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| The late and lovely Laurie Bartram |
Benevolent Street did up this extra sweet, extra special blog post on the late Friday Th1 3th cast members. It has been posted allover, but I wanted to do so as well!
With the remake of Friday the 13th hitting thereat in a little over a week, I think now is the perfect time to honor the franchise alumns who are no longer with us. Without these guys and girls, the Friday universe would not be what it is today. And in fact, without them today, that universe is just a little bit smaller. However, as sad as it is, it is only natural and inevitable that in the 3 decades now that the series has been running, a few of those stars were bound to burn out. However, by watching these movies over and over again and remembering these men and women, we are keeping them as immortal as Jason Voorhees himself.
We have lost a total of 12 on screen personas in the Friday the 13th franchise over the course of, ironically, 12 installments. Lets take a moment to remember those who have passed on.
Walt Gorney - Crazy Ralph - Friday The 13th
April 12th, 1912 - March 5th, 2004
Although he is best known for his role as Crazy Ralph and was believed by many to be an actual town crazy that was cast in the film (even by some of the other cast members at the time!), Austrian born Walt Gorney was actually an accomplished stage performer. After Friday the 13th, he reprised his role as Ralph in Part 2 and even returned, post character death, in Part 7 to do the opening voice over narration. Gorney passed away at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City at the age of 91 as a result of natural causes.
Laurie Bartram - Brenda - Friday The 13th
May 16th, 1958 - May 25th, 2007
Prior to Friday, Bartram’s only acting credits were in a couple television shows as well as the 1974 horror film The House of Seven Corpses. Friday The 13th was her last acting role and after it, she enrolled at Liberty Baptist College where she met her husband Gregory McCauley, whom she went on to have five children with. She died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 49 in Virginia.
Rex Everhart - Enos (Truck Driver) - Friday The 13th
June 13th, 1920 - March 13th, 2000
Rex Everhart was an accomplished stage, television, and film actor who was nominated for Broadway’s 1978 Best Actor Tony Award. He appeared in the hit films Superman and The Elephant Man and voiced Belle’s father in Beauty and the Beast before ending his acting career in 1992. In 2000, he succumbed to lung cancer in Watseka, Illinois at the age of 79.
Sally Anne Golden - Sandy - Friday The 13th
July 31st, 1910 - January 29th, 1982
No stranger to horror, Golden appeared in 1976’s Alice Sweet Alice before landing a role in Friday The 13th, which was to be her last role. She died of unknown causes at the age of 71 in New York City.
Tom McBride - Mark - Friday The 13th Part 2
October 7th, 1952 - September 24th, 1995
Friday The 13th was the first acting role for Tom McBride, who went on to appear in only two more films and one television show before his death from the AIDS virus at 42. His final moments were documented in the heart wrenching 1996 documentary Life and Death on the A List. McBride was the first franchise cast member who played a camp counselor to die in real life.
Steve Susskind - Harold - Friday The 13th Part 3
October 3rd, 1942 - January 21st, 2005
Part 3 was Susskind’s first acting role in a career that lasted until his death at the age of 62 in 2005 as a result of an automobile accident. He leaves behind a legacy that includes films like 1986’s House, Star Trek : The Final Frontier, Terminator 3, and Monsters Inc. as well as shows such as Married With Children, Tales From The Crypt, and Seinfeld.
David Wiley - Abel - Friday The 13th Part 3
1929 - February 5th, 2007
Before his Crazy Ralph-esque turn in Part 3, Wiley had roles on the popular shows Hogan’s Heroes and Chips. After the film, he went on to appear in countless other shows and a few more films as well as even voicing a pedestrian in Grand Theft Auto : Vice City. He lost his battle to cancer in his late 70’s.
Antony Ponzini - Vincent - Friday The 13th Part 4
June 1st, 1933 - December 30th, 2002
Antony Ponzini mostly acted in television shows over the course of his 40 year career, appearing on hit shows the likes of Hawaii Five-O, Three’s Company, All My Children, Baywatch, and Seinfeld. At 69, he passed away of unknown causes in Connecticut.
Ric Mancini - Mayor Cobb - Friday The 13th Part 5
April 16th, 1933 - May 26th, 2006
Ric Mancini had a long career before Part 5 came along and a long career after it passed, taking on roles in the films Ghostbusters, Ready To Rumble and Ed Wood as well as small roles in the TV shows ER, The A-Team, Charlie’s Angels, and MASH. He died at the age of 73 in Woodland Hills, California at the Motion Picture Hospital of unknown causes.
Mark Venturini - Victor - Friday The 13th Part 5
January 10th, 1961 - February 14th, 1996
In the same year that he played Victor, the man essentially responsible for the return of “Jason” to the franchise, Venturini also appeared in the horror cult classic Return of the Living Dead, as the character Suicide. He career only lasted 10 years, when the 35 year old former football player died of Leukemia in Los Angeles.
Vernon Washington - George - Friday The 13th Part 5
August 10th, 1927 - June 7th, 1988
A New Beginning was the final film role for Vernon Washington, who had previously been known for his roles in the television shows The Jeffersons and Roots : The Next Generations. He died just three years after the film was released at age 50 after health problems forced him to retire from acting.
Last but not least, Abigail Shelton, who is credited only as “woman” in Friday the 13th Part 4, died on December 11th of 2006 at the age of 74. After thorough research, this is the only picture I have been able to find of her : If you have any information as to where she appears in the film, please leave a comment and let me know.
REST IN PEACE TO ALL OF YOU.
Category: Articles and Editorial
Thanks so much for reposting this! I really appreciate it.
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