BORN ON THIS DAY IN HORROR HISTORY – MAY 25

1976 – Cillian Murphy, who starred in “Redeye, “28 Days Later”and as “Jonathan Crane” a.k.a. “The Scarecrow” in “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.”
1970 – Neil Marshall, British writer/director of such films as “Centurion”, “Doomsday”, “The Descent”, and “Dog Soldiers.”
1970 – Jamie Kennedy who starred as “Randy” in the “Scream” films and as “The Son of the Mask.”
1969 – Anne Heche who played “Marion Crane” in the 1998 remake of “Psycho”. She also appeared in “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”
1964 – Ray Steveson, who played “Frank Castle” a.k.a. “The Punisher” in “Punisher: War Zone.” He appeared in “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” and is playing “Volstagg” in the upcoming “Thor” film.
1955 – Connie Sellecca who co-starred in the TV movies “Captain America,” “Captain America II: Death Too Soon” and “It Came Up From The Depths.”
1944 – The voice of “Fozzie Bear,” “Miss Piggy,” “Grover,” “Animal,” “Cookie Monster,” “Grover” and “Sam the Eagle,” Frank Oz. He also provided the voice of “Yoda” for the “Star Wars” films, appeared in “An American Werewolf In London” and directed the 2004 remake of “The Stepford Wives.”
1939 – Ian McKellen who appeared in the films “The X-Men,” “X-Men 2,” “Gods and Monsters” and “Lord of the Rings.”
1935 – Ann Robinson who starred in the 1953 version of “War of the Worlds,” as well as the TV series of the same name in 1988 and appeared along side her “War of the Worlds” co-star, Gene Barry, in the 2005 remake, as the “Grandmother” and “Grandfather.” She also appeared in the “Rocky Jones” TV series and the films “Midnight Movie Massacre” and “The Naked Monster” where she appeared with such sci-fi/horror luminaries as Kenneth Tobey, the late Forrest J. Ackerman, Robert Clarke, John Agar and Paul Marco who returned as “Kelton the Cop.”
1926 – Claude Akins who appeared in the films “The Curse,” “Battle For the Planet of the Apes” and the TV movie “The Night Stalker.”
1902 – Charles Barton who directed the films “Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein,” “Abbott & Costello Meet the Killer: Boris Karloff” and the TV series, “The Munsters.”

DIED ON THIS DAY IN HORROR HISTORY – MAY 25

2007 – Charles Nelson Reilly who starred on the TV series “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” and as “Jose Chung” on “The X-Files,” passed away at the age of 76.
2007 – Lee Frost who directed “The Thing With Two Heads, passed away at the age of 71.
2007 – Laurie Bartram, who appeared in the films “Friday The 13th” and “The House of Seven Corpses,” passed away at the age of 49 from pancreatic cancer.
2000 – Francis Lederer who appeared in the film “Terror Is a Man” and “The Return of Dracula,” playing “Dracula” himself, passed away at the age of 100. He reprised his version of “Dracula” in an episode of “Night Gallery” entitled “The Devil Is Not Mocked.”
1993 – Dan Seymour who appeared in the films “Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy,” “Return of the Fly” and “Escape To Witch Mountain,” passed away at the age of 78.
1990 – Vic Tayback, most well known for his role of “Mel” on the TV series “Alice,” passed away at the age of 60. His films roles included “Blood and Lace,” “Door To Door Maniac” and “Mansion of the Doomed.”
1954 – Hans Janowitz who wrote the screenplays for “The Cabinet of Dr. Calagari” and “Der Januskopf ” a.k.a. “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,” passed away at the age of 64 .

FILMS RELEASED ON THIS DAY IN HORROR HISTORY – MAY 25

The Body Snatcher 1945
Behind the Mask 1946
The Stranger 1946
It Came From Outer Space 1953
The Cabinet of Calagari 1962
Z.P.G. 1972
Star Wars 1977
Alien 1979
The Brood 1979
Dead Calm 1989
Possessed By the Night 1994
Witchcraft X: Mistress of the Craft 1999
Bug 2007
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End 2007
Destination: Outer Space 2010
House of Black Wings 2010