Sci-Fi Storm

First learned this from a tweet from Wende Doohan, Jimmy Doohan’s widow – William Campbell, best known to Star Trek fans for his fanciful Liberace-like performance of Trelane in “The Squire of Gothos” as well as Klingon captain Koloth in “The Trouble With Tribbles” (a role he reprised on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s episode, “Blood Oath”), passed away peacefully yesterday evening after a long illness.

The shocking news took over Twitter but it appears to have been confirmed now by the BBC: Actress Elisabeth Sladen, who was best known for the role of Sarah Jane Smith on Doctor Who opposite two Doctors and not one but two spin-offs, has passed away today at the age of 63. The cause has not been confirmed yet, but reports suggest that she had been battling cancer. Our thoughts are with her husband Brian and daughter Sadie.

It remains to be seen what the BBC does about Sarah Jane Adventures, which I believe was already in production on a 5th series.

Russell T Davies added (via BBC reporter Lizo Mzimba): “I absolutely loved Lis. She was funny and cheeky and clever and just simply wonderful…The universe was lucky to have Sarah Jane Smith; the world was lucky to have Lis.”

Sarah Jane occupied most of my memories of Doctor Who when I was a kid. I first discovered the show early in Tom Baker’s run but I also saw a number of the Jon Pertwee episodes as well. She will be sorely missed.

The BBC has now released a full statement, with some nice words from those who worked with her.

I may continue updating this article as more information or more thoughts arrive.

I am just learning that British actor Michael Gough, perhaps best known in the U.S. as Alfred in the Burton/Schumacher Batman movies, and is also known to Doctor Who fans as “The Celestial Toymaker” as well as Councillor Hedin in “Arc Of Infinity”, passed away at the age of 94. He most recently was the voice of the Dodo Bird in Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland.

We are deeply saddened to learn that actor Nicholas Courtney, who for years was best known for his role first as Colonel and then as Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, known simply as “The Brigadier”, passed away yesterday at the age of 81.

Courtney was the only actor to work with all seven of the Doctor’s original incarnations, including William Hartnell (as another character), and Hartnell’s lookalike replacement for “The Five Doctors”, Richard Hurndall, as The Brigadier (his appearance with Colin Baker was for the charity special “Dimensions In Time”), and worked with the later incarnations (except Christopher Eccleston) through many Big Finish audio adventures. A fan favorite, he was often at the top of polls of classic characters that people would like to see appear in the revived series, and he did make an appearance as the Brigadier in an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2008.

He is survived by his wife and two children. He was 81.

Just found out that Anne Francis, who starred alongside Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon and Robby The Robot in the classic Forbidden Planet, passed away Sunday at the age of 80 from complications due to pancreatic cancer, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Actor Leslie Neilsen, best known for his slapstick comedies but also famous in SF fandom for his serious turn as Commander J.J. Adams in the classic 1956 movie Forbidden Planet, passed away at the age of 84 due to complications from pneumonia, according to his family Sunday.

Irvin Kershner, director of The Empire Strikes Back among various movies and TV series, has also passed away at the age of 87.

Oscar-winning producer Dino De Laurentiis, who produced over 150 movies including Dune and Flash Gordon, passed away yesterday. His daughter, producer Rafaella De Laurentiis, released a statement: “Dino De Laurentiis, patriarch of the De Laurentiis family, Academy Award-winning producer and film legend, died on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 10PM (PST) at his home in Beverly Hills, California surrounded by family. He was 91.”

As an unfortunate followup to a previous story, it appears that Andrew Koenig’s body has been found in a Vancouver park. A police conference is set for 5pm PT (8pm ET). Our condolences to the Koenig family. Update: Walter Koenig confirmed in a press conference. “My son took his own life,” he said.

Dan O’Bannon, who wrote a number of genre screenplays including Alien and Total Recall, passed away Thursday at the age of 63 after battling Crohn’s Disease for over 30 years.

Charles N. Brown, the co-founder of Locus, the science fiction and fantasy journal that started as a one sheet fanzine in 1968, passed away yesterday at the age of 82, in his sleep while returning from Readercon. Full details are on the Locus site.