Sci-Fi Storm

You may not recognize his name, but if you watched TV in the 1970s and 1980s, you’d probably remember the face. Richard Lynch, who often played the bad guy in episodes of a large variety of TV shows as well as movies like The Sword and Sorcerer, passed away this week at the age of 72.

I can still see his face in a variety of things. The first one I thought of was Wolfe from the original Battlestar Galactica two-parter “Gun on Ice Planet Zero”, and then later as Xavier in the three-part Galactica 1980 episode “Galactica Discovers Earth”. And he also appeared in Buck Rogers, The A Team, , and many many more. He also had a starring role opposite Judson Scott in The Phoenix. His distinctive face continued the guest appearances and movies throughout the decades until his death.

Whenever you come up with a short list of science fiction authors, Ray Bradbury is on that list, although he didn’t like to be called one. He’s one of the few authors that almost everyone has read, as part of school reading. He wrote such classics as The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes. The SFWA has an award named after him, as is an asteroid. He has an Emmy Award, and a National Medal of Arts, among many others. He influenced many in various forms of media.

Ray Bradbury passed away last night peacefully at the age of 91.

The White House even released a statement from President Barack Obama.

“For many Americans, the news of Ray Bradbury’s death immediately brought to mind images from his work, imprinted in our minds, often from a young age. His gift for storytelling reshaped our culture and expanded our world. But Ray also understood that our imaginations could be used as a tool for better understanding, a vehicle for change, and an expression of our most cherished values. There is no doubt that Ray will continue to inspire many more generations with his writing, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.”

There was only SF book I recall reading as a child in school that everyone was required to read in class, The Martian Chronicles – and we read one of the stories in short story form separately. I also remember Dandelion Wine being required reading, something of a fictionalized version of his childhood. I remember the TV miniseries adaptation of The Martian Chronicles, and an episode of Ray Bradbury Theater that adapted the same short story.

Although TV and movie based SF dominated my childhood, Ray Bradbury dominated the written SF, and pressed me on to other other authors like Asimov and Niven.

Ray, you will be missed.

Gateworld is reporting that composer Joel Goldsmith, oldest son of the late legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith, passed away yesterday at the age of 54.

Goldsmith composed the music for all three Stargate series (for which he was nominated three times for an Emmy) as well as many other series and episodes as well as TV movies and films. He also collaborated with his father (well known for his work on the Star Trek franchise since Star Trek: The Motion Picture) on Star Trek: First Contact.

Actor Warren Stevens, who made many, many guest appearances on television in the 60s and 70s, and can best be remembered by SF fans as Doc in Forbidden Planet as well as Rojan, the Kelvan Empire commander who tries to take the Enterprise to the Andromeda galaxy in the original Star Trek episode “By Any Other Name”, passed away at the age of 92.

Illustrator Ralph McQuarrie, best known for the artist who rendered images of Darth Vader (including giving him his iconic helmet) and other scenes in pre-production for the original Star Wars films, passed away Saturday at the age of 82.

He also provided the artwork for other major films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Cocoon.

The official Star Wars Facebook page put up a gallery of some of his images.

I am hearing the sad news from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars cast: Actor Ian Ambercrombie, who was the voice of Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious, passed away yesterday at the age of 77.

Abercrombie was also most recently a recurring character in Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place as Professor Crumbs, and appeared in the final episode aired a couple of weeks ago. An accomplished stage actor, SF fans may also remember him for his role of Alfred in the short-lived Birds of Prey series, guesting as Correlilmurzon in some memorable comedy moments in the Babylon 5 episode “Acts of Sacrifice”, and the role of Wiseman in Army of Darkness, among other guest spots and smaller roles.

Dick Tufeld, who many will remember as the booming voice behind the Rambler-Crane series B9 Robot in the original Lost in Space series and the 1998 movie, passed away yesterday at the age of 86.

Tufeld’s voice wasn’t only heard by Lost in Space fans – he started in radio in 1950 for the American Broadcast Company and an announcer, and went on to become a familar narrator and voice actor as well, often providing voice over talents on many programs for Disney and other studios and networks, and even doing TV news for a time.

Bill Mumy, who along with Jonathan Harris played against the Robot frequently, said on Facebook, Dick Tufeld was a really cool guy. He’s reunited with his wife Adrian now. R.I.P. Dick. You will be missed bigtime..

One last, “Danger, Will Robinson…”

Joseph Henry “Joe” Simon, who created or co-created many comic book characters during the “Golden Age” of comics, and notably Captain America, and member of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 98. Often partnered with Jack Kirby, Simon worked at the forerunners of current comic powerhouses DC and Marvel.

According to a tweet from SF writer Robert J. Sawyer, along with a great many other tweets, as well as some independent reports, fantasy writer Anne McCaffrey, best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series of books, passed away yesterday at the age of 85.

Update: Media Bistro/GalleyCat confirmed it with Random House, her publisher.

Actor Jeff Conaway, who starred in the movie Grease as well as the TV series Taxi and Babylon 5, passed away this morning after his family removed life support yesterday. Conaway, who had long been suffering from drug and alcohol addiction, was placed in a medically induced coma after being found unconscious on May 11th, suffering from pneumonia and sepsis. Early reports blamed a drug overdose, but this was later refuted, although reports still say that his painkiller addiction (exacerbated by both old and more recent injuries) may have contributed to him not getting medical help soon enough.

He was 60 years old.

Bobby Wheeler/Kenickie/Zack Allan, you will be missed.