17 Amazing Celebrity Horror Contributors Who Died in 2015

2015 was a dreadful year. Sure, we saw some awesome movies hit the market, but those awesome movies did little to ease the pain that came as a result of the stunning number of stellar genre contributors that passed away.

It was a rough year. We lost legends. And, we’d like to briefly honor those who have departed this world, and make sure you always remember that these men and women did something special; they had a special impact on our lives.

While the following performers and filmmakers may be gone, they will continue to live on in our hearts.

And now, a brief moment to celebrate some terrific individuals who enjoyed terrific careers.

We here on earth, still walking and talking, hope that you’re all having a blast in the next stage of existence.

George Clayton Johnson died on Dec 25, 2015 (age 86)

Cause of Death: Cancer

Career Highlights: Writer of episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone (including the amazing episode, A Penny for Your Thoughts), Twilight Zone: The Movie, Star Trek and Logan’s Run

Brooke McCarter died on December 22, 2015 (age 52)

Cause of Death: Genetic liver condition

Career Highlights: Starred in The Lost Boys, The Twilight Zone, The Uh-oh Show

Robert Loggia died on December 4, 2015 (age 85)

Cause of Death: Alzheimer’s

Career Highlights: starred in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Psycho II, Innocent Blood, Independence Day, Lost Highway, The Outer Limits, The Boneyard Collection

Rex Reason died on November 19, 2015 (age 86)

Cause of Death: Natural causes

Career Highlights: Starred in The Creature Walks Among Us, This Island Earth

Gunnar Hansen died on November 7, 2015 (age 68)

Cause of Death: Pancreatic cancer

Career Highlights: Starred in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Campfire Tales, Mosquito, Hellblock 13, Chainsaw Sally, Brutal Massacre: A Comedy

Fred Thompson died on November 1, 2015 (age 73)

Cause of Death: Cancer

Career Highlights: Starred in Sinister, Cape Fear

Wes Craven died on August 30, 2015 (age 76)

Cause of Death: Brain cancer

Career Highlights: Directed The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, Swamp Thing, The Hills Have Eyes Part II, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Twilight Zone, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The People Under the Stairs, New Nightmare, Scream 1-4, Red Eye

Roddy Piper died on July 30, 2015 (age 61)

Cause of Death: Heart attack

Career Highlights: Starred in They Live, Highlander, The Outer Limits, Street Team Massacre, A Gothic Tale, The Portal, Portal to Hell!!!

Irwin Keyes died on July 8, 2015 (age 63)

Cause of Death: Acromegaly

Career Highlights: Starred in The Warriors, Friday the 13^th, Frankenstein General Hospital, Disturbed, Tales from the Crypt, The Silence of the Hams, Here Come the Munsters, Asylum, House of 1000 Corpses, Horror High, Wristcutters: A Love Story, Dahmer vs. Gacy, Evil Bong 3-D: The Wrath of Bong

Christopher Lee died on June 7, 2015 (age 93)

Cause of Death: Heart failure

Career Highlights: Starred in The Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Mummy, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The Hands of Orlac, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, The Face of Fu Manchu, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Rasputin: The Mad Monk, The Brides of Fu Manchu, The Vengeance of Fu Manchu, The Devil Rides Out, The Blood of Fu Manchu, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Scream and Scream Again, Count Dracula, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Scars of Dracula, The House That Dripped Blood, Dracula A.D. 1972, Horror Express, The Creeping Flesh, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, The Wicker Man, To the Devil a Daughter, Dracula and Son, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, Burke and Hare, Season of the Witch, The Resident, The Wicker Tree, Dark Shadows

Mary Ellen Trainor died on May 20, 2015 (age 62)

Cause of Death: Complications from pancreatic cancer

Career Highlights: Starred in The Goonies, The Monster Squad, Scrooged, Tales from the Crypt, Ghostbusters II, Death Becomes Her, Congo

Betsy Palmer died on May 29, 2015 (age 88)

Cause of Death: Natural causes

Career Highlights: Starred in Friday the 13^th, Friday the 13^th Part 2, The Fear: Resurrection, Penny Dreadful, Bell Witch: The Movie

Richard A. Dysart died on April 5, 2015 (age 86)

Cause of Death: Cancer

Career Highlights: Starred in The Thing, The Terminal Man, Prophecy, Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, Todd McFarlane’s Spawn 2, Todd McFarlane’s Spawn 3: The Ultimate Battle, Spawn

Geoffrey Lewis died on April 7, 2015 (age 79)

Cause of Death: Heart Attack

Career Highlights: Starred in Moon of the Wolf, Salem’s Lot, Night of the Comet, Amazing Stories, Out of the Dark, Disturbed, The Lawnmower Man, Trilogy of Terror II, The X-Files, The Devil’s Rejects, Wicked Little Things, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto,

Tom Towles died on April 2, 2015 (age 65)

Cause of Death: complications following a stroke

Career Highlights: Starred in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Night of the Living Dead, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Prophecy II, House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects, Halloween

Daniel von Bargen died on March 1, 2015 (age 64)

Cause of Death: Complications from diabetes

Career Highlights: Starred in The Silence of the Lambs, Lord of Illusions, Thinner, The X-Files, The Faculty

Rod Taylor died on January 7, 2015 (age 84)

Cause of Death: Heart attack

Career Highlights: Starred in World Without End, The Twilight Zone, The Time Machine, The Birds

 

And on a final note, rest in peace. All of you. You were, and still are inspirational to those of us who cherish film.