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Scream queen, action actress, sitcom star, soap opera regular and hotel owner. Beverly Garland was a woman who wore many hats, and appeared comfortable in all of them. Born Beverly Lucy Fessenden in 1929, Ms. Garland made her debut in the classic 1949 film noir Detour, then made a name for herself in the 1950s as one of the original scream queens, encountering monsters and aliens in such sci-fi yarns as Neanderthal Man, It Conquered The World, Curucu, Beast Of The Amazon, The Alligator People and the original Not Of This Earth, which has never been on video because most of the known negatives were destroyed in a fire. She jumped into TV in 1957, playing one of the medium’s first policewomen, named “Casey Jones,” in the series Decoy. She became a staple on a host of TV series, including Gunsmoke, Zane Grey Theater, and Rawhide, and later took a regular co-starring role as widower Fred MacMurray’s second wife Barbara on the later seasons of My Three Sons. Later, she made her mark as Mom to characters who led dangerous lives. She was Stephanie Zimbalist’s mother in Remington Steele; the lady of Kate Jackson’s home in Scarecrow And Mrs. King; and mother to Teri Hatcher’s Lois Lane in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Later in her six-decade career, Ms. Garland –who was married to actor Richard Garland for three years, then Fillmore Crank for 39 years—joined the cast of the soap Port Arthur and was a regular on 7th Heaven. She also owned the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn located near Universal City, California, which hosted several movie memorabilia shows which often featured Ms. Garland as a guest.

While Beverly Garland starred in a host of memorable horror and sci-fi outings, Forrest J. Ackerman wrote about them in the pages of Famous Monsters Of Filmland. “Uncle Forry” was a force to be reckoned with in the world of genre fandom for decades, until his recent passing at the age of 92 after years of ill health. Ackerman, a/k/a “The Ackermonster,” was a one-of-a-kind character who lived for many years on a block in Los Angeles that he renamed “Karloffornia,” in a huge home that housed thousands of the horror and sci-fi props, books, models and other memorabilia he collected over the years. As a teen, he worked as a movie projectionist and after serving in World War II began writing for and publishing his own science fiction fanzine. He befriended Ray Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen and many authors, some of for whom he served as an agent. In 1958, Forry began writing and editing Famous Monsters, a photo- and pun-filled magazine dedicated to Hollywood horror and sci-fi. The magazine, published by Jim Warren, was known for its extensive looks into specific genre films, its often frightening cover artwork, Forry’s fun-to-read writing style, and the mail order ads inside the magazine that promised such items as “Real Live Sea Monkeys.” Forry’s Famous Monsters musings were a big influence on such future filmmakers as Joe Dante, Mick Garris, Steven Spielberg, and John Landis. Sadly, over the last 20 years, Ackerman had legal and health problems, and eventually he had to auction off much of his collection to pay his bills. He died on December 4, although an obituary ran on Salon.com the previous day. It’s likely he would have approved of this miscue.

Nina Foch, who recently passed away at the age of 84, also appeared in some of the films Forrest Ackerman wrote about. In fact, one of the first efforts by the striking actress from the Netherlands was 1944’s The Return Of The Vampire, featuring Bela Lugosi in one of his best post-Dracula roles. Ms. Foch would go on to appear in many key roles in fine films, including A Song To Remember opposite Cornel Wilde’s Chopin; the expert thriller My Name Is Julia Ross (later remade as Dead Of Winter); and memorable film noirs like Johnny O’Clock, The Dark Past, and Johnny Allegro. Like Garland, Ms. Foch split time between movies and television, appearing in most dramatic playhouses of the 1950s as well as Your Show Of Shows. She also had key roles in such major films as An American In Paris, Executive Suite (for which she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination), The Ten Commandments, and Spartacus. In the 1960s and 1970s, Foch appeared in scores of TV series, including Bonanza, The Mod Squad, and Hawaii Five-0. Once married to Inside The Actors’ Studio host James Lipton, the former Nina Consuela Maud Fock was also a highly regarded acting teacher at USC. Her last credit was on a 2007 episode of The Closer with Kyra Sedgwick.

Another talent adept in several mediums—movies, TV and on the stage—Robert Prosky was a Philly guy who made good—real good. The noted character actor, who recently passed away just shy of his 78th birthday, made his movie bow in 1981’s Thief, playing opposite James Caan in Michael Mann’s stylish film directing debut. He was in his early fifties at the time, and he’d started relatively late in the acting game after working as a bookkeeper with the Federal Reserve Bank. Prosky did a lot of catching up quickly, however, playing memorable supporting roles on the big screen (Christine, The Natural, Broadcast News, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Rudy and Dead Man Walking) and on the small screen (memorably in Hill Street Blues, taking the desk sergeant’s station after Michael Conrad’s passing; he’d also had recurring roles on The Practice and as Kirstie Alley’s father on Cheers and Veronica’s Closet). He’d also won acclaim on Broadway, receiving Tony nominations for his efforts in A Walk In The Woods and Glengarry Glen Ross. He’d recently appeared onstage in his hometown opposite his actor sons Andy and John in a production of Arthur Miller’s The Price.

He was a war hero, a light romantic lead and the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Van Johnson, with his light hair, freckles, and amiable screen presence was a star and leading co-star in movies from the 1940s into the 1950s, then became a TV regular through the rest of his career. The native of Newport, Rhode Island, who recently died at the age of 92, was plucked out of the chorus of Broadway’s Pal Joey by MGM and given a studio contract shortly before WWII. An untimely car accident kept him out of the war, but gave him acting opportunities as other studio luminaries went overseas to fight. Key roles in all genres came to him, notably Madame Curie, A Guy Named Joe, The White Cliffs Of Dover, Weekend At The Waldorf and Till The Clouds Roll By. After the war, he got some serious attention in high-profile projects: State Of The Union, Command Decision, Battleground, In The Good Old Summertime and The Caine Mutiny. He later did lots of work in Europe and in television, adding the TV movie The Pied Piper Of Hamelin to his resume along with spots on Quincy, M.E., Love, American Style and Batman, as guest-villain the Minstrel. One of his last film roles was as one of the movie characters flustered by Jeff Daniels’ stepping off the screen in The Purple Rose Of Cairo.

And finally, we’re sorry to see Bettie Page leave us at the age of 85. Ms. Page, a native of Nashville, is best known for her risqué photos, zesty persona and jet black banged hairstyle. In the 1950s, Ms. Page left her hometown and traveled to San Francisco and New York City, with hopes of bettering a troubled life than included several years living in an orphanage. She got a job as a secretary, but moonlighted as a fashion model. She attracted lots of attention for her nude picture with a Santa Claus hat in the January 1955 issue of Playboy. During that time, she was posing for fetish snaps for photographer Irving Klaw, which saw her either nude or skimpily dressed, wearing nylon gloves, tied up with rope, being spanked, or brandishing a whip. Additionally, she posed for a series of jungle-oriented photos and beach shots in a bikini. She also appeared in several films; long after her modeling heyday was over, she inspired two separate biopics (The Notorious Bettie Page; Bettie Page: Dark Angel), as well as the “Betty” character in artist Dave Stevens’ retro adventure comic The Rocketeer. When the Stevens series was adapted for a feature film in 1990, a young Jennifer Connelly played the role. Although Ms. Page’s underground fame continued for generations and brought ongoing adulation, her later life was marked by a myriad of personal and professional problems, which had her in court, penniless at times, and hospitalized for emotional problems on different occasions. Over the last few decades, she had rarely been seen by the public, although she did allow herself to be interviewed once in a while sans photos. Ironically, the naughty beauty queen shielded herself from the public while her trademark image remained ubiquitous in pop culture, to her fans, and to fetishists everywhere.

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