John Agar passes...

Harry here... Who was the greatest Horror Hero of B-movies? In my book it was and will always be John Agar. John Agar passed away today.

John Agar started his acting life aside perhaps the greatest cinema hero ever, John Wayne in the last two of John Ford's epic Cavalry trilogy... FORT APACHE and SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. He had met and fallen in love with Shirley Temple (Child Uber-Star) in 1945 and through that marriage naturally fell into the world of film getting his initial breaks alongside the giants of JOHN WAYNE and HENRY FONDA under the watchful eye of JOHN FORD.

Ms Temple and he split up in 1949, but that was when Agar's career took off. He became the greatest Sci Fi / Horror B Actor in history. As you can see from some of his posters on this page, his career spanned all manners of menace. From INVISIBLE INVADERS

To weird aliens on far off planets...

To giant disembodied alien brains that can possess the human body. Folks, if you have never seen THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS, you are missing one of the greatest over the top acting tour de forces ever delivered on screen. Agar chews up the scenery in this one. The maniacal look on his face on this poster is NOTHING in comparison to what he does here. For my money, it is right up there with Widmark's insane cackle in KISS OF DEATH for giddy joyful maniacalness. It must be seen to be believed!

Then there was the Giant Insect variety. That's a tough one to whip, but he did it. He kept us safe from all manners of horrors.

Heck, he even played parts in films about horrors beyond belief like The Red Peril in I MARRIED A COMMUNIST...

And not to be left out, he even did battle with the greatest of all 1950's monsters... The Creature From The Black Lagoon in the sequel, REVENGE OF THE CREATURE...

If you remember that film, the Creature kicks the shit out of that pussy Clint Eastwood pretty quick, but when his lovely lady is being manhandled by this two legged Latin amphibian... John Agar grows a pair and takes on the Creature! And he doesn't puss out like the man who loved to squint.

In recent years, and when I say that, I mean the last 30 years, John Agar has become a beloved figure of fandom and film. You could find John at endless autograph shows and conventions telling fans stories about the B-Movie days... Of working alongside John Wayne and Jack Arnold. His patience and kindness to eager fans was a model of how an actor should treat his/her admirers.

In addition, he always made himself available for fans making movies... From Joe Dante and Clive Barker and John Carpenter and others. Perhaps it is fitting that his last film.. His last credit is a straight to video film entitled... ATTACK OF THE B-MOVIE MONSTER... As a fan, I know I look forward to having it in my collection. Hopefully he'll find many rubber monsters to wrestle with wherever he may be.