademarks.

Joan Collins is born (1933). Before she became Alexis Morrell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan, Joan delighted audiences in a good many genre films. Horror seems to love her. She has appeared in Inn of the Frightened People (1971), Tales from the Crypt (1972), Tales That Witness Madness (1973), Dark Places (1974), The Devil Within Her (1975), and perhaps most famously, Empire of the Ants (1977). Joan was born in London, England. She captured Captain Kirk's heart as Edith Keeler in the celebrated Star Trek: TOS episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" (1967).

Scatman Crothers is born (1910). Scatman, who was born Benjamin Sherman Crothers, is probably best known for his vivid portrayal of handyman Dick Halloran in The Shining (1980). He also appeared in Deadly Eyes (1982), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), and The Transformers: The Movie (1986). He appeared in the television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker in the episode "The Zombie." Scatman was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, and died November 22, 1986.

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May 24

Nell Campbell is born (1953). Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Nell is best known for her turn as Little Nell in the musical horror film The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). But that's not the only horror musical Nell's been in; she also appeared in Shock Treatment (1981).

Sybil Danning is born (1952). Action queen Sybil Danning has lent her buff figure to a variety of genre titles, including Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985), Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), and Meteor (1979). Danning was born in Salzburg, Austria.

John Abbott dies (1996). British-born character actor John Abbott was remarkable for his protuberant eyes. He began acting at London's Old Vic in 1935 before moving to Hollywood in 1941. His rare starring roles include the patriotic killer in London Blackout Murders (1942) and an unlikely looking 400-year-old vampire in The Vampire's Ghost (1945). Abbott was born June 5, 1905, in London, England.

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May 25

Mike Myers is born (1963). Michael starred in the spy-fi comedies Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1999), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1997), and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). He went on to make a living as a grumpy but lovable green ogre whose moniker is Shrek. Mike was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada.

Frank Oz is born (1944). Director and performer Frank Oz has been the puppeteer behind many of Jim Henson's muppets and provided the voice of Yoda in the Star Wars film series and the voice of Fungus in Monsters, Inc. (2001). His directorial credits include such fantasies as The Indian in the Cupboard (1995), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), and The Dark Crystal (1982), and the remake The Stepford Wives (2004). Frank was born in Hereford, England.

Sir Ian McKellen is born (1939). Classical actor Sir Ian McKellan, who was knighted in 1989, was Oscar-nominated for his turn as tormented Bride of Frankenstein director James Whale in Gods and Monsters (1998). His other genre credits include the Lord of the Rings trilogy (as Gandalf), The X-Men series (as Magneto), The Da Vinci Code (2006), Apt Pupil (1998), The Shadow (1994), The Keep (1983), and the upcoming fantasy Stardust (2007), based on the novel by Neil Gaiman. Ian was born in Burnley, Lancashire, England.

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May 26

Roy Dotrice is born (1923). Roy, probably best known for his portrayal of Father (Jacob Wells) in the television series Beauty and the Beast, also appeared in the film Tales from the Crypt (1972). He has guest-starred in many genre series, such as Sliders (episode "Data World"), Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (playing Zeus in "Reunions"), Babylon 5 (episode "The Fall of Night"), Earth 2 (episodes "After the Thaw" and "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told"), The A-Team (episode "The Spy Who Mugged Me") and Space: 1999 (episodes "Breakaway" and "Earthbound"). Roy was born on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands, England.

Peter Cushing is born (1913). One of the biggest and most talented names in the genre, and most certainly a legend. Peter's entire filmography, which is voluminous, contains many classic works. He would have an impressive and extensive bio for his genre work alone. He has been everything from Doctor Who to barons to doctors to mad scientists. His extremely abbreviated filmography includes More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS (1993), Monster Island (1981), Star Wars (1977, as Grand Moff Tarkin), The Ghoul (1975), Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974), and The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). He has frequently teamed with another genre celebrity, fellow Brit Christopher Lee, and together they practically built Hammer Studios' house of horror. Peter has played the vampire-hunter Dr. Van Helsing and Van Helsing-type characters so frequently and so well that he has left an indelible imprint on the character and the type. He and Lee have battled as the personifications of good and evil respectively, in a long range of Dracula films, from Dracula (1958, the Hammer film that spawned the rest) to Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972). Peter, who died in 1994, was born in Kenley, Surrey,