I know this is a paranormal RE-search site, but I can’t help posting about the passing of one of my favorite actors. My wife recently informed me that Sid Haig has passed away.
“Who was Sid Haig?” You might ask.
It’s likely that 90% of Americans ages of 40 and up who watched television with any frequency during the 60s, 70s and 80s, have seen Sid Haig, probably more than one time, and didn’t know it. Haig has been in more films and TV shows than Dennis Fimple! If you’re within the afore mentioned age range, you’ve seen him too.
Most horror fans will recognize Sid Haig from his role as Captain Spaulding in the Rob Zombie film House of 1000 Corpses, but his career spans decades and begins back in 1960 when a then twenty-one year old Haig got a role as the fugitive in a short film directed by Jack Hill called The Host. Jack Hill would recast Haig many times over the next fourteen years, in classic films like Spider Baby (which later inspired the title of a song by the band White Zombie).
Sid Haig has appeared in over 145 films and TV shows spanning more than 40 years. He kept quite busy during the the first three decades of his career, but took some time off because he felt typecast as a tough guy, or “heavy” as he put it. At one time he commented, “They just kept giving me the same parts but just putting different clothes on me. It was stupid, and I resented it…”
He jumped back into the industry when Quentin Tarantino cast him in the role of a judge for the film Jackie Brown. Three years later he would be meeting with Rob Zombie to develop the character of Captain Spaulding in Zombie’s horror film House of 1000 Corpses.
That movie created a cult following for Haig and he became a regular guest at horror conventions, and appeared in many more films including the House of 1000 Corpses sequels The Devils Rejects and Three From Hell.
Sid Haig was hospitalized after a fall at his home and was recovering when he suffered an unfortunate event. He had vomited in his sleep and aspirated. Due to a monitoring system the staff responded and he was immediately tended to and stabilized. His lungs were cleared but he subsequently developed a lung infection which he ultimately did not recover from.
Sid Haig was 80 years old. RIP you crazy clown. We love you and miss you.