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1-16 of 16
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Charles Herbert was a mildly popular 1950s child actor with a trademark sulky puss and thick, furrowed eyebrows who was known for playing inquisitive kids besieged by alien beings, including a robot, as well as by a human fly and several house-haunting ghosts. He racked up over 20 films, 50 TV shows, and a number of commercials during his youthful reign.
He was born Charles Herbert Saperstein on December 23, 1948, in Culver City, Los Angeles, California, to Pearl Jean (Diamond) and Louis Saperstein. His mother was an Austrian Jewish immigrant, while his paternal grandparents were Russian Jews. Noticed by a Hollywood talent agent while riding a bus with his mother, Charles began his career at age four, on a 1952 TV show titled "Half Pint Panel".
Elsewhere on TV, he showed up regularly on series fronted by such stars as Robert Cummings and Gale Storm. This period was marked by amazingly high-profile performances such as his blind child on the Science Fiction Theatre (1955) episode The Miracle Hour (1956). On the feature film front, Charles made an inauspicious debut in the Lucille Ball/Desi Arnaz comedy The Long, Long Trailer (1954). Although director Vincente Minnelli had handpicked him for the role, his part was completely deleted from the movie. Other tyke roles turned out more positively and in a variety of genres, including the film noir pieces The Night Holds Terror (1955) and The Tattered Dress (1957), the dramas Ransom! (1956) and No Down Payment (1957), and the comedies Houseboat (1958) and Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960). His most recognized genre, however, was sci-fi, and he appeared in a number of films that are now considered classics of that genre. He started off in a bit part as a boy playing tug-of-war with a dead sailor's cap in The Monster That Challenged the World (1957). Up front and center, he came into his own playing the young son of dead scientific genius Ross Martin, whose brilliant brain is transplanted into what becomes the robot-like The Colossus of New York (1958). He loses another dad (David Hedison) to a botched experiment in The Fly (1958), also starring iconic master of macabre Vincent Price. Lastly, Charles headed up the cast in the somewhat eerie but rather dull and tame William Castle spookfest 13 Ghosts (1960). Castle handpicked Charles for the child role and even offered the busy young actor top-billing over the likes of Donald Woods, Rosemary DeCamp, Jo Morrow, Martin Milner, and Margaret Hamilton if he would appear in his movie. In this haunted-house setting, Castle's trademark gimmick had audiences using 3-D glasses in order to see the ghostly apparitions.
He had another leading role in the fantasy adventure The Boy and the Pirates (1960), then film offers for Charles completely stopped. Growing into that typically awkward teen period, he was forced to subsist on whatever episodic roles he could muster up, including bits on Wagon Train (1957), Rawhide (1959), The Fugitive (1963), Family Affair (1966), and My Three Sons (1960). By the end of the 1960s, however, Charles was completely finished in Hollywood, having lost the essential adorableness that most tyke stars originally possessed. Unable to transition into adult roles, his personal life went downhill as well. With no formal education or training to do anything else, and with no career earnings saved, he led a reckless, wanderlust life and turned to drugs. Never married, it took him nearly 40 years (clean and sober since October, 2005) to turn his life around. During good times and bad, however, he appeared from time to time at sci-fi film festivals.
Charles Herbert died of a heart attack on October 31, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada.- Norwegian by heritage and a San Franciscan by birth, brown-haired, brown-eyed Gregg Palmer (born Palmer Lee) broke into show biz as a radio announcer. After an early '50s stint as a contract player at Universal, he turned to freelancing, closing out the decade by starring and co-starring in a number of detective, Western and sci-fi adventures. In the '60s, Palmer drifted into supporting roles and much TV work, and reinforced his growing rep with Western fans by becoming a regular member of John Wayne's latter-day stock company.
- Hans Teuscher was born on 10 April 1937 in Dresden, Germany. He was an actor, known for Front ohne Gnade (1984), War and Peace (2007) and Scharnhorst (1978). He died on 31 October 2015 in Berlin, Germany.
- William Byrd Wilkins was born on 19 January 1965 in Louisburg, North Carolina, USA. He was an actor, known for Running Scared (2006), 360 (2011) and Doctor Who (2005). He died on 31 October 2015 in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
- Darrell Brown was an actor, known for The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979) and Fighting Back: The Story of Rocky Bleier (1980). He died on 31 October 2015 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
- Claudine Collas was born on 22 February 1938 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France. She was an actress, known for Au théâtre ce soir (1966), La vie parisienne (1977) and Banlieue Sud-Est (1977). She was married to Jacques Fabbri. She died on 31 October 2015 in Caen, Calvados, France.
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Paul Fisk was born on 18 March 1948 in Arkansas, USA. He was a writer, known for The Evictors (1979), The Day It Came to Earth (1977) and The Winds of Autumn (1976). He died on 31 October 2015 in Moses Lake, Washington, USA.- Writer
- Additional Crew
Thomas 'Toivi' Blatt was born on 15 April 1927 in Izbica, Lubelskie, Poland. He was a writer, known for Escape from Sobibor (1987), Die Gestapo (2004) and Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State (2005). He was married to Dena. He died on 31 October 2015 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.- Ryûzô Saki was born on 14 April 1937 in Korea. He was a writer and actor, known for The Miracle of Umitsubame Joe (1984), South to the Horizon (1986) and Under the Open Sky (2020). He died on 31 October 2015 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan.
- Al Leibert was born on 21 February 1921 in the USA. He was an actor, known for Gentle Ben (1967) and Flipper (1964). He died on 31 October 2015 in Florida, USA.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Michael Leonard was born on 16 August 1931 in Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York, USA. Michael was a composer, known for They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way (1978), The Billion Dollar Hobo (1977) and The Ernie Sigley Show (1974). Michael died on 31 October 2015 in New York, USA.- Ivan Frgic was born on 18 July 1953 in Sombor, Yugoslavia [now Serbia]. He died on 31 October 2015 in Sombor, Serbia.
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Sound Department
Khalil Tiner was an assistant director, known for Designated (2019), Hush (2015) and Last Day of School (2016). Khalil died on 31 October 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.- Yelena Domashnyaya was an actress, known for Beyoncé: Pretty Hurts (2013). She died on 31 October 2015 in Housna, North Sinai, Egypt.
- Sound Department
- Composer
- Music Department
Dominique Paladilhe was born on 25 October 1921 in Paris, France. He was a composer, known for Le théâtre de la jeunesse (1960), Voiture 7, place 15 (1958) and L'histoire dépasse la fiction (1960). He died on 31 October 2015.- Tink Robinson was born on 4 June 1937. He was an actor, known for The Wayne and Shuster Hour (1957) and Canada After Dark (1978). He was married to Judy Armstrong. He died on 31 October 2015 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.