People of Interest (unordered)
by positronic-pilgrim | created - 17 Oct 2012 | updated - 16 Apr 2017 | PublicNot a list of "favorites". These people have some significance to me, and here's why.
1. Rod Serling
Writer | The Twilight Zone
A former boxer, paratrooper and general all-around angry young man, Rod Serling was one of the radical new voices that made the "Golden Age" of television. Long before The Twilight Zone (1959), he was known for writing such high-quality scripts as "Patterns" and "Requiem for a Heavyweight," both ...
He created Twilight Zone (arguably the best thing ever on TV) and Night Gallery. As if that weren't more than enough to merit his inclusion, he wrote the screenplay for Planet of the Apes.
2. Burgess Meredith
Actor | Clash of the Titans
One of the truly great and gifted performers of the century, who often suffered lesser roles, Burgess Meredith was born in 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was educated in Amherst College in Massachusetts, before joining Eva Le Gallienne's Student Repertory stage company in 1929. By 1934 he was a star ...
Lights Out, Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Burnt Offerings, The Sentinel. A magnificent performer always, Meredith consistently brings out the best in every single role.
3. Roddy McDowall
Actor | Fright Night
Roddy McDowall was born in Herne Hill, London, England, to Winifriede Lucinda (Corcoran), an Irish-born aspiring actress, and Thomas Andrew McDowall, a merchant seaman. Roddy was enrolled in elocution courses at age five and by ten had appeared in his first film, Murder in the Family (1938), ...
Planet of the Apes, The Legend of Hell House, The Martian Chronicles, and many more. Numerous appearances on favorite TV shows like Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and even Pinky and the Brain.
4. Steve Ditko
Writer | Spider-Man
Steve Ditko was an American comics writer and artist of Rusyn descent. He is better known for co-creating the superheroes Spider-Man/Peter Parker and Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange for Marvel Comics. He created many other characters for various publishing companies. Among his better known creations...
Co-creator of Spider-Man, creator of Doctor Strange, and many other characters. Fantastic drawings in many other comics. Read his works and know him.
5. Vincent Price
Actor | The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Actor, raconteur, art collector and connoisseur of haute cuisine are just some of the attributes associated with Vincent Price. He was born Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. in St. Louis, Missouri, to Marguerite Cobb "Daisy" (Wilcox) and Vincent Leonard Price, who was President of the National Candy ...
One of the classiest screen presences you'll ever encounter, I can watch Mr. Price in just about anything. The Fly (1958), House on Haunted Hill (1959), Tales of Terror (1962), The Raven (1963), The Comedy of Terrors (1963), The Last Man on Earth (1964), Pit and the Pendulum (1961), House of Usher (1960), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), and too many others to list.
6. Isaac Asimov
Writer | I, Robot
Isaac Asimov was born Isaak Judah Ozimov, on January 2, 1920, in Petrovichi shtetl, near Smolensk, Russia. He was the oldest of three children. His father, named Judah Ozimov, and his mother, named Anna Rachel Ozimov (nee Berman), were Orthodox Jews. Ozimov family were millers (the name Ozimov ...
My favorite author overall, and one of the most prolific authors I've ever read.
7. Ray Bradbury
Writer | The Ray Bradbury Theater
Ray Bradbury was an American science fiction writer whose works were translated in more than 40 languages and sold millions of copies around the world. Although he created a world of new technical and intellectual ideas, he never obtained a driver's license and had never driven an automobile.
He was...
Have you ever read his works? No? Go read now!
8. Alfred Hitchcock
Director | Psycho
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. He was the son of Emma Jane (Whelan; 1863 - 1942) and East End greengrocer William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914). His parents were both of half English and half Irish ancestry. He had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and ...
What can I say that hasn't been said? One of the greatest directors of my lifetime, and my father's, and my grand father's.
9. Richard Matheson
Writer | Jaws 3-D
Born in New Jersey and raised in Brooklyn, Richard Burton Matheson first became a published author while still a child, when his stories and poems ran in the "Brooklyn Eagle". A lifelong reader of fantasy tales, he made his professional writing bow in 1950 when his short story "Born of Man and ...
Has contributed a great deal to science fiction and horror.
10. Ray Harryhausen
Actor | Spies Like Us
When it comes to motion-picture special effects, there is only one name that personifies movie magic: Ray Harryhausen. From his debut films with George Pal to his final film, Harryhausen imbued magic and visual strength to motion-picture special effects as no other technician has, before or since.
...
Last great genius of what is now a truly lost art. No one does what he did anymore, and no one ever likely will. Love those skeletal warriors!
11. Roger Corman
Actor | The Silence of the Lambs
Roger William Corman was born April 5, 1926, in Detroit, Michigan. Initially following in his father's footsteps, Corman studied engineering at Stanford University but while in school, he began to lose interest in the profession and developed a growing passion for film. Upon graduation, he worked a...
12. Frank Herbert
Writer | Dune
Frank Herbert was born on October 8, 1920 in Tacoma, Washington, USA. He was a writer, known for Dune (2021), Dune (1984) and Dune: Part Two (2024). He was married to Theresa Shackleford, Beverley Ann Stuart and Flora Parkinson. He died on February 11, 1986 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
13. Catherine Schell
Actress | On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Born in Budapest, Hungary, her true name is Katherina Freiin Schell von Bauschlott, the scion of a once wealthy German patrician family. Her father, the Baron Paul Schell von Bauschlott, was a well-respected diplomat until the Nazis confiscated their estates during WWII, while her mother was ...
Played Maya in Space 1999. Incredibly beautiful.
14. Ray Milland
Actor | The Lost Weekend
Ray Milland became one of Paramount's most bankable and durable stars, under contract from 1934 to 1948, yet little in his early life suggested a career as a motion picture actor.
Milland was born Alfred Reginald Jones in the Welsh town of Neath, Glamorgan, to Elizabeth Annie (Truscott) and Alfred ...
The man with the x-ray eyes.
15. Bela Lugosi
Actor | Dracula
Bela Lugosi was born Béla Ferenc Dezsö Blaskó on October 20, 1882, Lugos, Hungary, Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and István Blaskó, a banker. He was the youngest of four children. During WWI, he volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, and was wounded ...
His portrayal of Dracula influenced almost every movie vampire to follow.
16. Dan O'Bannon
Writer | Alien
Dan O'Bannon was inspired at an early age by EC Comics like Tales from the Crypt and old horror films that he saw in St. Louis. He even wrote a few stories for Heavy Metal magazine (which also showed up in the film).
O'Bannon got his start when he and John Carpenter collaborated on the cult sci-fi ...
17. H.P. Lovecraft
Writer | Color Out of Space
Born in Providence, Lovecraft was a sickly child whose parents died insane. When he was 16, he wrote the astronomy column in the Providence Tribune. Between 1908 and 1923, he wrote short stories for Weird Tales magazine and others. He died in Providence, in poverty, on March 15, 1937. His most ...
He and his associates created the modern age of horror, and most people have never read his tales.
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