BORN ON THIS DAY IN HORROR HISTORY

1975 – Elizabeth Reaser, who plays “Esme Cullen” in the “Twilight” films.
1971 – Jake Busey, son of Gary Busey. He has appeared in the films “Starship Troopers,” “Identity,” “Wristcutters: A Love Story,” “Hitchhiker II: I’ve Been Waiting” and played the serial killer “Johnny Bartlett” in the highly recommended (by me)film “The Frighteners.”
1964 – Courtney Cox, who played “Gale Weathers” in the “Scream” films. She also appeared in “Masters of the Universe” and “Cocoon: The Return.”
1956 – Robin Curtis who appeared in the films “Ghost Story” “Star Trek III & IV” and “The Unborn II.”
1949 – Rick Rosenthal, producer and director of “Halloween II”, “Halloween: Resurrection”, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Series)” and more.
1949 – The late Jim Varney who will always be remembered for playing “Ernest” in a series of films that included “Ernest Scared Stupid.”
1947 – Richard P. Rubinstein who formed Laurel Entertainment with George Romero. He produced many films including “Dawn of the Dead,” “Creepshow” and “Pet Sematary.”
1929 – The Godfather of Gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis. He directed such gore classics as “Blood Feast”, “Two Thousand Maniacs!”, “Color Me Blood Red”, “The Gruesome Twosome”, “The Wizard of Gore”, “The Gore Gore Girls” and “Herschell Gordon Lewis’ BloodMania.”

DIED ON THIS DAY IN HORROR HISTORY

2014 – Casey Kasem, one of America’s favorite DJ’s and voice actor. He provided the voice for many animated features including the voice of “Shaggy” in many “Scooby-Doo” adventures and “Robin” from “Super Friends (TV Series).” He passed away at the age of 82.
2008 – Special effects/make-up master Stan Winston, passed away at the age of 62. His films include “Alien,” “Jurassic Park III” and the “Terminator” movies. All of which are just a small sampling of his tremendous body of work.
2003 – Philip Stone, had appeared in “The Shining”, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, “The Phantom of the Opera (TV Movie)”, “Voyage of the Damned”, “Thriller (TV Series)” “A Clockwork Orange”, and many more. He died at the age of 79.
2003 – Hume Cronyn, who starred in the 1943 version of “Phantom Of The Opera,” “Cocoon” and “Cocoon: The Return,” passed away at the age of 91.
1995 – Charles Bennett who wrote the screenplays for the films “Curse of the Demon” and “The Lost World,” as well as for the TV series “Land of the Giants,” passed away at the age of 95.

FILMS RELEASED ON THIS DAY IN HORROR HISTORY

Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein 1948
The Beast With A Million Eyes 1955
Creature of the Walking Dead 1965
Munster Go Home 1966
Battle For the Planet of the Apes 1973
The Legend of Hell House 1973
Tentacles 1977 filmed as Tentacoli

Prophecy 1979
The Driller Killer 1979
Honeymoon Horror 1981
Gremlins 2: The New Batch 1990
Autopsy: A Love Story 2002
Woods of Evil 2005
Batman Begins 2005
His Will Be Done 2009
Women’s Studies 2010