Anthony Head, R.I.P.

Above, Anthony Head. Photo by Raven Underwood.

Although several actors who appears on Buffy the Vampire Slayer have passed away, three principal stars of the show have passed during the past 16 months.

Anthony Head, who played Watcher Rupert Giles, passed away from pneumonia on June 1. He was 72. He was a little bit younger than me as he was born on February 20, 1954. 

The other two who have passed are:

Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris) - Died at age 54 in his sleep from natural causes.

Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn Summers) - Died at age 39 due to complications from diabetes mellitus.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was my favorite television show during its run. 

Nicholas Brendon Dies At 54

Actor Nicholas Brendon at the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan, October 2, 2010. Photo by Luigi Novi.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was my favorite television show in the late 1990s. It has been reported by a third actor from the show has passed away. The first was Michelle Trachtenberg and the second was Andy Hallett from the Angel spin-off. Now it has been reported that actor Nicholas Brendon has died.

He reportedly died in his sleep at age 54. He played Xander Harris on the show.

According to Canyon News:

HOLLYWOOD—It was announced on Friday, March 21, that Nicholas Brendon, the star of the hit Warner Bros. series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” died at the age of 54. It was reported that Brendon died of natural causes in his sleep.

The actor appeared on all 7 seasons of the series that ran from 1997 to 2003 alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar, Allyson Hanigan, Charisma Carpenter and Anthony Stewart Head.

Brendon had experienced a series of legal trouble in recent years. In 2017, he was arrested for domestic violence against his girlfriend. In August 2021, he was arrested for allegedly obtaining prescription drugs by fraud in Indiana after he was driving erratically. He provided authorities with California ID that had the name Kelton Schultz, TMZ reported.

To read more, go here.

Remembering Michelle Trachtenberg

Back in the late 1990s, my favorite television show was Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Later in the show's run, the character Dawn Summers, was introduced. She was played by Michelle Trachtenberg. She immediately became a fan favorite. 

In tribute, here's my favorite scene featuring Trachtenberg:

"Buffy" Goes After Mayor Karen Bass

Above, Sarah Michelle Gellar at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 promoting Ringer. Photo by Rach.

Sarah Michelle Gellar and other celebrities who have lost homes in the fires this past week have turned against Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass over their incompetent handling of the disaster.

AOL posted (sourced from the U.K. Independent):

Sarah Michelle Gellar has expressed frustration with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass over the city’s response to this week’s devastating wildfires.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star, 47, tagged the official social media accounts of Bass and the City of Los Angeles as she complained in a post on her Instagram Stories: “City of LA you want everyone to evacuate yet you have complete gridlock and not one traffic cop on the roads helping.”

Gellar is just one of many celebrities to have been forced to evacuate by a wave of catastrophic fires sweeping across southern California.

Several have blamed local government for a lack of preparedness. Salvador actor James Woods, who lost his home in the Palisades, wrote on X that the devastation caused by the fire wasn’t due to “climate change” but because of “liberal idiots like Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass.”

“One doesn’t understand the first thing about fire management and the other can’t fill the water reservoirs,” wrote Woods.

To read more, go here. 

"Buffy" At 18

While perusing my friend Gary's The Federalist blog, I noticed he posted a story of the 18th anniversary of the start of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer television show starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

The show premiered in 1997 on the WB Network. 18 years ago.

18 years?! Wow! I used to watch Buffy faithfully every week (also, its spin-off, Angel) as did most of my co-workers. The writing was fantastic with hilarious tongue-in-cheek humor. I also have an autographed photo of Sarah Michelle Gellar on my wall.

The Federalist posted an article on the show's anniversary from The Atlantic. To read The Atlantic's article, go here.

It lost some of its steam (in my opinion) when it switched networks following a dispute over money (of course) with the WB. It lasted to 2003.

Since Buffy and Angel went off the air, television for me has been dull until recently. I have begun following three new shows: Gotham, Sleepy Hollow and The Flash. Although enjoyable, none of these shows have captured my interest (and kept it) as Buffy did. I like Gotham the best.

So, I raise a glass to toast Buffy, The Vampire Slayer's 18th anniversary!

Zombies and Osama bin Laden

I managed to see a couple of movies today from 2012.  They could not be any more different.

The first was Cabin In The Woods.  This movie is a horror-comedy spoofing the slasher and zombie movies that are so much in vogue these days.

Cabin in the Woods was directed and co-written by Drew Goddard and co-written and produced by Joss Whedon (of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer and Angel fame).

It had some good laughs in the typical Whedon way.  My grade: B+.

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The second movie is one that is under consideration for the Academy Awards (in fact, we saw it on an award screener DVD).  It is Zero Dark Thirty.

It is the story of the hunt for Osama bin Laden by the Central Intelligence Agency and his ultimate execution in Pakistan.  Thank goodness it didn't have Barack Obama parading around with bin Laden's corpse a la Weekend At Bernie's.

Zero Dark Thirty was typically Hollywoodized, but it was entertaining.  My grade: A.

L.A. Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention In May

The Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention mailer arrived today. Their next show is set for May 6 at the Shrine Auditorium Expo Center and the special guest list is quite impressive.

Lara Parker (left), who played Angelique in ABC-TV's Dark Shadows.

Photo by Armand Vaquer.







Kathryn Leigh Scott (below right), who played Maggie Evans and Josette on ABC-TV's Dark Shadows.

Photo by Armand Vaquer.


















Barbara Leigh, the original Vampirella cover model for the classic run of Warren's Vampirella magazine.

Ian Ogilvy, who starred as The Saint in the 1978-79 television series The Return of The Saint.

Audrey Dalton, who starred in Boris Karloff's Thriller and The Monster That Challenged The World.

Ann Robinson, who starred in the George Pal (and still the best) version of War of the Worlds.

Georges Jeanty, Dark Horse comics artist on Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Last January, I had a table for The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan. I may just do it again at this show. I've a couple of weeks to decide.

It is timely that the show will feature two of the original Dark Shadows cast members as the Tim Burton movie version will be released the same month. Both actresses appear in a cameo.

Michelle Trachtenberg All Grown Up

Regular readers know that I am a contributor to the Monster Island News blog.

Ken Hulsey has a profile article on actress Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Buffy's kid sister on Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.

Today, Michelle is all grown up and fans of Buffy and Michelle will enjoy this profile piece.

To read it, go here.

Andy Hallett, Lorne From "Angel", Dies

Above, David Boreanaz and Andy Hallett.

Andy Hallett, Lorne From "Angel", Dies

I generally don't watch television these days except for news programs. But during the past 15 years, the only two shows I made a point to watch were Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its spin-off, Angel.

Sad news has been announced. Actor/musician Andy Hallett, who played Lorne, the green-skinned night-clubbing demon on Angel passed away Sunday of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 33.

Apparently, Hallett suffered from heart problems the past several years.

Hallett's character, Lorne, assisted the detective agency run by vampire Angel (David Boreanaz) whose mission was to root out demonic and other supernatural threats to the world. The Lorne character added much levity to the show.

Hallett appeared in about 70 episodes of Angel. The show ran from 1999 to 2004 and was produced by Joss Whedon.