Born on this day in horror history – August 5

August 5

1970 – James Gunn, who wrote the screenplays for thefilms “Tromeo & Juliet,” “Scooby Doo,” “Scooby Doo 2,” the remake of “Dawn of the Dead.” and “Slither’ (which he also directed).

1961 – Tawny Kitaen, who starred in the films “Witchboard” and played “Deianeira” in the “Hercules” series and TV movies.

1941 – The late Bob Clark, who directed the films “Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things” (for which he also co-wrote the screenplay), “Black Christmas” ( he was also executive producer for the remake) and “Deathdream.”

1935 – John Saxon, who starred in the films “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Queen Of Blood,” “The Night Caller From Outer Space” and the original “Black Christmas.” He also played “The Vampire” in the 1975 Halloween episode of the series “Starsky & Hutch.”

1934 – Zakes Mokae, a South African actor who appeared in numerous genre films such as “The Serpent and the Rainbow”, “Body Parts”, “Dust Devil”, “Slaughter of the Innocents”, “Vampire in Brooklyn”, “Outbreak” and the TV series “The X-Files”.

1918 – Tom Drake, who appeared in the films “The Cyclops,” “House of the Black Death” and “The Crackle of Death,” which was a combination of two episodes of “Kolchak: The Night Stalker.”

1886 – Reginald Owen, who appeared in the films “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and starred as “Ebenezer Scrooge” in the 1938 version of “A Christmas Carol.”