Sunset for The Hideous Sun Demon, Robert Clarke...

Hey folks, Harry here in Minneapolis at Convergence. It is ironic that I'm at one of the wonderful science fiction - fantasy conventions when I find that one of the great B-movie monsters is dead. The HIDEOUS SUN DEMON, Robert Clarke passed away about a week and a half ago - I'm just now hearing about it. I had the good fortune to meet Mr Clarke a couple of times, my fave was at a screening of HIDEOUS SUN DEMON that he hosted here in Austin back in the mid-nineties. Though he was in his seventies - his giddyness with which he spoke of writing, directing and starring as THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON was classic. He was found throughout the b-horror film genre - from playing a wimp in ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY with Bela Lugosi and a small part in Robert Wise's THE BODY SNATCHER with Lugosi & Karloff! He played with Boris again in DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME, that time as a police analyst assisting Byrd's Tracy in trying to capture the evil mr Karloff. In 1950 he played the television D'Artagnan in the TV version of THE THREE MUSKETEERS. But really it wasn't till 1951 when he had a little part in THE MAN FROM PLANET X, one of the great under-seen sci-fi films of the period that is far more intelligent than you would think. That film - for hardcore 50's Sci Fi enthusiast is where Clarke really first became noticed. We next saw him in THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD - but even better as Dick Cutler in THE ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER. He also got a turn as narrator in FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON... not a great genre effort - but one with a great cast and of course fantastic source material. Then he decided to write, direct, produce and star as THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON. Personally I love Richard Cassarino's make-up for that creature - it really is one of the great 50's monsters. And then one of my faves - BEYOND THE TIME BARRIER - where as a test pilot he lept into the future - where the war on 1995 has left the world pretty fucked up, but beautiful sci-fi cityscapes (well, for the time) and the whole Adam & Eve thing is hokey as hell - but I love it. And not just because I own the 1-sheet - which I do for all the titles I've mentioned here. You see - Robert Clarke also had a wicked habit of being in movies with kickass posters. Robert made the convention circuit and meeted and greeted fans around the world. He was a very very cool guy. It's sad to see him go.