January 3

• 2009 – Carlos Camilleri who composed the scores for the films “House of 1,000 Dolls” and “The Castle of Fu Manchu,” passed away at the age of 77.
• 2009 – Pat Hingle passed away at the age of 84. Among genre fans, he was most well known for playing “Commissioner Gordon” in the late 80’s-90’s series of “Batman” films. His amazing body of work also included the films “Maximum Overdrive,” “Nightmare Honeymoon,” “Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo” and TV shows such as “The Twilight Zone,” The Invaders” and “The Six Million Dollar Man.”
• 2009 – Alvin Gazner who directed episodes of the TV series’ “Science Fiction Theater,” “The Twilight Zone” and “Lost In Space,” passed away at the age of 97.
• 2005 – Will Eisner, creator of “The Spirit,” passed away at the age of 87. He was honored by the comic industry by having “The Will Eisner Award” named after him. Up until his death, he personally handed out the awards at the San Diego Comic Conventions.