Character actor Sid Haig, best known for appearing in Rob Zombie’s horror films but who boasted an extensive forty year career, has passed away at the age of 80. His wife Susan L. Oberg made the announcement via Instagram, revealing his passing after an extended hospital stay.
“On Saturday, September 21, 2019, my light, my heart, my true love, my King, the other half of my soul, Sidney, passed from this realm on to the next. He has returned to the Universe, a shining star in her heavens. He was my angel, my husband, my best friend and always will be. He adored his family, his friends and his fans. This came as a shock to all of us. We, as a family, are asking that our privacy and time to mourn be respected.”
Born in 1939, Haig’s acting career began when he worked with exploitation filmmaker Jack Hill, who he worked with on blaxpoloitation features like Spider Baby, Coffy and Foxy Brown. Haig went on to appear in a number of television shows throughout the 1960s and 70s, playing one of the “heavies” on shows like The Untouchables, Batman, Star Trek, Point Blank, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Gunsmoke, Get Smart, Mission: Impossible, Charlie’s Angels, The Dukes of Hazard, T.J. Hooker, Fantasy Island, The A-Team, The Fall Guy, Hill Street Blues, and MacGyver. He went on to briefly retire in the 1990s, but was coaxed out for a role in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, reuniting with his Coffy and Foxy Brown co-star Pam Grier.
The early 2000s brought Haig back into acting and saw his career gain new life after he appeared as the sadistic and hilarious killer Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombie’s 2003 directorial debut House of 1,000 Corpses. Haig went on to reprise the role in the 2005 sequel The Devil’s Rejects and a brief appearance in this year’s 3 From Hell. Zombie and Haig also collaborated on his 2007 remake of Halloween and his 2012 Blumhouse feature The Lords of Salem. Other feature credits for Haig in the 2000s include an appearance in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 2, 2015’s Bone Tomahawk, and many more.
(Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
